Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2017 i T3

T3’s mission is to help you find the best products for every area of your tech lifestyle. From traditional gadget buys like phones and TVs to connected home security and sports sensors, if it can make your life better, we’re here to make sure you get the right one for you. The products we feature are chosen by our expert writers, with years of experience in their key areas. We wouldn’t recommend something we wouldn’t be happy to live with ourselves – the tat is filtered out long before we print a page. This goes for reviews too – you won’t find us wasting your time with products you don’t need to know about. More than that, our aim is to make sure you get the most out of the…

HOMEBIOGAS 2.0 Transform food waste into clean, renewable energy with the eco-friendly HomeBiogas 2.0. Set it up in your garden and have fun shovelling in your leftovers to fuel your cooking and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. $475 (£361.22), homebiogas.com 1-RING MOON Not only is the Moon a levitating 360-degree security camera, it’s also a smart-home hub that enables secure control of your connected home goodies. There’s day and night vision, sound direction detection and temperature, humidity and light sensors. From $250 (£190), 1-ring.net…

THE SUIT Tom Hiddleston’s navy and burgundy Gucci suit, as worn to the Thor: Ragnorak premiere, is a clever blend of quirk and geek. To ape the overall vibe, try the Monaco Dots Pattern Wool Suit (£1,710, gucci.com/uk/en_gb) from Gucci’s ready-to-wear collection. THE SHIRT Cut and hue are important when selecting a shirt to go beneath such a pattern-filled suit. Keep it light blue and opt for sharper points, as found on Eton’s Contemporary Cotton Shirt (£120, flannels.com). THE TIE Tom’s abstract tie is gloriously retro yet humble enough to play second fiddle. Choose a tie with a defined (but not dominating) motif or texture, like Canali’s Silk Geometric Tie (£100, selfridges.com).…

Your trusty motor is built for the cold, be it two-or four-wheel drive, but that doesn’t mean it won’t need help to handle the elemental onslaught ahead. A few simple tricks will leave you safer on the roads this winter. Top of the list: run your usual checks for the right tyre pressure, oil levels and make sure the water has enough anti-freeze for the cold. A phone car charger is another must in case you need to call for help. With the boring bits out of the way, you might want to ask Santa for a heads-up display, such as Navdy (£384, navdy.com) or the Garmin HUD (£99, garmin.com) – reading car and traffic info on the windscreen means less looking away from that icy road while you’re driving.…

MEACO DD8L £199.99, meaco.com The energy-saving DD 8L is ideal for smaller, dampprone homes. We found it relatively quiet on the lowest setting, and marvelled at the eight litres of moisture it extracted daily. Laundry mode is a boon for drying indoors, and as allergy sufferers we appreciated the built-in ioniser and anti-bacterial filter. ECOAIR DD1 CLASSIC MK5 £169.99, ecoair.org The dinky, low-energy DD 1 is an ally in mouldy flats, extracting seven litres of moisture daily and also offering air-purification and Laundry mode. 3D Louvre tech, used to channel airflow at mould growth on walls, is impressive. It’s marginally louder than the Meaco, but we found the white noise strangely relaxing.…

LEATHERMAN WAVE The Wave’s 17 built-in tools include pliers, a saw, scissors, wire stripper and cutters, screwdriver, can and bottle opener, and a diamondcoated file. Backed with a whopping 25-year warranty, it’s the most sophisticated multi-tool you can buy. £149.95, leatherman.co.uk VICTORINOX SPARTAN PS The Spartan PS offers many of the tools you’ll find on the Leatherman Wave - blades, can and bottle opener, screwdrivers, corkscrew, wire stripper - but only weighs 60g. You’ll barely notice it in your pocket, making it perfect for travel. £70, victorinox.com/uk/en GERBER DIME TRAVEL EDITION To get a blade (designed to score plastic packaging), pliers, wire cutters, tweezers, screwdrivers and springloaded scissors all for this weight (62g) and price is super-impressive. Plus it’s stainless steel and backed with a 25-year warranty. £30.99, gerbergear.co.uk…

Drool is pooling in the corner of Guru’s mouth for the HOPii Micro Brewery, a high-tech fermentation device which promises to brew up the finest craft beers right there on your kitchen counter. It’s a bit steep at $600 retail (about £455) and GaGu has had to internalise his rage at both the HOPii’s awkwardly capitalised name and its insistence on using special ingredient pods to tie you into its ecosystem, but still. Craft beer at home. (See p108 for an alternative.) GaGu’s youngest child recently put the pressure on to supplement his Amazon Fire 7 Kids tablet (£100) with a proper laptop for ‘homework’. GaGu duly complied; an old machine was dragged out of the bottom of the pile, cleaned up, and infused with Windows’ own parental controls and…

We all love to take pictures and shoot video, but we can’t always capture the whole moment. A small slice, a 90-degree rectangle, even wide-angle action cam footage – it’s only a piece of the action. Kodak’s PIXPRO 360 range goes further, using specially-engineered lenses to shoot all-around images and movies that include everything. Say you’re on the beach, and want a shot to share with the folks back home. With a standard camera, you could take a shot of your knees looking out to sea, or snap a selfie of your sunsoaked family. Bring in a 360-degree camera and you can capture the people, the sights, the sky, sand and sea, all at once. Your audience on Facebook and YouTube gets a unique interactive experience, and you get a…

