Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2020 i Computer Shopper

The smart home is no longer some vision of a far-off future. More than 100 million Alexa devices and 50 million Google Home devices had been sold as of this time last year. And that’s just the smart speaker aspect of it, with millions more smart bulbs, smart plugs and smart thermostats now in use. We’ve put together a full guide to making your home work for you (page 88). If you’ve already got some smart home kit installed, we take you through how to get the best out of it via home automation, IFTTT and network configuration. For those of you yet to try out any smart home technology, you can find an overview of how to start and the best kit to buy. And if you’re looking to…

MEL CROUCHER Tech pioneer and all-round good egg letters@computershopper.co.uk SO MANY TREASURED things are worth preserving from extinction, and in my time I have fought to preserve as many of those things as I could: the Northern white rhino, the Unami language, the Okjökull glacier, the Xerxes blue butterfly, socialism, Sophia Loren, smoking in pubs and the apostrophe. You name a battle for something that was worth preserving, and I can assure you I helped to lose it. My most recent and tragic lost battle is the preservation of the apostrophe. The glorious Apostrophe Preservation Society was dissolved a few weeks ago, due to the fact that its founder is now 96 years old and can’t be arsed to carry on. Mind you, the general public never gave a monkey’s…

Intel’s Xe GPUs shake up the graphics arena SAY WHAT? THE GRAPHICS WORLD in the desktop PC arena has mostly been the domain of AMD and Nvidia, with the latter arguably the top GPU dog. Intel has been providing integrated graphics on its CPUs for some years, notably with the Intel HD graphics found in ultraportable laptop-grade chips, but they’ve never been able to compete with the performance offered by dedicated or discrete graphics accelerators. However, that could all change with Intel’s new Xe graphics. We’ve known for a while that Intel was working on creating its own dedicated graphics tech, but aside from a few glimpses of the shroud for a proposed graphics card and a few crumbs of leaked information, we’ve not seen or heard anything concrete from…

£1,699 • From www.microsoft.com VERDICT The new, enlarged version of Microsoft’s ultraportable is slickly designed, but falls behind the 13.5in model in multiple metrics THE LAUNCH OF a larger Surface Laptop 3 should be cause for celebration – the Surface Laptop 2 (Shopper 372) was a fine ultraportable, and the prospect of an updated successor with more screen space to work with was, initially, a very exciting one. After some time with the Surface Laptop 3 15in, however, it’s hard not to come away disappointed. While succeeding and even excelling on core aspects such as build quality and the display, Microsoft’s decision to fit all 15in configurations with an AMD Ryzen chip instead of sticking with the Intel Ice Lake CPUs used by the 13.5in Surface Laptop 3 (Shopper 385)…

£200 • From www.scan.co.uk VERDICT This is a strong 1080p performer that doesn’t guzzle power, but it’s priced a little too close to the mid-range IT’S TAKEN A few months for AMD’s efficiency-focused Navi architecture to take form in a budget GPU, and the excellence of last year’s RX 5700 and RX 5700 XT (Shopper 380) made the wait feel even longer. It’s finally here, however, with the RX 5500: a 1080p gaming card with both 4GB and, enticingly, 8GB VRAM options. It’s the latter we’re testing here, using PowerColor’s Red Dragon version (reference designs aren’t available, so it’s partner cards only). The combination of plenty of memory and the ultra-fine 7nm manufacturing process of Navi/RDNA is an exciting one, even if this particular card is stretching the low-cost aspect…

£200 • From www.scan.co.uk VERDICT Nvidia’s upgraded streamer could do with some extra peripherals, but it’s also the most technically capable device of its kind ON SHEER POWER, no media streamer matches the Shield TV Pro. Besides being a monster of a 4K hub, with beefier internals than the previous 2017 model (Shopper 351), it also continues with the Shield TV’s focus on streaming games. It’s a lot bulkier than the likes of the Roku Express on page 38, looking much more like a miniature games console than a typical media streamer. However, this grants it room for much greater connectivity, too: on the rear edge there are two USB3 ports, an HDMI 2.0 output and a Gigabit Ethernet jack. The only miserly move is Nvidia not including an HDMI…

£1,049 • From www.wexphotovideo.com VERDICT The RX100 VII could be a great choice for travellers with strict weight requirements – and deep pockets HAVE RUMOURS OF the compact camera’s death been exaggerated? The rise of mirrorless cameras and ever more capable smartphone snappers has undoubtedly spelled trouble for CSCs, yet here we have the Sony RX100 VII, a device that – thanks to some breathtaking computational power – pushes the boundaries of what’s possible with a pocketable camera. MICRO MIRACLE From 20fps still shooting to 4K HDR video and frame rate options up to 1,000fps, there’s huge functionality here for such a small camera. It’s just 102mm wide, 58mm high and 43mm deep, and weighs 302g with a battery and memory card installed. That makes it fantastically portable, as does…

£148 • From www.amazon.co.uk VERDICT The Xperia L3 is a wonderfully cheap phone that only occasionally reminds you of its price SONY’S CURRENT GENERATION of smartphones covers every possible price bracket: there’s the lavish, 4K screen equipped Xperia 1, the mid-range Xperia 10 and, for lighter wallets, the Xperia L3. Despite this handset happily settling down in the bargain bin, the experience it presents is actually nothing of the sort you might expect for its price. Like a more generally successful Honor 9X (see page 41), it looks just like a phone you’d pay almost three times as much for – and it has a few hidden surprises, too. MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE While the body is made of plastic – only the frame is metal – it has…

