Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2021 i T3

REALME GT Thanks to brands like OnePlus, Oppo and realme, budget ‘flagship killers’ have become a familiar sight. And yet the realme GT is still worth sitting up and taking notice of. It’s not that it comes with a zippy Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 5G processor. Nor is it the gorgeous, buttery smooth 120Hz Samsung Super AMOLED display or its hyper-responsive 360Hz touch sample rate. Frankly, it’s not even its 4,500 mAh battery and 65W SuperDart charging or its stainless steel VC cooling system for enabling superior heat dispersion. Each of these features can be found in other handsets after all. Instead the most remarkable thing about the GT is that it offers these features all in one package… and a package that will set you back a fraction of the…

Our mission is to bring you the clearest recommendations we can – and that means a great deal of hard work happens before a product even reaches our pages! Because we only feature products the T3 team would happily use ourselves, we end up discarding a significant number of options in each category before settling on a final shortlist to review. We select only the best of the best for our Tested section; the gear we know you’ll want to seriously consider purchasing. And that should mean an end to you having to undertake hours of painstaking research and product comparisons. You won’t see any duff products, but you will come away with clarity on which one is the best in its category or for a specific task: our awards…

One crumb of comfort from the unprecedented nature of the past year or so is that spending so much time at home has created a national longing to swap the couch and boxset for clean air and the great outdoors. Now that restrictions have been relaxed, we can at last leave the urban areas we’ve spent so much time in to explore wilder places. This recently reclaimed freedom to travel combined with a desire to get fitter and healthier has seen huge numbers of us getting out and about to enjoy clean air, the pleasures of nature and a life outdoors on foot, by bike, or on the water – which has now become even more appealing with warmer summer temperatures and sunny skies. Of course, documenting such outdoor adventures…

CHECK YOUR FRAMING With a tiny viewscreen, you’re never going to get a great view of your subject using your action cam alone. This problem is compounded when mounting your camera in a position where you can’t see the viewscreen at all. Fortunately, you can get a live and far better view of what’s in shot by using your camera’s smartphone app, which will allow you to set up exactly the framing you need. CHECK YOUR SETTINGS With buttons that can switch shooting modes and a small screen with even smaller icons, when checking your footage it’s not unusual to find that instead of the video you wanted to shoot, you’ve got something completely different, such as a time-lapse sequence instead. Similarly, it’s easy to have accidentally switched from shooting…

1 LOWE ALPINE AEON 27L DAYPACK One of the cool features of the Beosound Explore is how you can hook it to a bag with the included carabiner – if you don’t already have a bag, the Aeon 27L Daypack is a good choice, giving you 27 litres of capacity as well as plenty of places to attach your speaker. £90, rab.equipment 2 ANKER POWERCORE SLIM 10000 Take a portable power pack with you and you can charge your speaker while you’re out: this PowerCore Slim 10000 pack from Anker has enough capacity to charge the B&O Beosound Explore four times over, so the music can carry on playing for longer. £17.99, anker.com 3 BELKIN BOOST CHARGE 63W GAN WALL CHARGER You don’t get a wall charging plug with the…

APPLE AIRPODS MAX If you don’t want to give up the iMac’s 3D audio feature the second a glaring loved one makes you don some headphones, you’ll want to pick up some AirPods Max. Not only do they also offer spatial audio, they sound and look stunning. £549, apple.com LOGITECH MX VERTICAL MOUSE This good-looking mouse sits at a 57 degree angle to reduce wrist pressure, is ergonomist-approved, and is seriously comfortable. Speed is also on its side: it has advanced optical tracking with a 4,000-dpi high-precision sensor. £88.39, amazon.co.uk BELKIN USB 3.0 4-PORT HUB As we’ve already pointed out, continuing to use a lot of your older, pre-USB-C devices is going to require you to pick up a hub. This simple option offers four USB 3.0 ports in a…

