Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2021 i Stuff UK

There are different types of gardener: those looking to recreate the Wembley pitch flanked by prize-winning marrows, those who prefer ‘party den’ decking and a massive BBQ, and those hoping to attract animals by making their backyard a haven for wildlife. The June issue of Stuff caters for all of you, and comes just in time for outdoor gatherings of up to 30 finally being allowed. Whether that’s people or squirrels rests partly on the company you keep, but also which of our garden gadgets and expert pointers resonate with you; and while those of you restricted to balconies, roof terraces or allotments might not want a robo mower, you’ll still find plenty to inspire – from pizza ovens to waterproof speakers. If you’ve acquired a pet during lockdown, firstly,…

Gareth Southgate’s attacking options for the Euros, chopsticks or cutlery at Wagamama, and the Phil Collins back catalogue: all fine examples of being spoilt for choice… and when it comes to multiroom speakers, Audio Pro offers a similar selection dilemma. Its latest C10 MkII wireless speaker (£360) is compatible with Apple AirPlay 2, Google Cast and its own app-based platform, leaving you to choose how to build your multiroom setup. You can even change the look of the speaker by removing the magnetic fabric grille. The successor to the award-winning C10 also includes Spotify Connect, along with support for every major streaming service. We’ve got Audio Pro C10 MkII speakers to give away to three lucky readers, ready to transform your home audio in one fell swoop… but before you…

The crafty creator Logitech Craft The Craft is a festival of rounded edges, taking in the keys as well as the body, without a single corner in sight. This bold anti-pointiness look is complemented by a Creative Input Dial that can adapt to different functions depending on the app you’re using. From changing the volume of your music to altering brush sizes in Photoshop and much more, it makes this an ideal choice for fearlessly creative sorts. £179 / logitech.com FOR HIPSTER TYPES The fashionable fingerer Apple Magic Keyboard Like comfort food for Apple fans, the clean and minimalistic Magic Keyboard brings everything you’d expect to the table: a sleek design, a solid mechanism and hassle-free pairing with your Mac. It might lack bonus features like backlighting, but at least…

GOZNEY DOME When you think ‘barbecue’ you probably picture piles of gently cremated bangers, dry beefy discs between cheap baps, and a sad-looking token veggie option. But outdoor eating has come a long way in recent years – and Gozney’s new Dome proves it. Following (very) hot on the heels of Gozney’s Roccbox, the Dome is the Bentley Continental of back-garden pizza ovens. In fact, to call it a pizza oven is to do the Dome a disservice. While it will reach temperatures of up to 500º – which is the kind of intense heat you need to get those crispy leopard-spotted crusts – it also means you can sear steaks and expertly char veg. It’s massively versatile: turn the heat down and you can slow-roast larger cuts of meat…

Backyard cinema hints from George Wood, founder of the Luna Cinema (lunadriveincinema.com) 1 SET THE SCREEN If you haven’t got a white wall you can string a bedsheet between two fence-posts, pull it taut and project onto that. The picture won’t be brilliant but it’ll be decent enough. 2 DON’T START TOO SOON Even with the most powerful projector you’re still governed by sunset. At dusk you start to get a picture so you can set the scene a bit, but wait until it’s fully dark before the film starts. 3 FEED INTO THE FILM Food or drink can mirror the atmosphere of a film and it really enhances the experience. Everyone loves it when you screen The Big Lebowski and serve up White Russians.…

MORE WILD WONDERS BLINK OUTDOOR Blink’s nicely affordable Outdoor cameras are really designed to keep an eye out for human intruders, but their mix of AA battery power, HD video with night vision and handy boxy design means they’re ideal for snooping on wildlife. The app will ping you if one spots anything, and you can store videos in the cloud for £2.50 a month. from £100 / blinkforhome.com BROWNING RECON FORCE ELITE HP4 While the name makes it sound like something out of Call of Duty, Browning’s wildlife cams have been used on BBC Springwatch – so the only thing it’ll shoot is 1080p footage at 60fps. With its camo finish it’s easy to squirrel away, and when triggered it’ll start to record in a fraction of a second.…

THE BASICS ■ Learn the lingo Getting into emulation, it feels like you have to master an alien tongue before you can find what you need. Broadly, though, emulators are just apps that mimic old hardware. Some of them need BIOS files (firmware used for hardware initialisation) and you will also need ROMs – virtual copies of cartridges – although some systems use tape or disk images instead. ■ Focus on faves It’s fun to explore gaming’s rich history through emulation, but remember you want to play games rather than merely collect virtual copies. So start with a few favourite systems. And rather than grabbing complete ROM collections for each system, focus on a handful of old favourites and new releases for cherished hardware. ■ Control yourself PC and Android…