01 A basic PC costing around £350 will be able to run everyday office, multimedia and education software and will easily cope with surfing the internet. It might even be able to run some modern games. Many PCs can be sold either with or without a monitor. If you don’t like the display the manufacturer is offering, you can always use your current one, or buy another one separately. 02 If you want to play games, you’ll have to upgrade the graphics card. Budget cards such as the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 will cope well with many 3D games, but to play the latest 3D games smoothly (and enjoy the best-quality graphics) it’s worth upgrading to a more powerful card such as the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070. 03 All modern…

01 You don’t have to spend much to buy 01 adecent graphics card that can drive multiple monitors. The AMD Radeon RX 550 costs about £100, for example, and while it isn’t suited to playing the latest games in Full HD, it is perfect for watching videos, browsing the web and playing basic games. 02 You’ll need to spend more money if 02 you want to play the latest games. A good mid-range gaming graphics card is the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060, which is powerful enough to play all modern games at Full HD resolution. High-powered cards tend to be more expensive, so expect to pay over £400 if you want to play games in Ultra HD at the highest quality settings. 03 Check that your chosen card has 03the…

01 Laser printers used to be much 01 more expensive than inkjets and were typically restricted to offices. They are now much more affordable, however, and offer several benefits over inkjets, including lower per-page printing costs and faster print speeds. 02 A decent laser printer will typically 02 cost around £80, and will happily print hundreds of black-and-white pages per hour. If documents are your priority, you’ll want a high minimum speed and low print costs. However, you’ll probably be limited to black-and-white printing at this price. 03 Although you can still buy single function laser printers, multifunction peripherals (MFPs) are now far more common. These models can scan and photocopy documents as well as print them, and some of them also have fax capabilities. Laser MFPs start from around…

01 A smartphone’s operating system 01 (OS) dictates its basic features and which third-party software you can install. There are three main contenders: Apple’s iOS, which is found on the iPhone, Google’s Android, which is used by various handset manufacturers, and Windows Phone, which has few options, especially since Microsoft has discontinued support for its OS. Apple iOS and Google Android both have thousands of apps available. 02 All smartphones have colour screens, 02 but their resolutions vary. Basic models have 1,280x720 pixels, but text can be indistinct. Look for a display that has at least 1,920x1,080 pixels so it’s easier to read text and watch Full HD videos. Don’t worry too much about built-in media players or Office document editors; you can always install apps to replace these with…

01 Bluetooth speakers come in all shapes 01 and sizes, so you’ll need to decide what you want to do with the speaker before you buy. If you don’t plan to take your music outdoors or around the house, look for a wired speaker. These are typically cheaper than speakers with built-in batteries. If you do want a portable speaker, however, pay particular attention to how much it weighs. Ruggedised models should be able to survive accidental drops, water spills and unexpected rain showers. 02 Many of the cheapest Bluetooth 02 speakers use the lossy A2DP Bluetooth protocol, which is prone to compressing your music and discarding detail compared with the original recording. It’s hard to tell the difference when listening to pocket-sized speakers, but if you’re looking for a…

01 Wearable tech can include anything 01 from chest-strap heart-rate monitors to augmented reality glasses, but the two most common types are smartwatches and fitness trackers. Both are designed to sit unassumingly on your wrist, and are almost always meant to be used in tandem with a paired smartphone. 02 Smartwatches are typically more 02 complex and expensive, though more closely resemble a traditional wristwatch. You can use them to receive and reply to text messages and emails, quickly check maps and even play games – like a smartphone, most smartwatches allow you to install your own choice of apps. 03 Fitness trackers are much more 03 dedicated to healthy pursuits. Step counters, heart-rate monitors and even sleep tracking are all common, and the data collected is fed back to…

£249 • From www.apple.com/uk VERDICT A great set of wireless buds, with superb sound, effective noise cancellation and decent battery life THERE’S NO GETTING around the fact that £249 is an awful lot to pay for a set of in-ears, even true wireless ones, but the latest version of Apple’s headphones ups the ante significantly by adding ANC to an already strong design. The AirPods Pro also benefit from shorter stems and capacitive touch controls, as well as a new set of silicone tips that fit snugly in the ear canal. Thanks to this, the fit is secure enough for sports, and the AirPods Pro are sweat- and water-resistant to the IPX4 standard, with a claimed battery life of five hours for the buds (reduced to four and a half…

£140 • From www.johnlewis.com VERDICT Decent sound quality and a price cut make the T20 Wireless a good, if not essential, option RHA HAS PRODUCED some stellar earphones over the last few years, from the impressive true wireless TrueConnect (Shopper 375) to the excellent-sounding wired T20i. Building on the success of the latter, the Glaswegian firm has now developed the T20 Wireless, which take the sonic components of the T20i and add wireless connectivity to the mix. GETTING THE BAND BACK TOGETHER Unlike the other four sets of in-ear headphones that occupied the previous pages, the RHA T20 Wireless aren’t ‘true’ wireless; they employ a neckband design, where the two earpieces are connected by a cable that hooks around your neck. This cable has a single-button remote on the right…

