When I first received Bose's QuietComfort Headphones Ultra a few years ago, I was blown away by the comfort, portability, sound quality and just absolutely on-point active noise-cancelling (or ANC, for short).

Later, Bose released a pair minus the 'Ultra' name, trimming back on some of the finer aspects of its top-tier travel headphones. While I didn't get to see those original QC Headphones, however, I've had the updated '2nd Gen' pair on review for a week.

What you need to know about the Bose QuietComfort Headphones (2nd Gen) is that these updated over-ears take many cues from the superior Ultra model – including many trickle-down features that, in some cases, put these headphones on par with the best.

Indeed, if you're a fan of physical buttons rather than touch controls, then these over-ears arguably make the better choice. That said, with the Ultra – which features a slightly nicer finish – now down from its original price, you're spoiled for choice.

Price & Availability

The Bose 'QC 2 HP' – that's the shorthand name, per the Bose app – are on sale now, with an asking price of £299.95 in the UK, $359 in the USA, AU$549.95 in Australia, and €349.95 in wider Europe.

That's actually a lower price for the UK market than the original, but that's an integral move to provide an ample gap between these QC Headphones 2 and the Ultra version (which is also a '2nd Gen' product).

That said, you can find the original QC Ultra Headphones on significant discount, making those an even more affordable purchase – see in the shopping widget embedded above.

That creates some confusion, perhaps, as while the 2nd Gen Ultra isn't quite as close yet, the asking price is very tight between it and these QC Headphones 2 on review.

Features & What's New?

• Updated design with adjustable sliders and new faux-leather cushioning
• Addition of Bose's TrueSpatial technology (Still, Motion, Cinema)
• Active noise-cancelling (ANC) said to be improved
• Battery life reduction (18h using Immersive)
• Lossless playback via wired USB-C

I've included a series of bullet points above to summarise what's different between the original and 2nd Gen model of these Bose headphones.

The more interesting comparison, however, might be between these headphones and their Ultra equivalents – as the gap between the two is fairly close.

I've used the Ultra extensively over the years, so can tell you that its touch-sensitive controls and improved padding are the two aspects that set it apart.

If you prefer physical buttons, however, then that's what the QC Headphones 2 put pride of place – a hark back to the earlier models, such as Bose's QC45.

Design & Usability

I don't mind using those physical control buttons at all, though, with the left earcup housing a Bluetooth connect switch and single button for cycling between the ANC modes (Quiet, Aware, Immersion).

The right earcup, meanwhile, features a play/pause that's straddled by volume up and volume down buttons. This trio lives near to the exposed USB-C port. And that's your lot – no other major distractions to get in your way.

The QC Headphones 2 come with an included carry case, in which is a little pouch with USB-C-to-C and separate USB-C-to-3.5mm cables. That's handy for different outlets, should you want to use a wired connections, such as on planes.

The headphones feature a folding design, so the earcups fold towards the headband, minimising their size for stowing. They sit in the case slightly differently to that, but everything is held nice and secure.

The updated Bose app can register your product, which will give you app-based controls to adjust the Modes, tweak the EQ, customise (or deactivate) the Shortcut button, and toggle between Source options.

The majority of that can be achieved without the app, of course, but it's a good visual way to delve into those settings – especially the EQ, which can't be controlled any other way. There's also a battery percentage visual, which is handy.

I will say that the general feel of the headphones, given their plasticky frame and light weight, might not make you think 'top tier' immediately. But the earcups and headband are well supported, with the slide mechanism of the size adjustment proving smooth and elegant in use.

Performance & Sound Quality

While some aspects of the product's feel – as in, to touch – might not be hyper premium, you'll totally forget about that when wearing these over-ears.

I've already worn them for dozens of hours, whether at home in the office, out on morning walks, or commuting by train and tube, and they almost dissolve away – they're that comfortable.

The sound is truly epic, too. Big bass, enthusiastic mid and high frequencies combine to output a wide soundstage with settings at their most basic.

Play around with the Immersion aspect, however, and this feature – which was originally reserve of the Ultra model – gives you a three-dimensional uplift that makes you feel as if you're moving through the music.

You can adjust Immersion to be static, or based on your motion, which changes the experience. It can over-sharpen some higher frequencies, while battery life is more limited when it's in use – but it's a totally optional processing feature, so up to you whether it's active or not.

Whether it is or isn't, however, doesn't affect just how capable the active noise-cancelling (ANC) system is here. Ideal for blotting out surrounding ambient sound, I've found it ideal to escape the outside world and get focused.

Bose is master with ANC, as the company has long proven, and the version in the QC Headphones 2nd Gen is mighty impressive – no 'downgrade' blips, as I experienced with the Ultra 2nd Gen (issues which, via the power of over-the-air updates, Bose has since ironed out anyway).

There's one thing that can gazump the ANC, however, and that's changes in pressure. That's by no way unique to this product, I just felt it more sensitive and therefore pronounced with some wind-tear issues, or with passing trains causing one side of the ANC to cut out and reset. No biggie, but something you might notice on public transport.

Battery life is technically worse for this generation product, because the addition of the Immersive ANC option dictates that. You'll still get 18 hours at a decent volume, though, and that's been feasible by my in-use calculations – and I don't listen quietly, so Bose isn't pulling your leg here.

Verdict

While the Bose QuietComfort Headphones (2nd Gen) don't have 'Ultra' in the name, there are plenty of ultra features on show here.

If you're looking for lightweight and supremely comfortable travel headphones with decent sound quality, exceptional active noise-cancelling (ANC) and strong battery life, then these tick every box.

If anything, it's only the proximity to the higher-spec QC Headphones Ultra (2nd Gen) that makes purchasing these questionable – given the close pricing between the two.

Should you prefer physical buttons to touch-sensitive ones, the non-Ultra model is actually your best match. And while the build might not look great at every turn, the cushioning materials and wear factor are second to none.

Also Consider

One of the QC Headphones 2nd Gen's issues is that the original 'Ultra' version is now available for less. They look a bit smarter, with fewer visible buttons, and on a price basis are the most logical buy.

There's also a heap of competition in this market, with many worthy competitors to consider. The Sonos Ace is supremely comfortable, for example, while Sony's WH-1000XM6 offer arguably the supreme travel headphones design.

If there's one thing British residents have been looking at buying this summer, it's a fan. With multiple heatwaves blasting us with record temperatures across several months, the need for a continuous gust of cool air has never been greater. The problem is, the fan market can be a bit of a minefield as it’s impossible to know what fan will deliver on your needs.

Tower fans are usually the way to go for power, but they tend to come in two camps: either cheap ones that look the part but sound like a jet engine, or expensive ones from the likes of Dyson that are whisper-quiet but cost in the region of £500.

Meaco, the British brand that's built a loyal following with its Sefte range of air circulators, is trying to occupy the middle ground with the Sefte Smart 36" Tower Fan, a full-height tower with Wi-Fi app control, Alexa and Google Assistant support, 12 speed settings and noise levels as low as 20 dB.

All of that for under £100 sounds like a no-brainer on paper, but does it live up to its promises in real life? I've been using it for the past few weeks across the recent UK heatwaves to find out. Here's how I got on.

Meaco Sefte Smart 36" Tower Fan review: price and availability

The Meaco Sefte Smart 36" Tower Fan is available now in the UK, priced at £99.99 direct from Meaco’s webstore, as well as from all the big retailers such as John Lewis.

At the time of writing, it doesn't appear to be available in the US or Australia. For those wondering anyway, £99.99 converts to roughly $130 / AU$195, but without official availability in those markets, you'd be looking at import costs on top.

Sitting just under £100, it easily undercuts smart tower fans from the likes of Dyson (which start from several hundred pounds) and is about neck and neck price wise with fans like the Dimplex DuoCool (around £119 on sale), though the DuoCool offers cordless battery operation which the Meaco lacks.

Quoted running costs are listed at just under 1p per hour based on current energy tariffs, so with a maximum power draw of just 34 watts, you could even leave it running all day without really noticing a difference on your energy bill.

Meaco Sefte Smart 36" Tower Fan review: design and build

The first thing you’ll notice about the Sefte Smart 36" Tower Fan is the odd choice in design. It’s not the most beautiful fan you’ll have ever seen, that’s for sure. My problem isn’t with its shape, either – it’s nice and tall and slim. The issue is the fan’s beige-cream finish, which is very reminiscent of an early 2000s PC tower. And paired with the lightweight plastic construction, the whole thing looks and feels quite cheap.

That said, the fan is perfectly sturdy and nothing feels like it's going to fall apart, it's just that the materials don't scream premium, so not exactly something you want sitting in your living room. Next to a Dyson air purifier, for instance, it looks a generation behind.

Nevertheless, it does boast a couple of design features I enjoy, such as the size. At 925mm tall and just 263mm wide, the Sefte is slim enough to tuck into a corner without taking up much floor space, and a hidden carry handle in the back makes it easy to move between rooms.

The glow-in-the-dark magnetic remote control is another plus point. Not only is it a fun circular shape, but its inbuilt magnet means it clicks neatly into place on top of the fan when you're not using it, so you've always got somewhere to stow it.

Another design detail I enjoy is the fan’s digital display on the front, which is super clear and easy to read, showing your current speed, mode and timer settings. Night mode dims and eventually turns off the display entirely, which is a thoughtful touch for if you’re using this in the bedroom.

Meaco Sefte Smart 36" Tower Fan review: performance and features

Whatever the Sefte Smart lacks in looks, it more than makes up for in performance.

For one, the airflow is seriously powerful. With 12 speed settings, you've got everything from a barely-there breeze on speed one to a full-on hurricane on speed 12. I've used Dyson tower fans at home, and I was surprised by how the Meaco outperforms them on sheer power. On the higher settings, the air reaches across the room with force, and during the recent heatwaves it made a real, noticeable difference when trying to cool down.

Noise levels are another positive. On speeds one and two, for example, it's near-silent. I've been running it overnight in the bedroom and it hasn't disturbed sleep once. Even at moderate speeds, the noise stays low and unnoticeable. It's only when you push past speed eight or nine that the motor becomes audible, and even then it's nothing compared to cheaper tower fans that sound akin to a jet liner taking off.

As for oscillation, you get four settings of 45, 90, 135 and 180 degrees. The widest setting sweeps the air across most of a room, while the narrowest focuses the breeze on a single spot. I should note that there's no vertical tilt, but for a tower fan that's pretty standard.

It’s the Sefte’s smart features that make this fan really good value for money, though. The Meaco app connects over Wi-Fi and gives you control of speed, mode, oscillation and the timer from your phone as well as working with Alexa and Google Assistant, so voice control is an option if you've got a smart speaker set up, which is handy.

The Eco and Night modes are cool features worth highlighting, too. While Eco monitors the room temperature and automatically adjusts the fan speed in response to the environment, Night mode turns off the display, mutes sounds, and gradually reduces the fan speed hour by hour as you sleep. Small yet clever additions that make this fan feel smarter and overall more intuitive across different uses.

Meaco Sefte Smart 36" Tower Fan review: verdict

The Meaco Sefte Smart boasts excellent performance with impressive noise levels, and a bunch of smart features that are hard to beat at this price. It's powerful enough to handle proper heatwave conditions, quiet enough to sleep next to, and the app and voice control add a layer of convenience that most sub-£100 fans simply don't offer.

The design, though, is the sticking point here. The dated colourway and plasticky build let down what is otherwise a seriously capable fan. If Meaco gave this the same design treatment it's given to its Sefte pedestal range, it would easily be a five-star review.

Nevertheless, if aesthetics aren't a priority and you just want a fan that performs brilliantly for under £100, the Sefte Smart is one of the best buys going.

With the return to the office, school and university looming over our heads, it’s time to get prepared for the next term or financial year. A reliable, good quality backpack is a must, especially for commuters and students, but choosing the right one can be difficult.

Things to consider when buying a backpack are size, capacity, comfort, fastenings and durability. But a recent factor I never thought to consider – and it only recently came about when I was running late for my train – was ‘is it suitable for running in?’

Running to work is quite niche, but for those who like to stay active and want to incorporate more movement into their commute, it’s a great way to get some extra steps in. As a runner and commuter, a running backpack actually makes a lot of sense, so I decided to give the Stolt Alpha Commuter Backpack a try.

Stolt is best known for its selection of running backpacks for commuters, and its Alpha model is one of its most popular. It originally debuted back in 2018 through a Kickstarter campaign, and it received rave reviews. I’m definitely late to the party with testing the Stolt Alpha but I wanted to see if it lives up to other people’s testimonies – and here’s what I found.

Stolt Alpha review: price and availability

The Stolt Alpha Commute Backpack is available to buy for £169 at Stolt. It comes in black. As the brand is London based, the Stolt Alpha is not available in the US.

While it originally came out in 2018, the Stolt Alpha releases in drops, so you’ll have to pre-order it for shipping in September 2026. As a pre-order offer, the Stolt Alpha is available for £149.

Stolt Alpha review: design and features

Created for runners and commuters, the Stolt Alpha can be used as a commuter backpack and business bag in one. It looks like a normal backpack with a spacious interior, top handle and straps, but it also has a waist and sternum strap that attaches to your body for running. The straps can be hidden away for cycling, walking or using as a briefcase.

With a capacity of 20 litres, the Stolt Alpha has three main compartments, and it can be expanded to 25 litres. The back compartment has a 16-inch laptop sleeve, as well as smaller internal pockets for chargers and stationary. The middle and front compartments have large deep chambers for clothes and shoes, with the front pocket having an extra zip to expand the bag.

If that wasn’t enough, there’s even zipped pockets on the waist straps. The back, waist and shoulder straps feature ergonomic padding and mesh for comfort, support and even weight distribution while running or walking. The back panel is also breathable to manage temperature, and features an anti-microbial material to resist rain and sweat.

The Stolt Alpha is made from 500D recycled polyester Cordura, and YKK zips and buckles. The material is durable and lightweight even when full. It measures 28cm x 46cm x 25cm and has a 1.2kg weight. It looks quite simple from the outside, and it only comes in black, but it has a sturdy design.

Stolt Alpha review: performance

As a hybrid worker, I go into the office a couple times a week, and my commute includes a 20+ minute walk and a train. I prefer using a backpack so incorporating the Stolt Alpha into my commute was very easy, and I tested it by walking and jogging to the station.

Starting off with the interior, I love a well organised backpack, and the Stolt Alpha was definitely that – almost too much so! I liked the very deep and wide pockets, and enjoyed how the back compartment had more organisation. The other two compartments had more space without too many pockets getting in the way.

I organised the Stolt Alpha with my laptop, chargers, stationary and valuables in the back pocket, and put my water bottle, lunch and smoothies in the middle. Being able to keep liquids away from my tech was great, just in case there were any leaks. As it could be expanded, I used the front pocket for bulky items like jackets.

While I loved the amount of organisation the Stolt Alpha came with, I almost felt like it was too much at times. There were a lot of zips, and while the zipped pockets on the waist seemed handy, I think the Stolt Alpha could have done with a smaller pocket at the front for keys or quick access items like building passes.

Depending on what you put in the Stolt Alpha, items can get pressed into the different pockets, making it harder to pack everything away. Bulkier items like shoes and chargers were the perfect example of this, and I sometimes found it hard to put smaller objects like books and diaries away – there was a lot of Jenga involved!

In terms of comfort, the Stolt Alpha was comfortable to wear and even when full, it didn’t feel too heavy to carry around. The padded shoulders felt very comfortable, and the back panel sat nicely and added good support to my lower back. I found the Stolt Alpha nice to wear with the waist straps done up or down, and the straps across the hips and chest fit comfortably and securely.

I found the Stolt Alpha good to walk and run in. Even with a lot inside it, the Stolt Alpha kept everything secure, and I couldn’t feel anything moving around while I ran. I also liked that if you don’t plan to use it for running, you can pack away the shoulder and waist straps, either by unclipping and tucking the shoulders in the top and sliding the waist straps through the back panel.

Stolt Alpha review: verdict

The Stolt Alpha is a brilliant commuter backpack for those who like to run to and from work. It has plenty of interior space, can be expanded, and it’s made from durable, high quality materials that can handle different weather conditions, and sweat. It also keeps its lightweight feel even when full.

The only negatives I found was packing the Stolt Alpha with bulkier items as they can take up a lot of room in other pockets. There are also a ridiculous amount of zips which can get annoying at times when you’re in a hurry! If you don’t plan to run to work, the Stolt Alpha still does have great credentials, but it might not be your first choice.

Stolt Alpha review: alternatives to consider

If a good running bag is what you’re after, we have a full running backpack guide that has options for commuting, long runs, training and gym sessions.

The Omm Phantom 12 is a great choice for running short commutes. It has a seven-point stabilisation system which is sturdy and supportive while you run – although the bright orange accents might not be to everyone’s tastes.

If it’s something luxury you’re after, the Harber London Commuter Backpack is stylish, organised and made from high quality leather. It’s more of a commuter bag than a running one, and it’s not the most waterproof but it has a lot of goods under the hood.

Ultrawide PC monitors have long been something of a status symbol in the gaming world – a sign that you not only have the highest of standards when it comes to your display, but also a budget to go with those standards. Finally, though, we're starting to get some monitors that don't feel egregiously priced.

For all that Dell just fumbled the UK pricing of the XPS 13, the launch price of its latest flagship ultrawide is a reminder of just how punchy its Alienware brand can be with the right setup.

The Alienware AW3926QW on review is the monitor I've been saddest to wave goodbye to in ages after its loan period – and I think it might just thread the needle for almost anyone.

Price and Availability

The Alienware AW3926QW is on sale now in the USA, but in the UK and EU it's going to take a tiny bit more time – with sales commencing from 8 September, to be precise.

In the UK the monitor will cost £999, while the EU will get it for €1149, and customers in the US will pay $1099.

I'll cover the specs of the monitor in greater detail further down, but for this scale of curved OLED that's an extremely competitive price. For those who want an ultrawide and have a cap that sits around a grand, it might just be the new best deal out there.

Design and Features

Look, I can't pretend that there's a vast amount of interesting stuff going on where the design of the AW3926QW is concerned. Other than its size, in fact, you'd be hard-pressed to find many differences compared to the 5-star AW3426DW that I reviewed earlier this summer.

It has the exact same stand and adjustment system, in fact, with a pedestal base that honestly doesn't take up too much space on a desk, and relatively easy adjustment options for height, tilt and rotation. This makes it easy to setup exactly and as ergonomically as you want it.

However, there's no getting around the size of the monitor. At 39-inches diagonally, this is quite a beast, and you will need to be careful with its measurements to make sure it doesn't dwarf whatever surface you're aiming to put it on.

In terms of controls, you get a power button on the bottom-right of the display, while there's an intuitive control nub on the back of it in the middle. This makes it easy to switch between inputs or adjust settings.

The display itself comes in at a whopping 5120 x 2160 (otherwise known as 5K), and Dell is calling it the first RGB stripe tandem OLED in this size. That means you're getting the latest innovations in OLED panel technology, the outcome of which ultimately comes down to brightness, colour vibrancy and accuracy.

In terms of refresh rate, you can get 165Hz at 5K or 330Hz at Full HD; high dynamic range (HDR) is also present and correct here – with DisplayHDR True Black 500 for real oomph in the black levels.

The monitor's curve comes in at 1500R, which I found to be really well-judged. It's enough to give you proper immersion, but not so much that you feel like it's trying to swallow you whole.

The bezels are also impressively small on all sides. A glossy coating on the whole thing still manages decent amounts of anti-reflection, although other more deliberately matte coatings excel more in this area.

There are two USB-C ports, one of which handily offers pass-through 90W charging, while the twin HDMI ports are both HDMI 2.1 with eARC in case you want a soundbar. There are no built-in speakers, though. Crucially, that HDMI 2.1 spec also brings variable refresh rate (VRR) to the table.

You also get a DisplayPort 2.1 port for PC use, two USB-A ports for connections, and a 3.5mm audio jack for connecting speakers or headphones. This makes the AW3926QW pretty fully-featured for the price, and I don't think there are any obvious shortcomings (although a third HDMI port would literally never go amiss on this sort of monitor, in my view).

Performance

I don't think anyone buys an ultrawide for its design, realistically, although its specs are more important. Most crucial, though, is how it performs in regular use, and I made the AW3926QW my main monitor for nearly three weeks to find out.

That meant it was a work monitor all day most days, connected to my MacBook Pro, and a gaming monitor most evenings, both on my gaming PC and connected to my PS5 Pro.

In all three settings, I had a pretty much flawless time with its luscious OLED panel, which resolves the tiny issues I had with the more affordable AW3426DW. That display sometimes saw text fringe a little, but I detected no such foible here, whether because of the upgraded panel or the beefier resolution.

It was a dream to work on, and even more of a pleasure to game on. Connected to my PC, I got through hours of both Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy (which natively supported the monitor's resolution, to outstanding effect) and Star Wars Zero Company (which didn't, but still looked great at a lower resolution).

Both underlined how terrific an ultrawide can be nowadays, and the range of colour and vibrancy displayed really was quite something, particularly in Resonance. Brightness is fabulous, and while I prefer a matte coating on my displays, I didn't find the glossy one here an issue at all – a benefit of the curved nature, in part.

Perhaps most impressive of all, though, was my experience connecting my PS5 Pro. Normally I accept that while testing an ultrawide, my console experience will be degraded a little, since most of them are built with such connections as afterthoughts, since they can't support the right resolutions.

The AW3926QW, though, auto-switched to its cut-down esports mode when I turned on my console, putting black bars on the right and left of the screen. Crucially, though, it was able to output at 4K in this mode, and 120Hz, too, which meant that I was basically playing the console on a 24-inch monitor.

That's the dream experience, in short, and it means that those who (like me) have a PC and a console connected to the same monitor aren't forced to go with a standard panel to avoid weird interactions with an ultrawide. I'm sure this isn't the only monitor managing such a trick, but it's really slick nonetheless, and a great advert for all-in-one usage.

Let's be clear – this is a PC monitor first and foremost. However, the fact that I had as smooth a time as this using a console with it is really quite rare, and I do think there must be others out there raring to get an ultrawide this adaptable.

Verdict

It's a rare thing to find a monitor that can flex in the ways offered by the Alienware AW3926QW. It's an expansive OLED with the latest bells and whistles, but it's the way it can apply those to both the PC and console experience that really makes it shine. I'd keep it as my daily monitor without hesitation, given how smooth I've found it to use in the last few weeks.

Crucially, although its price obviously still makes it a premium choice, it's launching at a really impressive cost compared to the competition (if you go by spec lists). I think it represents a fabulous choice at its full RRP, but I almost can't wait to see what sort of prices it might hit in 2027 once it's had time to bed in – this could be a monitor that rightly garners a proper fanbase over time.

Also Consider

I've mentioned Dell's other recent Alienware launch a couple of times in this review, and it's a really justifiable alternative if you want to save some money and know that you'll only really use it with a PC. The AW3426DW has the added advantage of being smaller, in case you have less space.

If you have more space, though, and want something truly sci-fi, consider the LG UltraGear 45GX950. It remains the maddest monitor I've ever tested, and the sheer scale of it is hard to comprehend. It frankly won't make sense for most people, but for dedicated gamers, there's nothing else quite like it.

