Innholdsfortegnelse for Awards 2016 i T3

Nicolas Dehghani, illustrator The supremely talented Nicolas is in charge of our Gadget Guru illustrations this month. Check out more of his stunning work at his site: nicolasddd.tumblr.com Chris Barnes, writer Drone expert Chris has been busy compiling a host of drone-photography kit, including the latest DJI Phantom, for a reader in need. Take to the skies with him in We Can Build You, on p32. Pete Travers, writer Keen golfer Pete has been fitted out with the latest club tech from TaylorMade this month. Can it make him play better, or will he still be bogeying? Find out in Man Vs Tech, starting on p108.…

Hey, where’s my PlayStation Neo? You’re looking at it. Maybe. The PlayStation Pro is widely thought to have previously been called the Neo, but we reckon the name Pro better represents some of the more powerful features this sleek-looking console is packing. Oh yeah? What are they? The Pro has a bigger internal hard drive (1TB) than the standard PS4, along with twice the GPU power, so it can drive games at 4K res. Also, when you’re playing a game with PS4 Pro features, the Share button on the DualShock 4 controller can generate higher-res gameplay clips and screenshots compared to the standard PS4. You can also broadcast gameplay at higher settings. What about movies? The Pro is HDR-capable but can’t play Ultra 4K Blu-rays. The Blu-ray Disc Player app,…

I’ve told you before, T3, I don’t do bendy. Relax, El Stiffo. The only yoga you’ll be doing with Lenovo’s new two-in-one tablet is moving it from one position (mode) into another. There are four modes in all, thanks to a 360-degree hinge. Good. Now tell me more. Available in gunmetal grey or champagne gold, the Yoga Book is a genuine piece of eye candy armed with some powerful features.  It runs Android or Windows (your choice), has a capacitive-touch bottom half (the Create Pad), an on-demand keyboard and a stylus. Wait – what was that about an on-demand keyboard Open the Yoga Book in Type Mode and the Halo keyboard will light up. There are no ‘keys’, just a smoothtouch surface. A haptic-feedback affair with built-in shortcuts, the keyboard…

01 FINISTERRE ELLIOT Any man who understands the brilliance of a capsule wardrobe will appreciate Finisterre’s versatile Elliot shirt. Layer it over a fresh white tee or wear it beneath a snug crew neck jumper. £75, finisterre.com 02 CHEAP MONDAY AVOID POPLIN Every guy should own a crisp white shirt, and this button-up will help you look sharp without feeling stuffy. Made from soft, pure cotton, and designed with tonal four-hole buttons, the regular-fit Avoid Poplin shirt flatters a range of body shapes and skin tones. £50, cheapmonday.com 03 SAMSOE & SAMSOE LIAM OXFORD Inject some Scandi style into your wardrobe with this simple yet striking shirt. Available in salt and pepper (shown) or blue, the full-cotton Liam Oxford plays nicely with dark denim. Roll up the sleeves for…

Guru’s neighbour-bothering activities will be taken to literal new heights once Parrot unleashes its fixed-wing Disco drone (£1,149), which includes a 14MP camera and a special phone-incorporating goggle system with overlaid flight metrics – and goes a ridiculous 50mph. It’s mainly interesting because of the integrated ‘CHUCK’ system, which refers both to the ‘Control Hub and Universal Computer Kit’ autopilot, and the fact that the Disco is launched by flinging it in the air as you would a frisbee. At that price, let’s hope it works. More on p28! The Here earbuds (below, currently indeterminate price) are soon to ship – a vague “Holiday 2016” is as close as they’ll admit – making Guru’s long-battered lugs most pleased indeed. The idea is that, as well as streaming audio to your…

THE AWARD The winner of this category will be a vehicle that enables users to get from A to B in supreme style. The judges will be looking for a combination of luxurious driveability, competitive performance, turnyour-head looks and innovative features. And it goes without saying, the more ecofriendly, the better. TESLA MODEL X Tesla revolutionised the luxury saloon with its Model S, and the Model X is the company’s attempt to do the same in the premium SUV sector. Its secret weapon, aside from Tesla’s all-conquering battery power, is its awesome Falcon Wing doors. VOLVO XC90 Volvo gave its range-topping XC90 a ground-up redesign this year, transforming the family favourite into a sleek, luxury SUV. The XC90 is a comfortable smoothie that’ll charm you from the get-go – if…