£150 • From uk.creative.com VERDICT These headphones use innovative tech for a thrilling 3D effect, though it doesn’t work with everything CREATIVE’S SXFI AIR headphones are the first to use the company’s Super X-Fi technology. Instead of settling for a regular two-channel stereo signal, Super X-Fi uses acoustic modelling to simulate a multispeaker surround-sound experience by using just two 50mm neodymium drivers. The result, Creative says, is a tangibly threedimensional listening experience. It’s quite a claim, but with some clever technical wizardry – setup involves creating what are essentially digital maps of your ears, the headphones tailoring their sound output to fit them – Creative makes it work astonishingly well. You can even get SuperX-Fi working through a thumb-sized amplifier for Android phones and tablets, into which you simply plug…

PROS Natural language interaction Excellent hardware support New features coming soon CONS Limited routines The Google Assistant powers Android phones and a growing number of smart speakers, making it the main rival to Amazon Alexa. In many ways, the systems are similar: you can ask the Google Assistant about the weather, upcoming appointments or who played a role in a certain film. The responses are similar, although as the Assistant is powered by Google’s services, many results are more accurate than Alexa. For example, Google is far better at giving travel information thanks to Google Maps. The Google Assistant is also a bit easier to talk to, as it understands context. So you can say, “OK Google, what’s the weather?” and follow up with, “OK Google, and tomorrow?”, and the…

• DESIGNER OF THE 6502 CHIP DIES There are many unsung heroes of technology, and one of those was undoubtedly Chuck Peddle. As an engineer for Motorola in 1974, he designed a low-cost chip to complement the company’s $300 6800. But when it was rejected, he took the microprocessor and seven Motorola engineers to rivals MOS Technology, where the 6502 flourished. Costing just $25 to make, the 6502 became the beating heart of many home computers and consoles, including the Apple II, BBC Micro, Commodore VIC 20 and Nintendo Entertainment System, helping to create a technological revolution. It’s with that in mind that we mourn Peddle, who died on 15th December 2019, aged 82, just weeks after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Peddle’s achievements also spread further. He designed the…

letters@computershopper.co.uk Unconnected choice @ Mel Croucher asks how the digital divide could be fixed (Shopper 384), before demonstrating that it is mostly a matter of personal preference. The digital divide seems to be mostly people who aren’t time pressured and don’t want to do some company’s job for it. Is it easier to fill in an online form that I have never seen before? Or write or telephone and get the company’s employees to sort out the problem? I suspect at least 10% of all Mel’s columns and half of his Rants have complained about companies expecting customers to do the work themselves. I doubt many of his Raves have been favourable. My family contains several silver surfers and one digital refusenik. None of them has much patience with most online…

Anti-drone radar system installed at Heathrow AIRCRAFT AND DRONES don’t mix very well, as demonstrated by a drone sighting over Gatwick Airport causing flights to be grounded for two days at the end of 2018. Heathrow Airport has now opted to use an anti-drone product from Thales to avoid flight disruption. The system, made by Thales subsidiary Aveillant, has already been deployed at the airport as part of wider anti-drone efforts. The technology uses what Aveillant calls holographic radar to spot mystery drones like the one that disrupted Gatwick flights. Traditional radar systems revolve, meaning they can’t see everything at once and miss data when looking away. Aveillant’s system has always-on 360˚ coverage, offering a full 3D picture at all times, meaning it can better track targets. The system can…

£1,519 • From www.dell.com VERDICT The new XPS 13 2-in-1 is a superb laptop by any measure – and the convertible design is the icing on the cake THE XPS 13 has long been one of our favourite laptops, and the 2-in-1 version takes that winning formula and adds a fold-around screen, giving you the option of working in tablet, ‘stand’ or ‘tent’ modes, as well as the regular clamshell format. The latest update of the XPS 13 2-in-1 looks very similar to the previous iteration, but it introduces a few key upgrades as well. For one, Dell has made the move from eighth-generation to 10th-generation Intel processors, so you get the power and performance benefits of the latest 10nm fabrication process. The webcam has also at last been moved…

£799 • From www.currys.co.uk VERDICT This may be one of the lightest laptops ever, but the Swift 5 often punches above its weight WEIGHING LESS THAN 1kg, the Swift 5 is the lightest 14in laptop on the market; although that’s not all surprising, considering the Swift series’ tendency to prioritise portability over power. Nonetheless, it’s also fully up to date in the CPU department, with a choice of the latest 10th-gen Intel chips available. Our review model has the Core i5-1035G1, along with 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD, but you can alternatively upgrade to a Core i7-1065G7 with a dedicated GeForce MX250 GPU. FEATHER FORECAST What’s immediately striking about the Swift 5 isn’t just how little it weights, but also how spatially economic it is. It measures a…

£250 • From www.nzxt.com VERDICT A pricey but superbly made AIO watercooler, featuring best-in-class performance and a customisable OLED display WHENEVER WE TEST new all-in-one (AIO) watercoolers, it’s usually under the weight of NZXT’s Kraken X-2 series. The 280mm Kraken X62 (Shopper 348) remains the cooler to beat more than three years after it first arrived. Everything about it, from its easy installation to its impeccable cooling performance and swish yet understated styling, has yet to be outshone. All the same, it looks like its retirement has come. The X-2 series is being replaced like-for-like with the new X53, X63 and X73 coolers, although that’s not what we have here. The Kraken Z73 is a completely fresh ultra-premium AIO, combining a triple-fan, 360mm radiator with a pump-mounted OLED display. There’s…