Garmin’s screenless wearable was rumoured for what felt like forever before the brand finally announced the Cirqa in July 2026. Of course, I was otherwise engaged, as is often the case when Garmin launches a new product, so I didn’t start testing the new screenless wearable until a couple of weeks ago.

As a longtime Garmin watch fan, I have been waiting for years for the company to launch a screenless wearable, but I thought it would be a smart ring, not a Whoop- and Polar-rival band. There is nothing wrong with bands, but given the popularity of models like the Oura Ring 5, I thought Garmin would bring out a finger wearable first.

I was wrong (not the first time), but I’m not disappointed. The Cirqa has some personality and does what a screenless wearable should do: passively track your health and fitness. Better still, it gives you access to the company’s polished ecosystem for a lot less than your average Forerunner or Fenix.

All that said, the Cirqa suffers from the same issue as other casual Garmin wearables: the algorithm caters more to athletes than everyday people. Still, it’s hard not to like the Cirqa. If you have a Garmin watch but don’t like wearing it to bed, the Cirqa might be a good accessory. It’s also beneficial for people who do resistance training and often handle kettlebells.

Garmin Cirqa review

Price and availability

The Cirqa was announced in July 2026 and is available to buy now at Garmin UK, Garmin US, Garmin EU and Garmin AU for £180 / $200 / €200 / AU$299. It comes in two sizes (S-M and L-XL) and four colours, including Black, Captain Blue, French Grey and Mauve. It’s one of Garmin's more affordable wearables and is on par with watches like the original Vivomove.

Design and build quality

The Garmin Cirqa is essentially a heart rate sensor with a vibration motor attached to a strap. The removable module itself measures 27 x 47 x 9mm and weighs just 14.8g with the smaller S-M strap. The L-XL strap makes the setup marginally heavier at 21.2g, but it’s quite light overall.

The case is made from fibre-reinforced polymer, the same material most Garmin watch cases use. The 24mm-wide fabric strap attaches using 14mm quick-release pins. The smaller strap fits wrist circumferences between 120 and 200mm, while the larger fits 145 to 240mm. You can also pair the module with an optional upper-arm band.

The Cirqa uses Garmin’s Elevate Gen 4 optical heart-rate sensor. It’s not the latest Gen 5 hardware used by watches such as the new Fenix 8 Pro or the Forerunner 970, although this particular implementation also supports skin-temperature tracking.

It has 128MB of onboard memory (for data, not music), Bluetooth and ANT+ connectivity, and a 5 ATM water-resistance rating, making it suitable for swimming.

Features

The sensor can also track blood oxygen (a.k.a. Pulse Ox) and includes an accelerometer, but no built-in GPS. Like cheaper fitness trackers, the Cirqa uses connected GPS from a paired smartphone to track outdoor position.

The band can continuously monitor heart rate every second and feed data into familiar Garmin metrics, including HRV Status, Body Battery, stress, sleep, Training Readiness, and Training Status. It also supports advanced sleep tracking, nap detection and respiration monitoring.

Performance

It’s hard to talk about the Cirqa band's performance, as it’s essentially the same as other Garmin wearables that use the Elevate v4 heart rate sensor. It has no screen or GPS, so it mainly tracks your vitals and sends them to the Connect app, where the algorithm makes sense of it all.

I have Active Intelligence, part of Connect+, Garmin’s paid subscription service. As a result, the algorithm provided activity summaries and suggested workouts based on my activity. The Cirqa band tracks workouts (e.g. walks) automatically and takes them into account.

Now, the issue is that even though I walked loads during the testing period, my sciatica prevented me from doing any proper workouts like runs or cycles. Even though I reached over 650 intensity minutes in a week, my Training Status still said I was in ‘Recovery’.

Not sure about you, but doing that much walking a week does count as workouts for me and the algorithm, but Garmin’s athlete-centred training features don’t seem to care, which creates a strange situation where you’ll continuously feel you’re not exercising enough while also doing quite a lot.

Another strange thing is that Active Intelligence requires an internet connection and won’t give you any info without it. Most companion apps, including Oura, will provide plenty of insights without data usage, so I don’t understand why Garmin can’t do the same.

As for data accuracy, there isn’t much to criticise. The Elevate v4 is more than sophisticated enough to track most of what you'd track with the Cirqa band. Sleep, stress, and blood oxygen all seemed okay to me compared to the Oura Ring 5 and the Ultrahuman Ring PRO, both of which I wore simultaneously.

Battery life and charging

Garmin rates the Cirqa for up to 10 days of battery life, which sounds good until you realise that on most wearables, the display eats up most of the battery power. Since the Cirqa doesn’t have one, even with the sensor being on most of the time, the band will last for well over a week.

My testing came close to Garmin’s official figure. I took the Cirqa off the charger at 100% when I started testing it, and it had dropped to 86% just over a day later. After a little over five days of continuous wear, there was still 40% remaining.

The battery finally reached 12% just over eight days after the test began. Based on that discharge rate, I would have expected the Cirqa to make it comfortably through a ninth day and potentially get very close to Garmin’s quoted 10-day maximum.

Charging is fairly quick, too. Starting from 12%, the Cirqa recovered almost 80% of its battery in 57 minutes. You probably won't need to charge it particularly often, then, and even a relatively short top-up should be enough to keep it running for several more days.

The Cirqa uses the same four-pin charger the company has used for years, so if you already have a watch, you should be able to charge your band with the same cable.

Verdict

The Garmin Cirqa is a comfortable, discreet and impressively long-lasting fitness tracker that makes Garmin’s excellent health ecosystem more accessible without putting another screen on your wrist. It works particularly well as a companion to a Garmin watch (and is a decent enough fitness tracker on its own), although the company’s athlete-focused algorithms still feel less accommodating to casual activity, and some of its smartest insights sit behind Connect+.

Compared to old timers such as Sage and De'Longhi, who've been churning out espresso machines for years, Ninja is relatively new to the world of barista-style coffee makers.

After launching its first barista style espresso machine – the original Luxe Café – back in 2024, it’s safe to say Ninja has made waves in this space and in a surprisingly short space of time (probably thanks to the consumer trust the brand has on the back of its successful line of air fryers). The "Pro" version followed in 2025, adding an integrated tamper, independent hot water dispenser and an upgraded milk frother to an already impressive package.

Now, the brand's latest release comes in the form of a limited edition David Beckham collaboration, which hit the market earlier this year. The result of a six-month creative process between Ninja and the former England captain, it takes the existing Pro and wraps it in a new matte black stainless steel finish with shiny gold accents and black chestnut wood grain detailing on the portafilter and milk jug handles.

Everything under the surface is functionally the same as the standard Luxe Café Pro, so this review is about two things: is the Pro still worth the money, and does the Beckham edition add enough to justify the extra cost? I've been using it as my daily coffee machine for the past few weeks to find out.

Ninja Luxe Café Pro review: price and availability

The Ninja Luxe Café Pro David Beckham Edition is available now direct from Ninja and big retailers such as Amazon.

When researching prices, I found (rather oddly) that RRP varies dramatically across different regions. In the UK, you’ll find it for £879.99, but in the US you can pick it up for just $749, which converts to around £550. Down under gets an even better deal, with an RRP of AU$999.99, which is around £520. And you can save even more if you decide to drop the David Beckham design.

The standard Luxe Café Pro is the exact same machine, just with a different look, available in Stainless Steel, Oat Milk or Onyx colourways. It’s listed on Ninja’s webstore for £729.99 in the UK - a difference of £150 - and has the same $749.99 (about £550) price tag in the US, although the standard model isn’t available in Australia.

Interestingly, while there’s essentially no Beckham premium across the pond, you’re paying an extra £150 in the UK just for the limited-edition design.

In terms of competition, there’s no shortage of coffee machines of this calibre in the market. The five-star Sage Barista Touch Impress is arguably the Ninja's closest rival when it comes to feature set and target audience, but it does have a slightly higher price tag of around £1,049 / $999.95, AU$1,900 making the Ninja notably cheaper.

Then there’s the T3 Platinum Award-winning De'Longhi La Specialista Opera, which is another strong competitor since it offers the same functionality and arguably better build quality. This sits at around £799 / $749.95 / AU$1,199 mark, so the Beckham Edition slots in just above it price-wise.

Whether the Beckham tax is worth it depends entirely on whether the design really floats your boat or not. The machine itself is functionally identical to the standard Pro model, so you're only really paying for the colourway, the wood accents and (let's be honest) the name. If none of that matters to you, the standard Pro in its regular finishes is a smarter buy as it will save you a good £150!

Ninja Luxe Café Pro review: set up

Getting the Luxe Café Pro up and running is refreshingly quick. After slipping it out of its box, you slot in the drip tray, fill the water tank, pop some beans in the hopper, and you're brewing within about ten minutes.

The machine comes with single, double and even quadruple baskets (more on that later), a portafilter, an XL milk jug, cleaning tablets, descaling powder, a cleaning brush, cleaning disc and even a hard water testing kit, most of which slot neatly into a nifty accessory drawer that opens on the right-hand side of the unit.

Once it’s plugged in, the Barista Assist technology walks you through your first brew, suggesting a grind size based on the drink you've selected, and the integrated scale weighs your dose automatically. It's about as close to plug-and-play as a machine like this can get, and if you've never used a semi-automatic espresso machine before, it does a good job of making the whole process feel less intimidating than ever.

Ninja Luxe Café Pro review: design and build

On paper, the Beckham Edition of this coffee machine sounds like the bees knees: a matte black stainless steel body with gold accents and black chestnut wood grain on the handles. In reality, I can’t help but think it’s not what it’s cracked up to be. The gold and black finish, for example, just looks a bit naff: think regional luxury à la Cheshire beauty salon or Dubai influencer apartment.

If the gold had been a deeper tone, or even bronze and in a matte or brushed finish, it would feel a lot more premium. As it stands, the gold has a sheen to it that looks a bit cheap, and doesn't quite match Ninja’s very own "refined meets rebellious" marketing. The brand was clearly going for a luxurious, aspirational look here, but instead it comes across a bit try-hard and wannabe “bougie”.

Don’t get me wrong, the wood grain handles on the portafilter and milk jug are a nice touch, and they do add some sophistication and warmth to the overall look. But as with any design choice, I guess it’s subjective, and I can certainly see how it will grab attention.

My bigger concern is the build quality. At nearly 900 quid, I was expecting something that felt substantial and solid. Instead, much of the construction is plastic, and in places it feels a little flimsy. The removable drip tray, in particular, can literally be flexed and bent in your hand, which doesn't exactly inspire confidence.

Coming from a Sage, which has a noticeably more robust, metal-heavy build, it feels like Ninja has cut some corners on materials here, maybe to hit its price point? Still, it's perfectly functional and nothing feels like it's going to break, but the weight and feel of it just doesn't match the price tag.

That said, the machine is surprisingly compact for everything it does. You get three brewing methods (espresso, filter coffee and cold brew), plus an integrated grinder, tamper, scale and milk frother, all in a footprint that doesn't dominate the worktop. It looks the part sitting in the kitchen, even if the gold and black won't be to everyone's taste.

Ninja Luxe Café Pro review: performance and features

Whatever reservations I have about the Luxe Café Pro’s design, they all feel a bit trivial once I start making coffee. This machine produces excellent espresso. The 19-bar pump delivers proper pressure, the conical burr grinder offers 25 settings for dialling in your preferred grind, and the integrated tamper applies consistent pressure every time via a simple lever press. Tamps are therefore flat and compact, making for way less mess.

As for the Barista Assist technology, this suggests a grind setting based on your chosen drink, which is useful as a starting point. I did find, though, that following its suggestion sometimes produced a slightly runny espresso. Dropping the grind level a notch or two below the recommendation gave me a thicker, richer shot with a lovely crema on top. But this is the kind of thing you’ll figure out after a few days of use, and once you've found your sweet spot, the results are consistently good.

Weight-based dosing is another standout feature. The built-in scale automatically weighs the coffee as it's ground into the portafilter, stopping when it hits the target dose. It removes one of the biggest variables in home espresso and means you get consistent results every morning without faffing around with a separate scale.

When it comes to milk frothing, Ninja’s system isn’t the kind you’d normally find on a conventional semi-automatic barista machine. Rather than a standard steam wand, it uses a jug with a spinning whisk inside (akin to what’s inside the Nespresso “Aeroccino“ milk frother gadgets) that heats and froths the milk simultaneously.

While it’s a different approach to the norm, it actually produces better microfoam than I expected, with a smooth, velvety texture that works well for lattes and flat whites.

The trade-off, however, is speed. Compared to my Sage, the Ninja's frothing system takes noticeably longer to heat and froth the milk. It's not a huge wait, maybe an extra 30 seconds or so, but it's enough to notice during your morning routine. The other slight frustration is that you can only adjust the froth level (across five settings), not the actual milk temperature. My Sage Oracle Jet lets me dial in temperature by the degree, but then again, that machine costs almost double, so I shouldn’t really compare.

As for other modes, such as filter coffee making, this produces a well-balanced, smooth cup, and the cold brew function is a nice bonus, delivering a concentrated cold brew in around 20 minutes rather than the overnight steeping most methods require. Having all three brewing methods in a single machine, plus a dedicated hot water dispenser for tea and americanos, makes the Luxe Café Pro one of the most versatile coffee machines I've used - especially for the price!

Ninja Luxe Café Pro review: verdict

With or without the Beckham design and the divisive gold trim, the Ninja Luxe Café Pro is one of the most capable and user-friendly all-in-one coffee machines on the market. The espresso is top notch, the Barista Assist technology makes it easy to use from the get-go, and having espresso, filter and cold brew in a single compact unit is hard to beat at this price.

Rather ironically, it’s the design which is supposed to be the headline feature of this limited edition machine that will split opinion. The gold finish doesn't look as premium as I think Ninja intended, and the plastic-heavy construction feels a little cheap for an £880 unit, especially when compared to rivals like Sage. But these are only cosmetic and material concerns, and when it comes to performance, the Luxe Café Pro delivers every time.

If you love the Beckham colourway, then I say go for it. But if you're less bothered about the aesthetics and just want the same brilliant machine for £150 less, the standard Luxe Café Pro in one of its other finishes is definitely a smarter buy. Either way, Ninja is offering something here that’s certainly giving the competition a run for its money.

Sometimes even the best tech launch has a sting in the tail. When I saw the new XPS 13 unveiled at Computex in Taiwan this year, I couldn't quite believe my eyes or my hands. This gorgeous little compact laptop was being positioned directly against the MacBook Neo, and had every shot at outstripping it, from what I saw and was told.

Now, a couple of months later, the first version of the XPS 13 is available, and I've tested it over the last week to see if it can match that incredible early impression. While I'm still in love with its design, the harsh reality of the pricing crisis we're all enduring in computing has made the XPS 13 far more complicated to assess than I was hoping it might be. Here's why:

Price and Availability

Dell's new XPS 13 was unveiled earlier this summer, and it's now available to order in most places, with a caveat. Right now, every version of the laptop on offer comes with a Series 3 Intel Core 5-320 processor – which is not a Panther Lake chip; a version is coming down the line with Intel's newer chip, but it's not here yet.

Anyway, here in the UK the XPS 13 starts at £899, a massive chunk more than the $699 being asked in the US (that's about £515 by conversion, just to add to the sting). In the EU, the laptop starts at €1,049, while in Australia it's $1,399.

In the UK, students can get it for £699, while in the US they'll qualify for a $599 price. That ought to quickly mark it out as one of the best laptops for students from the off.

Those spell out some pretty big regional pricing differences, to be honest, and only the US sees a price that comes close to being in the region of what I was hoping for – and, indeed, in a MacBook Neo ballpark. That said, given Dell's proclivity for discounts, it wouldn't surprise me if we see this price come down in sales relatively quickly.

Design and Features

The good stuff is pretty front-loaded in the new XPS 13, in my view, because the moment you unbox it and get your hands on it, I think you're likely to fall in love with its design.

This 13-inch laptop is smaller than the majority of the competition in the same size bracket – it's incredibly compact and skinny, with no major ornamentation or flourishes to catch the eye. It's built entirely out of metal, for a really premium hand-feel.

On the back of the laptop's display, there's an XPS logo, which is nice and subtle, while the bottom of the laptop has a Dell logo, some vents for airflow and some rubberised treads for stability. Opening it up, you'll find a tenkeyless keyboard that runs almost the whole width of the machine, above a nice and wide touchpad.

Above it, there's a 13.4-inch display with impressively tiny bezels. It features a really eye-catching anti-reflective coating that does wonders for the laptop in bright conditions – and is one of the more pronounced versions I can remember seeing in recent years. Above that, there's the webcam setup.

It bears repeating that the new XPS 13 is a seriously gorgeous little laptop – I've found its size almost hard to remind myself of at times when it's been in a backpack or drawer. There have been thinner machines, but I love the decision to avoid a wedge or taper in the design, and it's built really solidly, too.

This quality does mean that it weighs in at almost exactly 1kg, where we all know that more plastic could bring the weight down further, but I still find it to be hugely portable. In fact, I can't think of many recent laptops that would fit better into a flexible working pattern.

Back to the specs side of things, though. That display is a full multi-touch one, so you can swipe and tap if you like, and it comes with a 2560 x 1600 resolution, so it's extremely sharp given the size of the display. It can pull a refresh rate from 30Hz to 120Hz, so smoothness isn't an issue either.

The system is powered by a Series 3 Intel Core 5 Processor 320, as mentioned before, and this is paired with 8GB of RAM – which many people would agree is a slightly eyebrow-raising spec in 2026 on Windows. In the UK, upgrading that spec to 16GB costs a whopping £200 at the point of purchase, too.

You get a 512GB SSD for your file storage, meanwhile, and there's not even an upgrade path to make this 1TB, for instance, which underlines just how mad the pricing situation is becoming in computing.

Performance and Display

To keep going with the positives, I'm really impressed by the display that Dell has squeezed into such a tiny laptop. It's extremely crisp, and the lack of bezels on the left, right, and bottom really does make it feel expansive for the size of the laptop you're actually using.

Brands sometimes talk about "fitting a 13-inch screen into a 12-inch laptop" in a way that can feel slightly disingenuous, but if Dell used that sort of language for the XPS 13 I'd have no issue. The screen-to-body ratio is so impressive here that it really just underlines how impressively light and small the whole XPS 13 feels overall.

I also like the keyboard Dell chose, which is different from the one in the XPS 14 that I raved about earlier this year. Rather than all the keys being right up against each other, this time they're more spaced out and are basically more traditional rather than being chiclet style. I don't really mind either style, but I certainly have no complaints about the typing feel on the XPS 13.

The trackpad, similarly, didn't give me anything to specifically write home about, but in a good way – it's unremarkable but perfectly effective.

Where things do get a little more iffy, though, is when we turn to the XPS 13's actual power. We knew from the start that there would be non-Panther Lake versions of the laptop before the beefed-up versions arrive, but I didn't anticipate the compromises that have been made to get this XPS 13 version out the door.

There's no two ways around it – the Series 3 Intel Core 5 Processor 320 and 8GB of RAM just don't make for as snappy-feeling a Windows experience as I'd expect. And it's certainly a combination that feels like it should be on a cheaper machine. The market for components is absolutely brutal right now, so this might be another example of it claiming a victim.

It's not that you'll feel the pain while web browsing or word processing, necessarily, which does mean that for the majority of simple tasks the XPS 13 will be more than enough for you. It's more of an issue when you start to multitask with more complex workflows.

So, if you're editing image files and connecting external storage, while also leaving Chrome open with a host of tabs, expect some of the multitasking to occasionally feel sluggish, and for the laptop to be fairly maxed out much of the time.

We know that versions using the Panther Lake Core Ultra 7 355 are on the way, and they should be transformative, given the huge uplift in power that chip brings (although it won't have the game-changing graphics of the most powerful Panther Lake chips). Still, I hesitate to wonder what sort of price they'll bring – it can't possibly be a sensible one.

When Dell first showed me the XPS 13, it openly compared it to the MacBook Neo, and at the time it probably had good reason. Even after the Neo's £100/$100 price hike, though, the XPS 13 still comes in looking pretty suspect when it comes to price, and that makes it an awkward laptop to recommend from a specs perspective.

Verdict

I can't remember rooting for a laptop like I was for the XPS 13 before testing it – the hands-on time I had in Taipei at Computex impressed me so significantly that I thought we could have a true all-time great on our hands. In a world where memory prices weren't spiking because of AI, that might have been the case, too.

The XPS 13 is, undoubtedly, the most attractive compact Windows laptop on the market right now from a design standpoint. It's built sturdily and is incredibly sleek and well considered, with every aspect of the laptop feeling premium and careful.

Simultaneously, though, it's overpriced and underpowered. That's close to kryptonite for a laptop of this sort, and I'm sure Dell still has daydreams about being able to launch it with a genuinely competitive price against the MacBook Neo (which also, awkwardly, had to up its price after just 3 months on the shelf).

That context all comes together to make the XPS 13 difficult to judge, not least because its best version isn't here yet. When the Intel Panther Lake-toting product arrives, I suspect it'll be the best premium compact Windows laptop going – but at what price? Until then, the XPS 13 is a harder sell, but still one that's recommendable and might find a cult fanbase purely on its design merits.

Also consider

If you've even half-read this review, you'll be able to guess the first point of comparison for you to consider – the MacBook Neo. Those who don't need a Windows experience will find it cheaper than the XPS 13, and probably a little better-performing. That said, it's heavier and feels less premium, so it's not a straightforward situation.

For those who need the Windows life but are realising that their budget is perhaps bigger than the XPS 13 warrants, there's an easy alternative in Dell's current lineup. The 2026 version of the XPS 14 is a stunner, and has none of the compromises of its smaller sibling – although that price remains stonking.

The best adjustable dumbbells share one very useful feature: they take up far less space than the next-best alternative (a rack of fixed weights). Thanks to their clever mechanical design, they offer a weight range that covers everything from light exercises to heavy compound lifts while keeping the same footprint as a single pair of dumbbells.

Although not every brand that’s cobbled a set of adjustable dumbbells is worth your attention. Some more affordable options feel a bit rough around the edges, while premium offerings from brands like Bowflex and NordicTrack come with price tags that make your eyes water.

But stress not, as UK fitness equipment brand MuscleSquad has been carving out a niche somewhere in the middle for some time. Its last adjustable dumbbell release offered decent value but never quite felt premium enough to compete with the big names.

The Elite is the brand's attempt to change that, swapping the plasticky finish for an all-metal build and adding a few design refinements to close the gap with pricier rivals.

Available in 32kg and 40kg variants, each adjustable in 2kg increments, the Elite promises a weight range that covers pretty much any home workout you'd want to do. I've been putting a 32kg dumbbell through its paces over the past month to see whether the "Elite" moniker really lives up to its name. Here's how they stack up.

MuscleSquad Elite Adjustable Dumbbell review

Price and availability

The MuscleSquad Elite Adjustable Dumbbell is available to buy now directly from MuscleSquad for £225 for a single 32kg unit. The brand's store currently offers a discount code that brings the price down to £213.75 for a single unit, or £417.50 for a pair.

