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Nest’s smart thermostat was the early poster child for the smart home, designed to be a hub that could control the smart home products from other manufacturers, before products like Echo and Google Home existed. And it still does this, through its Works With Nest programme. Belkin WeMo plugs, LIFX light bulbs, Logitech Harmony remotes and more can all talk to each other using a Nest thermostat, Nest Protect alarm or Nest Cam as a conduit. Nest makes a point that it’s all very private too – you’ll know what data is being shared between devices, and all the connections are encrypted. The Nest products can take some automated control of your other smart home products, if you let it. For example, if you’re away from the house, Nest will…

Like Amazon Echo, Google Home is designed to be a voice-powered assistant, rather than just a smart home controller – but it does that too, of course. Home’s voice smarts are provided by Google Assistant, which can pull information like the weather or your schedule, but you can also ask it questions in the way that you might Google them, and it’ll offer the most useful result, so this even includes translation to foreign languages, or a trivia question. (Although, in many cases, it’ll be pulling the answer from a web search rather than a database of confirmed facts, so you can’t always be sure it’ll be correct…) The important thing for us, though, is that it can control lots of smart home products. Like Amazon Echo, Google Home can…

Coming in December 2017, the Apple HomePod is a wireless speaker that’s also a smart home control device. The order is kind of important there, because while the Amazon Echo is all about being a voice assistant first that also plays music, the tech in HomePod is geared mostly towards awesome-sounding audio. Siri is on-board for voice control, but it does less than on the iPhone as a full AI assistant. However, the important part for us is that it’s still equipped with all of its smart home savvy, so you can tell the HomePod to control your HomeKit-connected kit just like you would your phone, and it will respond. Even better, the HomePod can act as a remote access point, in the same way as the Apple TV and…

1 DE’LONGHI DEDICA STYLE Affordable and compact, the Dedica Style Pump Espresso has a matching grinder, so you have bean-to-cup convenience with less complexity. With the right grind and extraction time, you can get great results, and the milk frothing nozzle is just fantastic. £199, delonghi.com 2 JURA Z8 Almost £3,000 worth of cutting-edge beverage-making tech, the latest Jura machine offers just about any coffeeflavoured drink you can think of, at the prod of a touchscreen. Minimum effort but maximum result. And, to be fair, maximum cost as well. £2,595, uk.jura.com 3 SAGE THE ORACLE This pulls off the rather clever trick of looking and behaving like something a barista would use, but with a consumer-friendly layer of idiotproofing, thanks to automatic grinding, tamping and milk frothing. It’s built like…

SPECS Denon HEOS 1 HS2 POWER OUTPUT: Unspecified BLUETOOTH: Yes WPS SUPPORT: Yes USB: Yes SIZE: 373 x 224 x 138mm WEIGHT: 1.9kg Denon HEOS 7 HS2 POWER OUTPUT: Unspecified BLUETOOTH: Yes WPS SUPPORT: Yes USB: Yes SIZE: 203 x 479 x 164mm WEIGHT: 4.6kg SPECS Panasonic SC-All05POWER OUTPUT: 20W BLUETOOTH: Yes WPS SUPPORT: Yes USB: No SIZE: 170 x 179 x 77mm WEIGHT: 1.5kg Panasonic SC-All9 POWER OUTPUT: 80W (2x20W plus 1x40W) BLUETOOTH: Yes WPS SUPPORT: Yes USB: No SIZE: 373 x 224 x 138mmWEIGHT: 1.9kg SPECS Yamaha MCR-N470D POWER OUTPUT: 2x20W BLUETOOTH: Yes WPS SUPPORT: Yes USB: Yes SIZE: 270 x 110 x 330mm WEIGHT: 3kg Yamaha WX-010 POWER OUTPUT: 25W (woofer 15W, tweeter 10W) BLUETOOTH: Yes WPS SUPPORT: Yes USB: No SIZE: 120 x 160 x 130mm WEIGHT: 1.7kg…

It won’t evoke the big screen with those Hans Zimmer soundtracks A cursory glance would suggest that the Panasonic SC-All05 is a modest all-purpose active speaker, but it performs well and can be considered exceptional given both its price and waterfowl functionality. Sure, it may be a tad monophonic, but with 20W on board it makes a surprisingly big noise. There are two 6.5cm drivers, paired to matching passive radiators; DSP-enhanced mid-bass serves rock and dance tracks particularly well; and it has great vocal integrity for such a small box. Sadly, when running off its battery, power output drops to just 8W, which is noticeable. The SC-All9 is the kingpin in the Panasonic All Connected range, and with an integrated 40W sub, dual 8cm woofers, plus a pair of 2x20W…