£49 • From www.amazon.co.uk VERDICT A low cost, high-quality camera, the Ring Indoor Cam is powerful, and the new Modes let you control your privacy WE’VE SEEN CHEAP security cameras before, but not really from big manufacturers, which makes the Ring Indoor Cam something of a treat. Priced at £49, this is one of the lowest-cost Full HD cameras we’ve seen. While the price may be low, Ring has managed to keep the features up, making this one of the best-value security cameras ever. NOT GOING OUT One of the reasons Ring has managed to keep the cost down is because the Indoor Cam is, as the name says, an indoor-only model. Everything else in the line-up is suitable for use outside, requiring an additional layer of weatherproofing that’s not…

£25 • From www.amazon.co.uk VERDICT There are few better ways to make an old 1080p TV smart than the Roku Express, especially at this price THE ROKU EXPRESS is the entry-level option in Roku’s new duo of streamers, sitting below the 4K HDR-ready Premiere. It can only dish out 1080p video, but also manages DTS surround, Dolby Audio and Dolby Atmos support over HDMI; not bad for £25. The use of single-band 802.11n Wi-Fi might be a turn-off, when the older Roku Streaming Stick+ (Shopper 361) has always used dual-band 802.11ac. Still, you’re getting the full range of apps, including BBC iPlayer, Netflix, Now TV, Amazon Prime Video, All 4, ITV Hub, YouTube and Google Play Movies & TV, not to mention a wide range of additional channels available on…

£220 • From www.currys.co.uk VERDICT An elderly CPU overshadows the good work Honor has done with this handset’s design IF THERE WAS ever a phone designed to catch the eye, it’s the Honor 9X. On the surface, our glittering blue review model appeared to tick all the boxes, with a great-looking screen with no notch in sight, a 3.5mm headphone jack and somewhere to stow a memory card to expand its already reasonable 128GB of memory. For just £220, falling for its charms is easy. Even beyond the exterior, there are still plenty of things to like. The 9X supplies a massive 4,000mAh battery and a 48-megapixel camera, while the 16-megapixel selfie camera pops out of the top of the handset with a friendly mechanical whir. As is so often…

£158 • From www.amazon.co.uk VERDICT A macro camera lens lets this cheap handset get up close and personal, but corners have been cut elsewhere MOTOROLA’S SMARTPHONE OUTPUT has been unrelenting recently, including multiple lower-cost handsets such as the One Action and the Moto G8 Plus (Shopper 385), as well as the high-concept Razr revamp. The One Macro is another budget offering, and in places it certainly shows: the plastic rear lacks the sturdiness of the glass-backed One Action, flexes when pressed and collects plenty of fingerprints. You also can’t remove the plastic housing to swap out the battery, though you can add up to an extra 512GB of microSD storage or pop in a second nano-SIM. The front side is much better. The 6.2in screen almost covers the entire surface…

01 A basic laptop costing around £300 will run everyday office, multimedia and education software, but it won’t be suitable for 3D gaming or processor-intensive tasks such as video editing. Many laptops at this price have a 15.6in screen and weigh over 2kg, so they’re best used around the house and for occasional journeys. 02 If you want to play modern games, you’ll need a laptop with a dedicated graphics chip such as the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060M. Good gaming laptops tend to have large 15.6 or 17in screens and weigh around 3kg, so they’re best suited to use at home. 03 If you want a laptop that you can take everywhere, look for a model that weighs less than 2kg. For the best portability, buy one that has a…

01 Building your own PC is often cheaper 01 than buying a pre-made system, and gives full control over the components. You don’t need any special computer knowledge: just a few spare hours, a screwdriver and your choice of parts. Even things such as liquid-cooling systems can be found in user-friendly, easy-to-install packages, and for the most part it’s as simple as inserting each component into a particular slot. 02 Arguably the most important 02 component is the CPU. These days you can get a quad-core chip even on a tight budget, which should provide more than enough brainpower for simple tasks such as web browsing, but hexa-core and octa-core chips are better for tougher jobs such as media editing, gaming and content creation. The CPU will also determine which…

01 Wireless routers each use a number 01 of Wi-Fi standards, so you shouldn’t have any trouble connecting your computer or phone wirelessly if you get an 802.11n or 802.11ac router. Nearly all routers support 802.11n, so even a cheap model should provide decent performance. You can expect a transfer speed of around 40Mbit/s at a distance of 10m from any modern 802.11n router. The very latest routers use the 802.11ac standard, which provides tremendously fast transfer speeds. Some devices still don’t support the 802.11ac standard, so check the specifications before you buy. 02 If you subscribe to an ADSL broadband service, you should buy a wireless router that has a built-in ADSL modem. This will cost more than the equivalent cable router, but it allows you to connect your…

01 All tablets rely on an operating system 01 (OS) to run apps. You have three main choices: Apple’s iOS, which runs on the iPad; Android, which Google licenses to various manufacturers; and Windows 10, which has become common in hybrid tablets and convertibles. If you own an Apple or Google smartphone, you can download your apps, music and so on to a tablet that runs the same OS, so it makes sense to stick with a compatible device. 02 It’s important to pick a tablet that has 02 a good-quality, high-resolution screen. Many budget tablets have 1,280x800-resolution displays, but better tablets have Full HD 1,920x1,080 panels, and we’re starting to see tablets that have even higher screen resolutions. Some are as high as 2,560x1,600 or even 4K. Entry-level tablets…