The 40kg variant is also available at a slightly higher price point of £250, or £237.50 with the discount code, bringing it to a nice rounded £475 for a pair.

That makes the Elite notably cheaper than rivals such as Bowflex, which just a few weeks ago launched the SelectTech 55 adjustable dumbbell, which carries an RRP of £270 for a single unit or £530 for a pair.

Elsewhere in the adjustable dumbbell market, there’s the Primal Personal Series 34kg, which comes in at £259.99 per dumbbell, or the BrainGain 40kg Octagon - although this product is sold in pairs priced at £700.

The Boxbell 3-in-1 sits at just £150 per unit (£300 for a pair), but it only goes up to 20kg. So either way, the MuscleSquad Elite undercuts most of the competition on price while offering a comparable or wider weight range.

Design and build

The Elite sports an all-metal construction, a real upgrade over MuscleSquad's last release. It gives the dumbbells a clean, industrial look that feels far more grown-up. The colour scheme is minimal, comprising simple silver tones with no garish accents or flashy branding.

If you've ever been put off by the bright red or orange detailing you often see on other adjustable dumbbell offerings, the Elite's understated finish will be a welcome relief.

Another big improvement is the flat ends, which make a big difference for press-based exercises. For example, setting the dumbbells on your thighs just before a chest press or shoulder press lift-off is way more comfortable and stable with this design, which isn't always the case with models that have uneven edges or dials at the ends.

So if you’re not twisting a dial on the end of the plates to adjust the weight, how do you do it? Well, the Elite uses a twist-handle mechanism. Simply turn the grip to your chosen weight, and the corresponding plates will lock into place.

What I really enjoyed about this design is that the dumbbell's physical size changes with the weight, so selecting a lighter setting gives you a more compact, less unwieldy unit. At lower weights, this makes exercises feel far more natural than on models (like older Bowflex designs, for example) where the dumbbell stays bulky regardless of what you've dialled in.

The metal storage dock keeps things tidy and is sturdier than the plastic variations you tend to get from other brands. However, I did notice that docking the dumbbell isn't always seamless. It can catch slightly as you move it in and out, which isn't a major problem but is noticeable if you're moving quickly between exercises.

Annoyingly, I found that this catching also meant that, after just a few sessions, the black paint on the dock started to chip where the dumbbell knocks against it as you slot it back in. You don’t get this with a plastic dock - contact usually just leaves a scratch that's barely visible.

But with painted metal, you get chips that expose the bare surface underneath, and I won’t lie - it makes the whole thing instantly look a bit scruffy and cheap.

Performance and features

Once you've set your weight and picked up the dumbbell, the Elite generally performs very well. The 2kg increments across 16 settings give you plenty of room for progressive overload, from light lateral raises and bicep curls at the lower end to heavy rows, goblet squats, and dumbbell presses at the top. For most home gym routines, the 32kg maximum is more than enough.

Thankfully, the plates feel comfortable during longer sessions, too. Over a month of regular training, I didn't experience any rubbing, pinching or soreness from the plate edges, which can be an issue with adjustable dumbbells that have exposed metal surfaces. Mid-set, the weight feels stable and locked in with only minimal rattling of the plates (this is kind of standard for adjustable dumbbells).

The adjustment mechanism itself feels a little less polished. The handle twist does the job, but it doesn't always turn so smoothly. When going from lighter to heavier weights especially, the dial can feel stiff and needs a firmer grip to click into the next increment.

During supersets where you want to change weight quickly and get on with the task at hand, that extra second or two of fiddling can break the flow. It's not a dealbreaker, but it is the kind of thing you’ll notice every session. Still, at this price, the Elite's mechanism is perfectly acceptable – it just lacks the buttery precision of more premium rival dumbbells.

Verdict

The MuscleSquad Elite’s all-metal build not only looks and feels considerably more premium than the brand’s last offering, but performance-wise is a level up, too.

The flat ends are a bonus for pressing movements, and the size-adjusting mechanism is a smart feature that makes lighter weights less cumbersome. What’s more, the weight range covers everything most home gym users will need, with the pricing mostly undercutting the big names in this space.

The dumbbell is not without its cons, though. The twist mechanism could be smoother, the docking catches occasionally, and the paint-chipping issue is disappointing for something marketed as "Elite”. These aren't things that totally ruin the experience of using it, but they do remind you that you're paying a little less than for top-notch rivals, and in places, that shows.

Nevertheless, for anyone who wants a clean-looking, well-priced adjustable dumbbell that covers a wide weight range without dominating the room, the MuscleSquad Elite is a smart option.

The Fidelio FA3 wireless active stereo speaker system and the Fidelio FT1 Bluetooth-equipped turntable with integrated CD player are available separately, but Philips is pretty sure they were made for each other – and if anyone should know, the company that builds them should.

In today's world of super-pricey separates, and with retro nostalgia seemingly at an all-time high, this mid-price system seems a smart move. Which is why I’ve reviewed these two products as if a complete system, to find out if putting your would-be cash into Philips’ pocket is money well spent or a rash investment.

Price & Availability

Both the Philips Fidelio FA3 wireless active stereo speaker system and the Fidelio FT1 Bluetooth-equipped turntable with integrated CD player are on sale now.

In the United Kingdom the Fidelio FA3 sells for £349, which translates to around $399 in the United States and AU$499 in Australia.

The Fidelio FT1, meanwhile, goes for £269 in the UK, something like $349 in the US, and around AU$469 in Australia.

For the sake of both brevity and sanity, for the rest of this review I’m going to refer to these products simply as ‘FA3’ and ‘FT1’. We all know what they are by now, right?

Features & What's New?

Philips Fidelio FA3 speakers

The FA3 are two-way speakers, each of which features a 25mm titanium dome tweeter above a 127mm glass-fibre mid/bass driver.

Each speaker is home to 50 watts of Class D amplification and, in partnership with a small reflex port at the rear of each cabinet, Philips reckons this layout is good for a frequency response of 40Hz to 40kHz.

Both speakers need to be connected to mains power – this is an active system, after all. And both speakers have an RCA socket on the rear which can be used to connect the two together – that’s how truly hi-res playback can be achieved, although the system will work just as happily (but at a lower resolution) with the speakers wirelessly paired.

One speaker does the heavy lifting where connectivity is concerned, though – the ‘primary’ speaker features a USB-C slot (available for both playback and servicing), a digital optical input, an HDMI ARC connection, and a line-level analogue input on stereo RCA sockets.

This primary speaker also takes care of wireless Bluetooth connectivity – the FA3 features Bluetooth 5.4 LE Audio and compatibility with SBC, AAC, LC3 and LDAC codecs. It’s also packing Auracast technology, so it can easily become part of a multi-speaker system if given appropriate speakers to partner with.

It’s worth noting the speakers can be connected using a length of coaxial cable with an RCA connector at each end, or wirelessly using a 2.4GHz wireless connection. Most unusually, there’s no trade-off in maximum resolution if you choose to go down the ‘wireless’ route – the FA3 operates at 24bit/96kHz natively, and anything that comes in via digital optical, USB-C or HDMI ARC of greater size is downscaled to this resolution.

Philips Fidelio FT1 turntable-CD system

The Fidelio FT1, meanwhile, is something that might have been called a ‘music centre’ back in the day. It’s a belt-driven turntable, a CD player, and a Bluetooth transmitter – with an integrated phono stage, Auracast connectivity, and a headphone socket thrown in for good measure.

It arrives with an Audio Technica AT3600L moving magnet cartridge pre-fitted to its straight aluminium tube tone-arm – all that needs to be done is to fit and adjust the supplied counterweight, slip the belt over the motor pulley, and your record player is ready to go. Or, at least, it is once you’ve positioned the aluminium platter and put the rubber slipmat on top.

The FT1 will convert an analogue signal from your vinyl to a digital equivalent and then send it to a pair of wireless headphones (or speakers, obviously) via Bluetooth 5.4 using the SBC, AAC or LC3 codec. And as it’s also Auracast-equipped, it’s able to transmit whatever it’s playing to as many appropriate speakers as you have access to.

There’s a compact disc drive built into the FT1, too, accessed via a drawer integrated into the front of the chassis. The door of the drawer is where you’ll find the system’s LED display – it can give confirmation of the selected input as well as the usual ‘track number, time elapsed, etc’ stuff when a CD is playing. All the usual CD player modes (‘shuffle’, ‘repeat’, ‘random’ and what-have-you) are here, and the drive itself is compatible with CD-R/RW and MP3-CD as well as your regular discs.

Performance

Obviously I’m testing the FA3 and FT1 components as an entire system, and that’s the way I’m going to discuss the sonic pros and cons.

In the course of this test, I spent some time listening to the FA3 speakers with other sources of music, just as I did the FT1 with different speakers (and with headphones too).

So I think I’m qualified to say that everything this system does, both good and bad, is a more-or-less equal result of the characteristics of each component. They’re both in this together, for better and for worse.

What’s most immediately impressive and engaging about this set-up is the sense of energy and animation it creates. There’s a forward and quite direct character to the system’s sonic presentation, a kind of positivity that makes every listen to any recording above the tempo of a dirge an invigorating event.

Not everyone will be enchanted by what I can quite easily describe as the relentless nature of the system’s attitude, but those who enjoy a vivid and quite forceful presentation will be very happy indeed.

No matter if you decide to listen to CD or to vinyl, there’s a fair amount of detail available in almost every respect, and an unarguable dynamism that allows the distance between the least and the most intense sections in a recording to be absolutely apparent.

Midrange resolution is accomplished too, and the way the system handles voices is very enjoyable as a result. The soundstage that’s available is quite wide and fairly well defined – and the midrange gets enough space in which to properly communicate.

Combine that with the amount of detail that’s revealed, and it follows that voices are both eloquent and direct, so it’s possible to discern plenty about their character and attitude – just as readily as about their technique and their texture – as a result.

At the bottom of the frequency range there’s a quite startling amount of substance given the size of the driver and the cabinet that’s producing it – but bass is not a blunt instrument here.

Confidence and presence are not in doubt (although a little more solidity around the edges of low-end sounds wouldn’t go amiss), but the attack is leavened by a fair amount of detail and variation.

Control is good too, and the Philips has no problem expressing rhythms with confidence and no little positivity. Leave the EQ settings in their most benign, ‘balanced’ setting and low-frequency wallop and momentum is the result.

Bass sounds have plenty in common with the midrange where tonality is concerned, and that’s also the case at the top of the frequency range. The 25mm titanium dome tweeter serves up shining, crunchy and detailed high frequencies that have the substance to balance out their latent bite.

Detail levels are high again, and though the tweeter is just as assertive as the mid/bass driver it sits above, it steers clear of glassiness and hardness right until the moment you start listening at ill-advised volumes.

Context is everything, though, and the FA3/FT1 system is never less than enjoyable and generally quite invigorating to listen to. Is it perfect, sonically speaking? No, and I get the strong impression that ‘outright fidelity’ was sacrificed in favour of ‘excitement’ quite early on in the voicing process. Does it offer plenty of sonic verve, as well as a stack of flexibility, for the money? Most certainly.

Design & Usability

Each of the speakers is a fairly substantial 303 x 170 x 211mm (HxWxD), which means the FA3 is not exactly a candidate for desktop use – and besides, given that I’m considering this as a complete system along with the FT1, you’d have to have a very big desk indeed if it’s going to accommodate all three components.

It seems more likely the entire system will be used either on an equipment rack and some speaker stands, or on an appropriately deep shelf or piece of furniture. The only drawback here, though, might be the fact the speakers are designed to lean back a little and fire upwards rather than directly outwards.

If the surface they’re on is fairly low, this is a helpful little design feature – but if you have the speakers on stands or a slightly higher shelf, the FA3 will direct sound above your ears rather than towards them (unless you like to listen while standing up, that is).
For all their slightly strange orientation, though, the speaker cabinets are properly made and finished in that special high-gloss black that looks great but collects fingerprints like no one’s business. The plastic shell features 45% recycled material in its construction, and each one is supplied with a magnetically attached grille.

The primary speaker is doing further heavy lifting where control is concerned. As well as all the physical inputs, its rear panel features a volume dial (it takes a fair few rotations to elicit a proper response), a button to initiate wireless pairing between the speakers, a button to cycle through the available inputs, and a power on/off switch.

All of those functions can also be achieved using the small remote control that’s supplied – it also includes independent bass and treble controls, and a button to cycle through the six EQ presets (‘balanced’, ‘warm’, ‘bright’, ‘powerful’, ‘clear’ and ‘custom’). For some reason, though, it crams selection of the six different inputs (which includes Auracast) onto just three buttons.

Both the FA3 and the FT1 are compatible with the Philips ‘Entertainment’ control app that’s free for iOS and Android. It’s a thorough, if not especially intuitive, interface and as well as playback control, EQ presets, source selection and the usual stuff, it’s where you can check for software updates (in the case of the FT1) or pick from a selection of sonic soundscapes (‘generative’, ‘ambient’ or ‘nature’ are the categories) for a more soothing experience than, um, listening to music.

The FT1 also has a selection of physical controls on the surface of the plinth. There’s a fairly large ‘power on/off’ button, a control dial to select between 33 and 45rpm, and buttons to handle Bluetooth pairing, source selection, Auracast, play/pause, and the opening and closing of the CD drawer.

On the rear of the plinth there are a couple of analogue outputs – a 3.5mm socket for use with wired headphones and a pair of stereo RCA connections, in case you want to join the FT1 to a traditional amplifier. There’s also a switch for defeating the integrated phono stage, which makes the player even less fussy about the equipment it’s partnered with.

The FT1 is made mostly from the same shiny black plastic as its partnering speakers, and is supplied with a clear plastic dust cover that somehow contrives to be just as reflective and fingerprint-hungry as the black plastic it sits on top of. Build quality is perfectly fine, although an all-in weight of comfortably less than 4kg makes the player seem slightly insubstantial.

Verdict

The Fidelio FT1 and FT3 combined deliver an awful lot for your money – with more extensive functionality than this sort of money can buy anywhere else.

In the context of the asking price the standard of build and finish is very acceptable, and the general sense of vigour and dynamism to the overall sound is enjoyable and commendable, too.

That's as long as you’re happy with ‘a good time all of the time’ in terms of the system’s overall character, and you can position the speakers as they need to be, then there’s plenty to enjoy here.

Also Consider

I think it’s fair to say that like-for-like comparisons are pretty thin on the ground.

Something like the Ruark MR1 MkIII is a very good pair of wireless speakers and has the inputs to support both a turntable and a CD player. The Sony PS-LX310BT, meanwhile, is a turntable that can connect wirelessly to appropriate speakers or wireless headphones.

But as far as finding a Bluetooth turntable with an integrated CD player and matching speakers? It seems to me that Philips has basically cornered that market.

Slushie machines might still feel like a relatively new phenomenon for the at-home hosts amongst us, but there's no denying how popular they've become – especially with the string of heatwaves we've had recently. In fact, they've recently become one of my favourite categories of gadget to test, aside from the best fans, of course.

The Ninja Slushi Twist arrived back in May this year, designed as a dual-vessel frozen drinks maker that can create two different flavours at the same time before twisting them together into one drink.

After multiple gatherings – and forcing plenty of friends to get involved in the testing process – my full thoughts are finally in.

Price and availability

The Ninja Slushi Twist is priced at £419.99/$399.99 and is available through Ninja's online store, as well as Currys, John Lewis and Amazon. It comes in three colours – Mocha, Potion Purple and Green – and I've been testing the Mocha version.

Ninja also sells a selection of accessories designed to accompany the Slushi range, including insulated cocktail cups and an insulated bubble cup. Replacement parts for the machine can also be purchased separately, which is useful if anything gets lost or damaged over time.

Design and features

The Ninja Slushi Twist takes the idea behind the original Slushi and makes one very obvious change – there are now two separate frozen drink vessels sitting side by side. Together, they have a total capacity of 2,840ml, allowing you to make two completely different flavours at once before dispensing them separately or twisting them together.

The two transparent vessels sit either side of a central control panel, with separate augers and chilling systems allowing each side to work independently. The clear design also means you can watch both mixtures gradually freeze, which is handy when you're impatiently waiting for the first round.

Rather than simply applying the same settings to both sides, the Ninja Slushi Twist uses Dual SlushAssist Technology to sense what's inside each vessel and adjust the temperature and freezing process accordingly. This means you can have two very different drinks on the go without having to manually work out the right settings for each one.

Interestingly, Ninja has also moved away from the five named presets found on the original Slushi, which included Slush, Frozen Cocktail, Frappé, Milkshake and Frozen Juice. Instead, the Ninja Slushi Twist relies much more heavily on SlushAssist to detect what you've added and make the necessary adjustments automatically. However, you can still make your drink softer or firmer using the temperature controls if you want more say over the final consistency.

The Ninja Slushi Twist also works with drinks containing up to 20% alcohol, compared with the original Slushi's 16% limit.

There's a difference between individual and Dual SlushAssist too. When you're using one vessel or dispensing the two flavours separately, the individual setting creates a smoother, more drinkable consistency. Dual SlushAssist makes things slightly thicker, helping the two mixtures hold their shape when they're dispensed together rather than immediately blending into one.

You also get straight and angled dispensing spouts, depending on how you want to serve your drinks. The straight spouts dispense each flavour separately, whilst the angled pair brings both together in the centre. There's also a rotating platform underneath the glass, which turns as you pour to create the two-colour twisted effect.

Performance

There's no getting around the fact that the Ninja Slushi Twist is a sizeable machine, but after using it for a few different occasions, I've really come to appreciate having those two separate vessels. The obvious appeal is twisting two flavours together, but I've actually found the ability to make two completely separate drinks at the same time just as useful. Better still, it's easy to switch between the two depending on what you're serving.

For one batch, I made an alcoholic strawberry daiquiri on one side and frozen peach juice on the other, twisting them together to create a cocktail that wasn't quite as strong. At a party, I filled each side with a different frozen cocktail so everyone could choose between the two, and whilst at a family barbecue, I had a frozen mojito for the adults on one side and a non-alcoholic slush for the kids on the other. It's this flexibility that I've ended up liking most about the Ninja Slushi Twist.

SlushAssist also makes the whole process very straightforward. Instead of working out which preset or temperature you need, you can pour in your mixture and let the machine make most of those decisions for you. Each vessel can be adjusted individually when you're making separate drinks, whilst Dual SlushAssist changes the consistency when you're planning to twist them together.

The machine will even let you know if your mixture needs more sugar or more water to reach the right consistency, which really helps when you're experimenting with your own recipes. It's also particularly useful with cocktails, where changing the amount of alcohol can easily affect how well everything freezes.

I was also impressed by the speed. Most of the frozen cocktails I made were ready in around 25 minutes, whilst some of the non-alcoholic mixtures were finished even sooner. Obviously, timings will vary depending on what you pour in and its starting temperature, but I rarely felt like I was waiting particularly long.

The different spouts might seem like a small detail, but they also make a lot more sense once you start using the machine regularly. You can go from serving two individual drinks to creating a twisted combination without having to empty either vessel or start again, which is exactly what I ended up doing when people wanted different things.

Cleaning is probably my least favourite part, although that's something I found with the original Ninja Slushi too. Sugary mixtures get sticky very quickly, particularly if you leave everything sitting around after serving. The removable parts can go in the dishwasher or be washed by hand, but there are quite a few components to deal with when you're giving it a proper clean.

There is a built-in Rinse option, which flushes water through the system to clear leftover syrup, sugar and drink residue between batches. I found it useful when switching drinks or doing a quick clean after use, but I wouldn't rely on it completely. Mine was still slightly sticky afterwards, so I'd recommend giving everything a proper wash once you're finished for the day.

Verdict

The Ninja Slushi Twist is sizeable, pricey and still a little fiddly to clean, but the dual-vessel design gives it a level of versatility I wasn't expecting. Twisting two flavours together is undeniably fun, but having two completely different frozen drinks ready at the same time is where it really earns its place. For parties, barbecues or simply households with very different tastes, having that extra choice makes a surprisingly big difference.

Alternatives to consider

The original Ninja Slushi will always be where it all started, but Ninja has released a few newer models that could make more sense depending on what you're looking for. The Ninja Slushi Max is worth considering if the twisted drinks aren't particularly important to you and you'd rather prioritise capacity. It can make up to 12 drinks, compared with up to 10 from the Ninja Slushi Twist.

If you're working with a smaller budget but still want something that'll impress guests, the Inoviva 2.6L Slush Machine is another option to consider. It's obviously much simpler than the Ninja Slushi Twist and is closer in concept to the original Slushi, but its lower price makes it an appealing alternative if you don't need two flavours on the go at once.

Audeze occupies a really fascinating place in the pantheon of gaming headset makers. It's best known as an audiophile brand, making the sort of headphones that your dad wishes he could get his hands on.

However, after branching out into gaming audio some years back, it's found the segment to be by far its best-selling one, thanks to a lower price of entry, perhaps. Of course, there's also the fact that people want top-level immersion – and the news that a headset is the best way to get it has long since spread worldwide.

I've tested Audeze's headsets over the years and found their sound superb, but their design perhaps a little particular – but the Maxwell 2 ANC (noting that three-letter append differentiates this product from the base Maxwell 2) is perhaps the brand's most attractive and generalist effort yet.

Price and Availability

The Maxwell 2 ANC was unveiled earlier this summer, and it's therefore available to order now, although it's not at the widest range of retailers here in the UK – so you may have to dig around a little.

In case its name didn't make it clear: this is a direct follow-up to the Maxwell 2, which remains on sale.

The Maxwell 2 ANC has two variants, in a flashback to older days. The PlayStation version (which will also work on PC) comes in at £429 in the UK, while the Xbox-certified version is a bit pricier at £449.

In the US, that translates to $429 and $449, respectively. That price gap is almost certainly entirely down to the license that Microsoft charges for Xbox compatibility.

Design and Features

If you stuck a Maxwell 2 next to the newer Maxwell 2 ANC, you might be relatively hard-pressed to pick out differences between them. They're there, but they're extremely subtle where the design is concerned.

The most obvious tell is where the headband meets the earcups – where it was previously colour-matched, the arms now have a metallic finish that makes them contrast a little. Beyond that, though, almost nothing has changed (which is no bad thing).

That means you still get the same round earcup shape, along with the newer, wider headband that debuted on the Maxwell 2. It's suspended below the main headback (which is rigid) and has holes in it for ventilation, as well as some adjustment points for sizing.

The earcups themselves are pretty massive, and the headset overall is in fact one of the biggest I've tested. That probably won't matter to you since it's likely for home use, but you do look amusing with the Maxwell 2 ANC strapped on.

On that front, a weight of 560g is also worth considering – this is a seriously heavy headset by any reckoning, although that does also mean it feels really premium in terms of build quality.

On those earcups you have a couple of removable parts to experiment with. Firstly, the outer panel of each earcup can now be removed, a bit like on SteelSeries' Arctis Nova Pro headsets, but without the hidden battery – this time it's just to offer the option of custom plates down the line.

You can also really easily pry off the ear cushions themselves. This both gets you a neat view of the planar magnetic drivers they hide, but should also make replacing them a total doddle, which is great.

Finally, the microphone is completely removable, too. I'm on the record as preferring a retractable system for convenience, but Audeze is hardly the only brand sticking with this model.