THE AWARD The winner of this category will be the standout accessory for working, gaming and entertainmentviewing on the move. To achieve this accolade, it will need to pack considerable power and processing capabilities, while maintaining a sleek build that facilitates portability and gives it the “Look at me!” factor. DELL XPS 12 Dell’s renaissance continues with the XPS 12 and its effectively bezel-free 4K InfinityEdge display. This makes the convertible tablet/notebook very compact without its base, but use it as a laptop: its keyboard is in a class of its own. HP SPECTRE X360 The Spectre x360 landed with a Bond-inspired moniker, a premium metal shell and optional 4K, and we swooned. With a 360-degree hinge enabling various flipping options, and full-fat Intel laptop processors, this is as flexible…

THE AWARD The winner of this category will be a piece of kit with a dedication to dazzle. It will dare to be different, standing out from the crowd with its unrivalled style vision, while maintaining a solid build quality and an armoury of quality features. The kind of tech you’d be itching to show off to your friends at the pub. SPONSORED BY B&W ZEPPELIN WIRELESS Bowers & Wilkins invented the high-end iPhone dock with the Zeppelin. Now wireless, and as stunning to behold as ever, it also pumps out some of the crispest, bassiest and creamy-smoothest sonics around. OLYMPUS PEN-F Giving cutting-edge tech a retro look isn’t new, but going too far down the vintage route can give a false impression. Olympus has walked that tightrope to perfection…

THE AWARD The most impressive piece of tech launched in the past ten years; it will need to be something pretty fantastic, won’t it? This will be something truly groundbreaking; something that completely changed the tech landscape, and transformed the lives not only of those people who have used it, but also those who’ve used products that have been influenced and inspired by it. The tech of the decade, as voted for by you on T3.com AMAZON KINDLE The Kindle did something no other gadget had done – brought e-reading to the masses. Since its conception in 2007, it’s grown to become a behemoth, with the Kindle Oasis and Kindle 8 concentrating readers’ eyes all over the globe. NINTENDO WII Nintendo paved the way for gesture-controlled gaming with its release…

GOPRO OMNI One for pros or wealthy amateurs (check out that price!), the Omni consists of six GoPro Hero4 Black cameras strapped to a stark, cube-shaped cage, offering astounding, incredibly detailed VR movies. £4,199, vr.gopro.com OLYMPUS TOUGH TG-TRACKER The Tough TGTracker’s USP is its ability to capture data as you ride, with GPS, compass and acceleration sensors built in. Oh, and it’ll shoot 4K video, too, which is always a bonus. £279, getolympus.com 360FLY 4K Essentially, the 360fly 4K is a single PixPro SP360 4K camera that gives you 360-degree hemisphere movies in lovely 4K resolution. It looks better than the Kodak camera but it’s also £200 more expensive. £599, 360fly.com…

01 BBC WEATHER The best app for quickly getting accurate information. Plenty of detail, like wind speed and pollen count, too. Free; App Store, Google Play 02 MET OFFICE WEATHER Accurate but contains ads unless you pay. The plus side is that you can see several locations on one screen. Free; App Store, Google Play 03 WEATHER LIVE FREE Has the temperature on the app’s icon, so you don’t need to actually open it. Free if you don’t mind ads. Free; App Store, Google Play 04 CLEAR-DAY WEATHER The best-looking weather app – videos show the current weather conditions, and there’s a nice global view. Free; App Store, Google Play 05 BEAUTIFUL WEATHER A very simple weather app with a good seven-day forecast that shows you the chance of rain…

Rob Carney EDITOR A new iPhone 7 and Apple Watch Series 2 have been exciting Rob this month, but he’s possibly a little more excited by his new Audeze SINE headphones. Look out for a review soon! Paul Dimery PRODUCTION EDITOR King of the words Paul has been so busy with this awards issue, we should’ve given him an award. He’s also been playing with the BlackBerry DTEK50 (and is still confused by its name). Robert Jones FEATURES EDITOR, T3.COM Rob continued his gaming journey (last month, he got the new Xbox) by getting his hands on the slim PlayStation 4. He’s also been writing about the iPhone 7 – A LOT! Nick Odantzis DEPUTY EDITOR Nick has been off to Photokina in Cologne, Germany this month to check out…

What a fine-looking beast this is! Yes, the Canon EOS 5D Mk IV is perhaps the ultimate ‘prosumer’ camera available right now. It’s powerful enough for professional snappers, but usable by enthusiastic amateurs and intelligent enough to help even complete duffers take decent pics. It’s a little on the pricey side, mind. Does it justify that? We reckon so. Not only does the Canon 5D boast an all-new, full-frame CMOS sensor, it then scrubs and primps the images it takes with not one but two processing chips. And for its next trick? Thanks to the new Dual Pixel RAW shooting format (alongside your standard JPEG and RAW), you can actually make small adjustments to the focus of your photos after you’ve taken them. It won’t rescue completely hopeless efforts, but…