Fujifilm X-T20 Photography is a rewarding hobby, especially when you’re armed with Fujifilm’s versatile X-T20 mirrorless camera. Tactile controls, excellent handling, a variety of shooting modes and an advanced autofocus system band together to make this 24.3MP stunner a solid-gold choice for keen amateurs, as well as pros looking for a lightweight digital camera that can be whipped out and set up quickly. From £849, fujifilm.eu/uk ASUS Tinker Board Those after a Raspberry Pi-alike this Christmas are covered with ASUS’ single-board computer, a prime hobbyist tool for bringing DIY PC and IoT projects to life. Embed it as a controller for a range of smart devices, taking advantage of its quad USB ports and 4K-supporting HDMI 2.0 connection. Customisable storage is catered for by a microSD card slot. It’s officially…

Gillette Flexball Justice League Gift Set Channel the smooth-faced suaveness of Batman or Superman with Gillette’s special-edition Flexball Gift Set, illustrated with officially licensed Justice League imagery. Inside you’ll find a ProShield razor designed with FlexBall tech and a five-precision blade, plus a precision trimmer sat at the back of the razor, and three full blade refills. That should keep you fuzz-free until at least February. £19.99, gillette.co.uk RHA S500 Universal Looking for a reliable pair of commuter in-ears that don’t cost the earth? RHA comes to your rescue with the S500 Universal. Packaged with Comply foam tips to ensure a snug fit, these earphones work well for drowning out noisy commuters on trains and buses. A universal one-button remote and built-in mic are handy for playback controls and voice…

Blueair Sense+ A breath of fresh air With the optional Blueair Aware, you can monitor your home’s air quality within the Blueair Friend app. It’ll detect a variety of harmful airborne particles, including PM 2.5, Volatile Organic Compounds, carbon dioxide, as well as humidity and temperature. You can also check out the quality of the air outside of your home by selecting an outdoor air quality monitor near to you, which displays an overall air quality index…

01 LOGIN TO THE APP Download the Blueair Friend app on your phone first of all. You’ll be greeted by a screen asking you whether you want to check your outdoor air or login. Ignore these for now, and instead hit the Register now link underneath. Sign up with your details, create a password and then log in. Now the app will ask you to add a device. 02 ADD A DEVICE To add a Blueair product, tap the + button in the corner of the screen, choose the device you want – in this case, the Blueair Sense+. Turn the Sense+ on and wave your hand over the top panel to active the Wi-Fi functionality. When the Wi-Fi button on the panel starts blinking, press and hold the circle…

PERFECT FOR Christmas RICHARD LAWSON, CUMBRIA Q which is best: a soundbar or surround sound? A STEVE MAY REPLIES: If you want genuine cinematic sound, and high-quality audio, a full-blown surround sound system is definitely the way to go. A soundbar is limited to a more confined stereo soundstage and certainly won’t offer the same kind of clarity or visceral slam. But, there are caveats. Big sound requires an AV receiver plus a matching multi-channel speaker package – and whether you want basic 5.1 or immersive Dolby Atmos 5.1.2 (and beyond), that translates to a lot of boxes and needs a reasonable budget. Because soundbars combine amplification and speakers, they are generally a lot easier to live with. Your choice boils down to convenience versus high fidelity. When it comes…

Create a new action by tapping the plus button. Drop in the Weather widget, which uses Weather Underground data, and tap it to select your trigger. In our case, we want it to fire only if the temperature is below a certain level. Add the Date and Time widget and place it above the Weather widget. Tap it, and set it to trigger only if the time is, for example, 7AM on a weekday. Or, if you’re after something broader, you can define a range of times. Select your resulting action and place it to the right of your triggers. Tap and drag one trigger onto the action, then drag the other onto the yellow circle in the line. Now, if one of the requirements isn’t fulfilled, the action won’t…

HOW WE TEST In T3, we feature only the finest gadgets out there, and we believe that you – our loyal reader – deserve only the best tech in your life. We don’t want you to waste time, and money, on inferior products, and that’s exactly why our Tested section exists. In here you’ll find only the latest and hottest tech. Each product has been handpicked and tested by T3’s experts. We only choose people with specialist knowledge for each test, so you know you’re going to get an outcome based on many years of experience in their respective field. As well as our traditional five-star rating system (right), we also give out awards to particularly exceptional gadgets, using the line-up below - so when you spot one of these,…

Apple TV 4K FROM £179, APP LE.COM DESIGN The fifth-generation box is identical to the previous model - that is, it’s a chunky but discreet slab of matte-black plastic. The remote feels quite polished. It’s comfortable to hold, and the touch pad (with clicker) is accurate and responsive. FEATURES Compatible with HDR10 and Dolby Vision, though there’s no support for Dolby Atmos. It can be used as a hub for your HomeKit devices and you can access your iCloud content on it, making it great for Apple users. You even get Siri voice control. PERFORMANCE The Apple TV 4K uses the same Apple A10X Fusion chip in the iPad Pro, and everything zips along nicely at 4K 60fps, with only the tiniest irksome lag. It automatically calibrates the display for…

If you’re looking for the very best tech available today, you have definitely come to the right place. Best of the Best is the most useful gadget-buying guide you will ever encounter. To create it, we’ve ruthlessly filtered down to the biggest groups, to bring you rock-solid recommendations for your home life, daily commute and the tech you use all the time. Within each of those groups, we’ve got a dozen categories for key tech buys. We’ve picked one product for every category that we think is the best you can get on balance, taking into account price, quality and features, so it’s easy to know what you need in your life. You should also check out T3.com, where you’ll find even more categories, if you’re looking for something that…

ANDROID PHONE SAMSUNG GALAXY S8 Tremendously fast, with an Infinity Display that almost completely eliminates bezels, cameras that work in any light, and irisscanning security. Samsung’s flagship is as much an experience as it is a phone. From £689, samsung.com MID-RANGE PHONE HONOR 9 Coming in at half the price of a flagship phone, this is truly a hidden gem. It looks great, with a diffracted curved glass finish, and its cost completely belies its specs – especially its excellent dual cameras. £379, hihonor.com SMARTWATCH APPLE WATCH SERIES 3 Nothing in the smartwatch market does more than the Apple Watch, and this third generation can do it all without a tethered phone – perfect for keeping your life in order whatever you happen to be doing. From £329, apple.com/uk ANALOGUE…