1st HEOS By Denon Price: £199/£499 URL: www.denon.co.uk T3 RATES: What you need from a wireless multi-room system is rock-solid reliability, and the HEOS delivers. It’s the easiest multi-zone system to configure, and has an excellent companion app. If your NAS is packed with 24-bit files and you have a penchant for high-res tunes on Tidal, then HEOS has your name written all over it. T3 SLATES: This is hardly the best-value wireless music system, and the Go Pack battery is an expensive add-on. The lack of Bluetooth aptX is a curious omission. T3 SAYS: For high-res multiroom and entertainment value, the second-gen HEOS had us dancing on the ceiling. 2nd Panasonic All Connected Price: £180/£330 URL: www.panasonic.co.uk T3 RATES: The SC-All05 is a cracking waterproof wireless speaker, and brilliant…

The increasingly popular Netflix and Amazon may be ramping up HDR support, and games are quickly following suit, but currently the best source of HDR content is 4K UHD Blu-ray. It’s a key feature of all new 4K disc releases, and is also cropping up on a number of remastered classics (the original Ghostbusters movies spring to mind). Hollywood studios now clearly see HDR as a killer app for the new disc format. All 4K UHD Blu-rays use HDR 10 (by which we actually mean HDR 10-bit), which is an industry-wide open standard for content and displays. By way of comparison, regular Blu-rays are 8-bit SDR (Standard Dynamic Range).…

Sky and BT may now run 4K programmes, but they haven’t adopted HDR yet. That’s because they’re waiting for a broadcast HDR specification called Hybrid Log-Gamma (HLG) to be standardised. Broadcasters like HLG because it’s backwards compatible with non-HDR TVs (so they only have to broadcast one stream) and it allows them to produce HDR programmes using current studio equipment. Official ratification of HLG is expected before the end of the year. We won’t know until next year though if any 2016 HDR TVs can be firmware updated to support it.…

Say what? OK, when it comes to TVs a nit level, for the uninitiated, is a measure of brightness. It’s also known as candela-per-metre-squared, but nit is obviously much easier for us all to pronounce. Nits are all-important to HDR. All screens have a different brightness output, so sophisticated tone mapping is used to reproduce HDR images across a broad range of sets. Clever this may be, but this also means that the HDR viewing experience is not going to be the same from one TV to another. And further to that, the 4K HDR content you sit down to watch could end up looking very different to the same content your friends are viewing on their HDR screens, so it pays to know your nits.…

Ah, juicing. While some extol its virtues, proclaiming increased vitality and a healthy gut, others dismiss it as a fad. Still, juicing is big business. And the scene is growing, thanks to juicing advocates like Joe Cross (star of Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead) and actors Owen Wilson and Gwyneth Paltrow. If you’re ready to drink your five-a-day, you’ll obviously need a juicer. T3’s been drinking our greens for years, so we’ve used a lot of juicers, both masticating and centrifugal. Here we’ve rounded up six stunners, testing each by making one green juice (mainly veg) and one orange (mainly fruits). Time to join us in the kitchen... 01 ONE FOR BIG-BATCH JUICING JUICY RETREATS JR-8000S £199.98, juicyretreats.com The JR-8000S may not have the pin-up looks of the Smeg or the celebrity endorsement of…

CRACKDOWN 3 Crackdown is a series known for destructive chaos, and its third instalment looks like it’ll be no different. Starring Terry Crews as Commander Jaxon, the game will invite players into a sandbox world in which all environments are completely destructible. That’ll look great in 4K. FORZA MOTORSPORT 7 Forza is one of the most popular racing franchises in the world for good reason. For this latest outing around the track, it’ll be boasting stunning 4K HDR visuals running at 60 frames per second, as well as more than 700 cars and 30 locations. You’ll almost think you ORI AND THE WILL OF THE WISPS A sequel to the multi-award winning Ori and the Blind Forest, Ori and the Will of the Wisps will follow Ori on his latest…

There’s a useful option to literally walk and draw out your play space Ah, wires. You only need to gaze, horrified, down the back of your TV unit to realise we don’t live in quite the tangle-free age we thought we did. While VR wireless solutions are on the way - a pricey £200 adaptor is en route for Vive - all three sets are going to seriously mess with your minimalist chi. The good news? When the headsets are on, you can’t see any of it. While potentially the most accessible of the three, the PlayStation VR still comes with a slew of cables in the box. It’s clearly been as streamlined as possible, though, and everything flows through a central processor unit plugged into a USB at the…

Fancy tearing a robot to bits with your bare hands? Knocking it down with its own arm that you’ve just yanked off? Or perhaps even juggling a scuttling AI spider foe with bullets mid-air? Robo Recall from studio Epic Games comes free with the Oculus Touch controllers and is a thrilling robot shooter fest with gorgeous design and heart-pounding action. Whether you’re testing the expert tracking by reaching over your shoulders for two enormous shotguns, or pretending you’re John Wick with a set of pistols, you can feel every squeeze of the trigger with the Touch haptic feedback.…

