Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 10 i Gadget

Dan Hutchinson Editor In Chief I already have a Samsung Gear VR. It offers Oculus tech and content for about a fifth of the price! Drew Sleep Production Editor The only feasible one for me is PS VR but, while I’m a VR zealot, I’m trying before I’m buying. Andy Downes Senior Art Editor It’s early days for VR games, but I loved piloting a starship and fighting off other players in Elite: Dangerous. Harriet Knight Designer I would love one, but I think I would use it far too casually to spend that kind of money.…

Just like Amazon Echo has Alexa, Home will have Google Assistant. More than just an etheral voice, Assistant is the next stage of Google, drawing on the search giant’s vast databases to be even more personal than Google Now. It will also follow you around across platforms and devices, from Google Home to the new Allo messaging app. Allo is launching on iPhone and Android later this summer. It handles a lot of what Google already does, from booking movie tickets to finding travel directions, but it’s going to do it all more intelligently and with a more conversational, ‘human’ interface than ever before.…

100 THERMAL IMAGING IT’S SO HOT RIGHT NOW Both the military and big businesses have used thermal imaging for years, but soon we’ll all be feeling the heat. You might think wanting to see a thermal signature sounds a bit of a niche interest, but so was GPS before it tumbled in price. Now it’s in our cars, smartphones, cameras and so many other devices. Thermography, as it’s more properly known, is on the brink of doing the same thing as sensors have dropped in price from $3,000 (£2,080) to around $300 per chip. The number of gadgets equipped with heat-seeking sensors is now expected to grow from about 500,000 to three million units in the coming years. In the here and now, low-cost thermography tech is being marketed towards…

There’s no getting around it – the Vive is pretty hefty. The head straps do a good job of holding the headset securely, and the padding is fantastic, but after a long play time it can start to become uncomfortable. The visuals The Vive packs in two 1080 x 1200 OLED panels that combine for a 2160 x 1200 resolution, and the screen refreshes at 90Hz for a smooth visual experience Sensors everywhere There are 37 sensors inside the Vive’s headset, along with the forward-facing camera, and, combined with the base stations, these produce seamless a VR experience Headphone socket In-ear headphones come as standard, and offer good immersion into the VR world, but if you have surround-sound headphones the experience will be even better…

Skulpt Chisel A handheld deep tissue scanner that can tell you your body’s muscle quality and body fat percentage, so you can figure out which muscule groups you need to work out. £70 | $100 skulpt.me Finding and joining a gym can be intimidating. Also there’s the risk of ‘doing it wrong’, meaning you can damage muscle tissue and bone if you’re going into fitness blind. Of course, nothing beats a head-start with a qualified personal trainer to get your form and routine right, but what comes after that? First of all, form and positioning is the most important thing you will need to pay attention to, so you’ll need to make sure your footwear and clothing is suitable for lifting weights. Secondly, training for strength is different than training…

Going underwater with your tracker was a great divider when it came to gadgets to help you train. With some instances where the owner would be forced to modify their beloved device via a third party for underwater use (hello, Fitbit) or own more than one tracker, one for land and one specifically for water use. Today, it’s no surprise that the advancements with underwater trackers is several leagues ahead of what it used to be, with devices designed to give feedback from your every movement in real time – and not just in an app after you sync the device, but also devices that will tell you if you are off-course via HUD-like LED’s attached to your goggles. Devices to help you train for marathon swimming, or just swimming…

Forecast the weather With a press and a tap you can get a handy little weather forecast on your wrist. You can swipe through a – surprisingly accurate – five-day forecast for your location. Control your music Tapping on the music icon lets you see what’s playing and play, pause and skip through your tracks. In our testing session it worked very well with the Google Play Music app. Take a photo The Go Watch can remotely control your smartphone’s camera. With a quick tap to your watch, a three-second countdown begins before your snap is taken and saved. Bring up notifications Notifications from your smartphone appear on the Go Watch almost instantaneously, from texts to tweets, so it’s quick and easy to make up your mind whether to dig…