COFFEE MAKER GAGGIA NAVIGLIO Everything you need to create a delicious bean-to-cup brew at an entry-level price. Gaggia’s pedigree is all poured into this quality espresso maker, and proves you don’t need to spend a penny more. £439, gaggia.uk.com COOKER RANGEMASTER ELISE 110 Want the versatility of gas hobs and the reliability of an electric oven? This dual-fuel range is the ultimate in kitchen convenience, with six solid burners, two ovens and a grill with glide-out action. £2,379, rangemaster.co.uk DEHUMIDIFIER MEACO 25L ULTRA LOW ENERG Y DEHUMIDIFIER This small unit can drag 25 litres of water out of the air in a day, perfect for drying clothes indoors without the risk of mould or condensation ruining your windows. £299, meaco.com WASHING MACHINE MIELE WKG 120 Pre-load enough detergent for 30…

If you want to play poker in the comfort of your own home, Geoffrey Parker’s briefcase brims with poker essentials. Inside the Dauphin calf-leather hide, you’ll find 600 pro-level clay chips nestled in a super-soft suede lining, including a Dealer button and three Blind buttons – each fashioned out of suede and leather, with a chrome or gilt trim – as well as four decks of Bee playing cards. There are 13 colours to choose from and you can have your initials by the handle. Weighing in at 11.26kg, your poker hand had better be a strong one. £1,980 geoffreyparker.com NEXT ISSUE IS ON SALE FRIDAY 29 DECEMBER The smart home speakers show-down – which deserves a place in your living room?…

1 Beats Studio3 Although Beats used to be much more style than substance, they now have audio chops to match their looks, along with great tech. Apple’s W1 chip makes these seamless to pair and use with Apple gear, but it works with everything. A 22-hour battery life and the ability to charge just 10 minutes to get three hours of music is great, too. There’s also adaptive noise cancellation. £299, beatsbydre.com/uk 2 Sennheiser MOMENTUM Free Sennheiser has always offered great audio in slick packages, and these lightweight Bluetooth earbuds deliver excellent hi-res sound thanks to aptX support, as well as custom-machined tunnels to channel clear, rich sound to your ears. The six-hour battery life will get you through a few commutes, too. It can even connect with two devices…

MATT BOLTON Editor When Matt declared, “See you next week, I’m going to Disneyland,” we thought it was a joke. But no, he went to Disneyland, and got to speak with the designers to find out how rides are made (p96). JO GULLIVER Senior Art Editor Jo’s been admiring the batch of low-cost 4K TVs in our State of the Art test (p86). She says she wants all three, but can’t come up with a reason why she needs 155 inches of television. ANDREW WESTBROOK Operations Editor Andy’s been following our look at techier ways of home-brewing beer versus the classic methods (p108), and wants to become the Willy Wonka of beer: reclusive and indulgent. SPENCER HART Product Editor, t3.com With Dan on iPhone duty, Spencer took a look at…

1 HOWLIN’ PARTY IN THE BACK CARDIGAN There’ll be a party in the front and back with Howlin’s flagship cardi, knitted in Scotland from the warmest wool yarn. ¤265 (£236.19), morrison.be 2 SAINT LAURENT STRIPED MOHAIR SWEATER ‘Hairy sweaters’ are a thing this winter, and Saint Laurent’s multicolour snug-fest is the best. Get it now before it sells out everywhere. £595, farfetch.com 3 KIN BY JOHN LEWIS TRIANGLE BLOCK JUMPER Available in two colourways, this striking cotton and merino blend graphic jumper is a great choice if too much print terrifies you. £45, johnlewis.com 4 BARBOUR X WOOD BARNS NESS CREW NECK JUMPER Give your outdoors clothing a facelift with Barbour’s bold new colourblock crew neck, designed in collaboration with Danish trendsetters Wood Wood. £119, barbour.com/uk 5 CMMN SWDN SWEATER…

There’s been a huge resurgence in traditional wet shaving in recent years, with sales of open razors on the rise. However, it’s possible to get a super-close shave from a three- or five-blade safety razor. Richard Tucker, head barber for Ruffians (ruffians.co.uk), an awardwinning barbershop and men’s lifestyle destination in London, has years of experience performing wet shaves, so who better to ask for advice? “The oldest trick in the book is to have a shower first. This warms the face and opens the pores ready for shaving,” Richard begins. “Alternatively, use a hot towel. You should exfoliate the skin beforehand, then lather up your soap and shave. Avoid shaving against the grain of your hair”, he explains, “and take the time to understand the direction of your facial hair…

JOHN LEWIS JLBIOS 635 Achieve professional cooking with this sleek oven that boasts touch controls and sous-vide tech. A humidity sensor uses the exact amount of steam needed for the dish you’re cooking, maximising its flavour and texture. £999, johnlewis.com AEG BSE 892330M By measuring the core temperature of the food you’re cooking, AEG’s oven with humidity sensor, sous vide and Stea -mPro tech cooks fish, meat and veggies just right. A touch-sensitive comand wheel puts every setting at your fingertips. £1,349, aeg.co.uk Neff C88FT38N0B This smart cooking solution combines a CircoTherm oven and steam cooker to cover all heating types and varieties of steam cooking, including sous vide. With it you can prepare vacuum-sealed dishes, using Neff’s FullSteam tech to enhance flavour. £1,569, neff-home.com/uk…