BiOrb Tube from £140 / biorb.com There’s nothing like coming home to the unconditional love of an affectionate guppy. Fish are by far the least annoying domestic animals… and with over three million UK households reportedly taking in a new pet since the start of the pandemic, we just hope most of them were smart enough to choose companionship of the aquatic kind. But who’s got room for one of those old-school wall-filling aquariums? Well, we haven’t, so we’re quite enamoured with this much more modern take on fishkeeping from BiOrb: a classy tubular affair that holds 15, 30 or 35 litres of water but is no more than 41cm in diameter. Set on either a black or white base, it comes with all the usual bits including a patented…

£140 / stuff.tv/MZSwitch It’s an argument that rages like ketchup or mayo, Sonic or Mario, and which Fun House twin you fancy more: is a chest strap or a wrist-worn heart-rate monitor better? Myzone always used to swear by the former, but its interchangeable MZ-Switch now embraces the latter too. The answer to the questions above is of course mayonnaise, Sega is cooler than Nintendo, and how could you pick between Martina and Melanie? But the tracker debate is harder to settle, and so the MZ-Switch is out to please everyone. Instead of choosing between an ECG chest strap and a PPG sensor shining a light into your arm to measure bloodflow, it does both. Myzone claims this is a world first. It admits that, while the ECG is accurate…

Bose QuietComfort Earbuds £250 / stuff.tv/QCE They’re bulkier than the average in-ears and come with a ridiculously large case, but otherwise the QC Earbuds are difficult to knock. The noise-cancelling doesn’t do a disservice to the esteemed QC name, it’s hugely customisable, and the buds themselves sound great: bassier than you might expect, but in a nicely rounded way that retains lots of detail. They’re at the upper end where price is concerned – but if silence is what you seek, you currently won’t find better. Stuff says A fun listen with excellent noise-cancelling skills, these are the best buds to stick in your ears Sony WF-1000XM3 £140 / stuff.tv/WFXM3 The way Sony’s XM3 wireless buds serve up such spectacular sound while silencing background noise is quite something… and with…

Mi Smart Band 5 £27 / 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 Hammerhead Karoo 2 £359 / stuff.tv/Karoo2 For ages cycling computers have been held back by outdated tech… but Hammerhead’s sharp screen really is a gamechanger, and effectively…

Samsung QE65QN95A £2999 / 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 £499 / samsung.com • TIPS & TRICKS • You can configure this TV to work with the voice assistant of your choice, not just Samsung’s…

Apple iPad Air (2020) 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 care about audio apps in portrait, a 12.9in display or more advanced cameras, save yourself a couple of hundred quid and buy the new 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 from £769 / stuff.tv/iPadPro With its huge and super-slick 120Hz Liquid…

from £539 / bang-olufsen.com THE IDEA IS THAT THE SPEAKER SITS ON A BOOKSHELF TO BLEND IN That’s a nice-looking… book? Nearly. B&O’s Beosound Emerge speaker has been designed to resemble a hardback: side panels wrap around it like a book cover, while the front wears its maker’s logo like a name on the spine. So is it like one of those novelty birthday cards where you open it and it starts playing Dua Lipa? Er, no. There are touch-sensitive buttons on the top, and you can choose between oak and black finishes. The general idea is that the speaker can sit on a bookshelf to blend in. I’m guessing it goes louder than a copy of Bleak House? Beyond its camouflaging skills, the Emerge promises sonic muscle that belies…

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1 Dump the digits You don’t necessarily need a desk-dominator. If you’re not a number-cruncher or gaming macro enthusiast, save yourself some cash and ditch the numberpad for a ‘tenkeyless’ model. 2 Love the lights Backlit keys are great for low-light work and play. Gaming keyboards tend to go overkill with full-on unicorn-vomit RGB lights, which will of course make you play at least 20% better. 3 Deploy the dongle Bluetooth is convenient, but it’s nice to have other options. Some fancy boards also offer wired and RF wireless dongle options, which can be handy for gamers looking for lower latency. 4 Consider the colours Mechanical keyboards come with different kinds of key switch. Red switches are super-sensitive, blue ones have more resistance so are better for typing, while brown…