1st HTC Vive Price: £759 URL: vive.com/uk T3 RATES: Ultimate immersion just sneaks this ahead of the competition – gazing over parapets, out of windows and into the eyes of your enemies; this is a full, beautiful gaming world just waiting to be explored. T3 SLATES: It’s not cheap and, just like the Oculus Rift, you’re going to need a PC with a beefy graphics card, but that doesn’t have to mean breaking the bank. T3 SAYS: The supreme virtual reality package, the HTC Vive is still the solution to beat. Incredible visuals, exceptional tech and the ultimate escape solution if you’re willing to make the investment. 2nd Oculus Rift Price: £499 (£598 with Touch) URL: oculus.com T3 RATES: The best VR controllers on the market. T3 HATES: When it…

MUSIC TO OUR REARS FIRST CAME THE LAMBO SMARTPHONE. NOW THERE’S THE IXOOST ESAVOX: A SOUND SYSTEM MADE OUT OF LAMBO PARTS FOR THE BIGGEST RAGING BULL FAN. IT’S CERTAINLY ONE HELL OF A STATEMENT A BIT OF A BADASS The ESAVOX has been styled to represent the business end of a Lamborghini, with slash tail pipes, upward-firing intake ports and beautifully-curved pipes that wrap around the rear of the carbon Twill 245 3k monoque chassis. POWERFUL SOUNDS Like any good Lambo, this system is LOUD. Two side cabinets, housing a 6.5-inch and 8-inch speaker, stand either side, like a pair of doormen escorting the centrally-mounted 1-inch tweeters and 15-inch sub. TOTAL CONTROL Keeping all that volume in check are two stereo valve amps, one of which is devoted to…

From £169.99, logitech.com WHERE TO USE IT Logitech’s second-gen cam can be used indoors or outdoors, making for a seriously flexible solution for home monitoring. WHAT IT DOES The Logi Circle 2 is great for keeping an eye on your whole home, wherever you are. Just grab your tablet or smartphone and you can view a live feed, at a crisp 1080p resolution. The super-wide 180-degree field of view enables you to see loads of detail. When the camera sees something, it’ll ping you a notification the moment it happens. Circle 2 comes in two different flavours – wired (for power) or completely wire-free, with a rechargeable battery. The Circle 2 can be placed anywhere in your home without being tethered to a mains socket, and its weatherproof shell means…

£39, belkin.com WHERE TO USE IT Absolutely anywhere there’s a mains socket – just plug it in to the wall and then plug in the device you want to make smart. WHAT IT DOES If you’re looking to dip your toes in the smart home waters, you’ll find no gadget better suited. Belkin’s WeMo Insight Switch hooks up to your Wi-Fi network, enabling you to gain control over any electricals attached to it, whether it’s lights, a TV, or even a washing machine. This includes turning them on or off remotely, scheduling when they’re in use, and getting energy consumption details on all your electricals, so you know how much they’re costing you. WHAT IT WORKS WITH Amazon Alexa, Nest, Google Assistant NOW SUPERCHARGE IT! If you have a Nest…

From £169, netatmo.com WHERE TO USE IT Netatmo’s weather station works both indoors and out, meaning you can master your complete environment. WHAT IT DOES Consisting of an indoor and outdoor module, the Weather Station monitors the air inside your house as well as outside it. Hook the module up to your phone and via the app you’ll get readings for temperature, humidity, air quality, and much more, and the indoor unit will even tell you how loud your home is – perfect for homes full of screaming kids, then. Ally the Weather Station with Netatmo’s optional Wind Gauge (£89.99) and Rain Gauge (£59), and you can be your own fully fledged weather expert. With all the above sensors installed around your premises, you’ll be able to accurately track the…

Much like Pringles, once you start picking up smart home gear, it’s hard to stop. When you’ve had the benefit of smart lighting, you’ll be heading back for motion sensors, security cameras, air sensors and the rest. And that’s great, because what really makes a smart home smart is when you get all this stuff working together seamlessly. GET YOURSELF CONNECTED Most smart home products are compatible with a variety of systems that let them talk to each other, usually via some kind of central controlling hub. Here, we’ll cover all the most important ones, and how you can control them using apps, voice and more. When you buy, look out for the icons on the right, to know what they work with. These aren’t the only ways you can…

The most famous smart home controller, Amazon’s Echo microphone and speaker has earned its status. Not only can the built-in assistant, Alexa, answer queries about the weather, play music, and even read audiobooks when asked, it can control a huge, huge range of smart home products. Compatibility with Alexa is the hot trend for new tech, so everything from thermostats, to lights, to locks, to power sockets, to garden automation works with it. You expand the Echo’s capabilities by adding ‘skills’ via the Alexa app on iOS or Android for new gear, though it’s not just about hardware – there are skills for things like ordering takeaway from Just Eat, finding out what you’re spending on energy, or hearing the headlines from major newspapers. There’s a bunch of Echo devices…