01 Media streamers have come a 01 long way from the hard disk-based set-top boxes of a few years ago. They now come in two main forms: flash drive-sized dongles that plug directly into the HDMI port in the back of your TV, and larger microconsoles that sit under it. Whichever model you choose, it will stream content from the internet rather than storing media files locally. 02 Most streamers use their own 02 operating system, which you can navigate with a bundled remote control, but Google’s Chromecast dongle requires a paired smartphone, tablet or laptop to stream content on the big screen. If you’re looking to set up Netflix for someone who doesn’t have a smartphone, buy a standalone streamer such as a Roku or Amazon Fire TV device.…

BEST VALUE HEADPHONES CREATIVE Outlier Air At £70, the Outlier Air are pricier than a basic set of wired in-ears, but they’re easily worth that much and more. These are true wireless headphones with a solid, stable Bluetooth connection – thanks in part to the high-end aptX codec – and much better battery life than even its most premium competition. There’s no ANC – check out the over-ear Lindy BNX-100 headphones if you’re after a noise-cancelling bargain – but sound quality and build quality are both so high that we’d still rather spend the cash on these than the £120 Amazon Echo Buds or £140 Huawei FreeBuds 3. BEST PREMIUM HEADPHONES SONY WH-1000XM3 These headphones predate rivals such as the Bose Noise Cancelling and sound like the best pair around.…

£70 • From uk.creative.com VERDICT These fully wireless headphones are a superb bargain, sounding better than much more expensive sets CREATIVE KNOWS A thing or two about digital audio, having been making headphones, speakers and sound cards for over 30 years. The Outlier Air, however, are the company’s very first attempt at true wireless earbuds. As with the Amazon Echo Buds and Apple AirPods Pro, that means no neckband tethering the two in-ear buds together, let alone a cord that trails down to your phone or laptop. What makes them different to these other true wireless earbuds is their price: at £70, they’re far more affordable than most rivals, yet they don’t skimp on quality or features. SHOWING TEETH For one thing, the Outlier Air support the high-quality aptX Bluetooth…

£299 • From www.johnlewis.com VERDICT Bose’s gorgeous ANC headphones are good, though they can’t dethrone the Sony WH-1000XM3 BOSE IS A pioneer in noise-cancelling tech, but it’s been nearly two decades of the QuietComfort series since a new flagship headphone design has been released. While these years have produced industry-leading headphones such as the QuietComfort 35 (Shopper 344) and QuietComfort 35 II (Shopper 362), it’s time for a change: enter, at last, the Noise Cancelling Headphones 700. NEW LOOK This may have a much clumsier name than anything in the QuietComfort series, but for a pair of over-ear headphones, there’s no doubt that the Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 are extremely stylish. The stainless steel headband arcs gracefully around the top of your head, before making its way seamlessly down to…

£100 • From www.amazon.co.uk VERDICT Multiple improvements over the preceding BNX-60 make these our favourite low-cost ANC headphones SO FAR WE’VE mainly looked at over-ear headphones that cost well over £200, but don’t fret if you’re hoping for more of a bargain: the BNX-100 are a capable pair of ANC-enabled cans for not a penny over £100. The older BNX-60 headphones have proven hugely popular, and for good reason: £75 or so for a set of great-sounding, active noise-cancelling, Bluetooth over-ears is a tremendous deal. That’s still true today, several years after release, and so the newer BNX-100 aren’t a replacement so much as a more fashionable, more feature-rich spin-off. A LITTLE EXTRA This means a higher price as well, but only modestly, and it buys you a cleaner, more…

A smart home shouldn’t just be easy to control, it should genuinely make life easier. With the smart home constantly evolving, there’s a wider range of products available, covering far more categories. Where possible, we’ve listed devices that make it easy to communicate with other devices. SMART THERMOSTATS Smart thermostats are one of the most popular choices for homes. They use clever techniques to shut down your heating earlier, saving money. According to statistics from Tado, customers save around 19% on energy bills, which could work out to around £110 a year. Nest quotes between 8.4% and 16.5% savings. If you buy a system that connects using OpenTherm, you can save even more money, as this system lets the smart thermostat modulate the boiler’s heat output to the most efficient…

PROS Works with lots of smart home device and other services Easy to program Lots of pre-defined applets CONS Very simplistic option No option to automatically undo an option If This Then That (IFTTT) is one of the most useful tools for automating your home. This simple service’s name describes exactly what it does: if something happens (this), then make something else happen (that). Each rule like this is called an applet. There are two main benefits of IFTTT. First, it’s extremely easy to program applets, and the website is full of pre-defined examples you can use. Second, IFTTT supports thousands of services and devices, so you can do a lot with it. And it’s not just support for smart home devices, as other services are supported as well, such…

PROS Very powerful Supports Zigbee andZ-Wave devices Expandable with webCoRE CONS Complicated Limited third-party support Samsung SmartThings is a combination of hardware and software. At the heart of the system sits the SmartThings hub, which is both Zigbee and Z-Wave compliant, so you can add devices directly to it, including a smart button, motion sensor, open/close sensor and even a smart plug. For smart home enthusiasts, being able to run all of these sensors is amazing. You can buy the Hub alone for £79, although starter kits are available with some sensors, including the motion sensor, multipurpose sensor (an all-in-one temperature, movement and entry sensor) and smart button. You can add third-party devices, too, although support is quite limited: you can add Hue light bulbs, TP-Link Kasa products, and Ring…