LIFEVENTURE RFID TRAVEL WALLET Identify theft is no joke, so bundle your travel documents and cards into this nickel- and copper-coated polyester wallet. The fabric shields the contents from any radio frequency identification (RFiD) readers trying to transmit your details. £24.99, lifeventure.com GOTRAVEL RFID ORGANISER This travel wallet blocks illegal scans of RFiD chips embedded in your passport and credit cards, preventing fraudsters from stealing data. 18 compartments offer ample room for your passport, documents and cards. £19.99, go-travelproducts.com/uk PACSAFE RFIDS AFE V200 ANTI-THEFT TRAVEL ORGANISER Store up to 13 credit and debit cards, plus travel documents and cash, in the RFiD-protected V200 travel organiser. PacSafe’s offering, available in black or camo, has a mesh passport holder and a boarding pass pocket. £37.90, pacsafe.com…

When it comes to buying the right smart home-fitness machine, in addition to price and features, always consider the size of the machine – will it fit in your house? Weight is important too if you want to shift it about. Next, think about what you want to do on it. Building strength? Get superhero strong via resistance training on the Skillmill Connect (£9,680, technogym.com). This non-motorised device enables simulated sled-pushing through to running, helping you improve power, speed and agility. Stripping excess fat? Try the NordicTrack X9i Incline Trainer with iFit (£2,999, nordictrack.co.uk). With an impressive -6 to 40 per cent incline range you could burn up to five times the calories of a standard treadmill workout. iFit tech tracks progress and replicates outdoor running routes (via Google Maps),…

A MORTICIAN’S TALE In this new indie game out on PC, you play a young mortician in charge of a funeral home. If that sounds a bit morbid, think again: this is adorable, quirky and very funny storytelling. FEVER RAY – PLUNGE After eight years away, Fever Ray returns with her new album, Plunge. Featuring the freakishly catchy single To the Moon and Back, Fever Ray proves she’s the electro queen. MY LIFE AS A COURGETTE This French production is the strange, but touching tale of an orphaned boy called Courgette, all presented in glorious claymation. It well deserved its Oscar nomination.…

The SP360 Action Cam is the first step on the PIXPRO 360 ladder, but it’s no slouch. Its 16-megapixel sensor takes stunning shots in front mode, it can grab 10-megapixel shots in 10FPS burst mode, and you can capture every moment with a broad range of video-recording options, ranging from 1440p 360-degree movies to ultra-wide angle 1080p action shots and beyond. Its versatility doesn’t end there – the SP360 is small and light enough to go with you everywhere, tough enough to place in your kids’ hands for a unique look at their world, and available with all kinds of accessories to keep it safely secured in any situation. The Extreme Kit gets you the camera, along with a waterproof housing, and a host of mounts for the likes of…

The entire PIXPRO range is as connected as they come. Each model includes Wi-Fi and NFC, and you can connect them to the PIXPRO mobile app on Android and iPhone, which acts as a viewfinder, shot trigger, and footage manager, so you can easily see what you’re capturing. You can quickly stitch together your VR shots from a pair of SP3604K units or the solo 4KVR360 (which also includes in-camera stitching) and you can upload them for others to see. Although VR headsets are great for getting inside 360-degree photos and video, your friends and family won’t need special hardware to enjoy your results. Both YouTube and Facebook support 360-degree footage natively, and viewers can drag around to change their view on a computer, or simply move their phones around…

Sony Bravia A1 Our winner in this year’s T3 Awards, the A1 encapsulates everything a class-leading set should: an OLED panel with 4K HDR built in, for breathtaking images, as well as support for HDR10, Dolby Vision and Hybrid Log Gamma, making the A1 a pricey, but resolutely future-proof, purchase. Acoustic Surface speaker tech offers impressive sound without actual speakers, and with its hidden stand it’s something to be put on show. From £2,800 (55-inch), sony.co.uk Amazon Fire TV One of the best 4K players just got better (check out p124). Amazon’s 4K HDR delivery box is now smaller and more streamlined, plugging neatly into an HDMI port on your TV. It comes with support for Dolby Atmos, so those lucky enough to own a compatible speaker system can experience…

Air purifiers have been around for a while, but never before have they been particularly smart. With the Blueair Sense+ that’s all set to change, thanks to its ability to connect to your smartphone and options to automate getting home’s air that much cleaner. The Sense+ removes contaminants in the air using a combination of two filters – one a particle filter, and the other an activated carbon filter. It’s designed for rooms up to 186 square feet in size and will happily deal with smoke, dust and pollen. And it’ll do it quietly, too: HE PASilent tech utilises electrostatic and mechanical filtration, so less heavy-duty filters are required, meaning less effort is needed to push the dirty air through and the clean air out. You can easily control the…

01 VACU VIN NUT CRACKER Thanks to ergonomically formed handles and a spring hinge, even your nan will be able to work this nifty little nut cracker. The base doubles as a decorative nibbles tray, too. £9.95, amaroni.com 02 GOLD CHAMPAGNE COUPES Toast your Christmas and new year in style with these classic coupes, featuring a wide golden brim and rose-tinted glass base. They’re purpose-made for sipping bubbles and come as a pair. €24.00 (£20.45), aprilandthebear.com 03 RALPH LAUREN SILVER BECKBURY FRAME Looking for gift inspiration? You can’t go wrong with Ralph Lauren’s timeless Beckbury Frame; ideal for displaying photos of family, friends or some good dogs. £75, luxdeco.com 04 CARUSO BLUETOOTH GRAMOPHONE Frank Sinatra’s Christmas Album is an absolute must for the big day, and what better to play…