ARCHER MAKER Most of us spent our childhoods being told every brief journey we’d take as an adult would involve being whisked through skies in some futuristic vehicle. And yet reality has stubbornly refused to live up to these lofty expectations. Thankfully, electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft like Archer’s Maker are set to change all that. Able to travel 60 miles at 150mph, the Maker is designed to take the hassle out of urban journeys and short hops, while its 270-degree wraparound window means you can really take in that view. Redundant motors, batteries and avionics allow it to get you home regardless of unforeseen circumstances. And with engines that only produce 45dBA of noise and zero emissions, it has no negative impact on the environment. So what’s…

JOSH RUSSELL Editor JO GULLIVER Group Art Director ROBERT JONES Ecommerce Editor MATT KOLLAT Staff Writer MICHELLE McLAREN Art Editor PAUL DOUGLAS Content Director DUNCAN BELL Lifestyle Editor MATT EVANS Staff Writer RUSSELL LEWIN Production Editor MATT BOLTON Home Tech Editor SPENCER HART Product & Style Editor RUTH HAMILTON Outdoor & Wellness Editor MEET OUR ADVERTISING TEAM Get in touch to see what T3 can do for your brand! ADVERTISING DIRECTOR, TECHNOLOGY KATE COLGAN kate.colgan@futurenet.com ACCOUNT DIRECTOR JOSHUA McGONIGLE joshua.mcgonigle@futurenet.com ACCOUNT MANAGER ISABEL LINCOLN-MOORE isabel.lincoln-moore@futurenet.com THE GLOBAL MAGAZINE T3 is currently licensed worldwide, from Australia to Mexico FRANCE POLAND HOW TO LICENSE T3 Interested in publishing a licensed version of T3 in your territory? Please direct enquiries to T3’s Senior Licensing & Syndication Manager, Matt Ellis (matt.ellis@futurenet.com; +44 (0)1225 442244)…

This is given to winners of our group tests, so you can see which is the best at a glance Only the best products – those that score five stars – receive our Platinum Award T3, ISSN 1364-2642, is published monthly with an extra issue in September by Future Publishing, Quay House, The Ambury, Bath, BA1 1UA. UK The US annual subscription price is $168.87. Airfreight and mailing in the USA by agent named World Container Inc, 156-15, 146th Avenue, 2nd Floor, Jamaica, NY 11434, USA. Application to Mail at Periodicals Postage Prices is Pending at Brooklyn NY 11256. US POSTMASTER: Send address changes to T3, World Container Inc, 150-15 183rd St, Jamaica, NY 11413, USA Subscription records are maintained at Future Publishing, c/o Air Business Subscriptions, Rockwood House, Perrymount…

TUDOR, BLACK BAY CERAMIC Not only does this new watch look amazing with a case in matt black ceramic, there’s a lot going on inside too. It features a Manufacture Calibre with a Master Chronometer certification from METAS. £3,550, tudorwatch.com G-SHOCK, GST-B400 Featuring a new, improved module built to deliver the slimmest case of any G-Steel yet, at just 12.9mm. It’s still just as useable, though, with a new low-power Bluetooth system. £379, g-shock.co.uk SWATCH, SPACE COLLECTION LAUNCH Swatch has taken the orange NASA Advanced Crew Escape Suit design to the next level. Featuring Swatch Glow hands, a matt grey bio-ceramic case and bio-sourced plastic glass. £141, swatch.com BREITLING, SUPER CHRONOMAT B01 44 This stylish all-purpose sports watch features a UTC-module embedded in a Rouleaux bracelet, providing a way of…

COLUMBIA OMNI-FREEZE ZERO RANGE Columbia’s latest tech innovation? Omni-Freeze Zero – a high-tech moisture-wicking material that reacts with sweat to lower the fabric’s temperature. £21, columbiasportswear.co.uk SAMSONITE MAGNUM ECO LUGGAGE Dusting off your suitcase will be even more exciting if it’s one of Samsonite’s new Magnum Eco cases, which are made with recycled plastic. They feature Samsonite’s trusty three-point lock system. From £159, samsonite.co.uk HAMMERHEAD KAROO 2 This brilliant new cycling computer, which launched in February 2021, will super charge your pedal power. Our favourite features include the ultra-responsive touchscreen, the rugged mount and slick smartphone-like interface. £359, uk.hammerhead.io…