Send your problems to help@computershopper.co.uk Quicker than the eye I frequently run training courses for sports coaches, during which we have to analyse an athlete’s movement. The courses are indoors and the action invariably takes place on sprung floors or matting, so there’s no firm flooring on which to place sensitive electronic kit. We usually have a number of athletes who can demonstrate a skill, after which I invite the coaches to identify any errors in the execution. The action is usually quite quick – a skill typically taking three to four seconds – and we are trying to identify the details, which involves observing different parts of the body. New coaches can struggle with this, especially as there may be several small errors happening quickly one after the other.…

£600 PCs on test Want a desktop that will do more for less? We’re testing a selection of home office PCs costing no more than £600 Move to a new PC the expert way How to keep your files, applications and settings, plus make Windows 10 act like Windows 7 Beyond Google How to search better, using different tools for different kinds of information Are machines really going to take over the world? We explore how robots are actually being used, how they’ll advance in the future, and how some of them are just too dumb to survive COMPUTER SHOPPER ISSUE 387 ON SALE IN NEWSAGENTS FROM 12th MARCH…

James Archer RANTS SAD NEWS CAME for fans of sci-fi vehicular football recently, as Rocket League developer Psyonix announced it would be ceasing support for the Mac and Linux versions. This would include shutting down their respective online play servers: an effective death sentence for a game so centred around competitive multiplayer. I don’t play Rocket League – I tried it once a couple of years ago, but wasn’t immediately excellent at it, so uninstalled it – but the resulting explosion of frustration and bewilderment is at least understandable. The announcement post uploaded to the game’s website was incredibly vague. The entire given explanation was, word for word, “it is no longer viable for us to maintain support for the macOS and Linux platforms”. And, considering this is a game…

“Now there is no question in my mind that artificial intelligence needs to be regulated. It is too important not to. The only question is how to approach it”Google CEO Sundar Pichai doesn’t mince his words when it comes to AI control “While the world will need to reach net-zero, those of us who can afford to move faster and go further should do so”Microsoft president Brad Smith expects the company to be ‘carbon negative’ by 2030 “The Computer Misuse Act is crying out for reform”Simon McKay, a barrister specialising in civil liberties and human rights, sees the UK’s key cyber security legislation as old hat “For far too long we’ve taken our democracy for granted. We’ve been complacent and our complacency has allowed malign forces to undermine our democracy”Stephen…

£999 • From www.cyberpowersystem.co.uk VERDICT The Ultra 5 RTX is a shining jack of all trades, and a master of some IT’S ALWAYS INTERESTING to see just how much desktop PCs can differ from each other, even those that have the same purpose. Cyberpower’s Ultra 5 RTX is a perfect example of this: just like the AlphaBetaPC Intel i5 RTX (Shopper 384), it’s a mid-range gaming system that costs £999, yet the closest thing to a shared component between them is the 16GB of RAM. Whereas the AlphaBetaPC system went for maximum graphical power, arguably at the expense of its CPU, the Ultra 5 RTX is more balanced, with a Ryzen 5 3600X and 6GB MSI GeForce RTX 2060 Ventus XS OC. That means lower gaming performance, but much more…

£460 • From www.amazon.co.uk VERDICT A 1440p, all-metal laptop for so little sounds too good to be true – but, for the most part, the quality is real XIDU ITSELF MAY have popped up seemingly from nowhere, but its Tour Pro laptop is undoubtedly a force to be reckoned with: it’s incredibly cheap, yet offers a Quad HD screen, slimline ultraportable design and even room for a second SSD. It can’t hide its budget nature entirely – it’s only powered by a modest Intel Celeron 3867U, with 8GB of RAM and a small 128GB SSD – but at least on the outside, it’s remarkably well made. The alloy construction feels solid and sturdy, and the firm hinge can bend all the way back to 180°. Weighing 1.24kg and measuring 290x200x15mm…

£190 • From www.epson.co.uk VERDICT The WF-110W is a versatile and capable colour printer for the road, but it’s not an office workhorse EPSON’S WORKFORCE WF-110W is a portable colour inkjet printer. It’s a diminutive thing – we’ve eaten bigger boxes of chocolates – aimed strictly at people who need to print on the go. As such, you shouldn’t expect the same breadth of features as you’d get from a full-sized MFP: there’s no scanner, no automatic duplex (double-sided) printing, and even no paper output tray. Instead, the WF-110W is focused on quick and easy printing away from the facilities of a typical office. For a start, there’s a built-in battery, good for a claimed 50 colour or 100 black pages. You can directly power and recharge the printer from…

£449 • From www.johnlewis.com VERDICT The SL8YG might not sound as engrossing as premium Dolby Atmos soundbars, but it’s a good way of getting the tech on abudget SO FAR, DOLBY Atmos soundbars – which bounce sound off your ceiling to add a sense of height to audio playback – have mostly existed at the more expensive end of the spectrum. That’s why it’s good to see products like the LG SL8YG, which – while not exactly cheap – offers Atmos, Google Assistant controls and even a dedicated Bluetooth subwoofer at a much more reasonable price. It’s finished in grey, with a flat, brush-finish metal top, and there’s a perforated metal grille that wraps around the curved ends and front. A small, centrally mounted, 15-character LED display lurks behind the…