BBQ wisdom from Dan Cooper, pro chef and Weber’s head grill master (@daniel cooperbbq) 1 USE THE LID People leave it to collect rainwater and dead leaves, but restricting oxygen reduces the risk of flare-ups, stops all the flavour from blowing away and helps you to cook things evenly. 2 GO INDIRECT Indirect cooking means having an area with no heat source under it, so you can turn the middle burner off or bank up the coals and leave a ‘safe zone’ in the centre. If something takes more than 20 minutes to cook, go for indirect. 3 THERM UP So many people think thermometers belong in pro kitchens but that’s nonsense. They’re very cheap and it just means you’ve got complete confidence in your food being cooked through properly.…

BOSCH INDEGO M+ 700 Not all robot lawnmowers are created equal. You might think that, as long as there’s something out there showing the blades of grass who’s boss, you can put your feet up; but there’s more to choosing an autonomous gardener than that. The number in this Bosch mower’s name means it’s capable of patrolling gardens up to 700 square metres in size. If you’ve got less lawn to cut there are other bots that are equally well equipped for the job, but this is the top dog in the Indego range. And you don’t need one unbroken expanse of green to get the best of it: its MultiArea capability means you can allocate up to three patches of grass to its territory and it’ll automatically take care…

Animal-spying pointers from Billy Heaney, zoologist and nature presenter (billyheaney. co.uk) 1 BE IN THE RIGHT PLACE Don’t focus on getting all of the garden in shot; experiment with different locations. Find out what’s sneaking in and out of that hole in your fence, or what’s using your pond. 2 BE THE BADGER Once you’ve got it set up, do a test to make sure you’ve got your angles right and the camera’s pointing exactly where you want. Walk (or crawl) past it. 3 BE A MASTER BAITER Springwatch often use snacks to attract animals… but don’t feed them crap. Use foods they would naturally come across, and be careful not to encourage unnatural behaviour.…

£2095 (est) / stuff.tv/MateX2 ■ This slender sliver is just 4.4mm thin in tablet state and feels lovingly made, with smooth glass curving into a polished metal frame that sits comfortably in the hand… and Huawei has even added a beautiful ‘Flipstander’ vegan leather case for easier perching, whether in phone or tablet mode. ■ Unfold the Mate X2 and the 8in tablet’s 2480x2200 OLED screen shines. With its size and 413ppi resolution, it’s larger and sharper than the 7.6in screen of the Galaxy Z Fold2, although its 90Hz refresh rate isn’t quite as smooth. ■ The same 50MP main camera from the Mate 40 Pro delivers fantastic detail, white balance and dynamic range, even when lighting isn’t ideal. For macro, the 16MP ultrawide lacks a little white balance but…

EVERCADE The quirkiest handheld released in recent years, Evercade seeks to bring back the collectable element of retro gaming. Games are supplied on multi-title cartridges that slot into the console; there are ace collections from Atari, Namco, Mega Cat and Codemasters. £60 / evercade.co.uk RG350M There are dozens of cheap retro-orientated handhelds, but the RG350M stands out with its mix of quality hardware, extensibility and usability. It doesn’t cope well with games beyond the 16-bit era but it’s a great portable unit for vintage console titles. £100 / anbernic.com GPD WIN 2 This most audacious handheld is a Windows laptop with a Nintendo DS’s form factor. It’ll run AAA PC titles from a few years back and so has no issues with emulators. Add the built-in controls and you’ve a…

£700 / stuff.tv/H95 ■ If Stuff were celebrating 95 years of heritage in sound, we’d just be glad we could still hear at all. Bang & Olufsen has marked the milestone with what looks on the surface like a vanity project: a crazy-expensive pair of folding ANC headphones made from aluminium with magnetic lambskin ear-cushions. ■ When buying a B&O product you expect a certain level of quality, but even by the Danish company’s standards the H95s are exquisitely built, not to mention over 60g lighter than Apple’s over-ears and with almost double the battery life in ANC mode. ■ The headphones use a mix of touch controls, buttons, and a pair of glorious rotating dials on the inside edge of the aluminium housings – think of them like oversize…

£399 / stuff.tv/A7200G ■ The A7200G hasn’t been so much ‘designed’ as ‘put together’… and it’s all the better for it, because it’s basically all screen with simple screw-on feet. It’s businesslike and built to last. Yes, it’s a bit of a bloater, but if that’s the biggest concession we can cope. ■ A 4K LCD panel with full-array LED backlighting explains the depth of the chassis. It features HLG and HDR10 compatibility, but not HDR10+ or Dolby Vision. Connectivity extends to dual-band Wi-Fi and three HDMI 2.0 inputs, one of which is ARC-enabled and all of which can handle 4K at 60Hz. ■ Having Roku running the show is a coup: the interface is clean and extensive without being exhausting. Freeview Play has your broadcasting back, and the likes…