Like Hive, this is a family of products controlled from a specific SmartThings hub. It’s mostly focused on sensors – including motion sensors, moisture, door and window sensors, and a ‘presence’ sensor that someone carries to tell you when they enter or leave the house. There is a more active device, in the form of a smart power plug. However, unlike Hive, there’s a range of smart home products from other manufacturers that are compatible with the system, including cameras, lights and speakers. These can all be controlled and linked through the SmartThings app for iOS and Android, and can be set to trigger each other automatically. It doesn’t have its own voice command option, but you can control a SmartThings setup via Google Home (and Google Assistant on your…

Panasonic’s All Connect system is based on the Qualcomm AllPlay platform, and is therefore theoretically compatible with other products that use the same chipset. Now available in a second-gen HS2 guise, HEOS by Denon has added high-res audio support and extended interoperability to work with Denon home-cinema receivers. Rather than foster a standalone multi-room brand, Yamaha has opted to treat MusicCast more as a feature, building support for it into a swathe of products (35 at the time of writing, and that number’s increasing all the time). Buy any Yamaha hi-fi or AV today, and you’ll probably be able to MusicCast it tomorrow……

The Denon AVR-X4300H is a £950 nine-channel (9x200W) AV receiver that adds HEOS multi-room support, alongside Dolby Atmos and DTS: X 3D audio. The first AVR on the market to support HEOS speakers, it reinforces interoperability by bundling in a free HEOS 1. You can play a CD on a Blu-ray deck, select that input as the source on the AVR via the HEOS companion app, and then stream the music through both your cinema system and any connected HEOS speakers. Similarly, you can also share movie soundtracks, although Dolby/DTS bitstreams play out of sync with connected HEOS speakers.…

When it comes to cosmetic design, wireless systems run the gamut from wacky to dull. The HEOS 7’s teardrop design is more handbag than high-tech, while the HEOS 1 is rather angular. Yamaha plays it safe with the WX-010, and entertains only a modicum of retro chic with its MusicCast micro-system. Arguably the best-looking wireless speakers on test come from Panasonic. There’s no unjustifiable, impractical silhouette here. Both the SC-All05 and the SC-All9 feature classic lines that are lifted by subtle, clever refinements. We like how the waterproof model has a slanted top with touch-sensitive controls, while those chrome trims complement the stock grille.…

The TV times are changing. 4K UHD TV sales are off the chain. You can’t move for industry pundits offering wild predictions on how many sets are being sold. No one doubts that 4K TV will become the norm, the only question is how long it’ll be before they take over. This year, some 230 million televisions will be sold worldwide (pub quizzers take note), of which 50 million will be 50-inch plus UHD models. On a high-street near you, the fastest-growing 4K screen size is now 43 inches or thereabouts. It seems soon, we’ll all be looking for 2160p content to watch. So when you’ve invested in your dream screen, what’s the best way to show it off? The good news is that there’s loads of choice for 4K…

Why waste time browsing an endless selection of 4K goodies when we can do it for you? Okja, Netflix’s controversial entry at this year’s Cannes, is a visually amazing fantasy about a Super Pig bred to provide the world with more jerky. It may be a powerful polemic on consumerism, but we mainly loved it for the tasty visuals. The opening scenes set in a resplendent Korean forest are glorious, and if you watch the film in HDR, Okja’s bristly hide appears disturbingly realistic. We’ve seen a slew of superb UHD Blu-rays this year, but our current favourite is John Wick 2. Its UHD image quality will test the technical mettle of the finest 4K TVs. Opening with a soaring city view, there’s plenty of scope for spectral HD highlights,…

SPECS RESOLUTION: 3840 x 2160p 3D: Yes TUNERS: Freeview HD, satellite CONNECTIONS: 4x HDMI, 3x USB, SCART, component video input, digital optical output, Ethernet, Wi-Fi SMART OS: Android TV with YouView DIMENSIONS: 1462 x 920 x 268 mm (w/h/d) WEIGHT: 32kg SPECS RESOLUTION: 3840 x 2160p 3D: Yes TUNERS: Freeview Play, satellite CONNECTIONS: 4x HDMI, 3x USB, mini-jack component/composite video, optical digital audio output, Ethernet, Wi-Fi SMART OS: webOS DIMENSIONS: 1461 x 893 x 56.7 mm (w/h/d) WEIGHT: 22.8kg SPECS RESOLUTION: 3840 x 2160p 3D: Yes TUNERS: Freeview Play, satellite CONNECTIONS: 4x HDMI, 3x USB, SCART, component video input, digital optical output, Ethernet, Wi-Fi SMART OS: Firefox TV DIMENSIONS: 1369 x 828 x 356mm (w/h/d) WEIGHT: 32.5kg Our top-end TV trio may be larger than the average telly box, spanning…