01 Enjoy 24-bit beats While you’re listening to Apple Music, the Cipher cable bypasses the iPhone’s internal DAC and instead directly streams 24-bit audio through the cable’s own integrated converter. The chip architecture allows for better pass-through of music through the Lighting connector. 02 DAC reconstruction As the music flows through the Cipher’s DAC, it’s not only converted between analog and digital, it’s also reconstructed to help improve audio playback. As it converts, it’s sent to the over-ear drivers. 03 Planar technology The reconstructed 24-bit audio goes through Audeze’s own planar technology, capable of providing punchy and dynamic sound. The size of the headphones allows for improved air movement, which means better bass and treble control for listeners. Air circulation To keep music distortion to the absolute minimum and to…

Hudway Glass A power-free satnav display that sits on your dashboard and reflects the map from its companion app, directly onto your viewpoint. £35 | $50 hudwayglass.com A satnav map, displayed right in front of your windscreen? Sign us up! The Hudway glass is intended to be just that. By cleverly bridging the gap between map app and an actual satnav, and initially designed to help rally drivers keep focused on the road while driving at high speeds, it’s a well-crafted cradle for your phone to lay in with a translucent screen that reflects the phone’s display. As phones can turn from useful machines to death-causing distractions very quickly, if used when driving, the Hudway Glass eliminates the user’s need to interact with the phone at all, and reduces confusion…

 Historically, we have tended not to carry much technology with us during the summer months for a variety of reasons. Gadgets can easily get damaged in water or even when left under the hot sun for a few minutes, for example, but we have now reached the stage where the materials and knowledge available lets manufacturers make products that are able to withstand whatever is thrown at them. On top of this, they have taken things much further and created a selection of devices that can multitask. No longer do you need a singular device for each activity because you can pay a little extra and cover multiple tasks in one purchase, and at no stage has the quality been lost through miniaturisation or flexible components. We will highlight the…

CATCH THE BIG EVENTS A projector has the advantage of offering a much bigger display space, in the case of the BenQ 1080ST+, up to 100 inches, and also being more portable than a TV. With the 1080ST+ you also get 1080p quality and 3D capabilities so you will be able to see all of the action as if you were really in the crowd. £750 | $1,100 | benq.com HEAR EVERY GOAL AND EVERY SCREAM When you are watching sporting events you will also want to hear every important moment as realistically as possible. The Sony 2.1-channel Soundbar lets you immerse yourself in the roar from the crowd and the satisfying sounds of when a javelin meets the ground or a ball meets goal. It will greatly enhance your…

ANDROID WEAR – the smartwatch operating system based on Android, developed by Google and compatible with Android and iOS phones, if you have an Android Wear app installed. Supports smart notifications, Google Now, voice control and more. ATM – short for ‘atmospheres’, you’ll see an ATM specification if your smartwatch is waterproof. The number in front of the ATM indicates how many metres underwater you can go before the watch is going to start to get damaged. PEBBLE OS – a customised smartwatch OS developed by Pebble for its own range of smartwatches, which works with connected Android and iOS devices. Its features include notification support, activity tracking and customisable watch ‘faces’. STANDALONE – essentially, able to work without a phone tethered to it. Most smartwatches offer some level of…

Westfalia Car Jack This is genius. 60 quid buys you an inflatable cushion that can lift over two tons up in the air. The advantage of this car jack over traditional ones is that it can lift two wheels at once, it’s perfect for uneven and soft surfaces, and it connects straight to the car’s exhaust to inflate it. Brilliant. £60 | $85| westfalia.net Ring 12V Air Compressor An essential piece of kit, a battery-powered air compressor can inflate a tyre in just under three minutes. All you have to do is set the pressure gauge, attach the nozzle and that’s pretty much it. You can also use a compressor for bike tyres and inflating camping gear, too. £25 | $30 | bit.ly/ringauto Holts Tyreweld So you’ve got a puncture…

Brck The Brck is basically a portable Wi-Fi device that has been designed to be used in the most remote locations, where it’s practically impossible to get a phone signal. £175 | $250 | brck.com TP-Link M5350 If you need to set up a Wi-Fi hotspot, then the TP-Link is the device for you. All you have to do is insert a SIM card into the Link and it can then be shared with up to nine users simultaneously. £40 | $90 | tp-link.dk BT 600 USB Wireless Adapter Stick it in a computer without a Wi-Fi card and it’ll connect it up to your network. It’s also dual band, too, so you can use it with other devices. £20 | $30 | shop.bt.com Linksys Range Extender If you’re trying…