The earcup housing the microphone also holds most of the controls. It has a button to toggle between ANC modes, a USB-C port for charging, a 3.5mm jack for wired audio, and two volume dials.

One controls your master volume, while the other adjusts the balance between in-game audio and your chat – that this works out of the box on PS5 with no adjustments is a real boon.

The other earcup has the power button and a mute switch for the microphone, rounding out your controls. The big selling point of Audeze's headphones is the planar magnetic drivers, which are present and correct here – each of them 90mm.

The big addition, though, is active noise-cancelling (ANC), and you get to choose between having it on, turning it off entirely, or using a transparency mode to hear the world around you more clearly.

Leaving ANC on, you'll get around 35 hours of gameplay on a charge, while turning it off raises this to 40 hours. Recharging from empty takes around 2 hours, but you'll get 25% of your charge in the first 20 minutes.

Finally, the box includes the all-important USB-C dongle for wireless 2.4Ghz audio, although Bluetooth is also supported (with LDAC, which is welcome). The dongle has a switch to go between PC and PlayStation modes, and you also get a cabled adapter for USB-A sockets.

Comfort-wise, having worn the Maxwell 2 ANC for dozens of hours at this point, I'm impressed. The wide headband makes its objectively sizeable weight feel like far less, and I've been able to wear it for 3 hours at a time without any complaints. The earcups are impressively plush, while the clamping force isn't excessive.

The materials also ensure this feels really premium, as befits the price. The SteelSeries Arctis Nova Elite is a chunk more expensive, but I'd put these in a similar bracket in terms of solidity and build quality. That said, the trade-off in weight isn't to be ignored.

Sound and Performance

Audeze is famed for its planar magnetic drivers, and they're the stars of the show in almost all of its over-ears – but this isn't one of its regular launches. This time, ANC is right there in the product's name to highlight that it's the major addition, so it's what I'll tackle first.

When a brand that hasn't done much ANC dips its toes, the first results can be quite unpredictable. But I think Audeze has done a really creditable job here. The noise-cancelling offered by the Maxwell 2 ANC does almost exactly what I expected, dulling and dimming background noise to make immersion easier to achieve.

Audeze's marketing material makes it fairly obvious that it thinks it can match the ANC on the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Elite, and in fairness I think it's in the same ballpark. There are slight differences when it comes to tuning, but with an air conditioner running or a washing machine going at full spin, I've been able to have enjoyable gaming sessions without interruption.

The transparency mode here is serviceable enough, and could be useful if you're waiting for the doorbell or some other important audible alert, but I can't say I found the need to use it much.

That brings me back to the core question of sound quality, which is as impressive as the last few Audeze headsets led me to expect. The exact mechanics of what makes planar magnetic drivers good can be labyrinthine, but the outcome is obvious – powerful, crisp and detailed sound.

The richness here is really impressive, and I've found the bass response to be extremely solid, too. Playing a bunch of Battlefield 6, I've had no issues picking out footsteps near me, but I haven't had to compromise and turn down the scale of the booming sound of warfare.

Dipping into a busier soundscape like in Assassin's Creed: Black Flag Resynced, the business of Havana or the stark open air of the sea are both translated really nicely, and you do get the precision to pick up tiny audio cues and background details.

Connectivity has been rock-solid throughout my testing, while battery life has lined up with Audeze's claims, making for a really impressive package that comes together with ease.

Verdict

The Audeze Maxwell 2 ANC is exactly what it says on the tin – an improvement on the Maxwell 2 with one major addition that is a genuine upgrade for gaming in normal environments. I'd always rather have ANC than not, and it helps when it's paired with powerful, accurate sound like this.

There are some minor caveats, though. The Maxwell 2 ANC is basically the heaviest high-end headset you could find, so trying it on before you buy it might be advisable, since its dimensions are also plus-sized.

It's also got a punchy price, even more so if you're an Xbox gamer. Still, if your budget is big and you like planar magnetic tech, then Audeze's latest is a seriously accomplished headset.

Also consider

A price that's this high means the Maxwell 2 ANC doesn't have much direct competition. That said, my top gaming headset recommendation (full stop) comes in a good chunk cheaper – the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Omni, which outdoes Audeze by bringing all console uses into one headset. It sounds great, too.

Another good way to cut costs would be to pick up the existing non-ANC Maxwell 2, which remains excellent and can be had for around £/$100 less than the new version, and doubtless more when sales events roll around.

Realistically, the only way to upgrade on the Maxwell 2 ANC is to step up to the Arctis Nova Elite, meanwhile, which is even more unbelievably expensive, but does have a few more bells and whistles. Again, its universal compatibility is a real boon if you want one headset for everything.

I’ve just spent three days of hot-weather camping in the four-person Quechua Air Seconds 4.2 Polycotton family tent, and I already consider it to be one of the very best tents to buy in 2026.

If you go on a lot of family camping trips and have never had the pleasure of camping under polycotton fabric (like those elegant Dutch models you see at most French campsites), I urge you to seriously consider taking a look at this five-star model, which oozes sophistication, comfort and impressive stability in almost all weather.

So grab yourself a drink, pop up the parasol and dip into what must surely be the longest tent review I’ve ever written.

Decathlon Quechua Air Seconds 4.2 Polycotton review

Price and availability

The Quechua Air Seconds 4.2 Polycotton currently costs £999.99 at Decathlon UK, although availability may vary during the year. In Europe, Decathlon sells it through its European stores. Here’s a link to Decathlon’s French portal where this tent retails for €999.99.

Outside Europe, availability is more limited and may depend on importing from Decathlon or specialist resellers. Incidentally, UK buyers can also find the standard polyester Air Seconds 4.1 at Argos, where it retails for a considerably lower £300.

Specifications

• Seasons: 3-season
• Style: Tunnel
• Sleeps: 4
• Assembly type: Inflatable (3 poles)
• Pack size: L: 86cm; W: 56cm; H: 46cm
• Packed weight: 37.25kgs
• Exterior: L: 455cm; W: 305cm; H: 215m
• Interior (lounge): L: 220cm; W: 305cm; H: 215cm
• Interior (2 x bedrooms): L: 210cm; W: 280cm; H: 185cm
• Canopy Fabric: Polycotton (30% cotton, 70% Polyester)
• Rainfly Hydrostatic Head: Approx 2,000mm
• Floor Hydrostatic Head: 5,000 mm
• Guy points: 32
• Pegs used: 24

Pitching

The Quechua Air Seconds 4.2 Polycotton comes in a superb polycotton bag with a solid floor, two wheels, and plenty of grab handles for remarkably easy transport from car to pitch. At over 37 kilos, this tent is much heavier than the norm, and its pack size is pretty large, too, but the wheels lessen the load considerably.

Everything you need is in the bag except for the air beam pump, which you will need to purchase separately. Do not forget this, or you may arrive at a remote campsite with no way to pump the tent up. While this tent can be easily erected by one person, it’s handy having an extra pair of hands when opening it out and pulling it into a suitable position.

The first thing my wife and I did was unfurl it and lay it out flat while we tried to work out which way to face it. I then used four of the supplied heavy-duty nail pegs for the corners of the tent, just in case of any wind gusts.

Since this is a three-beam air tent, I never bothered using my Quechua hand pump and instead reached for my Jackery Explorer 1000 portable power station and Quechua’s excellent electric pump. I attached the push-in nozzle to the valve on the first air beam, set the pump’s pressure to the recommended 7 PSI, tapped start, and watched in wonder as the pole expanded.

All I had to do was step onto the collapsed tent to reduce any kinks in the tube while it filled. After about 30 seconds, it was on to the next two poles, and after about three minutes, all three poles were erect, and the tent had taken shape.

Stage two involved hammering in all 24 pegs, and this took at least 30 minutes. Thankfully, most of the guy lines are split to cover two tie-out points per peg, so it was much quicker to finish than on the Coleman Air Valdes my friends took along.

The final stage of assembly involved fitting the fabulous internal carpet (easy), the internal telescopic ceiling support and the solid fibreglass pole into the sleeve of the front porch overhang. A couple more porch pegs later, the tent was fully erect and ready for the enjoyable part: stuffing it with all our gear.

I’d say the whole process took about 40 minutes, but 90% of that time was spent pegging in the numerous guy lines. Thankfully, there’s a large instruction sheet sewn into the top of the bag, so follow it if it’s the first time you’re erecting it.

This is especially important when you fold it up and pack it. Oh, and when taking it down, don’t forget to remove the ceiling support pole, or you’ll have to climb into the collapsed tent to retrieve it – just like I had to do.

What is polycotton and why is it such a great tent material?

Polycotton is a hybrid fabric that combines the natural breathability of cotton with the strength and durability of polyester – the synthetic material almost all modern tents are made from.

For decades before the advent of polyester, tents were made almost exclusively from natural cotton canvas, mostly because of its strength, weatherproof structure and superb breathability.

Many Dutch tents from manufacturers like De Waard are still made using the same pure cotton material today. However, pure cotton canvas is hampered by considerable weight, enormous pack size and exceedingly long drying times when damp.

Skip to the 1970s, and manufacturers began mass-producing camping tents using new synthetic polyester weaves that transformed camping by offering lighter, cheaper, and faster-drying shelters.

However, polyester is so well insulated against rain that it can feel unbearably hot inside on a sweltering day. Polyester is also noisy in the wind and rain and not very breathable, which leads to high levels of condensation, especially in the evenings and early mornings.

Cut to the 1980s, and polycotton – usually a mix of 35% cotton and 65% polyester – emerged as a clever compromise that combined the comfort and breathability of pure cotton with polyester’s durability, practicality and marginally lower weight and pack size.

As a result, we are seeing far more polycotton tents coming to market, mostly because the material offers a much more comfortable camping environment than any lightweight synthetic alternative.

Why? Put simply, cotton fibres allow air and water vapour to pass through the fabric, which helps regulate the temperature inside the tent while vastly reducing condensation.

So a polycotton tent like the Quechua we're reviewing here is much more pleasant in hot weather, when a conventional polyester tent can quickly turn into a stuffy oven.

The heavier fabric also stays more stable in strong winds, with very little flapping. It’s also much quieter in rain. Moreover, Polycotton is extremely durable and ideal for repeated use.

According to the web, 'a well-maintained polycotton tent can last for decades or many seasons of heavy use, whereas a standard polyester tent typically degrades much faster under the same conditions'.

Apparently, the main killer of polyester tents is ultraviolet (UV) degradation from prolonged sun exposure. Who knew?

Although you can see daylight between the fibres of polycotton, it is a remarkably weatherproof material that can withstand heavy downpours.

However, this only applies after the tent has been weathered by soaking the erected tent with a hosepipe so its cotton fibres can swell, helping close the weave and improve the fabric's resistance to rain.

Once weathered, it is essential to let the tent dry completely before packing it away. At this juncture, I should add that the Quechua Air Seconds 4.2 we’re reviewing here comes out of the bag pre-weathered, so there's no need to wet it first.

What are the compromises of polycotton tents? They're heavier for a start – almost double the weight of their polyester counterparts. Their packed size is also much larger, which means smaller cars simply won't be big enough to transport them. Finally, polycotton takes a lot longer to dry and is more susceptible to mould.

Hence, if your camping trip ends with rain and you've packed up a wet tent, you will need to erect it on your lawn to thoroughly dry it out as soon as possible – like within a couple of days!

I've weighed up all these trade-offs and, on evidence of the three polycotton tents I've so far reviewed – the Quechua Air Seconds 4.2 we're looking at here, the Lotus Belle Air Bud and, more recently, the Dometic Pico FTC 2x2 TC-i – I am now an absolute polycotton convert and, where possible, will always choose the material for my outdoor home from home.

In my opinion, the pleasure of living and sleeping under polycotton is absolutely worth the extra financial cost, the hassle of fitting it into the car and the drying malarky when wet. In fact, the nearest thing I can compare the experience to is staying in a yurt or an African safari tent. It's less like camping and much more like, well, glamping. Relatively low-cost luxury, in other words.

Design

The Quechua Air Seconds 4.2 Polycotton inflatable four-person family tent demonstrates how far Decathlon’s Mont Blanc-based camping brand has progressed since it started in 1997.

While the company originally built its reputation on affordable, no-frills outdoor equipment, they have since grabbed a large slice of the market in the UK and France with a massive portfolio of exceedingly well-designed tents at great prices, along with a veritable tranche of camping and outdoor accessories.

The Air Seconds 4.2 Polycotton looks and feels like a product designed to compete with considerably more expensive polycotton rivals from Jack Wolfskin, Kampa and, of course, the Dutch kings of drum-tight full-cotton tents, De Waard.

The four-person Quechua Air Seconds 4.2 Polycotton has a substantial 455cm x 305cm footprint and offers a good-sized living area and two dark side-by-side bedrooms, divided by a strip of black material that can be unzipped to form one large room.

I always advise going up a couple of sizes when it comes to buying a tent simply because it provides more interior space – and space is something you'll come to appreciate when everyone's stepping over each other.

Hence, while this tent will comfortably fit four – especially two parents and young kids – I still think it's a better fit for two. That's how I've been using it – my wife and I on one side of the bedroom and our two labradors on the other.

Aside from its delicious desert taupe colour, one of the tent's most appealing features is its inflatable Air Seconds structure. Rather than relying on a complex network of fibreglass or aluminium poles, the Air Seconds 4.2 uses three inflatable air beams that create a remarkably rigid framework once filled to their recommended pressure of 7PSI.

As with any tent of this nature, the air-beam system removes the annoying frustration traditionally associated with pitching a large family tent like this and vastly reduces both setup time and, perhaps more importantly, the likelihood of incorrect assembly.

Unlike the very similar Quechua Air Seconds 5.2 Fresh & Black I reviewed in 2024, which has its air beams on the outside, this one's beams are on the inside with the valves on the outside, and this makes for a much more taut and elegant appearance.

However, I must warn you that this model doesn't come with an air pump as standard, so don't forget to add one before hitting the checkout button. I recommend the Quechua Ultim Comfort Hand Pump for ease of use and low price, or, if you can stretch the budget and have a car or portable power station nearby, the Decathlon 0-20 PSI 13.8 V 10 A Electric Pump for effortless inflation in mere seconds.

Right, back to the tent. The Air Seconds 4.2 Polycotton's flysheet is undeniably this model's main selling point. The blend of cotton and polyester – in this instance 30% cotton and 70% polyester – offers substantial advantages over conventional synthetic fabrics, regulating internal temperatures more effectively while reducing condensation during cooler mornings and nights.

Polycotton feels noticeably thicker and far more substantial than polyester, giving the entire package a premium glamping level of quality that is immediately noticeable the moment you step inside.

Unlike lightweight polyester, which feels slippery and thin, flaps noisily in windy conditions and makes a high-pitched racket in rain, the Quechua's polycotton fabric hangs with reassuring weight and improved tautness, and is much quieter in both wind and rain.

I also did a quick temperature test while camping with this tent and a couple of polyester models. Since it was really hot outside, I checked the internal temperature in each tent, and the polycotton tent was noticeably cooler by about two or three degrees.

The front of this tent has a wonderfully large aperture for taking in the view and letting in plenty of fresh air, and it can be completely closed off to the elements, including being zipped to the front of the groundsheet or rolled back and pinned to the side using the provided toggles.

Alternatively, you can keep it all zipped up with a huge part of the front section unzipped to expose a wide expanse of insect mesh. Lots of options, in other words. Above the entrance is a small porch peak that uses the only fibreglass poles in the package.

Quechua's designers are campers and adventurers themselves, so this tent is packed with fantastic, genuinely practical details and features.

The extraordinarily tough and watertight built-in groundsheet has a hydrostatic head of 5,000 and completely encases the tent's footprint. I took a good look and couldn't find any gaps to the outside, which means it's creepy-crawly-proof.

Furthermore, you can fold the front section of the groundsheet flat to prevent tripping, or pin it up to create a four-inch barrier against floodwaters. As mentioned above, the front fly can be zipped securely to the front of the groundsheet to create a fully sealed chamber that no dog can breach in the middle of the night.

Heading outside, I counted 32 guy points on this tent – both ground level and attached to the fly – and that's a reassuring amount of support. Mind, to make things easier, most of the side tie-out points are in pairs, with one guy line serving both, so only 24 pegs are used throughout.

Likewise, the rear has five tie-out points served by just two guy lines. I struggled a bit with the rear because each three-way guy line has three tie-out points, and it took me ages to even out the tension.

I still never really got it right, so I bought a pack of guy lines and plan to remove the existing rear guys and attach each new guy rope to each of the five rear tie-outs. I'm figuring it will be easier to adjust the rear tension that way so it all looks flat and smooth.

Why? Because I'm a bit OCD when it comes to making a tent look perfect. Incidentally, this tent comes with a full complement of pegs, including several heavy-duty nail-style pegs for the most important ground-level pegging points.

Living space

Like its polyester stablemate, the Air Seconds 4.2 Polycotton provides a generous 6.8 m² living room area measuring 305cm wide and 220cm deep, with enough headroom (215cm) for someone well over six feet tall.

In fact, there's a telescopic aluminium bar in the roof of the lounge section that serves as an extra tensioner, and I can just reach the area with my arms fully stretched out while standing on tiptoes.

The living area has a plastic window on one side and a mesh window on the other. Both windows have Velcroed taupe screens to keep the sun out.

For some reason – probably aesthetics – both windows are not entirely square, which looks more peculiar when you're indoors than it does from the outside. I would personally prefer square windows so the inner screen looks less messy when rolled up.

Also, as I mentioned when reviewing this model's larger polyester version, it would be amazing to have one of these windows made into a side door, both for extra ventilation but, more importantly, for use as another exit and entrance to accompany the main front one. It's not a deal breaker by any means, but for me the more doors, the merrier.

Incidentally, both windows have a washing line above – handier than you might think – and just below them a long strip of netted storage pockets on each side. There are several more net pouches attached to both centre beams and hanging points aplenty for attaching camping lanterns, keys and whatever else you don’t want disappearing into the depths of the tent.

One very surprising and extremely welcome feature of this tent is that it comes with an integral patterned carpet for the living area that clips into place, so there's zero chance of it ever getting ruffled. I can't tell you how useful this carpet is since it not only feels great under bare feet, but its padded structure keeps ground chill at bay in the evenings. Nice one, Quechua.

Bedrooms

The first thing you notice as you approach the rear hanging bedroom section is two white strips running the length of the two doors.

These are magnetic doors, and again I can't tell you how incredibly useful they are, especially if camping with the family. With most other tents, you need to reach down and unzip a whole swathe of fabric before stepping in or out, and we all know how loud a zip is in the dead of night.

With this tent, you simply push your hand against the join in the door and it magically parts before immediately closing behind you. And it does this perfectly every time. Total silence and insane practicality in one tidy invention. Nevertheless, you can also zip up both rooms to stop kids or dogs from sneaking out.

The Air Seconds 4.2 Polycotton's bedroom measures 280cm wide and 210cm deep. This depth measurement is standard in almost all tents – enough to accommodate all mattresses and cots – but I'm still waiting for the day that someone in camp-land increases this measurement by at least 10cm so one's feet or head never touch the walls of the bedroom.

Grumble over, the Quechua's bedroom can be easily turned into one larger 280cm x 210 sleeping space by unzipping the partition, rolling it up and attaching it to the supplied toggles.

Most people these days love a blackout bedroom because it stops the morning sun from brightening the interior of the tent while everyone's still kipping.

This model's blackout fabric isn't as dark as others – specifically those from Coleman – but my wife and I prefer it that way because we can both see an element of ambient light peeking through the fibres, and we don't end up stumbling about in almost total darkness.

It wakes you up at a sensible time, too. The bedrooms also have their own storage pockets on either side and two hooks for hanging a pair of LED lamps.

Ventilation

Most polyester tents – specifically smaller ones – are comprised of an outer flysheet and an inner flysheet made from polyester and mesh replete with several ventilation channels.

This is because synthetic polyester is so well weather-sealed that it cannot breathe, resulting in a lot of condensation, mostly caused by occupants simply breathing. Condensation is worst in the evening, overnight, and in the morning.

By contrast, the inherent breathability of polycotton neutralises condensation to a huge degree, though it's true that polycotton still needs some form of ventilation, if only to make it more pleasant for the occupants. This tent has plenty of ventilation, especially in the bedroom department where condensation is usually at its worst.

Like most tents, the Quechua has a wide ceiling vent at the rear of the bedroom, but unlike most of the competition, it also has two large side-mounted, semi-circular ground-level vents perfectly positioned to align with the sleeping occupant's face, at least when sleeping with feet against the tapered rear. These vents can be adjusted in a number of ways: fully opened to the elements, with a mesh lining to fend off bugs or sealed.

On the outside, two large rain flaps can be hooked to the side of the guy lines in an open position or completely closed when it's especially chilly.

The best part is that you can adjust any configuration of the outer flaps from inside the bedroom by simply sticking your arm out and attaching the flap to the floor hooks or the two rings on the guy rope. Ingenious, that's what it is, ingenious!

Performance

We took the Air Seconds 4.2 Polycotton for a couple of nights camping in the Cotswolds. With the UK experiencing the longest and hottest summer in living memory, I was keen to see how well this tent performed in a climate akin to the south of France or even southern Africa, given the overall brownness of the drought-ridden landscape.

Our first and only hurdle was getting the tent into our Honda CR-V SUV since it weighs a considerable 37 kilos. Getting it to the car and the pitch was easier than with any other family tent I’ve used because its bag has two wheels on the end and plenty of handles to pull it along. The hard part was hoisting it into the boot. Mind, those wheels came in handy again because I simply rolled it in.

I will admit that I underestimated the size of the bag (it measures 86cm in length, 56cm in width and a modest 46cm in height), which took up much more space in the boot than expected.

Nevertheless, we are both so enamoured of the tent and everything inside it that my wife and I are prepared to accept this size limitation and just go with the flow because the tent paid dividends once we’d settled in.

I’m not trying to diss synthetic polyester in any way because it is still the go-to fabric for the vast majority of campers – it’s cheaper, lighter and more practical to transport. But, by jove, once you’ve lived and slept under polycotton, there’s no turning back. It’s difficult to explain, but the whole ambience is simply matchless.

The safari-style taupe colour has an immediately relaxing ambience about it and I love the semi transparency of the polycotton weave which allows for a slightly brighter interior, even in the darkened bedroom.

In fact, when you look up at the weave, you wonder how it could possibly be waterproof. Trust me, it is more than waterproof enough for most European storms.

Rather conveniently, a band of rain accompanied by a few gusts visited the Cotswold escarpment on one evening, and the Air Seconds 4.2 Polycotton shook it all off with aplomb. I even did a quick sound test during this period and popped into our friends’ polyester-based Coleman Air Valdes to have a listen to the rain and monitor the amount of tent flapping.

Despite the Coleman being tautly erected, there was definitely more flapping going on than with the Quechua, which hardly budged. But it was the differences in the sound of the rain that further convinced me that polycotton is on another level.

In the Coleman, the rain had a high-pitched pitter–patter – basically the sound of rain hitting thin plastic. But in the Quechua, the sound was much lower in frequency and far less noticeable. Another win for polycotton.