£619 • From www.very.co.uk VERDICT A super-lightweight Android tablet that does it all, and comes with a stylus in the box IT’S A SIMPLE fact of life that the high-end tablet market is dominated by one particular, fruit-themed manufacturer, sowhen genuine challengers such as the Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 come along, it’s a real breath of fresh air. This Android-based tablet is incredibly slim and light, yet it’s powerful too, with a whole bunch of features that make it ideal for work as well as play. Whether it can compete with the juggernaut that is the Apple iPad Pro is another question, especially now the old iOS platform has been upgraded to the productivity-focused iPadOS. Let’s find out how good the Galaxy Tab S6 really is. STRAIGHT AND NARROW The…

£235 • From www.amazon.co.uk VERDICT The Carlyle HR looks superb, but its battery life and headlining speaker functionality let it down WITH EVERY GENERATION of its smartwatches, Fossil has sought to pack in eye-catching new features, whether it’s fitness-tracking sensors or Google Pay support. The Carlyle HR adds a speaker into the mix, letting you listen to your music without headphones and hear responses from the Google Assistant. There’s also built-in GPS, an optical heart-rate sensor, NFC for contactless payments and a 3ATM waterproofing rating. The only thing missing is 4G support, so you’ll still need a smartphone nearby to view notifications and answer calls. CROWN JEWEL Then again, 4G might have thickened up the Carlyle HR and spoilt its fantastic looks. Unlike its predecessor, the Fossil Q Explorist HR,…

01 A network-attached storage (NAS) 01 device lets you store documents, media, and other files on its hard disks so you can share them with other devices on your network. Some have disks already installed, while others are empty enclosures into which you install your own disks. Buying an empty NAS can often be the more cost-effective option, as they’re usually less expensive and give you the freedom to add disks at a later date. You should buy one with a Gigabit Ethernet interface, as these provide the highest transfer speeds. To use a NAS device at these speeds, you’ll need computers with Gigabit Ethernet network adaptors and a Gigabit Ethernet switch or router. Computers with Fast Ethernet adaptors can still access the NAS device, but only at the much…

01 A basic 24in LCD monitor costs 01 around £100. It will be fine for typical Windows work but is likely to have poor viewing angles, so you’ll need to sit straight on for the best picture quality. Its colour accuracy may not be very good, either. 02 A VGA input lets you use the monitor 02 with any PC, but the quality may not be as good as it is over DVI or HDMI. Both are digital connections and require a compatible graphics card but they avoid the need for digital-to-analogue or analogue-to-digital conversions, which can reduce image quality. A digital connection achieves the best picture automatically, so you won’t have to adjust clock or phase settings as you do with analogue connections. Many DVI and all HDMI connections…

01 A smart thermostat can save you a 01 lot of money by intelligently controlling your heating. Most smart heating devices are designed to be used with hot water central heating systems, with the boiler directly controlled by the system. These typically require a relay to be wired into your boiler, with a wireless thermostat giving you direct control. Smartphone apps then tie into the system to give you remote control. While it’s possible to fit controls yourself, you may want to pay an experienced plumber to do the job: expect to pay around £150 for a typical installation. If you have electric heating, there are very few choices, and the big names (Nest, Honeywell and so on) do not directly support these systems. 02 Want smart hot water control?…

01 A 32in Full HD TV costs around £200, 01 but premium larger 4K models can be closer to £2,000. TVs look much smaller in the shop than in your home, so measure the space available before you buy. Curved TVs are becoming increasingly more common, but bear in mind that these typically take up more floor space than a traditional flat set. 02 A 1,920x1,080-resolution TV can 02 display a 1080p image. You can still buy TVs with a 720p (1,366x768) resolution, but they’re no cheaper and the image won’t be as sharp. 3,840x2,560 Ultra HD resolution, or 4K, TVs are finally available at reasonable prices, although you’ll still pay a premium for one over a 1080p model. 03 Consider the number of inputs 03 you’ll need to connect…

01 A basic digital camera will suit 01 someone who wants to take pictures to view on their computer and create 7x5in prints. It should cost around £80, but there may be hidden downsides such as slow performance and very basic user controls. 02 Spend a little more and you’ll get a 02 higher resolution. A 16-megapixel sensor has the potential to produce sharp prints up to A3 size, but only if it and the lens are of a suitably high quality. Very high resolutions in compact cameras tend to boost noise more than detail levels, so many of the best models strike a sensible balance by using a 12-megapixel sensor. Back-illuminated CMOS sensors tend to produce less noise than CCDs, but check our reviews to find out how a…

£120 • From www.amazon.co.uk VERDICT The Echo Buds are a fine if flawed way of getting ANC in-ears for relatively little cash IT’S TAKEN A while, but Amazon has expanded its audio range to include headphones as well as speakers. The all-new Echo Buds are a true wireless set with the Echo-standard Alexa digital assistant, but what’s much more surprising is that support for both Siri and Google Assistant is included too. The Echo Buds are offering ANC tech, developed by Bose, and for a lot less money than the similarly featured Apple AirPods Pro. Could they be a bargain too good to turn down? WINGING IT The Echo Buds are small, shiny black pearls of plastic with discreet ear tips that jut out from the front end. They’re thankfully…