Are you one of those people who, upon reading any article about Apple that doesn’t slag them off mightily, rushes to social media to ask, “How much did Apple pay you for this?!” Well, you’ll be pleased to know that I can tell you exactly how much. In my case: nothing. Isn’t it unfair? Every time I pen a feature called something like, “New iPhone looks like it’ll be the best phone you can get, until the next good one comes out,” I send off my invoice to Apple (£5,000 and a gold Apple Watch, payable within 28 days). Every single time, without fail, they ignore it. AND they don’t return my calls when I ring to complain. Then, when I turn up at their offices holding a big placard…

WHAT IS IT? Why, it’s an “app-controlled smart image toaster”. Of course it is. A WHAT NOW? Well, you see, it’s a toaster. With an app. You can use it to toast things onto bread. WHAT KIND OF THINGS CAN YOU TOAST? Guru fully intends to use it solely to insult his family with rude toasty messages, but the app enables you to do a lot more. You can put the weather forecast for the day right there on your breakfast toast! You can receive private toast messages from your friends! You can daub toasty pixels in any configuration you like, either with positive or negative toastation! THAT SOUNDS RATHER SILLY. It is. Guru expects the help to bring him his toast pre-jammed and sliced into nice triangles – a…

THE AWARD The winner of this category will be a brand that has illuminated the tech world in the past 12 months through its sheer innovation – both in terms of its products and marketing – and overall success within its particular market. It will be a brand that has been on everyone’s lips throughout 2016 – for all the right reasons. APPLE 2016 was mainly a year of consolidation for Cupertino’s finest, with the launch of the iPhone SE and the 9.7-inch iPad Pro, the emergence of HomeKit, plus updates to macOS and tvOS. But the desirability of the Apple logo remains undiminished. SONY Just when you thought it was being left in the shadows, a new wave of televisions, mirrorless cameras, 4K projectors and audio equipment has invigorated…

THE AWARD The winner of this closely fought category will pack in all the features that the modern consumer looks for in a smartphone – breathtaking looks, a spectacular display, loads of power, a super-smooth operating system and a decent battery life when compared to its rivals. In short, it will be the perfect pocket companion. GOOGLE NEXUS 6P The Huawei-built 6P is the latest Android phone to wear the Nexus branding, and it’s a belter. A 5.7-inch UHD display, a 12MP camera, 2GB of RAM and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor make for an impressive spec, and the design is better too. SONY Z5 PREMIUM The world’s first 4K smartphone merits a place on our shortlist for its screen alone. That vivid 5.5-inch, 806ppi beauty is amazing, and there’s…

THE AWARD This award is given to someone whose work over many years has enriched the tech landscape, whether that be through a series of projects and products, or for one massive and longlasting achievement. In short, it’s given to someone who really is a legend – unlike, for instance, someone who’s just made you a cup of tea, or who once played at left-back for Hartlepool. Having first tried out the free online-enyclopedia concept with the ultimately unsuccessful Nupedia, Jimmy Wales started Wikipedia in 2001. This serious and essential Web resource is now public-funded and notfor-profit (Jimmy doesn’t take a salary from it). Although, interestingly, its set-up was originally partly funded from the profits of another previous site of Jimmy’s, called Bomis. This was, a “male-oriented Web portal featuring…

THE AWARD The winner of this category will be a product or function that marks a genuine advance in technology, to make our lives better or easier. The judges will award marks for audacity, especially when compared with rival products, and the degree to which the innovation will make a difference to us, the consumer. SPONSORED BY LG G5 AND “FRIENDS” In an attempt to revolutionise the smartphone, LG offers “Friends” for its G5 range-topper; a set of handy accessories for the modular mobile. The more worthy of these include the Cam Plus, the Hi-Fi Plus audio booster and 360 Cam. HYUNDAI IX35 FUEL CELL Fuel cells that use hydrogen to power a zero-emissions car aren’t new or mainstream-ready, but Hyundai could be the first manufacturer to get there with…

THE AWARD A special award from the T3 brand’s editors to acknowledge the best launch in the last 12 months from a product available at £500 or under. Shortlisted gadgets will demonstrate either exceptional value within their category, exist in a category where there’s little strength in depth, or offer consumers a unique twist. UNDER ARMOUR HEALTHBOX This contains all you need to improve your fitness and wellbeing. You get the UA Band, which measures sleep, steps and workout intensity; the UA Scale, enabling you to track your body weight and fat percentage; and the UA Heart Rate, a chest strap that gives you accurate monitoring no matter how intense your workout. LIBRATONE ONE STYLE This stylish Bluetooth speaker represents incredible value at under £140. 360-degree sound, weather resistance up…