01 GOPRO SHORTY A camera grip is extremely useful; however, the Shorty is more than just a regular grip. Telescopic sections extend allowing you to use it for selfies, while three fold out legs also enable it to be used as a tripod. £39.99, gopro.com 02 GOPRO CHESTY While helmet-mounted cams are popular for shooting your exploits on bike or board, you get a much more interesting POV with a chest-mounted camera. GoPro’s Chesty is one of the best models around. £44.99, gopro.com 03 EXPOSURE CAPTURE CAMERA LIGHT Whether you’re attaching Exposure’s tough but light, er, lights to a vlogging rig, or to your bike for capturing night rides, this is one of the best of its kind around. £110, exposurelights.com…

Portability and connectivity are king when it comes to Samsung’s latest ultrabook, with a frankly ridiculous weight of just 0.87kg and a thickness of less than 12mm when closed. There’s plenty of competition in the ultralight ultrabook arena, and the compact chassis of the Galaxy Book Pro makes it clear that Samsung is taking aim at competitors like Acer’s Swift 5 and Dell’s XPS 13. That impressive exterior doesn’t mean that the Galaxy Book Pro is all sizzle and no steak, fortunately; the hardware specs on show here demonstrate that this ultrabook can go toe-to-toe with bigger laptops. An 11th-generation Intel Core CPU with Xe G7 graphics gives this laptop a decent amount of processing oomph, enough to keep up with other Windows 10 ultrabooks cut from similar cloth. This…

B&O BEOSOUND EXPLORE £169, bang-olufsen.com WE’RE IMPRESSED Excellent balance; attractive, tough design; great small size. WE’D IMPROVE Sound isn’t expansive; no 3.5mm audio input. THE LAST WORD Small and ultra-tough, the Explore excels in both looks and build quality. It also sounds seriously impressive, although it’s a bit lacking in oomph when compared to the JBL. However, once you factor in its much smaller and more portable package – not to mention that epic battery life – it rapidly becomes the obvious choice for your backpack, whether you’re heading to the park or the mountains. 1st JBL CHARGE 5 £159.99, jbl.com 2nd WE’RE IMPRESSED Loud, powerful sound; 20-hour battery life; can charge your phone. WE’D IMPROVE No EQ settings; can’t use PartyBoost with Connect+ speakers; no 3.5mm audio port. THE…

The Focal Clear MG are luxurious headphones, made for a luxurious listening experience, and they hit that mark dead on. For our money, these are absolutely the best wired headphones on the planet. The Focal Clear MG cost roughly the same as the Sennheiser HD 800 S that are their single biggest competition and about half of what you’d pay for Focal’s wonderful Stellia headphones. So in the scheme of audiophile headphones, they’re pretty well-priced, even if they make the cost of Apple AirPods Max look like pocket change. Microfibre earpads and headband material feels like sinking into a sofa when you put them on, and they held firmly in place on the head without being uncomfortable or warming up too much over a long period of listening. The aluminium…

Do you want to get a glimpse of what Mini-LED technology can do in the hands of Samsung? Then you need to check out the QN900A. It raises the bar high. It combines extreme brightness, colour and 8K sharpness with unprecedented levels of contrast and backlight control to produce the all-round most spectacular pictures we’ve seen on a TV that’s even remotely affordable. The Samsung looks every bit as cutting edge and premium as you’d hope a TV at this price would look. The first thing you’ll notice is its bezel. Or rather, its lack of it. Unless you look really, really hard, from the front you’ll struggle to see any frame around the screen at all. It’s just a picture hanging in mid-air. From an angle the bezel does…

BOWERS & WILKINS PI7 In a world of thousands of true wireless earbuds, the Bowers & Wilkins PI7 are some of the very best. They have exceptional sound: you’ll hear music exactly as it was meant to be heard. Truly phenomenal. £349, bowerswilkins.com CAMBRIDGE AUDIO MELOMANIA 1+ Balk at paying over £250 on earbuds? These are for you. Where they excel for their price is in their sound, which is uniformly excellent. Their nine-hour battery life is also up there with the very best. £119.95, cambridgeaudio.com…