Everything in this tent is designed to make an average day at the campsite go more smoothly. The surfeit of storage pockets, the magnificent magnetic bedroom doors, the clever floor-level air vents in the bedrooms and the fully enclosed and exceedingly rugged groundsheet, along with the added bonus of a fitted carpet. This tent has it all.

I thought the polyester-based Quechua Air Seconds 5.2 was an amazing tent (it still is), but this one’s on another level when it comes to sophistication, comfort, style and overall internal ambience. Bite the bullet – you won’t be disappointed.

Verdict

The Quechua Air Seconds 4.2 Polycotton is a stunning four-person air tent that makes a compelling case for choosing comfort, sophistication and a spot of luxury over ultralight convenience.

Its polycotton fabric is the real clincher because it breathes in warm weather, helps regulate temperature, and creates a wonderfully natural, homely atmosphere inside.

The trade-off is weight and pack size because polycotton is considerably heavier and bulkier than lightweight polyester. But that’s a small price to pay, in my opinion, because once you’ve tried polycotton, there’s no going back. Screw the weight, screw the pack size, screw the higher price – I’m 100% in.

As T3’s Home Editor, I’ve tried my fair share of bean to cup coffee machines, and I have to say that the KitchenAid KF4 Fully Automatic Espresso Machine is the easiest and cleanest model I’ve ever tried.

KitchenAid is best known for its collection of stand mixers, but it has since become known for its coffee makers. Its first coffee brewer was launched back in 2014, but 2024 was a big year for KitchenAid with the brand launching a full range of fully automatic bean-to-cup coffee machines.

One of KitchenAid’s newest models, the KitchenAid KF4 joined the line-up in 2026 as a mid-range option. I’ve spent the past month testing the KitchenAid KF4, and it’s made my morning coffees exceptionally more tasty, although it does have some quirks under its hood.

KitchenAid KF4 review: price and availability

The KitchenAid KF4 is available to buy for £899 / $1,299 at KitchenAid and select retailers like John Lewis. It comes in matte black or porcelain white, as well as a two year guarantee and 10 year reparability.

KitchenAid KF4 review: unboxing and set up

The KitchenAid KF4 arrived in a large cardboard box which contained the main espresso machine, 1.8-litre water tank, milk container with hose and lid, water filter, cleaning tablets and a coffee spoon. It came assembled so it didn’t require much set up other than removing packaging and stickers.

To use the KitchenAid KF4, I simply added the water filter into the water tank before filling it up. After turning it on via the on/off button on the side, the KitchenAid KF4’s screen takes you through the entire machine and explains all the controls, making it extremely beginner friendly.

Before its first use, the KitchenAid KF4 runs through the water filter and cleans it out, before pulling four shots of espresso. The screen will then prompt you to empty the drip tray and puck box, but then you’re ready to go.

KitchenAid KF4 review: design and features

Measuring 36cm in height, 19.5cm in width and 47cm in depth, and weighing 9kg, the KitchenAid KF4 isn’t a small machine by any means, but it doesn’t take up a huge amount of space. It’s more long than it is bulky, so take this into account if you have shallow countertops.

As a fully automatic espresso machine, the KitchenAid KF4 makes pre-programmed coffees. It has over 20 hot and over-ice recipes available, including lattes, cappuccinos, flat whites, americanos, and iced coffees. When you select your drink, the KitchenAid KF4 offers recommended settings, but you can also personalise them by strength, temperature and volume, which you can then save as a pre-set.

At the back of the KitchenAid KF4 is its large water tank. At the top is a conical burr grinder where you can store and grind your own coffee beans, and a small container next to it for pre-ground coffee. Using its Intelligrind system, the KitchenAid KF4 detects beans and automatically adjusts its settings to bean type, roast and dose. It also has Quiet Grinding technology so it’s not too loud.

The KitchenAid KF4 has a 8.8cm colour touchscreen at the front. It’s easy to use, intuitive and displays drink options, user profiles, cleaning cycles and settings. The screen talks you through every aspect of the brewing process, and pops up with reminders to clean your machine, add more beans, refill the tank and so on.

The drip tray and puck box slots in at the bottom of the machine. It’s spacious, although due to the rigorous cleaning that the KitchenAid KF4 goes through, the drip tray can fill up quite quickly.

Speaking of cleaning, the KitchenAid KF4 goes through a lengthy cleaning process every time you use it. When you turn it on, it has a quick rinse before making your drink. If you make milky coffees, the KitchenAid KF4 will prompt you to clean the milk system which it does by flushing out the tubes in the drip tray, although you’ll have to manually clean the container. When you turn the KitchenAid KF4 off, the machine has another rinse and cools itself down.

As an automatic machine, the KitchenAid KF4 froths your milk for you, so latte art isn’t really an option with this model. It uses AutoMilk technology to adjust to your milk’s texture and volume. The container connects to the machine via its milk hose in the container lid, and the side of the coffee dispenser.

KitchenAid KF4 review: performance

KitchenAid never misses when it comes to design, and the KitchenAid KF4 is a perfect example of that. I tried the black version and I loved the look of it, with its black and silver detailings. Everything was packed away neatly, including the tank, built-in grinder and drip tray, although the separate milk container felt like a bit of an afterthought.

The touchscreen controls were great to use, and extremely easy. Beginners and experts will definitely be able to use the KitchenAid KF4, as its controls are extremely intuitive and self-explanatory. Setting user profiles was quick and simple – although you can only set four – and there was a good amountof drink options.

As a latte lover, I enjoyed the latte macchiato setting on the KitchenAid KF4. The machine had automatic settings for the drink, but I customised its strength, temperature and amount of milk, and received tasty results. Its flat white setting was also impressive, as was its iced espresso which the KitchenAid KF4 brews at a lower temperature to avoid over-extraction and dilution.

The built-in grinder was quick and surprisingly quiet. I found it ground coffee beans exceptionally well, and I had consistent espresso flavour and strength every time. I also tried the KitchenAid KF4 with pre-ground coffee and enjoyed the results, too, although I’d recommend using the grinder as it performs the best.

One quirk I found with the KitchenAid KF4 was if you pick a double shot drink, it grinds and dispenses them one at a time. This isn’t something I’d experienced before with a coffee machine, and I couldn’t – and still can’t – decide if I liked that method. The plus is that you get consistently pulled double shots which are strong and rich in flavour, but the negative is that it takes more time to make your drink.

The KitchenAid KF4 heated up very quickly and produced a lot of steam. I found it to heat milk well but it doesn’t froth as expertly as I’d like for lattes. While it doesn’t have an option to change milk type, its AutoMilk system worked very well with both dairy and plant-based milks.

What I was most impressed by was the KitchenAid KF4’s cleaning processes. Easily the most hygienic coffee machine I’ve ever used, the KitchenAid KF4 cleans itself regularly and even takes time to cool itself down. It does all the cleaning for you, and explains everything along the way, too.

KitchenAid KF4 review: verdict

I don’t have many negative things to say about the KitchenAid KF4, because I thoroughly enjoyed using it. Its touchscreen and overall design is stylish, tidy and intuitive, plus the fact that it’s a fully automatic machine means it leaves no room for error.

I’m used to semi-automatic machines where I have to be more involved in the grind and milk settings, so using the KitchenAid KF4 felt like I was having a break! It took care of absolutely everything, and made consistently delicious coffees every time. Its shot pulling, while odd at first, just proves how precise the KitchenAid KF4 is.

At £899 / $1,299, the KitchenAid KF4 isn’t cheap, but it could be the only coffee machine you could ever need.

KitchenAid KF4 review: alternatives to consider

Another automatic bean to cup coffee machine – and another from KitchenAid – is the KitchenAid KF8. A step up from the KitchenAid KF4 (or I suppose, four steps up), the KF8 looks beautiful, and has a lot of coffee options and settings to play with. The JURA E8 makes tasty and reliable coffee, and it has a much slimmer and more compact style than the KitchenAid KF4.

I think something might have clicked quite recently for Sony when it comes to its Inzone gaming brand. When it first launched a few years ago, it was confusing – the devices were clearly intended for PC gaming, but they were designed with the same white aesthetic as the PlayStation 5, muddying the waters in terms of intended audiences.

Now, though, a second generation of products has been making its way to the market, and they're almost all redesigned with more stealthy, lightweight black aesthetics, nailing down their place a little more clearly. The latest I've tried is the H6 Air headset, a more mid-range option compared to the H9 II from late last year. So just how does this headset stack up?

Price and Availability

Sony released the Inzone H6 Air earlier this year, so they're fully available now and come in at £179 / $199 / AU$269 / €199.

That sees them sitting in the upper end of the mid-range market, although "mid-range" is a bit of a misnomer given how good some of the headsets in this bracket can be.

For context, similar money would get you the SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7, a wireless model that has no noise-cancelling, but does pack in more features than the Inzone H6 Air.

Design and Features

The H6 Air has a really familiar design from the H9 II, but with one very obvious difference: where that earlier headset had smooth, matte plastic on the outside of its earcups, the H6 Air is covered in tiny perforations that actually make its cups semi-transparent.

That's because it's an open-back headset that deliberately avoids isolation to give you a really wide soundstage. And, to be fair, I really like how the headset looks as a result. It has the same suspended headband system as the older model, but the fact that you can see its drivers from the outside gives it a really nice industrial quality.

The other incredibly obvious feature of its design comes the moment you pick it up out of the box. This headset is phenomenally light, as the "Air" in its name suggests. It comes in at just 199g, which means it's one of the lightest options anywhere on the market.

That weight (or lack thereof), combined with the comfortable headband system, makes it a dream to wear – it's in the category of headsets that you might forget you have on if you're immersed enough in what you're playing.

Of course, as I'll get to, some of that weight has been saved in ways that do have downsides, but from a comfort point of view, the H6 Air is a home run.

Rounding out the design, the headset comes with a detachable microphone arm, and its controls are relatively limited. You get a 3.5mm jack for that connection, a volume slider, and a bobbly mute button that pops out when you're muted, so you can tell just from feeling it with your fingers.

The absence of many buttons and settings hints at the absence of ornamentation where features are concerned. This is a wired headset, so there's no Bluetooth or any wireless standard at all here, and that also means that its software configurability is somewhat limited.

You can use the Inzone Hub to customise the headset's EQ, but if you want those changes to be saved, then you have to listen to the headset through the included USB-C audio dongle – the headset itself has no storage for profiles or anything. That's a drag, although it arguably doesn't actually change the convenience level, given it's already wired.

Sound Performance

So, if the H6 Air is deliberately stripped back where the design and features sides of things come into play, it arguably has its work cut out to justify those decisions from a sound perspective.

After all, by skipping wireless play, it makes itself less convenient, and it also doesn't have any noise-cancelling to speak of (other than in its microphone). The open-back system here is really impressive, though – it sounds phenomenal, provided you don't have any background noise fouling things up.

I used the headset for a good few hours of Battlefield 6 and found it nice and precise when it came to enemy footsteps and vehicle locations. It also worked well in more immersive games like The Adventures of Elliot on my Nintendo Switch 2, where the orchestral soundtrack sounded lush and deep.

That said, I can't pretend that I didn't miss some more isolation – when my robot vacuum was running, or the neighbour's washing machine was in its final spin, the simple fact was that these sounds made it past the earcups and disrupted my audio experience.

You have to know going into the H6 Air that you're fine with that, I'd say, or the lack of isolation could end up being more frustrating than rewarding.

Another interesting note on the microphone side of things. My friends are used to me popping up with new microphones pretty regularly as I test headsets, but this was one of those occasions where I caught pelters for my mic. It took a lot of adjustment, both in software on my PS5 and in terms of physical placement, before the microphone would stop picking up my breathing sounds and relay them to my chat.

That's a very rare problem in my reviewing experience, and the slightly over-tuned microphone therefore doesn't get a top grade from me, despite its actual recording quality being very solid.

That's another asterisk in my experience with the H6 Air, though, and for the price attached, I think Sony might have liked to get it more flawless to really compete with wireless models.

Verdict

The Inzone H6 Air is a curious headset, not least because I'm not sure who exactly will be clamouring for it. Inzone's other headsets like to claim that they're great for pro gamers, for instance, but there's no way they'd use this and be bombarded by outside crowd noise at events, surely?

For normal gamers like me, the same doubt lingers. Is your gaming environment reliably quiet enough to make noise-cancelling an unnecessary extra, and do you care about wireless play? In both cases, I know that I'd rather have those features than not.

That said, the Inzone H6 Air sounds excellent in the right setting. If you're a wired aficionado, then have at it, as you'll love the lightweight built. But other gamers might be better served by more appropriate alternatives.

Also consider

I've compared the H6 Air a couple of times to the pricier and only slightly older Inzone H9 II, and I think the pricier headset is well worth a look if your budget is flexible. It solves all my issues with the H6 Air and is still impressively light, making it also very comfortable.

If you do want to stick to the same rough price point, though, you'll probably save money by opting for the SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7 Gen 2, which can often be had for a fair discount and is brilliant. It's light and sounds great, but it has way more features and works a treat wirelessly.

When you're in the market for the best security camera, you need to choose a model that is reasonably easy to install, not too overly complex to use, efficient at triggering events when an intruder enters your property and, above all, is equipped with a high-quality camera sensor and lens that can preferably handle a minimum of 2K resolution. Any thing less and chances are that identification may be impossible to prove, especially if the suspect has been captured from a distance.

I've reviewed many home security cameras over the years and I think that the dual-lensed panoramic Reolink OMVI 3i WiFi I'm reviewing today produces some of the sharpest footage I've seen to date. Comprised of a unique wide-angle panoramic camera that covers the full breadth of a property and a second 350˚ PTZ (pan, tilt, and zoom) 4K camera that delivers exceptional close-up imagery, this wired model is an ideal option for first timers looking to increase their home security without the extra cost of having to employ the services of an electrician. However, there are one or two caveats you need to know about.

Let's look at the Reolink OMVI 3i WiFi in more detail.

Price and availability

The Reolink OMVI 3i WiFi is available in both the UK and USA, having launched in June 2026. The UK Reolink store currently lists it at £259.99 while in the US it sells for $279.99.

In the UK you can buy the OMVI 3i WiFi directly from Reolink or via Amazon and if you're in the States, try the US Reolink store or Amazon.

Installation

The OMVI 3i WiFi is IP66 weatherproof and suitable for permanent outdoor installation. You'll be pleased to learn that it is one of the easiest wired security cameras to set up and install (and I'm no DIY expert) but I should add that it uses its own proprietary power cable and a 12V plug on the end that will not fit safely inside the most common type of outdoor plug housing with clipped waterproof lid.

Likewise, you will not be able to utilise any existing mains spurs if you're thinking of replacing your existing camera with this one. Instead, you will need to use the supplied 4.5m extension cable and possibly drill a hole in the wall so it can be plugged in indoors. You will also need a plug socket within about five metres of the camera though you can buy a second extension cable if necessary.

I personally prefer the Eufy system which is hard wired at the point of mounting but I also appreciate that most people won't want to dabble with electric cables or call in an electrician so I can see the appeal of a DIY system like this.

Actual set up and connection to one's home WiFi couldn't have been easier and simply involved launching the Relink app, scanning the QR code on the camera and typing in my WiFi password. Simples.

Features and performance

Most PTZ cameras are on the portly side but I have to admit that this one takes the biscuit for sheer size. At 202 x151 x 125mm in size, it's frankly huge and, at just over a kilo, pretty hefty for a domestic security camera. It's therefore highly conspicuous, which could be a good thing, because it tells any aspiring thief that your home is like GCHQ so don't even think about it.

The OMVI (a portmanteau of OmniView) combines two cameras in a single unit. At the top is a vertically adjustable 180° dual-lens camera capable of 5120 x 1920 (10MP) video, while beneath it sits a motorised 350° pan, tilt and zoom (PTZ) camera delivering 3840 x 2160 (8MP) pixel resolution for extremely sharp detail.

The clever part is how the two systems work together – the top panoramic camera provides the constant big-picture view while the lower PTZ camera automatically locks onto and follows a person, vehicle or animal. Auto Framing, meanwhile, keeps the tracked subject accurately centred, while the Pinpoint function lets you tap an area of the panoramic image to direct the PTZ camera straight to it.

In the pantheon of domestic security cameras, this model produces some of the very best footage on the market. It's sharp, well defined and you can really see the features on a face when you pinch and zoom using the app. I've also been exceedingly impressed by its efficient subject tracking.

I tried everything to trip it up by sneaking into the frame on the far side of the PTZ camera's range and the moment I appeared within its range the camera's pixel-based software motion detection system started recording. I also tried dashing across the frame and it tracked me like a hawk. Likewise, when I walked up the side of the garden behind a row of trees it intelligently estimated where I was and picked me up as soon as I walked onto the lawn at the far end of the garden. Very impressive.

The OMVI 3i’s AI-enhanced detection also adds some very useful intelligence to its surveillance duties. Aside from the usual AI stuff like recognising people, vehicles and animals, it also supports line-crossing, zone-intrusion and loitering alerts. While requiring some experimentation when setting them up, these perimeter features basically let you define specific areas of your property and receive targeted notifications when something suspicious occurs.

For instance, you could define a specific area around the shed door and when someone steps inside the boundary it will immediately send an alert and, if programmed, sound the unit's extremely loud siren. It will also keep track of a package and notify the user when it's left the scene. Add time-lapse recording, 24/7 recording and the wherewithal to set recording to continue for up to one minute after the motion event ends, and you have one of the most customisable security cameras on the market.

While the Reolink OMVI 3i's small spotlights aren't a patch on Eufy's floodlight range of wired and wireless cameras, they make a fair fist of illuminating the area up to a distance of around 15 metres. Beyond this, images are reliant on the camera's infrared vision which thankfully extends to around 30 metres. If you have a large garden, yard or frontage and require much more light around the perimeter of the home, perhaps opt for Reolink's Elite Floodlight WiFi model instead, or take a look at some of Eufy's offerings.

Like most good home security cameras, the OMVI 3i has a built-in microphone and speaker for two-way audio, allowing you to hear and speak to anyone within range. Audio recording is subject to much stricter privacy considerations than video, but the ability to capture clear conversations could prove invaluable if footage is ever required by the police. In terms of audio quality, the OMVI 3i's microphone is a huge cut above those I've experienced with Eufy and Arlo cameras, delivering impressively clear uncompressed audio even when the subject isn't particularly close to the camera.

The OMVI 3i's connectivity is via dual-band Wi-Fi 6 with support for both 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks. I've been really impressed by the speed of this camera's live WiFi response to movement. In short, there is just one second delay between raising an arm and seeing the motion on the app's screen. To put this into perspective, with some of my admittedly older Arlo cameras, the delay is between two and five seconds.

Many security camera manufacturers provide subscription-based cloud storage though in most cases – including this camera – it's not a requirement and this saves forking out on yet another subscription.

In essence, cloud-based storage is primarily for theft protection as local storage can be physically stolen or destroyed. In this case the camera comes with a MicroSD slot (up to 512GB) for recording all triggered events and if a determined thief steals the camera, they steal the footage, too. This could feasibly be an issue with the OMVI 3i since you are advised to install it at a height of between 2.5m and 3.5m, which is within reach of a determined thief if standing on a piece of garden furniture.

Thankfully the OMVI 3i also works in tandem with the Reolink Home Hub (£109.99) which is kept indoors where it saves all footage to its built-in 2TB hard drive. Since it is far less likely to be stolen, the Home Hub is an excellent way to safely store footage while avoiding any subscription costs. For the record, Reolink's Cloud subscription starts at £3.59 per month for the 1GB SIM Plan, rising to a whopping £38.99 for the 20GM Sim Plan.

App

No question, the OMVI 3i WiFi is the most advanced camera I've so far reviewed and this means that the Reolink app is filled to the gunnels with all manner of customisable options and settings. It doesn't help that everything is laid out completely differently to the way Eufy, Arlo or Imou's apps operate. In fact I still find the Reolink app very confusing to navigate simply because of the huge amount of options.

For instance, it took me ages to find even the most basic of camera options like record settings and motion detection sensitivity, and even once I'd found them (under the confusing heading Detection Alarm), it took me a while to remember where they were when searching again.

It's all very well having a security camera with a full compliment of bells and whistles but when the app is this frustrating to use it leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Heaven knows how anyone who isn't tech savvy will get along with the app but all I can say is good luck.

Verdict

The Reolink OMVI 3i WiFi is an impressively capable security camera that combines superb video quality, wide-area coverage and clever subject tracking in one very substantial package. I'm not a fan of the convoluted app and its proprietary wiring system is less convenient than standard connections, but once fitted the OMVI 3i delivers outstanding surveillance coverage, excellent audio and genuinely useful AI detection. If you're in the market for a serious home security camera, this one is among the most accomplished options currently on the market.

It’s been a long, hot, dry summer, but we all know what that means… The clouds are already gathering on the horizon, and you don’t have to be Bob Dylan to realise a hard rain’s a‐gonna fall, very soon. And once it starts, well, you don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.

So, as autumn approaches, are you ready? And by ready, I mean: do you have a decent, dependable waterproof jacket hanging somewhere within arm’s reach? If not, and you plan to spend any time outdoors doing things like hill walking and trail meandering, it’s time to get prepared.

Peak Performance is a Swedish brand created by a couple of elite skiers who know a thing or two about outdoor activities in challenging environments.

The Ridge Hipe Ace Jacket is a three-layer, breathable, windproof, waterproof hardshell outer jacket designed to make adventures on the wild side more comfortable and enjoyable in all kinds of conditions. Does it succeed? I’ve been testing the Ridge for months to find out.

Peak Performance Ridge Hipe Ace Jacket review

Price and availability

Available in just one colourway – cliff edge (a kind of greeny brown) and major brown for men; cliff edge and plum truffle for women – the Ridge Ace Hipe jacket sits in the middle of the Peak Performance range and will cost you around £350 in Britain, close to $400 in the United States and near enough €500 across the European Union.

Design and materials

Designed in Åre, northern Sweden (and made in Vietnam), like all Peak Performance apparel, the Ridge outer shell jacket is constructed primarily from 40D lightweight ripstop polyester, backed by a soft tricote layer, with Hipe Ace membrane technology doing the clever stuff to keep biting winds and wet weather at bay while letting internally generated moisture out.

It has an adjustable hood with a reasonably rigid laminated brim, a long back panel, a hem that can be tightened with toggles, Velcro straps at the wrist, and three pockets: two large zippered pouches on the outside and a mesh pocket on the inside.

While it has a full-length two-way YKK AquaGuard zipper on the front, it has no pit zips or underarm ventilation.

Specifications

• RRP: £350 (UK) / $399 (US) / €499.95 (EU)
• Gender availability: Male and female versions available
• Materials: 40D lightweight ripstop polyester with a soft tricote backer and Hipe Ace technology
• Waterproofness: HH 20,000mm
• Breathability: 20,000 g/m2/24h
• Weight: Men’s 446g; Women’s: 402g
• Colours: Men’s: Cliff edge & major brown; Women’s: Cliff edge & plum truffle
• Sizes (UK): Men’s: S–2XL; Women’s: XS–XL
• Best for: Trail walking, hill hiking, scrambling, backpacking

Performance

I have been trialling the Ridge jacket on trails since spring, wearing it on adventures ranging from walking the dog along the occasionally rain-streaked South West Coast to camping and hill hiking in the Highlands of Scotland.