1 TURN ON THE TAPS If you miss buttons and want new ways to shortcut to your favourite features, this iPhone supports two actions triggered by tapping the back of it – with either a double or triple-tap. To set these, find Accessibility within the settings, select Touch and choose what action each sequence fires up. Our winning combo? Screenshots with a double tap, one-handed mode with a single. 2 SAY ‘LATER’ TO DATA While 5G has been around for a couple of years now, it’s new to iPhones. But 5G doesn’t just mean faster data speeds; it also means faster battery drain. If you’d prefer a phone that lasts versus a router in your pocket, you can turn 5G off. (This also stops you burning through your data allowance!)…

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Sony WH-1000XM4 £299 / stuff.tv/XM4 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 £279 / stuff.tv/PX7 B&W’s second ANC headphones place greater emphasis on comfort and are all the better for…

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 Nintendo’s console earned a promotion in our list after…

Half-Life: Alyx from £41 / 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…

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 £200 / 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…

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. £13 / amazon.co.uk • TIPS & TRICKS • Fed up of yelling? Alexa’s voice can work…

£tba (due early summer) / sony.co.uk • Now near, now far Sony supplies many of its rivals with camera sensors, but one thing it’s kept back for itself is the Xperia 1 III’s variable telephoto lens. It’s paired with a 12MP sensor and instantly switches between f/2.3 70mm and f/2.8 105mm focal lengths, so you can zoom in and out instantly and still get pictures packed with detail. There’s also AI super-resolution zoom, which claims to restore definition that’s lost when using digital zoom. • Relative waheys Sony’s penchant for tall and thin screens already makes its phones stand out, but the 1 III also comes with a world-first 4K HDR 120Hz display. That’ll make the 6.5in OLED a real treat for the peepers when watching video, especially when you…

Clap Hanz Golf Apple Arcade (£5/m) The Apple Arcade subscription service has slowly but surely built itself an impressively eclectic library of games… bolstered by a huge update that Apple recently dropped out of nowhere, which featured a number of games from some industry big-hitters. And the pick of the bunch, if you ask us, is Clap Hanz Golf. In all but name this is an Everybody’s Golf title for Apple Arcade, marking the end of developer Clap Hanz’s long exclusivity deal with PlayStation. But don’t expect an inferior knockoff. Like its predecessors, the infectiously cheerful Clap Hanz Golf hits that sweet spot between arcade and simulation golf, with this iteration letting you switch to a different character for each hole. The new touch controls, meanwhile, arguably make hitting a…

Aviation is in my blood. One of my grandfathers was chief executive of Westland Helicopters, the other was a wartime and civil pilot, and my late father was an aeronautical engineer. I used to build model aircraft when I was a kid, and even when I spent 16 years working for BP I never lost the passion for taking on challenges. It’s all down to human balance There’s a TED talk on YouTube that shows all the ludicrous experimental phases, but we ended up with two engines on each arm and a slightly more powerful one on your back. The three ‘legs’ of that tripod give you stability but it’s also a very useful way of controlling flight: if you vector the engines down you go up; if you flare…

The Sonos Roam is this esteemed audio company’s first proper portable speaker. Forget the Move, because while it would love to claim that title (and is a fantastic bit of kit in its own right), the truth is its sheer heft puts it pretty low down our list of boomers to sling in a satchel. The Move is an able beast but simply too unwieldy for weekends away and jaunts in the park… but the Roam is an altogether more sensible proposition for outdoor parties – and that’s not only due to its physical dimensions. Being clued up for both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, it’ll get on nicely with an existing Sonos setup but has the nifty addition of appealing to punters from outside of the Sonos sphere – those looking…

MORE PARTY STARTERS ASUS ZENBEAM LATTE L1 With another summer of football-related disappointment ahead of us, it’s a good idea to have something else you can rely on, so how about your own backyard cinema? Asus’s battery-powered projector has built-in 10W speakers and can beam a 120in, 720p picture onto any nearby flat surface. £399 / asus.com MARSHALL EMBERTON Like red Ferraris or white Apple earphones, Marshall kit should always be black… but we’ll make an exception for the brand’s smallest Bluetooth speaker. It won’t go loud enough to scare the neighbours but it sounds stonking and will play for up to 20 hours. It’s also available in green… and yes, black. £130 / marshallheadphones.com PINTER It might look like some sort of NASA fuel tank, but the only thing…