Built for pockets At 12cm x 8cm x 1.7cm, the plastic-cased PalmPilot was small and light – it weighed only 5.7 ounces, or 161 grams Touch-sensitive screen The PalmPilots offered a pixel LCD screen as standard. The PalmPilot Pro added a backlit screen, perfect for after-hours working A stylish stylus Stored in a socket moulded into the right-hand side of the device, the stylus could be used to tap and make strokes on the screen Handwriting recognition By using strokes of the stylus in this area of the screen, it was possible to enter text. The strokes had to be learned by the device Lots of apps Each of these reassignable buttons took you to various apps. Third-party apps were also available and the PalmPilot could sync with software from…

This month’s Gadget celebrates the innovators igniting tech with exciting new ideas. In our first-ever Hot 100 list, we compile the cutting-edge companies, trailblazing trends and most amazing gear of the year. Featuring everything from phones to drones, coffee makers to 3D printers, leading tech giants and upstart start-ups, find out where your favourite gadgets rank and discover new ones. Disagree with our ranking? Think we’ve forgotten something or – better still – completely agree with us? Tell us what you would list at number one on Facebook or Twitter, our details are below. After staring into the coalface of new tech, you might need to cool down. I’d recommend checking out Dyson’s new fan (page 72). As well as offering a bladeless breath of fresh air, it filters out…

Sony PS-HX500 Turntable With High-Resolution Audio The big party trick the PS-HX500 has is the ability to rip vinyl records to high-resolution digital audio, via a cable attached to your laptop. £450 | $600 | sony.com Panasonic Technics SL-1200 The audio veteran has revived a classic turntable for the modern era with the Technics SL-1200 player, adding state-of-the-art components to a legendary and iconic design. Pricing is yet to be confirmed. TBC | TBC | panasonic.com Gramovox Floating Record Your LPs are held vertically in this kickstarted device – now on sale – and there are two powerful stereo speakers integrated into the design, so there are no extras necessary. £275 | $400 | gramovox.com Teac TN-570 One of the most well-specced and high-quality turntables money can buy, and it…

01 Samsung Modular TV In January, Samsung showed off a working concept that is made up of screens that can be used separately or seamlessly combined into a massive 170-inch screen. Ideal for a movie night! TBA youtu.be/id-DvZjBSBI 02 Acer Revo Build PC Intended to be simpler to upgrade than a conventional PC, you simply stack magnetic blocks onto Acer’s Revo Build to boost your graphics card or add extra terabytes of memory. £200 | $180 acer.com 03 AiAiAi TMA-2 headphones Danish audio company AiAiAi allows you to customise your headphones before you buy them and replace any parts when they wear out. With 18 modules to choose from, they offer 360 different combinations. £115 | $165 aiaiai.dk 04 Blocks smartwatch Coming this September, Blocks is doing for smartwatches what…

HEADSET DESIGN The Rift’s biggest benefit is not only in its comfortable (and removable) built-in headphones, but also in its all-round design, which is much sleeker than the Vive’s. The Vive headset is larger and heavier than the Rift, but features a forward-facing camera to help map the world around you, and adjustable lenses which are great for players with glasses. STAY IN CONTROL While Oculus will be releasing similarly-tooled motion controls to the Vive in the next few months, right now the only controller option is that of an Xbox One. Two controllers come bundled with the HTC Vive, and offer great accuracy. They include rumble motors for feedback, triggers, grip buttons and touch-sensitive pads under each thumb for scrolling. STEM REQIREMENTS You’ll need a little more power if…

Corner These lightweight, wireless trackers designed to record your punches and monitor your progress over time will be available to preorder this month, on sale in December. £50 | $70 athletec.io Gathering data from all axis’ Within each of the Corner units, there are three accelerometers that are responsible for recording and gathering the data necessary to provide you with your stats Bluetooth connectivity The units maintain a Bluetooth connection to your phone, meaning that your data generated from your workout will be transferred in real time. Lightweight by design The Corner trackers allows for use on your gloves or hand wraps, and their light weight construction means they wont hinder your speed, you won’t notice that they’re there We’ve all seen the movies with the fitness montages featuring shadow…