If you want to better understand the nutritional content of the food you’re eating, try app-connected kitchen scales. The Smart Healthy Scale with App (£39.99, leekes.co.uk), for example, analyses the nutritional content of the food you’re cooking, as does the Perfect Bake Smart Scale (£9.99, amazon.co.uk) and Drop (£59.99, getdrop.com). These Bluetooth cooking aids vary in terms of features, but all have companion apps and are capable of guiding you through any in-app recipes. Using liquids? The Salter Cook Pro Bluetooth (£79.99, salterhousewares. co.uk) features Aquatronic tech to accurately measure liquids without you having to put them in a measuring jug first – just pour straight into the included bowl.…

WHAT’S ON TEST… 1 CELLO 55 PLATINUM P55AN SMT-4K This big-screen 4K offering from UK TV maker Cello comes with a whopping soundbar and uses an Android smart interface. It doesn’t support HDR, sadly. £680, celloelectronics.com 2 HISENSE H50N6800 It’s not just value which marks out this HDR-capable hotshot – it has a funky customisable user interface unique to Hisense, and Freeview Play too built-in too. Hisense calls the screen tech ‘ULE D’. £569, hisense.co.uk 3 TOSH IBA 49U7763DB The TV marque returns to the UK with a slick-looking UHD debutante with Freeview Play and more colours than a pack of Skittles. There’s no HDR support, but it should be vibrant anyway. £649, toshiba-tv.com Gaming is going 4K. Programme makers are embracing extra pixels. Blu-ray has evolved. If you haven’t…

The maxim about any sufficiently advanced technology being indistinguishable from magic never holds more true than at Disneyland. Disneyland Paris has been combining technology and theatre since 1992 to create amazing experiences for kids (and adults who like a bit of staged spectacle in their lives). Recently, some of the original attractions have been through a “rehabbing”, where new technology and old meet. As part of its 25th anniversary celebrations in 2017, Disneyland Paris invited T3 to tour the upgraded rides and the most recent all-new ride, and speak to the Imagineers about what goes into building and developing them. Our guides are Björn Heerwagen and Laurent Cayuela. Cayuela is a Show Writer, part of the team that works on concepts for attractions, shows and entertainment. One of his key…

THE MISSION Can we produce better, faster and cheaper craft beer using the best new homebrew gadgets, or through time-honoured traditional methods? Andy’s the brewer behind Bristol’s best-kept homebrew secret: The Urban Grinch, an English brown ale. Julia just likes beer. MAN vs TECH Let’s face it. Brewing a perfectly crafted beer from your own home isn’t as easy as it looks. Nailing the mash. Calculating volumes. Getting your head around grains, hops, yeasts and how they work together. It’s an intimidating science – and that’s before you even get into the business of water profiling or fermentation temperatures. But when you get it right, pouring a pint of delicious homebrew from a keg in your kitchen is unbeatable. So when T3 challenged us to test a machine that promised…

From £999 apple.com/uk The iPhone X is the first of a new breed of iPhones, according to Apple. That’s clear just by looking at it – there’s no Home button, which isn’t just to accommodate the edge-toedge screen. Getting rid of one of the iPhone’s few unchanged controls since its launch ten years ago is a statement. It seems small, but it has a knock-on effect, and when we first started using the X, we wondered if we were ready for an all-gesture control scheme. The first thing that’s quite surprising when you take the phone out of the box is just how small it is, especially coming to it from reviews of the Note 8 and iPhone 8 Plus – both superb handsets, but big. Of course, it’s not…

£499 shop.gopro.com GoPro’s had some ups and downs recently, but that hasn’t stopped it pushing the boundaries of what its action cameras can do. Its latest, the HER O6 Black, comes with a raft of new tech to make your adventures look better than ever. With a new processor inside, dubbed GP1, it can record video at frame rates previously thought impossible in such a small form factor. It also boasts waterproofing down to 10 metres without a case – first seen in the HERO5 Black – and it’s tough too, with a rubberised finished that screams ‘go break me if you can’. In testing we dropped it onto concrete from 10 feet, minus a case, and we lost that challenge. There’s new Wi-Fi support for the 5GHz band too,…

OLED 4K TV SONY A1 SERIES Incredible 4K HDR is only a tiny part of this awesome package. The panel (55- or 65-inch) and bezel are super-slim, it offers lightning response times, and great sound comes from a screen that’s also a speaker. From £2,800, sony.co.uk TOP-END 4K TV LOEWE BILD 9 Loewe creates art just as much as it does high-end AV equipment, and its towering, sculptural bild 9 TV is as attractive as it is exquisitely powerful, with a hidden soundbar and top picture quality. £8,990, loewe.tv VALUE 4K BLU-RAY PLAYER XBOX ONE S Yes, this is primarily a games console, but it’s a damn good UHD Blu-ray player too. Why pay more for something that just plays discs when you could be getting your game on with…

FAMILY CAR VOLVO XC60 Well-appointed and exquisitely designed, this mid-size hybrid SUV has all the entertainment options you need, the poise to make those long journeys smooth and enjoyable, and is safe as houses. From £35,655, volvocars.com/uk CITY ELECTRIC CAR BMW i3 BMW’s i3 is a responsive, highly practical electric runabout packed with connectivity options and enough power in its 170bhp motor to hit 62mph in just 7.3 seconds. Perfect for a daily commute. From £30,250, bmw.co.uk CAR DISPLAY NAVDY An innovation that takes the concept of the car heads-up display to the next level, with translucent mapping in your eyeline and gesture control so you can answer calls or dismiss alerts with a wave. £399, navdy.com DASH CAM GARMIN DASH CAM 55 Constantly watching the road, the Dash Cam…