If I didn’t know better, I’d say the weather gods are a bit afraid of this jacket, since they have avoided throwing anything too soggy at it for most of the test period, but I have been out and about in my fair share of showers and downpours while wearing it. And I can confidently say that it works. It keeps the wind and rainwater out brilliantly.

This jacket has a pretty relaxed fit, so you can easily wear a base layer and a chunkier midlayer – such as a fleece or a puffer jacket – underneath during colder conditions, but the soft tricot backer means the material is comfortable next to your skin if you choose to simply wear a T-shirt underneath.

The hood, which features an embedded RECCO Rescue System reflector (to help emergency service searchers locate you if things go belly up in the wilderness), can be pulled tight in adverse conditions for maximum protection. It also boasts a proper peak, not some flimsy thing, and this directs rainwater and snow away from your eyes.

With a single Velcro strip, the cuffs fasten securely around gloves, and while there’s no dedicated snow skirt, the long back panel and adjustable hem keep breezes out.

I really love the little touches on this jacket that contribute so much to its overall comfiness, such as the soft-touch material that surrounds the chin guard.

Plenty of other jackets have a zip garage, so you don’t catch your chin skin or beard in the zipper (never a nice experience), but I’ve never come across a jacket with such a generous amount of velvet-soft material to shield the lower face from rubbing. When conditions are hard you have your jacket zipped right up, this makes a big difference.

The pockets on this jacket are nice and large, so you can fit everything in them from smartphones and other devices through to old-fashioned maps. The zips on the two outer pockets are excellent quality (YKK), and there’s also an interior pocket to keep things protected from the elements.

One downside is that the shoulders don’t appear to be reinforced with any additional protection, so wearing a backpack might damage the material in this area as the harness rubs against it. That said, few jackets offer this level of protection.

A bigger complaint from me is that there are no pit zips. On test, I found that the Hipe Ace technology worked just as well as a waterproof barrier as better-known systems, such as Gore-Tex. However, all of these membrane-based systems work on an evaporative basis that is only truly breathable when conditions are right and relatively dry (like in the Alps and the Rockies in the US).

In the more wet and humid conditions we experience here in the UK, they perform less well, and despite the impressive figures produced by lab tests, you will still get hot and sweaty and experience the build-up of moisture on the inside of synthetic jackets, especially if you are doing something dynamic, like hiking up a hill, clambering up a steep peak approach or cross-country skiing… unless, that is, they are very well vented.

The Ridge does feature a two-way main zip, so you can open it from the top or bottom (or both), which helps you dump excess heat when necessary. But, in my opinion, pit zips are by far the best way to resolve temperature regulation and moisture problems, not least because you can have them undone in the rain while you’re hiking or climbing, and rain still won’t get in.

Verdict

Overall, the Ridge Hipe Ace outer shell from Peak Performance is a great jacket, which provides good protection, looks and feels good, and has quality features. I would like to see it available in a few more colours – while it’s a nice natural hue, brown and another shade of brown don’t excite everyone – but on a more functional level, the main thing the coat is missing is pit zips. In my opinion, the very best waterproof jackets need pit zips, and this is a hill I’ll die on (probably because I’ve overheated and got mad about the lack of underarm ventilation).

Also consider

For a top-notch waterproof shell that does have pit zips, and offers sensational protection against even the angriest of elements when you're doing some proper adventuring, the Makalu Jacket from Mountain Equipment is hard to beat.

Alternatively, if you’re counting grams, the Montane Phase Lite is a super lightweight shell jacket, tipping the scales at just 300g, which still offers excellent waterproof performance (HH 28,000mm).

For a more budget friendly option, which will still keep you dry and fend off windchill, the Jack Wolfskin Eagle Peak jacket is well worth a look, and you can often find it for under £100.

Believe it or not, Google has been making Pixel phones for almost a whole decade. The search giant's long-established hardware division has shown significant breakthroughs over the years, especially in computational photography skills for its camera setups.

Google's latest flagship hardware for 2026, however, doesn't break the mould for its now well-established features – such as those great cameras and distinctive design – but goes all-out with an increased focus on its AI agent, Google Gemini.

The Pro models in the Pixel 11 series house a new feature called HiLight, which is an illuminating area in the rear camera bar, designed to act as a visual indicator when you're conversing with Gemini – and not interacting with your phone's screen.

But is this one Google-centric feature enough to truly elevate the Pixel 11 Pro beyond its rivals? With battery tech that hasn't stepped up – something even Samsung has managed in its latest Z Fold 8 – and price rises in all regions except the UK, can Google win enough customers to continue with its Pixel legacy?

Price & Availability

For the UK, Google has bucked the common trend of price increases year on year, as the Pixel 11 Pro's £1,079 starting price is a neat £20 less than the previous 10 Pro model at its release.

That's not the case for other regions, mind, with the USA's $1,099, Australia's $1,849 and Europe's €1,219 starting prices all being more than last year's equivalents.

That pricing is for the base Pixel 11 Pro model with 12GB RAM and 256GB storage – noting that last generation has 16GB minimum, so 'RAMgate' continues to strike in cut-backs here. However, you can pay extra for a 512GB variant with the higher 16GB RAM figure.

Features & What's New?

I've created a quick-glance table, above, to show the most obvious feature differences between the Google Pixel 10 Pro and 11 Pro, bolding out where the key improvements (or indeed, any downgrades) exist.

Visually, the most obvious point of distinction is that the Pixel 11 Pro series makes the rear camera bar completely black, encased in a metallic edging, unlike the exposed flash area of the previous model.

Part of the reason for this, of course, is that new HiLight feature. Pictured above when active, the blue-white glow and motion of the light area is a Pixel 11 Pro (and Pro XL and Pro Fold) exclusive feature – it's not present in the base Pixel 11 model.

The design is otherwise largely the same as the last generation: protective glass sandwiched between an aluminium frame that, as I've long pointed out with Pixel devices, will scuff after little use.

The newer model is the tiniest bit smaller, but I'm talking in decimals rather than anything you'll notice in person, which seems to have affected the battery capacity – as it's noted as being a mite less capacious than its predecessor (in reality the actual capacity is likely the same).

The addition of HiLight and that Google hasn't progressed to a silicon-carbon (Si-C) battery type as yet, compounds the Pro 11's longevity potential though – so do keep that in mind.

Elsewhere, the main differences can't be seen by eye. The cameras get a quiet glow-up, with a new 50MP sensor used for the main camera, plus a larger sensor for the 48MP telephoto zoom. There's no resolution increase, sure, but the size and nature of these new sensors is an improvement.

The display also gets a quiet boost in terms of brightness. Its peak HDR output is even bolder for peak whites, across a panel that's otherwise the same size, resolution and refresh.

Tensor G6, meanwhile, brings more CPU and GPU capability than last year's G5 – but with a lower RAM pairing for the base model (only the 512GB version gets 16GB).

So it's familiar territory, with the main difference being that camera bar's look – and, of course, the HiLight feature contained within that unit.

Design & Display

• Colours: Obsidian (matte), Fog, Canyon, Olive (pictured)
• Glass rear (Gorilla Glass Victus 2), aluminium frame
• 6.3-inch OLED display
  • 1280 x 2856 pixels
  • 1-120Hz variable refresh
  • 2400-3600 nits brightness
  • Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2

While I've long been a fan of the XL model in Google's series, having gotten used to the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 and its wider-than-usual format, I was pleased to get a slightly smaller phone for this review – not that I'd call the 11 Pro outright 'small', though.

I've been saying it for years, but I'll say it again: I've no doubt this Pixel's design will divide opinion, just as much as any before it. The protruding 'camera bar' design is one reason for that, of course, but I do love that it doesn't rock around when using it flat on a desk, which Samsung's flagships (foldable and otherwise) haven't worked around just yet.

This familiar Pixel design brings the same downsides as I've found with previous handsets for a few generations: the steep edge of the camera bar loves to collect dust and debris; and the metal edging of the unit is prone to scuffs and marks – with mine revealing scratches after just a matter of days (it adds character, I suppose, not that everyone will love that).

My main disappointment with my Pixel 11 Pro review sample? That I didn't get the Canyon (think: peachy-orange) colourway. I've got the Olive, which still looks nice, but it's more sombre than the punchier alternative. I'm yet to see the other handsets, but the black this year – Obsidian, if you want to follow the marketing – is now a matte finish in the Pro models.

The feel of the Pixel 11 Pro remains quality, although during heatwaves (as has been the case in the UK for many weeks) the metal finish doesn't feel ideal, while the thickness of the device is quite chunky when you park it in a protective case (sold separately – I didn't like it enough, so took it off).

One of the Pixel 11 Pro's star characteristics is its display. That's partly down to the quality of the visuals, the natural colours and the abundant brightness, but it's partly down to the software and how Android 17 permits you to arrange icons, adjust scale and sizing better than some other brands.

It's not quite perfect, though, on account of an ongoing choice to use a glossy coating that can't negate reflections as well as some competitors, while the choice for curved display edges can cut into your content – and it's a little annoying when the 'x' to close an in-game ad is teetering on the edge of being visible.

The benefit to a glossy coating, however, is the way in which images look almost more three-dimensional, as if they want to jump out of the panel. And the brightness capability here is so high that reflections can be offset to some degree. I would note that the auto-brightness can be a little keen to dip, instead of always taking advantage of its considerable reach.

Performance & Battery

• 4850mAh battery, 30W wired / 25W wireless charging (magnetic)
• Google Tensor G6 processor, 12GB RAM (16GB in 512GB variant)
• Google AI Pro free for 6 months
• Android 17 software

As said, I really love Google's early access to the latest Android software and the aesthetic options that brings. Android 17 has some visual bugs here and there – app icons flickering, for example – but from the colour palettes to font and scale choices, it's a very neat-looking system. The array of lock screens is wide and varied for this generation, too.

Sadly, Google's ongoing year of bundled AI Pro subscription has been trimmed down to just 6 months included with your purchase. I think that's bad business, as it effectively adds to a user's year-one cost by a big margin. I suspect it's Google's intent to slowly retract such offers until it's no longer a thing – you just pay for AI and Gemini and that's part of life (and likely a big reason that Google continues in its harware endeavours, to promote its bigger plan).

In theory, you'll want that subscription for all the Google Gemini interaction that you'll be doing – especially with that new HiLight feature, right? Right? Well, I've honestly not found it very useful in practice. Yes, it illuminates and sort of wiggles about a bit, but conversationality isn't improved from my perspective, so it feels a little lacking as it stands. I just haven't really used it much – and I'm not sure that'll change.

I've also watched the brand Nothing grow over the years, with similar kinds of visual ideas from its Glyph systems of lights and displays on its phones' rears. They're not always invaluable, but are at least fun – whereas Google's equivalent just feels quite serious. At launch HiLight also feels lacking, with the promise of more features to come, but nothing to write home about just yet.

HiLight also only works when the Pixel 11 Pro is face down. I rarely position it that way on a desk. When actively using the phone, you do get a little circular emblem within the software to make the whole experience more cohesive – but it's still just Gemini at the end of the day, the flashy lights didn't make me warm to it more, as I'd honestly expected.

From a raw performance perspective, the Pixel 11 Pro adds Google's latest and therefore advanced processor to date, the Tensor G6. It's a quality chip, which somehow manages to run fairly cool within this glass and metal design. It gets warm, sure, just not quite to searing levels.

Whether you're loading multiple apps, running some more hardcore games from the Play Store, or switching between the Camera app and everything else, the Pixel 11 Pro performs every bit the pro model (despite its effective RAM reduction). But all of this does affect the battery life a little more than I'd hoped, as it's okay at best – more borderline per day in my given use over the past working week for this review.

It makes sense that Google's auto-brightness preference tends to dim a bit more than I'd like, therefore, in an effort to save the battery. I've been reaching the end of a day with the battery about to die, after 16 hours of use and plenty of screen time. Like I say, that's okay, but only just – especially now even Samsung's foldable can outlast it. Charging could be quicker, too, as 30W wired is behind the flagship norm now.

Cameras

• Triple rear:
  • Main (25mm): 50-megapixel, f/1.7 aperture, OIS
  • Wide (13mm): 48MP, f/1.7 + macro focus
  • Tele (115mm): 48MP, f/2.8, OIS
• Selfie: 42MP, f/2.2, autofocus

But while the battery life and HiLight features have given me moments of muse, flipping into the Pixel 11 Pro's Camera app opens the gates to one of the best experiences in any current Android phone. It's a simple, effective, yet powerful package.

While the core of the Pixel 11 Pro's triple camera offering doesn't appear to have changed much – in that it delivers a 50-megapixel main, 48MP ultra-wide, and 48MP 5x optical zoom – there have been fundamental changes to two of those three sensors.

That sees the Pixel 11 Pro's main camera get an uplift in capability, but it's the telephoto that really gains a bigger advantage – as that sensor is 30% larger than the previous model's was, which helps in light-gathering and overall quality potential. It's Google's best camera setup yet.

And it's just abundantly usable. Having recently had to forego the zoom camera in Samsung's latest foldable, moving into this Pixel has made me realise just how much I miss that zoom option. It's so easy to dive into 5x or a digitally-optimised 10x, with great results all round.

The optical stabilisation is great to help negate handshake, the whole trio of lenses look consistent across the full package, and the Night Sight mode for long-exposure low-light shooting – which you can adjust in Settings as to when/how it activates – is truly brilliant for handheld low-light or night shots beyond what your eyes can even see.

Sometimes the default functionality might not do quite what you want – subject-tracking going awry, or face detection superseding anything else you might want to shoot, as two prime examples – but you can dig into settings to get everything set up in a more personal fashion to suit.

The only other downside is that the system isn't very good at telling you when something isn't quite in focus when in the Macro close-up mode. But get it right and, as you can see in the gallery of images above, the Pixel can deliver delightfully sharp shots.

Google's AI features are also worth a shout out, with well-established Magic Eraser and Magic Editor bringing the magic once again. Whether you need to spot-remove a photobomber, or drag a subject elsewhere within the frame, these staples have now become part of the computational photography expectation. Google pretty much started this – and continues to lead the pack.

What the Pixel 11 Pro gets so right is the completeness and simplicity of its camera package. It's consistent, full of features and modes, and delivers great results across all of its lenses and in majority of conditions. It's ahead of Samsung's offering – which is one of the key reasons to consider spending a little more on this phone than an S26 Ultra.

Google Pixel 11 Pro review: Verdict

While many will see the Pixel 11 Pro models as a source of Gemini joy, I've found the big new feature, HiLight, to be mostly bypassable. It's an interesting first step in creating the ultimate 'AI Agent' phone, though.

For me, however, it's just the majority of everything else about the Pixel 11 Pro that's so on point – and proves that Google's decade-long venture in the Android hardware space still proves its worth.

From the overall design, to the camera suite's upgraded capabilities, and the latest Android 17 software and customisation options, it's the little details where the Pixel 11 Pro wins.

That said, the so-so battery life and reduction in Google AI Pro subscription with purchase (down to 6 months) see this year's flagship held back from a full 5-star score.. The higher price in all regions bar the UK may also cause pause for thought.

Also Consider

Don't care for HiLight feature? Look at the Pixel 10 Pro, which is ultimately a similar package for less money – and, if you're quick, you'll still get the full 12 months of Google AI Pro (for purchases before October 2026, according to the Ts&Cs).

Outside of that option, however, Oppo's Find X9 Pro delivers an arguably even better zoom camera quality, plus undeniably better battery life, albeit all wrapped into a quirkier overall software setup. It'll cost you less right now, too.

Or you can skip Android altogether and slide over to Apple town, where the iPhone 17 Pro is the closest equivalent. That ought to further dip when the iPhone 18 and Ultra is revealed in mid-September.

Sometimes you want the results of an outdoor cooking appliance without all the hassle that comes with actually cooking outside – especially when summer is drawing to an end. It's why indoor grills remain so popular, and indoor pizza ovens are starting to make a pretty convincing case for themselves too.

The Kenwood My Pizzeria arrived earlier this year as an option for anyone without the outdoor space – or budget – for one of the best outdoor pizza ovens. Despite its compact size, it can reach seriously high temperatures and isn't limited to pizza either, with Kenwood suggesting everything from quesadillas and flatbreads to toasties and pastries.

I couldn't wait to see whether it could actually deliver a proper pizza-oven experience from the comfort of my kitchen, and you'll find all my thoughts below.

Price and availability

The Kenwood My Pizzeria has an RRP of £150 and comes in either black or a metallic Storm Blue, the latter matching the colour found across Kenwood's Go collection.

However, it's already possible to find it for considerably less, including through Kenwood's own website and Argos, where it's currently priced at £99.

Design and features

The My Pizzeria measures 35.2 x 36 x 18.5cm and weighs just 4.7kg, so it's relatively compact. The body combines metal and plastic, and whilst it's still going to take up a decent amount of worktop space, it's light enough to move into a cupboard when you're not using it.

There are just two physical dials on the front, with one controlling the temperature and the other the cooking time. A ClearView window in the lid also means you can watch your pizza cook without constantly opening it and losing heat.

Inside, dual-sided heating elements allow the My Pizzeria to reach temperatures of up to 400°C. Having heat coming from above and below is designed to crisp the base whilst cooking the toppings at the same time, with Kenwood claiming pizzas can be ready in just a few minutes.

At the bottom sits a 30cm removable ceramic pizza stone, helping create the crispier base you'd expect from a dedicated pizza oven. Kenwood actually recommends allowing the stone to season naturally over time rather than trying to scrub it clean after every use. When it does need a clean, it can be removed and wiped down with a damp cloth.

You also get two split stainless-steel pizza peels in the box, which help with getting your pizza onto and off the hot stone, and they can also be used to scrape away any stubborn bits left behind afterwards.

As mentioned, Kenwood also suggests using the My Pizzeria for flatbreads, quesadillas, toasties, pastries and even s'mores, and it'll happily accommodate homemade, chilled and frozen pizzas. Whether you'll actually start baking s'mores in it every weekend is another matter, but it's good to have the option.

Performance

The Kenwood My Pizzeria is incredibly easy to use, and I think that's going to be one of its biggest appeals. You simply choose your temperature with one dial, set the cooking time with the other and let it get on with the job. Some people might prefer more precise digital controls, but I quite liked how straightforward everything was.

I was also pleased to see the ClearView window built into the top, although in practice I couldn't actually see a huge amount through it once everything was cooking. You can get a general idea of what's happening inside – and, crucially, whether your pizza is starting to burn – but don't expect a crystal-clear view as the name suggests.

There's a large handle across the top, which makes opening the oven easy, whilst the pizza stone itself has two handles so it can be lifted out when you need to clean it. There's plenty of room inside too, with the 30cm stone giving you enough space for even a large pizza.

For testing, I made my dough using the Ooni Halo Core Spiral Mixer, which I've covered in much more detail in my full review. Once proved, rolled out, topped and transferred into the My Pizzeria, I was particularly interested to see whether Kenwood's claimed four-minute cooking time would actually be enough.

Thankfully, I was really impressed with how evenly the pizza cooked, particularly underneath. Four minutes doesn't sound like much, and I've used pizza ovens before where the toppings start burning long before the dough underneath has properly cooked, but I didn't have that problem here. The stone did a great job of cooking the base through whilst the upper heating element took care of the toppings, leaving me with a crisp bottom rather than an unpleasantly doughy centre.

My first pizza was delicious, although four minutes was slightly too long for my personal preference. The crust had a little more charring than I usually like, so for my second attempt I dropped the cooking time to around three to three-and-a-half minutes. That was the sweet spot, giving me a nicely cooked base, melted toppings and just enough colour around the crust.

I'm also not someone who particularly enjoys the idea of seasoning pizza stones, cast-iron pans or anything else you're encouraged not to clean too thoroughly, so I decided I was going to give the ceramic stone a proper clean after its first use. By that point, it was covered in melted cheese, crumbs and burnt-on bits, and I was fully expecting a bit of a scrubbing session once everything had hardened.

Thankfully, it was far easier to clean than I expected. Once the stone had completely cooled, some warm water and a cloth lifted almost everything away with very little effort. The built-in handles make a difference too, as you can lift the whole stone out of the oven and clean it separately rather than awkwardly reaching inside.

Verdict

The Kenwood My Pizzeria doesn't try to overcomplicate things, and that's exactly why I enjoyed using it. However, most importantly, it produced a properly cooked pizza base without burning the toppings before the dough was ready. The viewing window could be better, but the removable stone is easy to clean and the whole experience requires very little effort. It's a great-value indoor option for anyone who wants speedy homemade pizza without investing in – or finding space for – a larger outdoor oven.

Alternatives to consider

If you like the idea of an indoor pizza oven but want something a little sleeker, the Caso Design PizzaChef 430 is another option. It can reach temperatures of up to 430°C using top and bottom heating elements and has a similarly compact footprint. However, its touchscreen display gives it a more contemporary feel compared to Kenwood's dials.

At the more premium end, there's the Ooni Volt 12. It's a considerably bigger investment, but it's worth considering if you want something slightly more advanced.

This UK summer has been one of the hottest on record so unsurprisingly, there’s been a huge demand for fans and air purifiers to keep cool during the intense heatwaves. I have been surviving the heatwaves using my collection of hybrid appliances from Dyson, like the Dyson Purifier Humidify+Cool PH2 De-NOx.

The Dyson Purifier Humidify+Cool PH2 De-NOx is a purifying, humidifying fan which offers three functions in one premium design. Launching in late 2025, this new model features the brand’s most advanced filters to date that are designed to capture bacteria, pollutants and harmful gases to make the air in your home cooler and more hygienic.

Having spent the past few weeks testing the Dyson Purifier Humidify+Cool PH2 De-NOx, I can confidently say that I’ve noticed a difference to the air in my house – here’s how I got on.

Dyson Purifier Humidify+Cool PH2 De-NOx review: price and availability

The Dyson Purifier Humidify+Cool PH2 De-NOx is available to buy for £699.99 / $1,099.99 at Dyson and select retailers, like John Lewis. It’s often discounted, and as of writing, it’s £100 cheaper at Dyson.

Dyson Purifier Humidify+Cool PH2 De-NOx review: set up and design

The Dyson Purifier Humidify+Cool PH2 De-NOx arrived in a large cardboard box which had the purifying, humidifying fan completely put together. Alongside an instructions manual was a remote control, plug and power cord, the latter of which measured 1.8m in length.

Setting up the Dyson Purifier Humidify+Cool PH2 De-NOx was easy as it came assembled with the 360-degree HEPA + K-Carbon filter already inside. All I had to do was plug the cord into the device at the back and into a power outlet, and remove stickers from the sides.

Available in white and gold, the Dyson Purifier Humidify+Cool PH2 De-NOx has a very recognisable design which is seen across Dyson’s fan collections, as well as its purifiers, heaters and humidifiers. It consists of a white large loop circular fan at the top of the design, and has gold on the main filter body.

A water tank sits at the bottom of the Dyson Purifier Humidify+Cool PH2 De-NOx which is easy to fill, empty and remove. Its on-device controls sit in the middle, which include on/off and deep clean buttons, and an LCD screen which shows settings and uses sensors to analyse and display real-time air quality data.