Cycling is one of the most commonplace hobbies and it is a favoured means of transport for most commutes. It’s also a high-speed and very competitive sport, whether on the slicked race track, or off-road in a forest. So, how do you gain that competitive edge in a cycling duel, and is there a shortcut to improvement? With cycling, it’s a tough blend between the bike itself and your own physical attributes as to whether you are going to be hitting the goals you desire. There are many factors at play, ranging from maintenance oils for specific weather, tyre treads for terrain, right down to the wind drag of your clothes or helmet. Many people forget that training your muscles can make all the difference. Making the most of the…

Getting yourself ready and in shape to even get close to competing in a canoe sprint is one thing, but you’re also going to require a canoe, or at the very least a kayak. So it’s good to know that to get started in canoeing, you don’t need to be spending a fortune… just yet. Before you even start looking at trailers or roofing mounts for your vehicle, you should consider your skill level first. A canoe sprint is something you can compete in individually or as a team, therefore your choice of canoe should reflect this. With basic lightweight inflatable kayaks, such as the Intex K2 Challenger, to get you started, you and a friend can have fun practicing steering down a river. Alternatively you can opt for some…

GO CRAZY Has your life been much too sedate lately? Let loose and allow yourself to get a little crazy. GO DIVE Go for a swim, go snorkelling or heck, even take yourself skydiving. We can only guess what this result means. GO JUMP You spend too much time with your feet on the ground. Jump on the spot because the Go Watch says so.. GO SCREAM All those pent up feelings need some release. Scream your head off - you’ll feel much better. GO LOVE Turn off the lights. Light some candles. Put on some Barry White. You know the deal. GO JAM Put on your favourite dance tune and turn it up loud! It’s time for you to get in to the jam, come on and slam. GO…

TURN YOUR iPAD PRO INTO A MACBOOK Supercharge your iPad Pro’s productivity with this Brydge Pro keyboard add-on. Typing feels as natural as using a proper laptop, while time-saving shortcut keys make it easy to exit any app and search files. Brydge Pro £130 | $190 | brydgekeyboards.com BUDGET FITNESS BAND GOES THE DISTANCE If you don’t want to drop £100+ on a Fitbit, try the Withings Go. It’s not much to look at, but it can track running, walking, swimming and sleep patterns. Its low-power E Ink screen means it can last for eight months on a single charge. Withings Go £50 | $80 | withings.com THIS SWISS ARMY 4K ACTION CAM IS EVERYTHING-PROOF If Batman wore a body cam, it would be the TG-Tracker. As well as shooting…

Dyson Pure Cool Link Tower Standing tall at just over 40 inches, the Cool Link Tower has been engineered to purify larger spaces, like an entire room. It’s also suitable for placing on the floor. £450 | $630 Dyson.co.uk Dyson Pure Cool Link Desk This air purifier has been designed for use on desks and worktops, tackling smaller spaces than the Cool Link Tower. It can be tilted for more targeted airflow. £350 | $500 Dyson.co.uk It may look like another of Dyson’s famous bladeless fans, but the Cool Link removes 99.95 per cent of indoor allergens and pollutants. These irritants are too small to see with the naked eye and include gases from cooking and central heating, mould, pet dander and pollen. Essentially, it’s a vacuum for the air…

Petcube A wireless camera that enables you to remotely watch, play and even talk with your pets as well as share them with other animal lovers online. £200 | $200 petcube.com Our pets are valued family members and we all like to make sure they’re well looked after at all times, even when we can’t be there ourselves. The Petcube essentially fills the void left when you’re not there, adding a virtual presence that can potentially help reassure your cat or dog that they are not alone. Basically a Wi-Fi-connected camera, users can watch a live feed of their pet on the go through a free companion app for iPhone, Android and Apple Watch. The Petcube has a 138° wide-angle lens to make sure you can always see your pet.…