1st Sony KD-65ZD9 Price: £4,000 URL: sony.co.uk T3 RATES: This TV doesn’t just look slick, with its minimal design and rose gold trim. Sony’s Backlight Master Drive technology proves stunningly effective with 4K HDR content. 4K HDR Netflix and Amazon simply add to the fun. T3 SLATES: The Android smart TV platform is clunkier than most (although YouView brings catch-up relief), and the onboard sound isn’t as clear as rival soundbar systems. T3 SAYS: The best 4K HDR performance we’ve seen. The deep blacks, wide colour and sparkling highlights will enhance 4K Blu-ray, Sky Q 4K and HDR-capable consoles. 2nd LG OLED65E6 Price: £4,499 URL: lg.co.uk T3 RATES: Wonderful picture quality – both HD and 4K HDR. First-class usability and stunning design. T3 SLATES: That price! It’s the dearest telly…

The mission To ride three high-end racing bicycles on some well-known local Strava segments to see if spending big money can make you go faster. The man Dep ed and keen pedal-pusher Nick gets excited about anything cyclingtech- related, obsessively trying to best his Strava segments on every ride. The tech ▪ Specialized Tarmac Expert Disc Race £4,000, specialized.com ▪ Ribble Aero 883 From £1,300, ribblecycles.co.uk ▪ Canyon Speedmax CF SLX 9.0 LTD £7,499, canyon.com ▪ Lazer Z1 helmet with LifeBEAM £275, lazersport.co.uk ▪ Lazer Wasp Air helmet £250, lazersport.co.uk ▪ Garmin Fenix 3 £380, garmin.com ▪ Quad Lock Bike Kit £49.95, quadlockcase.co.uk ▪ Madison RoadRace Light jersey £89.99, madison.cc ▪ Rapha Classic bib shorts £160, rapha.cc ▪ Giro Empire ACC reflective shoes £207, giro.com SUPER SHIFTER Shimano’s electronic shifting…

When it comes to consoles, the Xbox One X is far from your only option. Microsoft’s latest is a topof- the-line gaming experience and that’s not something that everyone needs. If you want to stay within the Xbox family, and you’re content with upscaled 4K rather than native 4K, the Xbox One S (£190) is an excellent and highly affordable option that will play all the same games as the new Xbox One X. Another option in the 4K console category is Sony’s PS4 Pro (£349). Though it’s not as impressive as the new Xbox One X in terms of raw power, the PS4 Pro is a console that’s capable of both native and upscaled 4K output. It also costs around £100 less. Another thing to consider with the PS4…

Virtual reality isn’t just graphically demanding, it’s port hungry too and the Oculus Rift is the guiltiest of the lot when it comes to hogging your PC USB slots. Not only does it want a USB 3.0 and HDMI for the headset, each sensor requires a USB 2.0 or higher. You’ll need one sensor for tracking the headset and another for the Touch controllers. This means if you’re planning on playing with the Oculus Touch and the supplied Xbox One pad which needs a wireless adaptor, you’ll need at least four slots free if you don’t want to juggle. Conversely, the HTC Vive just needs an HDMI and USB 2.0.…

It’s worth saying now that regardless of which of the big three you choose, donning one of these headsets is transformative. They are literally a window to another world. Every friend that visits will be forced to don VR and experience exactly what it’s like to disappear into pixels. But which experience truly reigns supreme? Performance-wise, the PS VR is constantly surprising. This is a headset built for existing home console tech and in that it excels. While the PS4 Pro delivers a slight boost in graphical quality and framerate in games like Crytek’s dino adventure Robinson: The Journey, the standard PS4 offers up a satisfyingly solid experience. It has a slightly smaller field of view than its competitors but your eyes never feel restricted and, like the other headsets,…

ALTERNATIVELY… So you want the look of the Feld & Volk iPhone 7 Plus Marble Black, but understandably don’t have a spare £4,346 under your mattress? Then you can easily rock the same sort of lock, for a fraction of the cost. Check out Native Union’s CLIC Marble case (£74.99, nativeunion.co.uk) which actually uses real marble in its construction. This not only makes each case unique, it prevents it from looking like a tacky knockoff. It’s shatterresistant too, so it, you know, protects your precious iPhone as well. BACK TO THE FUTURE Before you ask – no, this isn’t just an overpriced snap-on phone cover; it’s an overpriced back panel that entirely replaces the original. Obviously, it’s not just a case, pardon the pun, of slapping it on, so the…