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. In this respect, T3 Select does exactly what it says on the tin, picking only the best of the best to test; 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 featured in our tests, but you will come away with clarity on…

WIRELES S NOI SE-CANCELLING HEADPHONES Bose QuietComfort 35 CLASSIC LOOKS, CLASSIC SOUND AND NOW WIRELESS, BUT ARE THEY WORTH THE HIGH PRICE? £290, BOSE.CO.UK DESIGN Bose has played it safe; the QC35s are subtle – more so than ever – with a murderedout black finish. Built of glass-filled nylon, they’re sturdier than plastic and lightweight, and they neatly fold away in their hard case. FEATURES The QC35s are about as feature-rich as a desert. You get noise-cancelling activated by a single switch, a volume control and play/pause buttons, but that’s about it. The protective case provides an airplane adapter and an audio cable. PERFORMANCE Signature Bose sound, with a grown-up audio delivery. There’s plentiful bass, but it’s never overpowering, and the rest of the range is bright and entertaining. Noise-cancellation…

EVE ONLINE Featuring a real $18,000,000 economy and vast player-controlled starfleets, this is the ultimate space simulation. Unlike No Man’s Sky, players can’t land or depart their craft planetside. £7.99 per month; Mac, PC STAR WARS: X-WING VS TIE FIGHTER Lucas Arts’ excellent mission-based combat sim enabled you to pick a side. Empire or Rebels? You decide. £6.99; PC FTL: FASTER THAN LIGHT This starship-management game makes you realise Captain Kirk was just winging it! Race across eight sectors, with procedurally generated events. £7.99; iOS, Mac, PC FRONTIER: ELITE II The sequel to the popular Elite may have had an abysmal framerate, but who cares when the game enabled you to play as a space pirate or smuggler. Free; PC…

This month is a very special time for T3 as we celebrate ten years of the T3 Awards – widely known as the ‘Oscars’ of the gadget world. And I’m incredibly honoured to be bringing you this collectors’ issue, showcasing the best tech and gadgets from the last year. We’ve covered every category that matters – from phones to laptops to cars and audio. And each of our winners is a class above the rest (but still, a huge round of applause to every product that’s made our shortlist). We’ve also introduced a couple of new categories – namely, the Editors’ Choice Award and Gadget of the Decade. The former has been decided by T3’s expert team of editors, and recognises a product under £500 that pushes boundaries and tech…

So, what makes Philips’ first OLED TV a big deal? Well, for starters, it’s the only OLED screen that packs Ambilight – and it looks like a match made in highend heaven. This is a three-sided Ambilight television, which is to say it has LED lighting strips left, right and across the top. Imagine highcontrast, colour-rich images, offset against a wall of multicoloured light. I’m imagining it – that does sound rather fancy… And then there’s the picture: Philips has a long history of ground-breaking image processing, and it’s gone to town here to enhance detail and motion resolution. Micro Dimming Perfect tech is used to optimise contrast, while a Perfect Pixel Ultra HD engine enables the system to monitor and adjust each individual pixel for sharpness and brightness. OLED…

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Actually, it’s more like a drone with wings. You’re probably familiar with the Disco’s four-propped sibling, the Parrot Bebop. The Disco, on the other hand, is an agile, fixed-wing, single-prop drone with a huge wingspan and bags of potential for shooting amazing videos. Rad! And what are those funnylooking goggles for? The Disco package includes Parrot’s new first-person-view Cockpit glasses for complete immersion in every flight. Load up Parrot’s FreeFlight Pro app on your smartphone, insert your smartphone into the glasses and you’ll see everything that Disco’s front-facing, stabilised 1080p camera sees. Test the limits of this bird’s 50mph top speed and it’ll feel like you’re piloting a real plane, minus the g-force. That’s amazing. It must eat batteries, though? No way.…

THE READER Greg Simpson T3 reader Greg picked up his first drone last year and now wants to shoot better footage, edit like a boss and equip himself to scout locations beyond the local park. THE EXPERT Chris Barnes T3 ‘s drone expert has flown everything from autonomous hexacopters to 4K super-shooters. He loves venturing into the wild to discover cool new locations for his aerial epics. 01 DJI PHANTOM 4 There’s little point in finding stunning locations if you’re shooting them with a drone packing a half-baked camera. The Phantom 4’s 4K shooter is mounted to an integrated 3-axis gimbal, and the drone itself is kept airborne via four brushless motors, ensuring your flybys are always smooth. If your piloting skills don’t cut it, intelligent obstacleavoidance tech and autonomous flight features…