£140 • From www.amazon.co.uk VERDICT Huawei’s wireless earbuds are lightweight, comfortable and offer ANC, but they make a few stumbles too THE FREEBUDS 3 are the third iteration of Huawei’s AirPods rival, hastily following the 2019 FreeBuds 2. This update sees a brandnew charging case and the introduction of noise-cancelling technology to the buds. If you’re an iPhone user thinking of buying the FreeBuds 3 as a cheaper alternative to the AirPods Pro, however, be warned they aren’t fully compatible with Apple products. You can connect them as you would other Bluetooth earbuds, but since the companion AI Life app isn’t available from the iOS App Store, you’d only be getting a very limited experience. AI Life is offered in the Google Play store, so you can use the FreeBuds…

£339 • From www.very.co.uk VERDICT A great pair of headphones with amazing noise cancelling, but the PX7 are on the pricey side AT SUCH A high price, the PX7 – the new ANC-equipped version of B&W’s P7 headphones – certainly have their work cut out, especially with so much quality competition in the over-ear market. They get off to a good start, however, with some exceptional build quality. Each of the PX7’s ear cups is wrapped in nicely textured fabric, and both the headband and ear pads are comfortably plush. Meanwhile, the slender stainless-steel arms of the P7 have been shelved in favour of lighter, more pliant carbon fibre struts, which reduce the clamping force of the earcups somewhat. The PX7 still exert significantly more pressure on the side of…

£258 • From www.amazon.co.uk VERDICT Sony hits the high notes with the WH-1000XM3, its best ANC headphones yet SONY’S PREVIOUS ANC headphones, the MDR-1000X and WH-1000XM2, were both great, but they never quite managed to topple the Bose QuietComfort series, particularly on noise cancellation quality. Now, however, the third-generation WH-1000XM3 is here, and not only has it taken the crown, it’s seen off challenges from both audiophile brands such as Bowers & Wilkins and Bose’s reworked Noise Cancelling Headphones 700. SOFT TOUCH Design-wise, the WH-1000XM3 are similar to the WH-1000XM2, except for the headband’s metal core being covered up with faux leather for a less industrial look. With thicker and softer cushioning on the earpads and improved padding on the headband, the WH-1000XM3 are more comfortable than ever, so you…

Technically, any home with a single device that can be controlled via an app, voice or web browser is a smart one. We prefer to think of a smart home as one that has multiple devices that interact and can be controlled directly or automatically based on a series of rules that you create. Building a smart home doesn’t have to start with a full-on, rip out everything and start again approach; rather, it should evolve naturally, with new kit being added to perform a useful job, and the interactions between devices programmed later for convenience. In this guide, we’ll take you through the essential smart home building blocks, and we’ll reveal our recommended kit. OBSERVING PROTOCOL Before we get into the details of what kit you should choose, it’s…

The humble smart plug is one of the first devices that people buy, but many spend their lives turning dumb lamps on and off. There’s nothing wrong with that, but with a little creativity, smart plugs can be capable of so much more. Here we examine some of the better ways of using a smart plug. You can do far more than we’ve listed here, but the main thing to remember is that if you want a smart plug to turn on and activate a device, you need products with a physical on/off switch. For example, we have a fan heater that turns on as soon as there’s power; another electric heater that we have simply goes into standby mode when the power comes on, and the remote control is…

PROS Excellent voice control Brilliant device support Powerful routines CONS Alexa doesn’t always understand Control massively varies by manufacturer The Amazon Echo speaker was the first to bring voice control to the masses via the Amazon Alexa assistant. The system has expanded to include a huge range of speakers and a growing range of features, including free UK phone calls and the ability to manage your diary. Here, we’re specifically looking at the smart home control that Alexa offers. The most common way that you’ll use Alexa is via voice control. To add control of a smart device, you just have to search the Alexa app for the right Skill, enter your login details for the device and let your smart devices get discovered. Using the commands listed in the…

PROS Great app Powerful and simple automation Works with Bluetooth devices CONS Limited hardware support Doesn’t quite do everything you want Apple only Apple HomeKit was released back in September 2014 with the launch of iOS 8. It was Apple’s first foray into home automation, designed to give you control for all your smart devices in one location: the Home app. The Home app is available for both iOS and macOS devices. Adding a device into HomeKit involves scanning the code on the device. This can get fiddly. For example, with LIFX bulbs, you have to scan each bulb; with Philips Hue bulbs, you need to scan the Bridge and all of your lights to get compatibility. There are some neat touches, such as using an Apple TV, HomePod or…

Clive Webster has been tinkering with computers ever since Windows 98 forced him to manually install his drivers clive@computershopper.co.uk IT LOOKS LIKE 2020 is the start of the streaming wars, with Disney, the BBC and Apple launching streaming services to compete against the likes of Amazon and Netflix. But before you whisk out the spreadsheet to see how many of these services you can afford, you might consider whether your internet service is up to the task of streaming several HD videos to the multiple devices around your home. With great shows still being broadcast in the old-fashioned way, we’ll show you how to build a device that can stream terrestrial TV to any Wi-Fi device in your house. ADDING BROADCAST TV to the power and flexibility of a computer has…