At the time of writing, the T3 team has recently celebrated our favourite cultural holiday. Not the Solstice: the oatmeal pallor of most tech journalists means we’re doctrinally forbidden from celebrating the sun’s influence on our lives. No, of course we’re talking about Amazon Prime Day. Like all truly great holidays, it’s calendrically ambiguous, drifting through its given month so unpredictably you’d need an orrery to determine its date each year. And it exists largely just an excuse for us to acquire all of the fancy stuff we’ve had our eye on for six months. So we’ve spent the festive period feverishly tracking deals and buying up bargain tech. The net result is that we’re all: shattered, broke and happily playing with our new purchases. Fortunately, this means we have…

1 ONEPLUS NORD CE 5G • From £299, oneplus.com The first Nord seemed to be a case of OnePlus remembering what its original market was – the affordable mid-range – and throwing out something those buyers might like; this second bite of the apple, while not an actual Nord 2, seems to be the result of OnePlus working out what mid-range buyers actually want. The price is a clue, with the CE costing £80 less than the bottom end of the original Nord spec (though also £80 more than the bargain Nord N10). The battery, a 4,500mAh upgrade over the 4,100mAh cell of its predecessor, will suit casual users better. This launches with Android 11 (with two years of software updates promised) running on an a mid-table Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G…

Men’s capri (or camp/Cuban) collar shirts bring the style worn by James Bond, Jude Law in The Talented Mr Ripley, and Elvis Presley back for modern-day resort wear. They’re also worn, more recently, by style icons Jeff Goldblum and Harry Styles, and if that’s not a glowing recommendation then we don’t know what is. The classic style should be a staple of any holiday wardrobe, whether you’re cruising around the Mediterranean or having an ice cream on the Isle of Wight. Now, you could opt for a traditional navy blue or striped option, but we think there’s always room in your suitcase for a statement print, just like the Island Divers print featured on this Orlebar Brown Travis shirt. The design shows people diving from palm trees on a faraway…

ZUMA Why buy a wireless speaker and a Hue-style LED smart light, when you can buy a Zuma and get both in one? Everything is crammed into a unit that can replace a single ceiling spotlight. The results are truly impressive for both sound and visuals. £375, zuma.ai ZWILLING FRESH & SAVE We love this vacuum-pack food preserving range. Just put your leftovers, ingredients, dried goods or whatever into glass or plastic tubs, then let the USB-charged electric vacuum pump work its magic. From £79.95, uk.zwilling-shop.com JOSEPH JOSEPH TITAN COMPACTOR A great solution for anyone who hates taking the recycling out too often, this 30-litre bin can take 90 litres of trash. How? A clever, fold-down internal bin and lid lets you crush down rubbish as you go, without tearing…

Guru recently reached a milestone birthday, the one at which one’s life supposedly begins – life apparently being a combination of constant crushing malaise and the inability to stand up without going ‘oof’. In a losing effort to retain at least some of his fast eroding youthfulness, GaGu has invested in a number of tinctures. These range from The Body Shop’s £28 ‘Drops of Youth’, a pre-moisturiser gel only slightly less expensive than printer ink, to Origins’ Plantscription Multi-Powered Youth Serum, which passes the printer ink mark at £42 for 30ml and sounds like a punishment handed out to naughty children by Monty Don. Whether these things are working is a question for Mrs Guru, who refuses to answer on the basis that she does not wish to encourage Guru’s…

1 KNOMO FULHAM KNOMAD X-BODY ORGANISER Knomo is known for its high-quality bags, which are designed to keep your tech protected. The Fulham case is ideal for travel and ensures your devices and documents are safe and organised. It’s made from water-resistant nylon with an RFID-proof pocket, and you can put it in a backpack. £69, knomo.com 2 APPLE AIRTAGS It’s easy to lose things when you’re away on your holidays. But you can keep track of all your valuables with these brilliant Apple AirTags. They are small tracking discs you can attach to your keys, slip into your wallet or hide in a backpack. Open the Find My app on your iPhone, and you can see where everything is whenever you need to. From £29, apple.com 3 NINTENDO SWITCH…