THE AWARD Doing what it says on the tin, Tech Personality of the Year goes to someone who’s used their charisma and public reach to promote tech, and put a new and exciting spin on it. They can be someone who made their name in the tech industry, or someone who merely takes an interest in it and pushes it to new audiences via their day job – whether that be a TV personality, a YouTube star or a member of The Black Eyed Peas. Past winners include Stephen Fry and Jason Bradbury, but this year’s champ comes from an entirely different background… Black Eyed Peas founder member will.i.am (born William Adams) is a musician, a philanthropist, a tech entrepreneur, a TV host/mentor on ITV’s The Voice, and also…

THE AWARD The winner of this award will be a product that has truly advanced the gaming experience – PC, console or otherwise – over the past 12 months. The judges will be looking specifically for examples where a brand has dared to break genuinely new ground, delivering a product that’ll keep us glued to games both now and in the future. NVIDIA SHIELD TABLET K1 NVIDIA’s gaming tablet is unique in that no other Android slate matches its single-minded purpose. This eight-incher can stream PC games, and is designed to be held in landscape mode, which makes the most of its front-facing speakers. NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 980 Graphics cards aren’t sexy, but what they do is hugely impressive. The GTX 980’s Maxwell architecture allows for some serious 4K gaming…

THE AWARD The winner of this category will be the streaming service that the judges deem to be the most essential addition to your home. The volume of content, and how easy it is to discover and access it, will be key considerations, but the panel will also consider futureproofing, value for money and overall market success. NETFLIX Its mechanic is much the same as last year – go-anywhere accessibility, 4K visuals, multi-room options. But Netflix has made huge advances in terms of its original programming, with smashes including House Of Cards and Stranger Things. SPOTIFY Many music-streaming services have crumbled, but Spotify is still standing – and even the threat of Apple Music hasn’t shaken its foundation. Spotify’s vast user base, huge collection and recommendations ensure it remains ahead…

THE AWARD The winner of this category will be a camera that enables both experienced photographers and casual snappers to take pictures they can be proud of. It will likely marry a solid, stylish build with a plethora of modern features; portability with connectivity; and ease of use with the ability to add a wide range of accessories. OLYMPUS PEN-F Here’s a fabulous, retro-modern CSC featuring an all-new 20MP sensor that goes up to 50MP in high-resshot mode. There’s a 2.36-million-dot OLED electronic viewfinder, five-axis image stabilisation and shooting at 10fps – all in a compact shell. CANON POWERSHOT G5 X In that zone between pocketsized compacts and full-sized DSLRs sits the stunning PowerShot G5 X. It features a great lens, a 20MP one-inch sensor and an electronic viewfinder to…

THE AWARD The winner of this category will be a product that greatly enhances the listening experience – either at home or on the move – through a commitment to exceptional sound quality, features and functionality. The judges will give extra marks for design innovation that pushes that particular product to a level above its sector rivals. NAIM MU-SO QB We’re huge fans of Naim’s Mu-so, so the Qb has a lot to live up to – and it doesn’t fail to delight. The little cube is compatible with AirPlay, aptX Bluetooth, Spotify Connect, Tidal and internet radio, and you can stream hi-res files too. B&W ZEPPELIN WIRELESS Bowers & Wilkins’ outrageous Zeppelin still looks like no other speaker, despite its iPhone-docking original first emerging around a decade ago. The…

THE AWARD The most prestigious of all the gongs at the T3 Awards, this represents the gold standard in gadgetry for 2016. The winning product will have transcended its particular category, as well as capturing the attention and affection of consumers – both tech-loving and mainstream – more than any other piece of kit over the past 12 months. Ultimately, our Gadget of the Year will stand out at the very top of its class – the best you can get. HTC VIVE HTC has shot into the lead in the race to put VR in your home, with the Vive being amazing straight out of the box. Set it up, stick it on your head and become immersed in an awesome new experience – your gaming life will never…

1 TM M1 METAL DRIVER The M1 has a multimaterial construction with a thin, light and strong carboncomposite crown. Its adjustable head has a T-Track system to set it up to draw or fade, or for neutral drives – as well as multiple high, medium and low launch and spin settings. From £400, taylormade.eu 2 TM PSI IRONS 3-PW A classy set of irons, these have new ‘Cut-Thru Speed Pockets’ behind the club face, which help increase ball speed and consistency, even for shots struck low on the face. Face Slot technology maintains consistent distance, even with mishits off the heel and toe. From £600, taylormade.eu 3 TM EF WEDGES/OS PUTTER TM’s EF wedges are R-series Tour Grind carbon steel in three evenly spaced lofts to cover all distances from…