SMALL & SMART The original Mini didn’t even have a radio, but this version comes with a modern infotainment and navigation system integrated within the dash. It features a large touchscreen, Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, USB connectivity and more. SAY AGAIN? Indeed. Despite the original car’s affordability for the masses, the Mini Remastered is anything but. That said, if you want to own the legend, and you want one that looks like it just rolled off the factory line, then this is one of the best ways to get it. OUT WITH THE OLD… The Remastered retains the original car’s charm but with 21st century touches like LED rear lights and turn signals built into the wing mirrors. OLD BUT NEW Despite the hefty price tag, the Remastered is…

AND, FOR A LITTLE LESS… It’s well documented that adding a headphone amplifier to your system dramatically improves the performance of the majority of high-end over-ear headphones. For a lot less than £6,000 you can pick up a perfectly capable headphone amplifier, such as the Chord Mojo (£400, chordelectronics.co.uk), which also has a highquality DAC (digitalto- analogue converter) built in, enabling you to convert digital music on devices with less noise than their own DAC. DYING TO KNOW The Memento Mori’s (Latin for ‘Remember you must die’) cyborg skull is just about the weirdest place one might hang their audiophile-grade headphones. Insane looks aside, you get a rather tasty headphone amp to boost your tunes. FACE FACTS Guess where the amp’s interface is located? Wait for it… in ter face.…

From £148.99, yalestore.co.uk WHERE TO USE IT Yale’s smart lock replaces your existing nightlatch and is suitable for wooden doors. WHAT IT DOES Rather than fiddle with a key upon entry of your home, you can unlock your front door simply by tapping in a pin code via the built-in touchscreen. Alternatively, you can use a key card or key tag to wirelessly scan your way in, or you can use a remote fob to do the deed from a distance – as you’re pulling up on your driveway, for instance. There’s no smartphone integration – instead you get a choice of adding on either a Yale or Z-Wave module to the lock, enabling you to connect it up to the Yale alarm system or Z-Wave-supported smart home hub (such…

From £169.99, logitech.com WHERE TO USE IT Any home, no matter whether you’re living in a busy city or in a country home in the middle of nowhere. It should be placed in a central location at about head height. WHAT IT DOES The air we breathe should be as clean as possible – the health benefits are pretty obvious – but according to the makers of Foobot, the air inside our homes is about five times as polluted as the air outside. What you can do about it? Foobot measures indoor air and alerts you to any anomalies, such as excessive humidity, or lots of toxins or particles in the air. When Foobot is blue, the air is good, when it’s orange something is wrong, enabling you to act…

From £99.99, smarter.am WHERE TO USE IT The iKettle will save you time spent waiting in the kitchen for your water to boil. WHAT IT DOES Connoisseurs of steamy beverages will love what Smarter’s third-generation iKettle can do. The headline feature is the ability to remotely boil water, so you can have it ready when you grab a mug, or you can set a Home and Away schedule to brew when you need a hit – morning or evening. You can also tailor the temperature (between 20-100 degrees celsius) to your particular drink, giving you the perfect brew every time, and if you fancy another, iKettle will keep its water warm for up to 40 minutes. WHAT IT WORKS WITH Amazon Alexa, Nest NOW SUPERCHARGE IT! Got a Nest Cam…

Hive is big in the UK, with lots of people getting into the system via British Gas offering the smart thermostat. But that’s just part of a larger family of products, all of which connect to, and are controlled by, the Hive Hub. If you have a Hub, you can buy any product from Hive and know it will work easily enough. Hive sells its own smart plugs, light bulbs, and motion sensors, which are controlled through a single app. The app doesn’t help with any smart home products from other manufacturers, though. If you want a single controller for Hive stuff as well as other smart home products, your best bet is Amazon Echo (see right). All Hive products can be voice controlled from it – just say “Alexa,…

AMAZON ECHO (£149.99) The standalone voice control option, with built-in speakers, mic and Alexa assistant. AMAZON ECHO DOT (£49.99) Echo, but cheaper and no speakers. Hook up to your existing speakers (cable or wireless). AMAZON ECHO SHOW ($229.99) Adds a screen over the normal Echo, for video calling and extra info. UK release still TBC. AMAZON ECHO LOOK ($199.99) A narcissist’s dream: a camera that judges your outfit. Not out in UK; it’s a bit weird anyway.…

Multi-room manufacturers tend to brag about their systems’ file compatibility and playback promiscuity, but there’s always devil in the detail. The Panasonic All Connected models embrace MP3 and AAC, WAV, FLAC and ALAC up to 192k/24-bit, but not ultrahigh- res DSD. On the Yamaha MCR-N470D and WX-010, MusicCast file-format support also includes 24-bit FLAC, AIFF, WAV and ALAC, plus AAC and WMA, but again not DSD. Denon’s HEOS range offers the best out-of-the-box support. All second-generation HS2 active speakers play uncompressed WAV, ALAC, AIFF and FLAC up to 24-bit 192kHz, plus DSD 2.8MHz.…