THIS KIT COULD SAVE YOUR LIFE The Bear Grylls Basic Kit contains a set of useful tools that could make a camping or backpacking trips much easier and potentially save your in an emergency. The kit includes waterproof matches, a cotton ball to use as tinder, a fold-up knife, snare wire, a pocket guide full of survival tips and much more. £20 | $30 | gerber-store.co.uk KEEP CLEAN WHEREVER YOU ARE We’ve all been there after a few days camping – sweaty, grubby and just generally unclean. Well, the Helio Pressure Shower can solve all of that. You pump it with your foot and you can clean dishes, your muddy dog and, most importantly, your own filthy body when you need to. It will greatly improve any camping trip. £105…

AN E-READER WITH THE LARGEST OF SCREENS Oasis, H2O, Ocean – there’s definitely something in the water when it comes to these latest e-readers. With the Ocean, though, you get text flowing beyond the normal screen size, giving 79 per cent more reading space on its eight-inch edge-to-edge display. Design We would like to say the Ocean hasn’t cut any corners in terms of design but it has, right there on the bottom left. But it’s missing more than that tiny piece: while it’s solidly built, Ocean is uncomfortable to hold due to its sharp edges. Features One of the nicest things about the Ocean is that the screen is flush with the bezel and this makes going page-to-page in a book pleasurable. It also uses a font called Caecilia…

EVERNOTE This organisation app is probably already familiar to you, but it comes into its own on a smartwatch, where you can set up reminders, tick off items on a to do list, and search through your notes. Free | Works on both Apple Watch and Android Wear GOOGLE MAPS No one does street mapping quite as accurately or as intuitively as Google does, and it has apps for Android Wear (of course) and the Apple Watch, though the latter one is a little more limited. Free | Works on both Apple Watch and Android Wear RUNTASTIC One of the best uses for a smartwatch is giving you running stats and info on the move, and Runtastic leads the pack as far as this type of app goes. It’s packed…

Aqua2Go Water Sprayer If you want your sandcastle to last more than a few minutes then you’re going to have to keep it wet. So you can use this sprayer to lightly douse your masterpiece and ‘glue’ it together. £110 | $160 | aqua2go.eu/en Belle RTX Rammer If you have oodles of money and are determined to become a pro then you might want to invest in a rammer, as the more compact you make the damp sand, the more likely it’ll all stay in one place. £1,800 | $2,600 | bellegroup.com Three gallon bucket If you invest in a sprayer, you’re still going to need a lot of water, so make sure you’ve got a supply of high-quality buckets to hand. You want heavy-duty builders’ buckets at 14 litres…

Bluetooth connectivity Bluetooth Low Energy (LE) is used to connect up the Sneakairs with your smartphone, so once you’ve set your destination, directions can be sent to the shoes Vibration motor The vibration motor is designed to spread the buzzing out across the soles of your feet, letting you know when you need to take a turn or retrace your steps Sneakairs smarts The Sneakairs use a custom-made circuit board similar to an Arduino, with one of these smart panels fitted inside each shoe (bright orange EasyJet branding optional) GPS signals The accompanying app calculates a route and then uses the GPS capabilities of your phone to work out exactly where you are and where you need to go next If you want a demonstration of how smart clothing can…

HTC Vive The Vive package doesn’t just include the VR headset, which has a front-facing camera and 32 sensors to provide full-360° motion tracking. You also get two Lighthouse base station sensors for greater accuracy and a pair of motion-sensing controllers. £690 | $800 | htcvive.com Chillblast Tristar Gaming PC This is where the Vive gets expensive. You can upgrade your existing gaming PC for around £800 to make it VR-ready, but if you have to buy one from scratch, try the Chillblast Tristar with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980T graphics card and Intel Core i7-6700K processor. £2,000 | $2,900 | chillblast.com SENNHEISER HD 558 The Vive comes with headphones, but they are basic earbuds, so you might want to upgrade. 3D headphones for VR, like the Ossic X, are in…

Steve Holmes, 25 “As far as responsiveness and precision go, this is better than what I’ve seen from Oculus. However, the price really needs to come down.” Anthony Godsell, 28 “I thought VR was very immersive and intuitive in the game, the headset was rather comfortable but the wire completely breaks immersion and is super annoying.” Poppy-Jay Palmer, 23 “The rhythm game was brilliant! I’d love to try out the others. But I can’t really see myself buying one unless it costs about £30.” Clare l’Anson, 33 “The controllers responded instantly to any movements I made. I can’t wait for this to become more affordable and for multiplayer modes.” Rebekka Hearl, 26 “AudioShield, the Vive’s virtual reality rhythm game, is great fun and a tough workout! The rhythm is easier…