Measuring 923mm in height, it has a 280mm diameter on the shrouds and a 312mm diameter on the bottom or ‘skirt’. It weighs 8.12kg but when you fill the tank – which has a five litre capacity – it can get quite heavy.

The Dyson Purifier Humidify+Cool PH2 De-NOx has on-device controls, but it also comes with a handy remote. The remote has power and information buttons, as well as auto mode, night mode and a timer. It has 10 fan speeds that can be adjusted via the + and - buttons, and five humidity levels from 30% to 70% which can also be customised.

The remote control also has an oscillation button which offers 90 degrees of oscillation and its diffused mode which reverses airflow direction to the back instead of the sides to purify and humidify without expelling a breeze. The Dyson Purifier Humidify+Cool PH2 De-NOx is also compatible with the MyDyson app which unlocks additional features, like personalised reports, scheduling and remote monitoring.

Dyson Purifier Humidify+Cool PH2 De-NOx review: features

As the name states, the Dyson Purifier Humidify+Cool PH2 De-NOx is a purifier, humidifier and fan, all in one device. The upgraded filter is a combination of HEPA H13 and K-Carbon layers which works to purify the air in your home.

The HEPA H13 filter captures 99.95% of particles, including allergens, pollen and bacteria which can be as small as 0.1 microns. The K-Carbon layer features potassium carbonate which forms a chemical bond to trap pollutants like gas, volatile organic compounds, formaldehyde, NO2, dust and odours. The filter is fully sealed so it doesn’t expel dirt back into the air.

The Dyson Purifier Humidify+Cool PH2 De-NOx uses Air Multiplier technology to circulate purified and humidified air around the room. It also uses Ultraviolet Cleanse technology to remove bacteria with its water management system and tank. It offers 81m3 room coverage and has a maximum sound level of 62.4 dBA and minimum of 46 dBA.

Dyson Purifier Humidify+Cool PH2 De-NOx review: performance

During testing, I mainly used the Dyson Purifier Humidify+Cool PH2 De-NOx in my bedroom to get me through the hotter, humid nights the UK has recently been experiencing. My bedroom is in the attic of my house so it gets extremely hot and cloying, but after having the Dyson Purifier Humidify+Cool PH2 De-NOx in it, I noticed some serious changes.

As a fan, the Dyson Purifier Humidify+Cool PH2 De-NOx is hard to beat. It’s extremely cooling and it’s got a good oscillation range and movement that fully covers a room comfortably. Being able to switch it to diffused mode was invaluable as it still allowed the Dyson Purifier Humidify+Cool PH2 De-NOx to purify my room and emit a small breeze without feeling like I was being blasted with cold air.

The Dyson Purifier Humidify+Cool PH2 De-NOx’s purification and humidification power is what I noticed made the biggest difference to my room. Despite having slanted velux windows, pollen always seems to get in and make me sneeze at night, but while using the Dyson Purifier Humidify+Cool PH2 De-NOx, I didn’t have any issues with it.

Similarly, my bedroom gets extremely humid but the Dyson Purifier Humidify+Cool PH2 De-NOx helped manage the humidity levels which made my room feel noticeably cooler, clearer and less stuffy.

I’ve tested many Dyson products and have always liked the look of them. The Dyson Purifier Humidify+Cool PH2 De-NOx is no exception, and its white and gold style blended in nicely to my home. To say it isn’t invasive would be a lie – the Dyson Purifier Humidify+Cool PH2 De-NOx is a large appliance so it does stick out but you won’t really mind considering how well it performs.

I’ve previously found Dyson fans and humidifiers to be quite loud but I didn’t find that to be the case with the Dyson Purifier Humidify+Cool PH2 De-NOx. Its night mode was especially quiet but still powerful and it gave great relief during the night without being too disruptive. I also liked its on-device and remote controls as they offered plenty of adjustments.

The one downside I could find with the Dyson Purifier Humidify+Cool PH2 De-NOx is its weight. With the tank full, it gets very heavy, and it’s also not the easiest thing to move around. I’ve spoken to Dyson employees who have categorically told me to not put my arm through the loop to lift it, yet that’s the only way I can even attempt to move it around.

Dyson Purifier Humidify+Cool PH2 De-NOx review: verdict

Dyson really knows what it's doing with hybrid appliances, and the Dyson Purifier Humidify+Cool PH2 De-NOx is a perfect example of this. It purifies, cools and humidifies expertly, and makes a huge difference to the air quality and feel in your home.

The Dyson Purifier Humidify+Cool PH2 De-NOx offers plenty of adjustments and controls to play with. It looks great, performs quietly and shows you real-time information about your home on the LCD screen and via the app.

Price will be a drawback for some people. It’s around £700 in the UK and over $1,000 in the US, but if you take the plunge, you can definitely use the Dyson Purifier Humidify+Cool PH2 De-NOx all year round and get the most out of your purchase. Its weight is another downside, but once you get it in place, you shouldn’t have to worry about it too much.

Dyson Purifier Humidify+Cool PH2 De-NOx review: alternatives to consider

A similar product – and one I’ve also got in my house – the Dyson Purifier Humidify+Cool Formaldehyde looks and acts the same as the Dyson Purifier Humidify+Cool PH2 De-NOx. It purifies, cools and humidifies, but the Dyson Purifier Humidify+Cool PH2 De-NOx has a more advanced filter.

The best air purifiers are one of those appliances people often steer clear of unless they've been specifically told they need one. After all, how often do you actively think about the quality of the air inside your home? Complicated apps and confusing controls don't exactly help either, which is one of the reasons I like Shark's approach with its new BreatheClear with NeverChange6 Air Purifier – which I'll call the BreatheClear NeverChange6 for short.

Shark has built on its previous NeverChange models by extending the claimed filter lifespan to six years – up from five – alongside a refined multi-layer filtration system designed to capture fine allergens and microscopic particles more effectively. You'll find all my thoughts below.

Price and availability

The BreatheClear NeverChange6 is priced at £269.99/$329.99/€319.99 and is available from SharkNinja's online store, as well as Amazon. It comes in four gorgeous, understated shades – Dove, Charcoal, Sage and Dune – and I've been testing the Dove version.

Unboxing and set up

The BreatheClear NeverChange6 comes fully assembled, with both the NeverChange6 HEPA filter and washable Debris Defence pre-filter already housed inside the unit.

However, the HEPA filter arrives wrapped in protective plastic, so this needs to be removed first. Before plugging the purifier in, carefully turn it upside down on a flat surface and open the filter door underneath. Remove the HEPA filter, take off all of its packaging and slot it back into position, before replacing the filter door and twisting it securely into place. It sounds obvious, but you'd be surprised how easy this step is to forget.

Once that's done, turn the air purifier upright and decide where you want it to live. Shark recommends positioning it on a flat, level surface with some breathing room around the air intakes, rather than pushing it directly against a wall or piece of furniture. You'll also want to keep the vents clear and avoid radiators, direct sunlight and particularly humid areas.

Design and features

The BreatheClear NeverChange6 sits above the BreatheClear Compact NeverChange6 in Shark's range and is designed primarily for small-to-medium rooms. It measures 37.85 x 26.67 x 26.16cm and weighs just 3.77kg, so it's easy enough to move around the house when needed. Despite its compact footprint, Shark says it can tackle spaces up to 70m² at one air change per hour, or 14m² at 4.8 air changes per hour.

One of my favourite design features is the high-resolution My Air IQ display on the front, allowing information including air quality, temperature, humidity and VOC levels to be presented directly on the machine. There's no accompanying app at all, which I suspect will divide opinion, but I personally really like it.

The BreatheClear NeverChange6's sensors scan the surrounding air 3,600 times every hour, monitoring pollutants and allowing the purifier to adjust its performance automatically when necessary. There's even motion detection, so it can respond when activity in the room disturbs particles, alongside a light sensor that automatically dims the display as your surroundings get darker.

The BreatheClear NeverChange6 filtration system exceeds HEPA standards, with Shark claiming it captures 99.98% of particles between 0.1 and 0.2 microns under its testing conditions. That includes common household pollutants such as dust, pet dander, pollen and mould spores.

More importantly, Shark says the main filter can last for up to six years without needing to be replaced, although this is based on specific testing and usage conditions. There's also a removable Debris Defence pre-filter, which catches larger particles before they reach the main filter. This can be taken out and washed yourself, helping maintain performance and prolong the life of the filtration system underneath.

You can choose between Auto mode, manual fan speeds and Daily Routine Sleep mode. Auto is probably the one most people will use day-to-day, as you can simply leave the purifier to monitor your air and react when conditions change. Sleep mode is designed for overnight use, whilst that built-in light sensor prevents the display from lighting up your entire bedroom once the lights go out.

Performance

The first thing I've loved about living with the BreatheClear NeverChange6 is simply how good it looks. The rounded design and neutral colourway give it a much more lifestyle-friendly appearance than your typical air purifier, and I've been perfectly happy leaving it on display in my living room.

I'll include a TikTok below showing it in action, but just to note, I'd already removed the protective packaging from the filter before filming, which is why you won't see that step.

Thankfully, its performance has been just as impressive. The sensors are incredibly reactive, and you can watch the display change almost instantly as the air quality around your home fluctuates. I particularly appreciate the large colour indicators, which shift between blue, orange and red depending on conditions. Even if you're sitting too far away to read the figures themselves, a quick glance across the room tells you whether everything is looking good.

It's sensitive enough to pick up activity elsewhere in my home too. Whenever I'm cooking in the kitchen, which is in a separate room from where I've positioned the purifier, I've regularly watched the air-quality reading drop from around 98% into the 70s. Once I've finished, it doesn't take long for the figure to start climbing again.

The most impressive example came when I was cooking steak. By the time I sat down afterwards, I noticed the air-quality reading falling rapidly before eventually reaching 0%. You could physically hear the BreatheClear NeverChange6 ramping up its fan at this point, which was particularly noticeable because it's virtually silent during normal operation. It remained at 0% for around a minute before steadily recovering, reaching the 90s again in roughly seven minutes. Seeing it detect such a dramatic change and then respond without any input from me was incredibly reassuring.

The motion sensor also worked well throughout testing. It picked up movement as soon as someone entered the room, even when there wasn't an obvious change in air quality. It's not a feature you'll necessarily notice every day, but it helps the purifier stay aware of what's happening around it.

I was slightly disappointed to see that Shark has dropped the Odour Neutraliser Technology found on the NeverChange 5. This released a fresh scent to help tackle household odours, so if that's a feature you enjoyed on the previous model – or something you think you'd find useful – it's worth knowing you won't find it here.

On the other hand, I have really enjoyed the lack of an accompanying app. Admittedly, that's coming from someone who has to download and test new apps practically every day, but everything you need is presented clearly on the purifier itself, and Auto mode means you can largely leave it to get on with the job.

Of course, that simplicity won't suit everyone. There's no smart connectivity, so you don't get remote controls, detailed app-based insights or the ability to incorporate the NeverChange6 into wider smart home automations. If that's the technical experience you're looking for, it's worth bearing in mind. However, if you simply want an air purifier that's easy to understand and requires very little input, the BreatheClear NeverChange6 is deal.

Verdict

The Shark BreatheClear NeverChange6 gets a lot right, but what impressed me most is how little effort it requires. The sensors reacted incredibly quickly during testing, the colour-coded display makes understanding your air quality effortless and Auto mode means you can largely leave it to look after itself. I also love not having another app to deal with, although the lack of smart connectivity will understandably be a drawback for some. I'm disappointed Shark has dropped the Odour Neutraliser Technology, but with its stylish design, responsive performance and filter that can last up to six years, the NeverChange6 is an excellent choice if you want cleaner air without making it complicated.

Alternatives to consider

If you like the sound of Shark's approach but are working with a smaller budget, I'd still recommend the Shark NeverChange5 Air Purifier. It's fast, quiet and effective at cleaning the air around your home, and whilst its filter lasts for up to five years rather than six, that's still an impressively long time between replacements.

The Blueair Blue Max 3250i is also worth considering, particularly if aesthetics are high on your priority list. Its stylish fabric-covered design looks great, although the filter typically requires replacing far more frequently than Shark's six-year system.

It's been a good few years since Marshall dropped the Stockwell II, but now it's coming back to the same territory to make a new version of its mid-sized Bluetooth speaker.

I've had the Stockwell III on review for well over a month, giving me loads of time to test it out, and see how it fares in everyday use.

Smaller than the Acton IV by a big chunk, but way more portable as a result, the Stockwell III might be the speaker in Marshall's lineup that makes the most sense to me.

Its tactility and design are as good as anything on the market, and if you're after a pure Bluetooth speaker with a different aesthetic, you won't find many finer.

Price and Availability

The Stockwell III is available directly from Marshall right now, with wider retail availability from 25 August, and it comes in both black and white versions.

The speaker costs £199.99 here in the UK, making it around £30 more expensive than the Stockwell II was at launch. It's $249.99 in the USA.

Given the Stockwell II came out all the way back in 2019, though, that's perhaps neither a surprise nor a great controversy, with inflation having been brutal in the tech industry in those 7 years since.

Design and Features

The Stockwell III is classic Marshall, from basically whatever angle you choose to approach it from. For one thing, it has that cursive Marshall logo on its front side, brassy and proud, but it also has a row of physical controls atop itself that really does stand out from the crowd.

Its size and shape are also relatively unusual, even for someone who tests as many portable speakers as I do. It's a sort of portrait-orientation speaker, so it stands much taller than its base.

Included in the box is a sturdy carrying handle that can be swivelled down to be less obvious, which feels like an essential part of the aesthetic proposition.

That handle matches the faux-leather finish of your white or black speaker, but its inside edge is in a red velvet that gives a really nice pop of colour to the speaker when viewed as a whole. The speaker's actual body is covered in a rubber shell with its outside in that leather-grain texture.

The front and back of the Stockwell III are grille-covered, while the bottom is rubberised for stability and to dampen vibrations.

At 1.29kg with the strap attached, it's light enough to be easily stowed in a bag and carried around, but I won't pretend it's insignificant – you will find lighter alternatives out there if that's a priority.

The top of the speaker is a brassy plate with a wide range of controls embedded in it. You get a power button and a pairing button, each nice and clicky, as well as three gorgeous knobs. One is your master volume, while the other two dial up bass and treble, respectively.

Finally, there's an M button that can be customised, but cycles through presets by default, and a clever little rocker button that controls play/pause as well as letting you skip tracks.

Marshall is the best in the game when it comes to tactile controls, and these are no different. You might not need bass and treble controls to hand like this, but when you do use them, you'll be thrilled by how smoothly they actuate, and by how cleverly the LED lighting makes it obvious what setting you're on.

On one of the speaker's edges you'll find its only ports – an AUX for wired audio, and a USB-C for power. Its battery is advertised as lasting 40 hours on a charge, twice as long as the Stockwell II.

Intriguingly, despite the fact that it looks like a speaker with a clear front and back, Marshall has built the Stockwell III to be a 360-degree speaker, so you should get good sound regardless of where you position it. That's worth knowing, since it does make it more adaptable.

Another big upgrade comes in terms of durability, with an IP55 rating making the Stockwell III more resistant to water and dust than before. That said, this makes it safe for rain showers, but not any form of immersion, so beware if it's intended for use by a pool.

In a similar vein, the Stockwell III also lets you pry off its rubber faux-leather skin entirely to access its replaceable battery (which will be sold separately by Marshall, should you need to swap it). You can open that compartment with just a Phillips-head screwdriver. That's a huge step (thanks to the EU) that could extend its usable life massively.

Sound and Performance

I'm a big fan of how the Stockwell III looks, then, but how does it sound?

Marshall's big marketing push in 2026 has been around "loud", centring its history of making amps for rock stars and rebels, and I think the Stockwell III is a fun little addition to that lineage, punching above its weight.

As a Bluetooth-only speaker (bar that AUX input), it's really simple to get connected, and once you're hooked up, its sound is as impressive as you'd hope for. I used a variety of genres to test the Stockwell III, and wasn't ever really tripped up by something sounding off-kilter.

Eric Clapton's lockdown-era cover of After Midnight is a great choice for testing the acoustic qualities of a speaker, and it sounds as warm and detailed as I'd want, with those first few guitar plucks resonant and deep. On Phoebe Bridgers' Garden Song, the elusive bassy backing vocals can be picked out far more easily than on some of the competition, too.

Alt-J's 3WW, meanwhile, has the urgency I look for, and an interesting balance between the treble twangs of its guitars and the pulsing bass of its undercarriage. The opening bars of Harry Styles' Undertow bring an impressive amount of precision and clarity, too.

That's all pretty great, and the reality is that I don't have any complaints to level at the Stockwell III's sound. For its size, it's simply excellent, and being able to dial up bass or treble song-by-song can be really enjoyable if you want the extra fun.

Marshall's claims of a 360-degree sound sphere bear some weight – turning the speaker around during listening, it is indeed far less directional than you'd assume from its design. That said, while being in line with its front or back sounds pretty identical, it's definitely a little less clear from the left or right sides, so true 360-degree coverage isn't quite there.

Another interesting little side note is that, despite the rubbery base of the speaker, there's quite a lot of vibration passed out of the Stockwell III while it plays at any decent volume – so unless it's on a really solid surface, expect some transference. I don't think that stacks as a major negative, though, and it does underline the amount of power squeezed into this relatively small speaker.

I found the battery life of the Stockwell III to be just as impressive as its quoted 40 hours indicated (without having timed it exactly). It lasts for days and days of regular use, which is a really good showing.

Verdict

The Stockwell III is probably my favourite Marshall portable speaker to date. It's a great size, has oodles of character, and some of the best physical controls in any speaker on the market. The fact that it pairs those attributes with excellent sound is foundational to its success, of course.

With its durability and battery life also provided welcome boosts for this generation, it's hard to see this as anything other than a massive success for Marshall. It's probably the pure-Bluetooth speaker that I'd recommend most strongly from its whole lineup, and looks like a banker for the next few years to come.

Also Consider

It's not a charge I'll level at the Stockwell III thanks to its smaller size, but if it were much pricier I'd start to gripe that the speaker should have Wi-Fi connectivity on board, too. If you want that added flexibility, you have to consider the Sonos Play, my favourite flexible home-and-away speaker right now, and for the extra money you do get clearer sound.

If you're more geared toward portability, though, and want something just a little more packable and portable than the Stockwell III, our top pick needs a mention. It's the Bang & Olufsen Beoplay A1 3rd Gen, and it's a stunning little slice of audio and design. That said, in pound-for-sound terms it's a more luxury choice than Marshall's.

When it comes to pizza ovens, one name stands out from the rest – and that’s Gozney. Having tried my fair share of Gozney pizza ovens, I have yet to be disappointed by one, and the Gozney Arc Lite is no exception.

Launched in early 2026, the Gozney Arc Lite is the smallest pizza oven from Gozney and its most entry-level option, in terms of design, features and cost. Despite its smaller size, the Gozney Arc Lite promises a lot under its hood, so I put it to the test to see how well it performed – here’s what I found.

Gozney Arc Lite review: price and availability

The Gozney Arc Lite is available to buy for £349.99 at Gozney. This is just the price of the pizza oven, so if you want additional accessories like a stand or pizza peel, you’ll have to buy those separately. As a gas-powered pizza oven, you’ll also have to buy a gas canister separately too.

Compared to Gozney’s other pizza ovens, the Gozney Arc Lite is its most affordable option. The standard Arc is larger and costs £599.99 whereas the Arc XL which is even bigger is priced at £799.99, so the Gozney Arc Lite is much cheaper and good for those on a budget – that is if you don’t go crazy with the accessories as the costs can definitely add up there.

Gozney Arc Lite review: set up

The Gozney Arc Lite arrived all boxed up in surprisingly large boxes, considering its smaller size. The main reason for this is it came with a Balance Turning Peel and a Balance Placement Peel to insert and rotate pizzas into the pizza oven, so this added some extra boxes.

Setting up the Gozney Arc Lite took little to no time – simply remove the packaging, and the pizza oven comes as a whole, so there’s no putting pieces together. The only thing you need to do is connect the Gozney Arc Lite to the gas which is easy to do with its gas hose and regulator.

As mentioned, gas needs to be bought separately, but once you have that, it’s easy to put together and then, you’re ready to go.

Gozney Arc Lite review: design and features

As Gozney’s most compact and lightweight pizza oven, the Gozney Arc Lite is significantly smaller than its other designs. Externally, it measures 297mm in height, 430mm in width and 481mm in diameter. The mouth of the pizza oven measures 85mm in height and 325mm in width so you can fit an entire 12-inch pizza inside. It also weighs 12kg so it’s not too heavy to lift or move around for most people.

Inside, the Gozney Arc Lite has a lateral flame that makes it look like a traditional wood fire flame. It can reach up to 500°C and the flame encases the inside of the pizza oven to offer a consistent heat that cooks food like pizza, meat and vegetables incredibly quickly.

The controls are located underneath the mouth of the pizza oven. It has a dial that’s extremely simple to use – you simply push it inward and turn it until you hear a click and the burner should ignite. Next, you hold the dial to allow the flame to start properly before you can adjust the dial to suit your preferred temperature.

The Gozney Arc Lite is designed for small spaces, including balconies, patios and other outdoor spaces. It has Gozney’s popular dome-like design and comes in a matte black colour on the main oven and control panel.

Gozney Arc Lite review: performance

As said previously, I’ve tried many Gozney pizza ovens for T3, including my Dome S1 which sits in pride of place in my garden, and the Dome (Gen 2). For testing the Gozney Arc Lite, I enlisted my friend’s help – who has previously been a fan of wood fire pizza ovens – to try out the pizza oven and see if it lived up to expectations.

After the easy set-up process, we were both surprised by how quick and easy the controls were to use. The slight drawback to the control panel is it doesn’t have a screen and the Gozney Arc Lite doesn’t have a built-in thermometer so it’s not completely clear what temperature the pizza oven is at. However, I liked the simplicity and found the controls to be quite intuitive so it shouldn’t be too much of an issue for others.

I’m used to gas-powered pizza ovens and barbecues, whereas my friend has only used wood fire pizza ovens before. He was very impressed by how quickly gas brought the Gozney Arc Lite up to temperature and noted that there was a huge difference to that compared to wood fire. Gozney’s rolling lateral flame still gives that impression of a wood fire flame, though, which we both thought was a nice touch.

The gas flame was easy to maintain and control, despite the lack of a temperature display. The pizza oven reached temperatures in 10-15 minutes, and cooked pizza in under five minutes which we were happy with. It yielded delicious pizza results, including leopard-like spots on the crust and great colour and sears on meats when cooked using a cast iron pan in the pizza oven.

Gozney Arc Lite review: verdict

It’s hard to criticise the Gozney Arc Lite as it really is a fantastic pizza oven. Aside from not having a temperature display, the Gozney Arc Lite is easy to use, quick to heat up, and has great heat control for maintaining the gas flame. It looks the part and cooks delicious pizzas and other foods, which is what you want from a pizza oven, really!