Denon isn’t the only company that’s integrating multi-room into home theatre. The £899 Yamaha RX-A860 is a seven-channel Dolby Atmos and DTS: X receiver that can also stream from, or function as, a zone in a multi-room system. Want to route TV audio to a compact kitchen speaker? No problem! In fact, with seven HDMI inputs, you can send all manner of sound sources around the house. The receiver also supports Apple AirPlay. Yamaha’s Cinema DSP processing means that whatever is streamed to the AVR can be processed into multiple flavours of multi-channel.…

The £319 SC-All7CD is an all-in-one micro-system that not only plays CDs but rips them to 4GB of internal memory. Both CDs and recordings can be re-streamed to any paired All Connected speaker. Discs are copied in 320kbps MP3 or WAV format. This is handy, but hampered by the lack of metadata support – rips are label-less and lack track info. The SC-All7CD has a five-driver configuration, comprising two tweeters, two three-inch woofers and a subwoofer, though there’s only 20W of amplification. There’s also a sweet spot, so listening position is crucial to a good stereo performance.…

01 SKY Q If you’re looking for a wide selection of 4K content, subscribe to Sky Q. The next gen TV platform offers a huge variety of live sports, TV shows and movies in UHD. Live events are delivered via satellite, while films and entertainment are downloaded to the box via your broadband connection. It’s a stunning bit of kit. From £34 p/m, www.sky.com 02 VIRGIN TV V6 The latest Virgin set top box has all the decoding horsepower and hardware it needs to offer top-notch UHD and HDR, but as yet the TV service doesn’t have any 4K offerings. However, its Netflix and YouTube apps are 4K-enabled… From £39 p/m, www.virginmedia.com 03 BT TV YOUVIEW+ 4K BT TV currently claims the high ground when it comes to 4K live…

TVs branded Ultra HD Premium are all certified to deliver a uniformly high HDR viewing experience. The badge can be applied to both OLED and LED TVs, but actually varies between screen types. LED screens need to offer more than 1,000 nits peak brightness and a black level of less than 0.05 nits, while OLED screens must have 540 nits peak brightness yet offer a deeper 0.0005 nits black level. This means OLEDs go blackest and LEDs aren’t as black but go brighter. A certified display must also be able to achieve 90% of the cinemastyle DCI/P3 colour space. While the Sony ZD9 matches this LED spec, the company has skipped on certification as it believes it confuses buyers.…

Because the consumer electronics industry likes to keep things complicated, there are two HDR standards in use today. HDR 10 is by far the most common, used on 4K Blu-ray discs and streaming services. But there’s a second proprietary standard, Dolby Vision, which currently only LG HDR TVs support. Unlike HDR 10, Dolby Vision is a 12-bit HDR system that employs metadata on a frame by frame basis, to dictate image characteristics. Advocates suggest this translates to an HDR presentation that better reflects what producers see in the studio. Netflix currently offers both HDR 10 and Dolby Vision on select programmes.…

Any smartphone worth its salt has an HDR camera mode – you’ll have used it to make your selfies super-contrasty. However, you shouldn’t be fooled into thinking that such visual trickery is comparable with the HDR performance on these 4K televisions. They really aren’t the same thing. HDR for TV is not an exposure control, it’s about expanding the ability of cameras and display devices to deliver bright spectral highlights way beyond what has been technically possible before, along with a broader colour palette. HDR allows more creative leeway for content producers and makes TV images literally zing.…

1 FITBIT CHARGE 2 Whether you’re a HIIT freak or a pavement pounder, the Fitbit Charge 2 will log everything from heart rate to calorie burn and exercise duration. 24-hour tracking keeps an eye on your overall activity, and the Fitbit app displays your health stats in glorious detail. £129.99, fitbit.com 2 TRX HOME GYM This portable gym enables you to perform bodyweight workouts on the go; all you need is a door or anything that’ll take your weight. Download bespoke training sessions to the app or choose from dozens of exercises to build your own program. £141, trxtraining.co.uk 3 TANGRAM SMART JUMP ROPE The Bluetoothconnected Smart Jump Rope takes skipping to a new level. A smooth ball-bearing design eliminates tangling, and stats are beamed to the Smart Gym Pro…