ULTRAPORTABLE LAPTOP HP SPECTRE 13 Simply the most glamorous and handsome laptop you can buy today, and that doesn’t mean sacrificing power, either: HP has somehow managed to squeeze a Core i7 into its impossibly thin 1cm-thick shell. From £1,149, hp.com GAMING LAPTOP RAZER BLADE STEALTH A sumptuous Core i7 processor, a 4K screen, a Razer Chroma-infused keyboard, all in a beautiful ultrabook shell. Add in desktop GPU power via the Thunderbolt 3 Razer Core and you’re in gaming heaven. From £1,349, razerzone.com/gb-en ALL-IN-ONE APPLE IMAC WITH 5K RETINA DISPLAY There’s never been a screen like this. Big enough for every task, detailed, bright, colourful, and it happens to have a Mac stuffed in the back of it as well. From £1,749, apple.com/uk GAMING HEADSET STEELSERIES ARCTIS 7 Super-comfortable thanks…

1 Apple AirPods AirPods have been a huge hit, thanks to their simplicity and technical prowess. Slot them into the box to charge wirelessly, and when used with iPhones or iPads, they pair and switch Bluetooth sources seamlessly. They stay in the ear amazingly well, sound great, are light and unobtrusive as these kinds of product go, have great directional microphones, and are even pretty inexpensive. £159, apple.com/uk 2 Jabra Elite Sport As the name suggests, these are made for sports, which is a great use of the freedom true wireless earbuds offer. The wingtip fit keeps them rock steady, and with a playback time of 4.5 hours, they’re good for even lengthy exercise. Crucially, they have a heart-rate monitor built in to help analyse your workouts, and come with…

1 TIDAL Built for the most serious music lovers, TIDAL has a huge music collection, all in FLAC lossless format, instead of the lossy compression that’s used by most streaming services. But for some albums, it gets even better: some music is available in the higher-quality MQA format, which is basically studio quality. If you want to hear music the way it was originally recorded, this is the way. From £9.99 per month, tidal.com 2 Spotify The service that brought music streaming to the masses is still one of the best options, thanks to its broad catalogue, great social features, and smart recommendation systems. You can use it for free, but paying gets rid of ads, and you get access to Spotify Connect, which lets you choose tracks on your…

I’m writing this in mid-November, but I’ve already heard Macca having his wonderful Christmas time over shop speaker systems, so I guess Christmas is officially well under way. It definitely is throughout this issue. You’ll find our big main Christmas (or any other catalyst you have for buying presents) gift guide starting on p47, but we’ve tailored lots of our usual articles for the season, so look out for the ‘Perfect for Christmas’ badge on stuff we think is ideal for giving to someone else or, if you’re anything like me, yourself this yuletide. Anyone who’s looking for a new hobby to while away the winter hours should especially take a look at our Man vs Tech feature this issue, where we pit one of the new beer home-brewing machines…

AVIATOR V.3.18.0.161.4 BRISTOL SCOUT You don’t have to fly to enjoy Aviator’s handsome new automatic watch with polished stainless-steel case, made to honour the first wristwatches worn by WWI pilots. £895, aviatorwatch.ch MR JONES CYCLOPS UNISEX Embrace your quirkiness with this unique-looking quartz movement watch, featuring funky coloured circles in place of numbers, and offset by a stainless-steel dial and mesh strap. £135, watchshop.com TUDOR HERITAGE BLACK BAY FOR HARRODS The world’s favourite store gets its own version of this Tudor classic, waterproof to 660ft and finished with a case back that’s uniquely numbered and engraved with the letter H. £2,630, harrods.com…

KOOYI VACUUM INSULATED TRAVEL COFFEE MUG A car-friendly, 100-per cent waterproof rating is great, but this mug’s double- walled vacuum insulation is the winner that means you get 12 hours of hot or cold fluids. The button lid for spill-free, anti-hot sipping is just a bonus. £9.99, kooyi.com CONTIGO WEST LOOP MONACO TRAVEL MUG Both leak-and spill-proof, this Thermalock vacuuminsulated stainless steel drinks holder is made for one-handed drinking, using a push button – ideal when behind the wheel. With five hours of hot and 12 hours cold drinks, it’ll work well for most drives. £30, kambukka.com/en CAMELBAK FORGE VACUUM INSULATED TRAVEL MUG This ticks all the boxes with six hours of hot drinks on offer, thanks to a doublewalled vacuum insulation, leak-proof cap, impactresistant top and a design that…

1 BEAUMONT FRENCH COCKTAIL SHAKER With the right recipe and kit, such as this speakeasy-style copper shaker, making your own cocktails is great fun. £23.98, nisbets.co.uk 2 CALABRESE HAWTHORN STRAINER At The Cocktail Lab, we place this inside the shaker, where it holds back ice and allows a clean pour. £22, la-gent.com 3 DROP BAR SPOON 30CM When it comes to homemade cocktails you’ll need the right tools to pull them off. This copper-plated spoon is ideal for stirring. £7.51, urbanbar.com 4 FINAL TOUCH COCKTAIL JIGGER Use this doublesided cocktail jigger to measure out double shots (60ml) or single shots (up to 30ml). Easy! £11.99, ckbltd.com/uk 5 LSA LULU COCKTAIL GLASSES This handmade set features four individually designed glasses for serving your homemade festive cocktails. £28, black-bydesign.co.uk…

Want a little more sunshine and flip-flops, and a little less woollies and icy rain this winter? Then grab your passport and jet off on a winter sun holiday, starting with the Emerald Coast on the Gulf of Mexico. Visit this place of paradise in December for beautiful white-sand beaches with barely anyone on them. It’s hot enough to lay out in the sun, but fresh enough for exploring the scenic 30A Highway in a head-turning 2016 Lamborghini Huracán Spyder – yep, you can hire them! At just four hours’ drive from New Orleans, the Emerald Coast is the perfect opportunity for a little US road trip. You could also head to vibrant Barbados. Go in February to bask in temperatures in the high 20s, bathe in warm waters and…