Lawncare essentials with Chris Coote, robotics product manager at Bosch (bosch-diy.com) 1 CLEAR UP Whether you’re using a robot mower or a traditional one, remove any stones or other hard objects before you start. This reduces the chances of damaging yourself or the mower. 2 RISE UP When it’s dry, raise the height of the cut on your mower, as keeping the grass a bit longer avoids weakening it and encourages deeper rooting. Rule of thumb: aim to remove only a third of the grass blade at a time. 3 OPEN UP Avoid letting too many fallen leaves build up during the autumn months. Thick layers block out the sunlight and inhibit air circulation, which makes it difficult for the grass to breathe and grow.…

• myGarden Assuming the British weather doesn’t troll us by snowing right through summer, and assuming you have a patch of land to plant stuff in, this app helps you get green-fingered. It provides inspiration and ways to plan: there’s a journal for noting successes plus a plant library to help you track what you shove into the soil, how often it should be watered, and whether you’ll die if you eat some for dinner. £free / iOS • PlantNet Shazam for plants? Well, they don’t make any noise, so no. What you do get here, though, is a plant-specific reverse image search. Shoot a few snaps, tell the app whether it’s looking at a leaf, a flower, a fruit or some bark, and it’ll rifle through its database to…

£295 / stuff.tv/360Go2 One key to a killer action cam is portability. If you’re barrelling down the side of a mountain faster than you can think, you don’t want the camera recording your ‘extreme’ sporting exploits to be a distraction. Ideally, you don’t want to feel like you’re carrying one at all. You also want it to record sharp, detailed footage stable enough to watch back later without feeling like you’re going to lose your lunch. So Insta360 has created a teeny tiny cam that can cling to your chest, boosted by FlowState stabilisation. In fact, the Go 2 is so small you could probably swallow it. Obviously don’t do that, it’ll taste disgusting; but being puny in stature and with stacks of bundled accessories to exploit your adventures, this…

MEASURE A new Lidar sensor means the iPhone 12 Pro reads space better than any Android. Try it out with the Measure app, pre-installed and available through the App Store. £free IKEA PLACE Live your flat-pack AR fantasy with Ikea’s official Lidar app. Will it fit or won’t it? Put that tape measure away and drop a virtual sofa in your living room to find out. £free POLYCAM Imagine you could grab a 3D photo of any given scene then navigate around it, peering under surfaces and stepping nearer to chosen objects. That’s what Polycam makes possible. £free…

£800 / stuff.tv/ROG5 ■ It’s still seemingly impossible to bag yourself a PS5 without paying a scalper a kidney, so one solution is a gaming-dedicated smartphone for playing Fortnite on the khazi. The ROG Phone 5 might be the size of a tank and hardly any less showy, but it means business. ■ Samsung has custom-designed a 6.78in AMOLED display that sits behind Gorilla Glass Victus with always-on HDR and impressive colour accuracy. There’s a zippy 144Hz refresh rate and 300Hz touch sampling too – every swipe or tap is instantly registered. ■ A Snapdragon 888 and 16GB of RAM is beefier than a barrel of cows and ensures the smooth running of Android’s most demanding titles, but there’s also an X Mode to max out CPU and GPU performance.…

As in Destiny, killing enemies or opening chests brings the possibility of colourful loot popping up. At first you might just be mindlessly swapping out gear with whatever’s got a higher number, but the depth comes from modifying rare gear you’ve dismantled. For instance, you may be rocking a powerful shotgun or helmet, but its initial mods don’t play to your strengths. So you can swap these out with something that works to your playstyle. Conversely, if you have a mod you really liked in a weapon that’s now under-powered, you can take it apart and carry that mod over to a higher-level weapon. It’s that creativity that makes Outriders’ endgame especially rewarding, when you’re going to need all the gear and skills you can muster for tier-based Expeditions. These…

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 £349 / 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 £421 / 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 the speaker Sonos should have launched years ago – and for even better portability, watch out for the new Roam model reviewed on p29. 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) £80 / 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. £170 / amazon.co.uk • TIPS & TRICKS • The Echo’s built-in Zigbee hub can hook up hundreds of smart home devices without a…

Fujifilm X-T4 £1549 / 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…