1 RIBBLE AERO 883 Wind-tunnel-tested, the Ribble Aero 883 is designed to make you faster, whatever your level. The Toray carbon frameset offers stiffness for good power transfer, while also being light enough to propel you up those hardy hills. It’s perfect for any race. From £1,300, ribblecycles.co.uk 2 CANYON SPEEDMAX For ultimate cycling performance, look no further. The Speedmax is the pro’s choice of weapon, ideal for triathlons or time trials. Think you’re good enough to handle it? Hear this: the aerodynamics have been optimised for speeds around 31mph. From £4,399, canyon.com 3 SPECIALIZED TARMAC EXPERTDISC RACE Aero makes you faster – fact – but if you need a more rounded race bike you can do lots of miles on, the Tarmac Expert Disc Race is a great choice,…

1 APPLE MACBOOK PRO 15-INCH The new MacBook Pro’s 2.7GHz Intel Core i7 processor and 16GB memory ensure top-flight performance when training with the Drone Racing League simulator, and the colour-rich Retina display brings the on-screen action to life. The Touch Bar and Touch ID are neat time-savers, too. £2,699, apple.com 2 VIFLY R220 This newbie-friendly racing drone is ready to fly from the box. The 220mm, 32-bit F3 flight controllerequipped racer comes complete with 1/4-inch 700TVL CMOS camera and FlySKY i6-VF controller. For the full FPV experience, drop an extra £130 on FXT’s excellent Marvel Vision goggles. £349, quickdrones.co.uk 3 FRSKY TARANIS X9D PLUS Enhance your aerial skills with the go-to controller of the racing professionals. Ultrasmooth, customisable quad-bearing gimbals mean greater drone control, while the backlit LCD screen…

1 4K TV To see the real impact of the visual improvements that the Xbox One X’s hardware offers, you’re going to want a nice juicy 4K TV, ideally with HDR. Panasonic DX802 and Samsung’s KS7000 range are reasonably priced options that will let you appreciate the sharp picture and deep HDR colours capabilties offered by the Xbox One X – check out our Elite pages (p107) for more. 2 SOUND SYSTEM The Xbox One X is a console that supports Dolby Atmos sound, so you’ll want some Atmos-enabled hardware to get the most out of the game-changing (and improving) spatial surround sound. The Onkyo HT-S7700 is a neat solution that delivers a full Dolby Atmos experience without the need to install speakers all around your living room. 3 DUKE…

While PS VR lets you access the PS4 PlayStation Store via its cinema mode with the screen ‘projected’ in front of you, both the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift have more immersive shopping options. The Rift pops you into a relaxing brightly lit living room, complete with crackling Minecraft-style fire and beanbags as you scroll intuitively through the games on offer. Vive, on the other hand, loads up SteamVR, dropping you into space with your base stations floating in midair while you get down to the business of exploring the ultra-slick Steam Store. Familiar yet futuristic, it’s a joy to use.…

ON FIRE If you’d like just the one ridiculous PC, then the OrionX’s smaller brother – the Supernova – should do the trick. Claimed to be the fastest production PC on sale, this titan is outfitted with the finest components, including three GTX 1080Ti graphics cards, a max-overlocked Intel Core i7-6950X (4.4GHz) and 16GB of super speedy RAM. Naturally, it’s watercooled for rocksolid stability, and fast enough to handle any game at any resolution. Oh, and it’s only £11.5K. TWO FOR THE PRICE OF… If you’re serious about your processing power, you don’t do things by half, and this PC doesn’t – it does it by double. Inside the gaming goliath are two whole PCs, which goes towards explaining its mammoth size (and price). JEKYLL AND HYDE This machine is…

SCREEN WARS It’s all about size, isn’t it? Or is it? Sony’s top-dog 4K projector – the VPL-VW1100ES – might be a much smaller box than this TV, but the projector’s hidden trick is throwing a picture bigger than you can ever imagine. In this case, up to 300 inches against a suitably huge wall, which is a considerably bigger picture than the C Seed 262 can conjur, and there’s some other good news: Sony’s projector will save you about €465,000 compared to this, and won’t take up half your mansion. SUPERSIZED SCREEN Feeling a bit smug about your latest purchase? Think a 65-inch picture is worth bragging about? Think again – the C Seed 262 boasts an epic 262-inch screen, or 6.65 metres, in new money. Apparently, that makes…

You don’t always have to spend big money to get something you’ll love to bits. That’s why we’ve put together a list of our favourite products for £100 and under. Some of our chosen gadgets also happen to be the best things you can get in their particular category, others are great-value alternatives to bigger ticket purchases, but all are brilliant products we’d be happy to use ourselves. So next time you get paid and there’s spare cash burning a hole in your pocket, make sure you consult T3’s £100 Hotlist! THE SUPER SIXTEEN 01 COPAG TEXAS HOLD’EM SET copagcards.com PRICE £89 Spice up your next kitchen table showdown by replacing those pennies and matchsticks with 300 casino quality 14g poker chips, a metal dealer chip and a set of…