If you’re going more pro, look no further than the PIXPRO SP3604K. Upping the maximum front-facing video resolution to a full, super-sharp 4K is only the first of its tricks – its vertical field of view is raised from the SP360’s 216 degrees to a huge 235 degrees, capturing even more of what’s around. And it’s an expandable system, too: pick up a second PIXPRO SP3604K (or grab the Dual Pro pack) and you can stitch together the output of two back-to-back cameras into perfect spherical videos, or mount them independently for even more options. You can even take your 360-degree filming to the skies: the SP360 4K Aerial pack includes a pair of cameras and a special adapter for the 3DR Solo drone.…

Hasbro Dropmix Typically, someone messing with your playlist at a party is cause for a tantrum, but the Dropmix boardgame encourages musical mischievousness. Players place down their music-mixing cards – each one carries a lead, loop, beat or bass line from a well-known song – in an attempt to score more than the other players by creating unique musical mash-ups. Basically, it turns absolutely anyone into a genius DJ, and it’s insanely fun for parties. £120, dropmix.hasbro.com Sony PlayStation VR Whether you already own a PS4 or just want to get your foot in the virtual reality gaming door, the PlayStation VR is a serious bit of kit. A 5.7-inch OLED screen running at 120 frames per second, immersive 3D audio and an integrated mic are all contained within its…

1 Marloe Watch Company Lomond We adore this manual mechanical wristwatch, available in five colour-ways and featuring a ceramic bezel insert, exhibition case-back and handy stopwatch function. £449, marloewatchcompany.com 2 Moshi Avanti x Grey Jason Wu Headphones Style-conscious musos will love Moshi’s headphones, dipped in a custom grey hue by designer Jason Wu and with 40mm drivers pushing a full-bodied sound. £225, moshi.com 3 Philips SW9700 Join the Dark Side with this Star Wars-inspired electric shaver. It has three settings for different skin types, and V-Track PRO blades for a closer shave. £329.99, johnlewis.com 4 Moscot Shtarker Sun Aviator-Style Gold-Tone Sunglasses Stand out from the crowd with Moscot’s face-flattering square aviator Shtarker Sun shades. Those sumptuous brown lenses and gold-tone arms suit all complexions. £265, mrporter.com Jekyll & Hide RFID…

WIN OVER £11,000 WORTH OF TECH! 01 AOC AGON AG352UCG £799.00, eu.aoc.com/en 02 Suunto Spartan Wrist HR £399, suunto.com/en-GB 03 Oppo PM-3 headphones £349, oppodigital.com 04 Flyboarding in London £129, buyagift.co.uk 05 KitSound Voice One £130, kitsound.co.uk 06 RazorX Cruiser Electric Skateboard, £249.99, razor.com 07 Manfrotto PIXI Pano360 and PIXI Mini Tripod £124.95 and £26.95, manfrotto.co.uk 08 D-link Omna, £149.95, dlink.com/uk/en 09 14K Gold-Plated V-Moda Crossfade 2 Wireless £665.91, v-moda.com 10 TomTom Touch Body Composition, £119.99, tomtom.com/en_gb 11 Tile Sport, £30, thetileapp.com/en-gb 12 AlcoSense Ultra £249.99, alcosense.co.uk 13 Vango Photon £30, vango.co.uk 14 Sphero Mini £49.99, firebox.com 15 Griffin Reserve Power Bank 18,200 mAh £42.00, griffintechnology.com 16 Turtle Beach Stealth 700 PS4, £129.99, turtlebeach.com/en-gb 17 Nikko Air Race Vision 220 FPV Pro £199.99, nikkoair.com 18 SodaStream Power £169.99, sodastream.co.uk 19…

FOOBOT The Foobot is a great way of monitoring your air quality indoors. It’ll measure VOC, PM and humidity/ temperature. You can hook it up to other gadgets to make it even more useful, such as your Nest thermostat, and it’ll even switch on your Blueair Sense+ if you connect it up using IFTTT.com NOKIA HOME A security camera on the one hand, an air quality monitor on the other, the Nokia Home measures Volatile Organic Compounds (vapours released from chemicals like paint or aerosols) and when it detects a high level in the air, it lights up red and sends you a warning on your phone. ELGATO EVE ROOM This diminutive device can measure air quality (VOCs) as well as humidity and temperature, relaying the info back to your…

LONG BATTERY LIFE BLINK XT £149.99, blinkforhome.co.uk Ostensibly similar to the original Blink cam, the new Blink XT adds weatherproofing and an upgraded 1080p sensor. You still get the same killer two-year battery life from the dual AAs and no video storage fees. You also get the same wall mount, which is rudimentary but works well. Video performance is better than the original, and good overall, but the viewing angle slightly narrower than we’d like. That said, at night the picture is very bright. There’s no geolocation goodness here; instead you have to remember to manually arm and disarm it each time to avoid motion notifications when you’re home. This lack of smarts is mitigated by Alexa integration, so you can control your cameras using your voice, or if you…

01 THE BASICS During set-up, you’ll be faced with a choice between Shop and Home factory preset modes. Unless you actually live in a shop, choosing the right option shouldn’t be a challenge. If you get it wrong, just reset the screen to factory fresh. 02 UPGRADE YOUR HARDWARE To squeeze the most from your screen, upgrade your sources. If you can’t connect via HDMI, don’t bother. An acceptable starting point is Blu-ray and HD set top boxes. If you have fast broadband, upgrade to Netflix and Amazon Instant Video. 03 USE THE BEST SCALING OPTION On budget 4K TVs, it’s often best to let your component source do the upscaling. High-performing 4K upscaling Blu-ray players will have better upscaling potential than low-cost panels. If you have a home cinema…