Training for agility is broad arena, and one that has been occupied with obstacles designed specifically to train agility for centuries. Obstacles, such as the ladder, are used to help build tendon strength and a quickness of the feet, and simple cones on the floor to be slalomed in and around help focus balance, strength and coordination. So with many devices geared up to help you become faster, what can be used to train agility? The real game-changer, in terms of tech, has been the introduction of more sensors. The Moov Now, for example, incorporates its own Omni Motion sensor which generates data from a gyroscope, accelerometer and a magnetometer. It combines this data to generate a 3D landscape of how your impact and speed are affecting your progress, and…

Audeze Sine These headphones are the world’s first on-ear planar magnetic headphones, equipped with a detachable 24-bit high-resolution Lightning cable instead of a 3.5mm jack. £450 | $500 audeze.com While the Audeze Sine headphones don’t boast either a Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connection, they lay claim to being the world’s first fully integrated Lightning port headphones. With it being heavily touted that the iPhone 7 will be saying bye-bye to the traditional 3.5mm audio jack, the Lightning port is likely to be the primary way for users to connect their headphones to their iDevice. This new form of connection opens itself up to some pretty remarkable technology and in the case of the Audeze Sine, it comes in the form of the Cipher cable. Not only can this cable boast support…

Glass filter Dense mats of glass fibres prevent particles from escaping. There’s more than a square metre inside, but it’s pleated to fit into a small space Optical sensor This sensor detects ultrafine pollutant particles – such as pet dander – when they block light between an emitter and a receiver Mixed flow air impeller An internal fan draws air in at the bottom and forces it up through a diffuser that separates the airflow into two paths Filter shroud A perforated shroud surrounding the base protects the filters and helps to channel airflow into the machine. In auto mode, the purifier will adjust airflow accordingly Heating element The surrounding air is heated to keep it circulating past the sensors using convection so that a small sensor chip can detect…

“It’s possible to make a powerful computer small enough to wear” There have been key moments in recent years when it was easy to believe the smartwatch was the ‘Next Big Thing’. Take the time the Pebble attracted over $10 million from Kickstarter backers in May 2012, for example; or the event in San Francisco in September 2014 where Apple CEO Tim Cook finally unveiled the long-awaited Apple Watch. The biggest names in the industry – Google, Apple, Microsoft, Samsung, LG, Sony et al – have jumped on board the bandwagon, but it seems increasingly likely that this bandwagon has now ground to a halt (or is slowly going around in circles). These gadgets haven’t swamped the market as much as their makers might have hoped. Is the smartwatch fad…

APPLE WATCH Perhaps not the smash hit Apple was hoping for, but it’s selling equally as good or even better than the first iPhone did. It is the obvious choice if you own an iPhone and want a smart wearable to go with it. £260 | $300 | apple.com HUAWEI WATCH The Huawei Watch is functional, stylish and one of the first Android Wear watches that has the ability work with iOS too. The price is a bit steep but you’re unlikely to be disappointed with your purchase. £290 | $350 | huawei.com MOTO 360 V2 This is the second-generation of the Moto 360 and one of the best Android Wear devices around – it looks the part, can be customised in a variety of ways and it makes the…

AdBlock If you are running a Chrome or Safari browser, then the only choice you really need to consider is the brilliant AdBlock. It’s relatively easy to install and it will speed up your Internet experience considerably, making browsing the web fun and easy once more. Available for: Chrome, Safari Free | getadblock.com 1Blocker Mobile devices are just as prone to the horrors of intrusive advertising as any other operating system – in fact, more so, as they can block your entire screen. It’s arguable that with data prices what they are, there’s even more need for an ad blocker on your phone. iPhone and iPad users won’t find a better one for Safari than Salavat Khanov’s 1Blocker. Available for: iOS Free | 1blocker.com Adblock Browser Although you can limit…