If you’re taking your music on the go with a portable speaker, then you need it to last – and there are a growing number of quality, well-protected outdoor speakers on the market now, including models from high-end audio brands better known for their indoor kit. With leading manufacturers including Bang & Olufsen and Sonos joining the likes of JBL in making battery-powered, wireless speakers, you can get yourself a device that’s protected against the elements and that’s going to broadcast your music in high fidelity, whether you’re on the beach, the campsite, or your patio. Besides the audio quality of your portable speaker, there are a number of key specs to look out for as well, not least battery life – you want a device that’s going to be…

CHOOSE YOUR MUSIC SOURCE These speakers can’t store their own music library locally – you need to stream audio from a phone, tablet or laptop instead, so make sure you have a few playlists ready to go from your app of choice. Ideally, you’ll want to get them synced for offline playback to your mobile device ahead of time. FIND THE RIGHT SIZE All the portable, battery-powered speakers you’ll come across are small-ish, but some are smaller than others. If you’re getting a speaker to sit by the pool then you’re going to want a larger model than if you’re getting a speaker to fix to your backpack for a hiking trip, so pick a size based on your intended use. CHECK THE AUDIO OUTPUT All of the speakers that…

This is the first time we’ve been able to judge what it’s like when a Mac has been, in Apple’s words, “built from the ground up around M1”. With the MacBook Air (M1, 2020) and MacBook Pro 13-inch (M1, 2020), we got the new chip in old designs. But this iMac is all-new, internally and externally. The characteristics of Apple’s M1 chip means that the computer can be just 11.5mm thick, not including stand, but still pack in eight cores of potent processing power, and run silently in general use. The 4.5K resolution screen is larger than the 21.5-inch model it replaces, but the whole unit is only 2cm wider and 1cm taller – and much less voluminous. It is, simply, much more computer in a smaller space… mostly. There…

Garmin finally made a fitness smartwatch that’s actually usable and doesn’t look too bad either. Better still, the battery life is pretty impressive for an AMOLED watch. The Venu 2 has stayed true to its roots in terms of offering a more fitness-y experience; it just does it way better than previous iterations. The 1.3-inch AMOLED touchscreen display has a resolution of 416 x 416 pixels and it even has an optional always-on mode. The AMOLED screen really brings the widget view of the Garmin OS to life and all the milestone animations, like when you hit your step goals, look way better on the pretty screen. Battery life is a category the watch really excels in. Officially, it offers ‘up to’ 11 days in smartwatch mode; with GPS on,…

Excellent true wireless buds are coming thick and fast recently. Sony has long been a strong contender for the crown with its multiple award-winning WF-1000X line. And with the WF-1000XM4, the Japanese brand has knocked it out of the park. Design-wise, things are a big step up from the previous generation. Sony could have been forgiven for taking its wildly successful WF-1000XM3 design and simply fiddling with it. Instead the WF-1000XM4 is an entirely new design that addresses their predecessor’s few shortcomings – specifically the rather bulky size of them. These earbuds are lighter and 10% smaller than those they replace, while the new charging case is a full 40% smaller than the coffin-style outgoer. Sony has even developed new polyurethane eartips to provide improved passive noise-reduction. The standard of…

Think of Pure Electrics’ Pure Air Go as the start of your electric journey. It is designed to be affordable, yet still offer everything the brand is known for: solid design, water resistance, local support. We’re big fans of the original design of the Pure Air Go. It’s utilitarian and industrial, almost bicycle-like with flowing steel tubes. Whereas some electric scooters are just clones of the Xiaomi M365, this is more original. Being designed and created by a British brand, it certainly feels like a sturdy, well-built piece of kit. It’s constructed to safely carry a large 120kg maximum load. That’s more than most scooters, and means it shouldn’t have any troubles carrying you, and a heavy bag, around town. As we previously mentioned, it has an IP65 water resistance…