SPECIFICATIONS Price £449 Processor AMD 8-core, 2.3GHz Graphics AMD 1.172GHz, 6TFLOPS Memory 12GB GDDR5 Storage 1TB hard drive Connectivity HDMI out, HDMI in, 3x USB 3.0, IR, SPDIF audio, Ethernet, Wi-Fi ac Dimensions 300x240x60mm Weight 3.8kg £449 xbox.com/en-GB When the the PS4 Pro launched 12 months ago, it marked a new kind of console – an update to the previous generation, more like a PC upgrade than the old console leaps. Now it’s Microsoft’s turn, and it’s gone all-out. Loaded with 50 per cent more graphics power than the PS4 Pro, as well as 4K output, HDR, Dolby Atmos and a full-blown Ultra HD Blu-ray player, the Xbox One X is not only the most powerful video game console ever made, but also an incredibly well-specced multi-media entertainment hub, which…

PICO PRO Whip up a b atch of tasty craft beer from one of the world’s finest microbreweries with little more than the touch of a button. The Pico Pro packs cutting-edge tech into a slick machine – and makes a cracking pint, too. $799, picobrew.com SUPERFAST THERMAPEN 4 THERMOMETER With full readings in just three seconds, this is the don of digital thermometers. The display rotates with your hand position, and it turns on a backlight when it’s dark. £64, thermapen.co.uk COPPERHEAD IMMERSION WORT CHILLER This 7.6m chiller conducts heat fast, cleans easily and is a thousand times better than trying to cool down your wort by plunging it into a kitchen sink full of ice. Trust us. £70, beerhawk.co.uk 30L FASTFERMENT CONICAL FERMENTER This all-in-one conical fermenter brews…

£629 store.google.com.pixel_2 It seems Google is really starting to define its vision for the perfect Android phone: pragmatic, quirky design, with killer software. Let’s start with the design, which has its good and bad parts. With a five-inch screen, it’s a great size, and easy to use one-handed. The phone overall has a clear visual identity now, with a larger glass panel on the rear that stretches around the edges of the device, and chamfered bezels. Oddly, it feels like it’s made from plastic. Don’t get us wrong, it’s very well made – it feels as solid as a rock. But compared to the almost ceramicfeeling iPhone 8’s glass back, it feels kind of cheap despite being premium. That said, it’s the most grippy flagship phone out there, which we…

MULTI-ROOM SPEAKERS DENON HEOS 7 HS2 Denon’s HEOS system offers rich sound, and its simplicity of set-up, the look of its speaker units, and its general speed and reliability are top tier. You can’t get better wireless speakers. £549, denon.co.uk PORTABLE BLUETOOTH SPEAKER CAMBRIDGE AUDIO YOYO M These portable speakers are made for wireless stereo sound and come as a pair (though you can use one on its own). They offer punchy audio in an impressively wide sound field, and look great, too. £299, cambridgeaudio.com WIRELESS IN-EAR HEADPHONES OPTOMA NUFORCE BE SPORT 3 An incredibly light set of Bluetooth earphones that are perfect for sport but absolutely no slouch in the audio department. Class-leading sound, decent battery life and premium looks to boot. £59, optoma.co.uk PREMIUM IN-EAR HEADPHONES RHA T20i…

VOICE ASSISTANT AMAZON ECHO Alexa is everywhere these days, but nowhere is Amazon’s AI more at home than in its Echo. It couples an awesome array microphone with pleasing design for the perfect assistant experience. £90, amazon.co.uk SMART DOORBELL RING VIDEO DOO RBELL 2 Part motion-detecting security camera, part ring-anywhere doorbell, the Video Doorbell 2 alerts you via your smartphone when you have a visitor – and you can two-way talk even if you’re not home. £179, ring.com LIFESTYLE WI-FI CAMERA NEST CAM This indoor cam streams sharp HD video to your phone or computer, and can alert you when it senses motion or sound, so you can tune in – with an 8x zoom and 130-degree view, you won’t miss a thing. £159, nest.com/uk DOOR & WINDOW SENSORS HIVE…

ENTRY-LEVEL DSLR CANON EOS 800D Make no mistake: the EOS 800D’s tech, trickled down from higher models in the line, is remarkable. It offers up 45-point autofocus, a touch-sensitive screen and awesome image quality. £779, canon.com MIRRORLESS CAMERA SONY A9 Cleverly engineered to put every component right behind the 24.2MP sensor for speed, the A9 can shoot at a ridiculous 20fps, take 4K video, and has 693-point focus with a full-frame sensor. £4,499, sony.co.uk ACTION CAMERA GOPRO HERO 6 BLAC K The most advanced action camera on the planet can shoot stunning 4K video at 60fps, with advanced stabilisation making footage super-smooth and realistic. It’s also waterproof to 10m without a case. £499, gopro.com RUNNING WATCH GARMIN FORERUNNER 935 The Forerunner 935 measures every aspect of your workout, from heart…

1 UE Wonderboom When it comes to potent portable speakers that can go anywhere, this is really hard to beat. About the size of a drinks can, it produces impressive audio that sounds good outside as well as in. But it’s also rugged as hell, waterproof, dust-proof, dropproof, and light enough to carry anywhere without feeling like a drag. You can even chain more than one for extra power. £64.99, ultimateears.com 2 Bose Soundlink Revolve The Revolve is a 360-degree speaker that puts out an incredible sonic experience for its size in all directions, and is equally capable in a traditional wall-adjacent spot. Clarity and bass control are fantastic, and you can pair two as a stereo set, which works just beautifully. There’s also a bigger Revolve+, which costs £279,…