What I think make the Gozney Arc Lite stand out amongst its predecessors and competitors is its price and simplicity. Having a pizza oven which is small and simple to use, as well as an affordable price tag, gives beginners and budgeters an option to buy a pizza oven without breaking the bank or taking up too much space.

For such a premium brand, it’s nice to see Gozney introduce an entry-level pizza oven like the Arc Lite.

Gozney Arc Lite review: alternatives to consider

A slightly bigger version than the Gozney Arc Lite, the Gozney Arc is the standard model from the Arc range. It uses the same gas power and functions, has a stylish design, and it adds what I wanted most from the Arc Lite – a display.

If the smaller size is what has you intrigued, the Solo Stove Si Prime has a similar size and design. It also uses gas and simple dial controls, and is slightly cheaper than the Gozney Arc Lite.

If you still enjoy mowing the garden yourself but hate the idea of pushing a heavy lawnmower around, a self-propelled model makes a lot of sense. You still get the satisfaction of doing the job yourself, just without quite as much effort.

British brand Webb has been making garden tools for years, and you might expect a heritage name like this to be a little stuck in the past. However, I was delighted to find that it's combined that traditional pedigree with some clever modern features, making the WEV20X2LM47SPB4X a brilliant piece of garden kit.

Price and availability

The Webb WEV20X2LM47SPB4X is priced at £399.99 and available direct from Webb's website or through garden specialists such as Mower Magic, Toolstation, and The Green Reaper.

It’s quite reasonably priced for a self-propelled mower. However, if you want to max out the runtime you’ll need a couple more 4.0 Ah batteries. Priced at £69.99 each, things start to get expensive.

Unboxing and set up

It’s an impressive, and impressively heavy, piece of kit. Arriving in an enormous cardboard box, I found the only way I could get it out was by cutting the end off and rolling it out. My first impression was of how solidly built this thing is. More used to fiddling around with flimsy folding handles and plastic wing nuts, I was happily surprised to see it comes fully assembled.

The handles are folded down for easy storage, so all I needed to do was pull on the grey handles and extend the handle out and up into “mowing mode”. Apart from charging the batteries, this mower arrives ready to go.

Before I strode off across the lawn, I needed to select a cut height. There are seven to choose from, from a reasonably short 30 up to a wildflower-friendly 70 mm.

Design and features

A muscular and striking piece of garden machinery, the WEV20X2LM47SPB4X boasts a proper steel cutting deck. The cosy foam-wrapped handle folds out from “storage mode” with a satisfying clunk.

The red ambidextrous triggers are comfortable to hang on to, and you get a little information display that shows current battery life and mowing mode, and a big power button. There’s also a slider switch underneath that controls the speed of the powered rear wheels.

As mentioned, this mower is self-propelled. That means the big 27 cm diameter rear wheels are driven by a motor, making this beast an absolute dream to push around the garden, up slopes, and over uneven terrain.

The large 20cm diameter front wheels help it to glide over bumps, and although the self-propelled feature uses up a fair bit of battery life, I think it’s worth it. Especially if you’re mowing in the heat of the day without a hat on.

Adding to the smooth ride are the proper solid tyres around the wheels. Unlike budget mowers with their easily scratched plastic ones, this adds to the overall premium feel.

Weighing in at a goliath 25.5kg, you're not going to tuck it under your arm and carry it up a set of stairs. However, if you need to wheel it over obstacles or even up a couple of garden steps, you can lock the handle down and pull it around like a massive wheeled suitcase. Changing between cutting heights from 30-70mm is easy too, even with a mower this heavy, thanks to a sprung handle down on the chassis.

Now for the batteries. The mower comes bundled with a pair of 20V, 4.0Ah batteries that have a very clever trick up their British racing green sleeves, and I don't think I'm overstating things when I say these are some of the most useful tool batteries I've ever used.

This is because they're charged by USB-C. Forget having a drawer full of different branded chargers – you can do it all with one plug and one cable. As far as I'm concerned, this is one of the best leaps forward in useful battery technology I've personally come across.

The two plugs and cables that come with the mower are pretty nifty too. Each plug has a good old-fashioned USB-A port, but the real work is handled by a pair of high-wattage USB-C ports, capable of charging at a useful maximum of 65W.

Being USB-C compatible, the batteries work both ways. That means you haven't just bought a lawnmower, but a couple of super-fast charging power banks as well. I've been using them to charge my phone almost as much as I've been using them to cut the grass.

Open the battery compartment on the mower and you're met with a cavernous space capable of holding four batteries. With the standard dual-battery setup, you get around 30 minutes of unassisted mowing time, which is OK, but doesn't feel quite enough for a mower this big. Splash out on another couple of batteries and you're set for up to 60 minutes of mowing without doing your back in.

The drawback of USB-C charging is that it's a little slower than using a dedicated charger. Whilst some standalone chargers boast a 60-minute top-up time, you'll be waiting up to 80 minutes for a full charge here. It's not ideal, but I'd happily take the slightly slower charging if it means I can charge my phone from the same plug.

When it comes to getting rid of the grass, you have three options. The first is collection using the large grass box at the back, while the second is side discharge. The mower comes with a black plastic chute that attaches to the side of the chassis, neatly depositing the cuttings alongside you as you mow.

The third – and my lazy gardener favourite – is the mulching plug. This mode chops the grass up finely and leaves it where it is, returning some goodness to the lawn whilst saving you from multiple trips to the local dump.

Performance

Getting a big mower like this out onto the lawn is no small feat. It's far too capable for my own little patch, so I took it to a test garden that suits it much better. Of course, that meant picking it up and getting it into the car first. I'm not weak, but a 25kg mower is still a seriously heavy piece of kit. Thankfully, the handle folds down neatly, making it much easier to transport.

Once safely on the grass, the mower really starts to show its best side. You don't technically need to turn on the self-propelled rear wheels, and leaving them off will save some battery life, but pushing something this heavy around isn't much fun. Instead, I pressed the power button, set the speed to slow using the red slider and pulled the triggers.

The mower immediately moved forward at a manageable walking pace, cutting as it went. Keeping it in a straight line was easy, and the power remained consistent whether I was mowing on flat ground or heading up a slight hill. It takes almost all the effort out of manual mowing, while the large grass collection box took ages to fill. Once it was full, though, the extra weight of all those cuttings did make the mower a little harder to handle.

I measured the noise at a reasonable 84dB, which is comparable to a vacuum cleaner. It's nowhere near as quiet as one of the best robot lawnmowers, but it's still perfectly manageable. Using the self-propelled mode on its lowest setting, I managed just over 20 minutes of mowing before the batteries ran out. The small LED readout makes it easy to keep an eye on the remaining charge, but that runtime still feels a little short if you've got a particularly large lawn to tackle.

One feature I really like is the variable-speed motor. It runs at its normal speed for most of the job, but automatically kicks things up a notch when it detects thicker grass or weeds. You can select Max Power manually using the controls, but I left it in Auto for most of my testing to conserve as much battery as possible.

I review plenty of lawnmowers of all shapes and sizes, and one of my favourite features always comes down to storage. If a mower can stand upright on its end, it takes up a fraction of the space in my shed. So, when a beefy mower like the WEV20X2LM47SPB4X can do exactly that, I'm a big fan.

Verdict

Big, powerful, heavy – yet effortless. It’s hard to find bad things to say about this imposing lawnmower from Webb. Featuring a huge cut width, powerful self-propelled rear wheels, and marvellous USB-C rechargeable batteries, it takes the hard work out of keeping the lawn looking trim.

Alternatives to consider

If you want to look at the competition, then the WORX WG749E comes in at a similar price and cut width. If you want to spend a little more, then STIHL’s excellent RMA 248 runs on their versatile AK 20 battery platform.

Justifiably encouraged by its domination of the ‘wireless stereo speaker system’ scene, KEF has decided to see what sort of damage it can do even further upmarket.

The LS Luxe system, on review here, wants to combine outstanding sound with unique aesthetics – and half of that battle is won before it’s even plugged in!

Price & Availability

The KEF LS Luxe wireless stereo speaker system is on sale now, and in the United Kingdom it costs £3499.

It sells for $3999 in the United States, and in Australia the going rate is AU$6399.

Push the boat out yet further by opting for a pair of the bespoke S-Luxe stands and you will add another £799 / $799 / AU$1199 to the bill.

Features & What's New?

Everything about the LS Luxe is striking in one way or another – but perhaps it’s the 12th-gen Uni-Q driver array that’s the most visually dramatic thing about this system.

KEF has been perfecting this driver arrangement since the first Uni-Q made an appearance back in 1988 – and here this coincident-source layout features a 25mm aluminium tweeter in the centre of a 165mm mid/bass driver.

As with every Uni-Q array, the idea is to offer outstanding time-alignment and top-notch driver integration by having the tweeter and the mid/bass driver occupy the same point in space.

Of course, there are some rather newer technologies deployed here in order to get the best from this array. KEF has positioned its ‘metamaterial absorption technology’ behind the tweeter, where it can negate the energy travelling backwards from the tweeter and prevent it corrupting treble response.

‘Velocity Control Technology’, which was first deployed in 2025’s XIO soundbar, assesses the speed of movement of the mid/bass cone and compensates for differences between the actual and the expected values in real time.

The ‘Music Integrity Engine’, meanwhile, is in charge of maintaining tonal consistency at all volume levels.

The Uni-Q array is mechanically decoupled from the body of the cabinet, and a separate chassis within the driver assembly minimises any and all vibrations produced by the motor system – both of these measures are intended to keep vibration in the cabinet structure to a bare minimum. This way, goes the thinking, clarity can be maximised and distortion minimised.

The audio information that’s going to feel the benefit of this very thorough demonstration of engineering can be fed to the system in a few different ways.

Wireless connectivity is handled by the ‘primary’ speaker. It includes Bluetooth 5.3 and, more importantly, dual-band Wi-Fi on KEF’s ‘W2’ wireless platform – which means that Apple AirPlay 2, Google Cast, the ‘Connect’ versions of Qobuz, Spotify and Tidal, and internet radio are all available. In addition, the LS Luxe is UPnP-compatible and will be Roon Ready before very much longer.

The ‘primary’ speaker is also where all the physical connectivity lives. There’s an Ethernet socket, naturally enough, along with digital coaxial and optical inputs, an HDMI eARC socket and a 3.5mm analogue input at line level.

A USB-C slot looks like it might be another digital input, but in fact is a 5V charging slot. There’s also a pre-out for use with a subwoofer and an RJ45 socket for connection to the ‘secondary’ speaker. This ‘secondary’ speaker has a corresponding RJ45, of course, and also features a subwoofer pre-out of its own.

If you use the cable KEF provides to join the speakers together, they operate at 24bit/192kHz resolution. If you prefer a wireless connection, the resolution is cut to a still-healthy 24bit/96kHz. The LS Luxe can deal with resolutions of up to 24bit/384kHz and DSD128 through its network inputs, 24bit/192kHz via digital coaxial and HDMI, and 24bit/96kHz via digital optical.

Once the audio information is on board, decoded and ready to go, it’s amplified by two different types of power. Each mid/bass driver can call on 280 watts of Class D amplification, while each tweeter is driven by 100 watts of Class A/B power – an all-in total of 380 watts per channel really should be sufficient unless you’re trying to fill an aircraft hangar with sound.

Performance

Position the KEF LS Luxe as you would almost any other pair of stereo speakers – toed in so that a line drawn from each driver array would cross just in front of your seated position – and the sonic performance is not all you might be hoping for. In this orientation the sound is narrow and confined.

Get them to the point where they’re almost, but not quite, pointing straight ahead and they‘re much happier – and so, as a consequence, will you be.

The soundstage is still not the widest you ever heard, but it’s nevertheless appreciably taller and more confidently and convincingly laid out. The LS Luxe has a quite narrow ‘sweet spot’ where positioning is concerned, but it’s worth putting in the time to find it – because the rewards are significant.

It’s actually difficult to know where to start when discussing the things the KEF is good at. There’s detail retrieval, of course – this system is alert to even the finest, most minor details in a recording, and is more than capable of teasing them out and putting them into convincing context.

It’s analytical in this respect, sure, but it’s not in any way prissy, or uptight about it, and it never becomes the whole point of the LS Luxe’s performance. It simply reveals absolutely as much detail as possible, because it’s keen to give you as complete a sonic picture as possible.

And then there’s frequency response. At the bottom-end the KEF digs deep, hits with determination, and thanks to those sky-high detail levels it makes a stack of information regarding tonal and textural variation available too.

At the opposite end it attacks treble sounds with gusto – but it’s never hard or edgy, even at the considerable volumes the system is capable of achieving, and there’s plenty of substance to balance out the bite and shine of the top-end response.

In between, it communicates eloquently through the midrange, allowing voices to express the secrets of their technique and timbre just as readily as of their emotional state of overall character.

But the LS Luxe never underplays any area of the frequency range, just as it never seeks to push any area into the spotlight. It’s even, smooth and balanced from top to bottom, and back again.

Dynamic headroom is considerable – so even if you’re listening at quite big volumes to start with, the KEF is able to track upticks in intensity and attack in a completely unstressed manner. It’s equally adept with the more nuanced dynamics of tonal and harmonic variation – because that extraordinary attention to detail is apparent at every turn.

Control and balance are apparent everywhere – but no more so than when it comes to rhythmic expression. The LS Luxe does great work when controlling the decay and, especially, the attack of low-end information – and because every note or hit at the bottom of the frequency range is straight-edged at the point of attack, rhythms are handled with a confident, naturalistic attitude that makes for a fluent account of rhythm-centric recordings.

Overall, the KEF LS Luxe is a decently energetic, impressively insightful and, ultimately, endlessly entertaining listen. Once its speakers are pointing in the correct direction anyway.

Design & Usability

Between the Uni-Q driver array and the edgeless, seamless, slippery look of the LS Luxe cabinets, it seems fair to say that some designing has gone on here. Which is more than you can say about most of the more functional-looking alternatives to this KEF system.

KEF has again collaborated with Ross Lovegrove for the design of the LS Luxe, and the curvily organic shape of the speakers is easily recognisable as his work. It’s the use of BMC (‘bulk moulding compound’) in their construction that allows for this fairly elaborate shape – and it has advantages to its malleability beyond its willingness to form distinctive shapes.

The cabinet shape here is less susceptible to the build-up of internal standing waves than the more usual ‘box’ shape. The rigidity of the material means that less internal bracing is required than is the norm, which liberates greater internal volume than would be the case in a straight-edged cabinet of similar dimensions.

The rear of the cabinet has a degree of visual drama, too, as you can see from the images scattered throughout this review.

Each speaker features a heat-sink to help disperse the heat generated by the internal electronics – and here it’s chanelled and swoopily curved, which increases its surface area as well as making it look mildly unusual.

Each speaker’s bass reflex port divides its heat-sink - it’s a relatively large port and it features KEF’s ‘Flexible Port Technology’. This is another way of saying the walls of the port are less than rigid, and this configuration intends to keep internal resonance down to a minimum.

Three finishes are available: as well as the Eclipse Black of my review sample, Mineral White and Dusk Titanium are also available.

This isn’t the first pair of speakers I’ve encountered that look better in some finishes than in others, of course – but it might well be the pair that is most affected by the colour they’re finished in.

For my money, at least, Eclipse Black makes the speakers look bulkier and chunkier than either of the other two alternatives. You are, of course, very welcome to disagree – and might want to get to a KEF showroom to check out the whole range with your own eyes.

Verdict

There’s more than a normal amount of legwork to be done when setting up the LS Luxe, but don’t be discouraged – putting in the required effort to position the system correctly allows it to perform in the most engaging and impressive way possible.

Yes, this is one of the more expensive products of its type around (as long as you discount some couture outliers), but it’s also one of the very best.

Also Consider

In its own way the Sonus Faber Duetto is just as distinctive as the LS Luxe – more readily identifiable as speakers, sure, but elegantly shaped and beautifully made, and with almost as much credibility as furniture as it has as an audio system. The sound is more easy-going than the KEF equivalent, but some listeners are sure to count that as a positive.

By way of contrast, the JBL 4329P couldn’t look any more like a purposeful, functional pair of loudspeakers if it tried. But while its potential as decorative items hovers around ‘zero’, it has an awful lot going for it where sheer sound quality is concerned. If you’re all about the listening and unconcerned about the looks, this system deserves serious consideration.

With the kind of temperatures we're facing at the moment, it's no surprise that the best fans are flying off the shelves. However, that's also left plenty of room for other cooling options to shine, whether that's the best portable air conditioners, air coolers or, more interestingly, 2-in-1 appliances that combine cooling with another function. Yep, I'm talking about the Dyson Purifier Cool PC1.

The Cool PC1 (sometimes known as the TP11) is both an air purifier and cooling fan, creating a refreshing breeze whilst simultaneously circulating purified air around the room. Given the popularity of Dyson's air treatment products – and having tested a fair few of them myself – I couldn't wait to properly put this one to the test.

Price and availability

The Dyson Purifier Cool PC1 is priced at £449.99 in the UK and $549.99 in the US, and is available from Dyson's online store, Amazon and Currys.

With the current heatwave taking over much of the UK, stock has been a little scarce at some retailers, but hopefully availability will improve once temperatures start to drop.

Unboxing and set up

Setting up the Cool PC1 is a very easy process. The unit arrives fully assembled, securely packaged and wrapped in protective plastic. Just make sure you remove all of this before switching it on, particularly the packaging around the base and air inlets.

If you already have the MyDyson app, getting connected is equally as straightforward. You just open the app, tap Add New Device and scan the barcode on the unit. It'll then guide you through pairing the Cool PC1 and connecting it to your home Wi-Fi network.

I'd also recommend switching on Auto mode once you're up and running. This allows the Cool PC1's onboard sensors to monitor your air quality accurately and automatically respond, rather than leaving you to adjust the airflow manually.

After that, there really isn't much else to do. The magnetic remote sits neatly on top of the purifier, whilst both the LCD display and MyDyson app keep track of filter life for you. Dyson recommends replacing the HEPA and activated carbon filter around every 12 months for optimum performance.

Design and features

The Dyson Purifier Cool PC1 is tall and slim, measuring just over a metre high and 22cm wide, with the brand's familiar bladeless amplifier loop sitting above a cylindrical purifier base. At 4.72kg, it's light enough to move between rooms when needed, although it's clearly designed to spend most of its time in one spot. The minimalist white finish and discreet LCD display keep everything looking clean and understated.

Dyson's Air Multiplier technology can project more than 290 litres of air per second, with 10 fan speeds available depending on how much airflow you need. The Cool PC1 can also oscillate through up to 350°, helping spread purified air around the room rather than firing it in one direction. You can manually adjust the airflow angle by around 10° either way as well.

Inside the base is a 360° Glass HEPA H13 and activated carbon filter. The HEPA layer captures microscopic particles such as dust and pollen, whilst the activated carbon targets odours and gases, including VOCs. Dyson says the UK model can capture 99.95% of particles as small as 0.1 microns.

Inside the base is a 360° Glass HEPA H13 and activated carbon filter. The HEPA layer captures microscopic particles such as dust and pollen, whilst the activated carbon targets odours and gases, including VOCs. Dyson says the UK model can capture 99.95% of particles as small as 0.1 microns.

The small LCD display on the front gives you real-time information without needing to reach for your phone, including air quality and filter information. I'll include a guide below explaining what all the different indicators on the screen mean as well.

A dedicated Night mode is joined by sleep timers for one, two, four or eight hours, whilst noise levels range from around 50dB on the quieter settings to 61.4dB at maximum power.

Physical controls are deliberately kept to a minimum, but you do get Dyson's familiar curved magnetic remote, which as mentioned, stores neatly on top of the machine. It gives you quick access to fan speed, oscillation, Auto mode and Night mode.

Via the MyDyson app, you can remotely adjust airflow, create schedules, set sleep timers and view current and historical indoor air quality. You can also monitor filter life and fine-tune settings such as the oscillation angle and focal point. Voice control is supported through compatible Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri devices too.

Performance

When it comes to cooling, the Dyson Purifier Cool PC1 has been a lifesaver during the recent hot weather. The 10 fan speeds give you plenty of control over how much airflow you need, although, unsurprisingly, it gets louder as you move through the higher settings. I've been sleeping with it set to around level three or four and found it impressively quiet, even without switching on Night mode.

It's undeniably a large unit, but the slim design means I've been perfectly happy leaving it in the corner of my bedroom. The 350° oscillation is also useful for spreading airflow around the entire room, whilst the remote means I can change the settings from bed without having to get up.

However, air purification has been the real highlight for me. One morning during testing, there was smoke in the area from nearby fires, and the Cool PC1 quickly picked up that the air quality wasn't where it should be. I left it running and watched the reading gradually improve over the following hour, which was a reassuring demonstration of just how responsive its sensors are.

You also don't need to know much about air purification to understand what's happening either. A quick glance at the colour-coded air quality gauge tells you most of what you need to know, with green indicating good air quality and red or purple signalling that it has some work to do.

The Cool PC1 is also incredibly easy to use, both through the controls on the unit itself and within the MyDyson app. Air quality data can quickly become overwhelming if you're unfamiliar with different pollutants and readings, but Dyson does a great job of presenting everything in a way that's clear and easy to understand.

One omission I did notice is a temperature sensor, which feels slightly surprising given that it's something you'll find on plenty of cheaper fans. Without one, the Cool PC1 can't tell you exactly how warm the room is, so there's no temperature reading to help you decide when it's time to increase or decrease the fan speed.

It wasn't a huge problem for me, as I simply relied on my Echo Show 8 to keep an eye on the room temperature instead. You could also pick up an inexpensive temperature sensor, such as IKEA's Timmerflotte, and incorporate it into your smart home setup. Depending on the ecosystem you're using, you could then use those temperature readings as part of an automation or routine for controlling the Cool PC1.

Verdict

The Dyson Purifier Cool PC1 has been a lifesaver during the recent hot weather, delivering powerful airflow whilst remaining quiet enough for me to sleep comfortably. However, it's the air purification that impressed me most. The sensors responded quickly to changes in my indoor air quality, Auto mode took care of most adjustments for me, and Dyson presents everything clearly enough that you don't need to be an air quality expert to understand what's happening. It's undeniably expensive, and the lack of a temperature sensor feels like a strange omission, but if you want excellent air purification alongside useful cooling, the Cool PC1 does both extremely well.

Alternatives to consider

If you're after a similar 2-in-1 fan and purifier, I'd recommend the Acerpure Cool Series. It combines powerful airflow with effective air purification, alongside a remote control, plenty of functionality and reasonably quiet operation – although we didn't find it quite as quiet as the Dyson.

Alternatively, if it's mainly Dyson's cooling performance you're interested in, I'm also a big fan of the Hot+Cool HF1. It's quiet, compact and combines heating and cooling in one unit, making it a particularly useful option if you want something you'll continue using long after summer is over.

A stand mixer has always been a brilliant kitchen tool for anyone who bakes regularly, especially when it comes to achieving consistent batters and mixes. However, for those who'd rather steer clear of cakes and focus on dough, there hasn't always been something quite as purpose-built. That was until Ooni launched its Halo Pro Spiral Mixer.

First launched last year, the Ooni Halo Pro quickly stood out for its ability to tackle pizza, flatbread and bread dough, whilst still handling more traditional stand mixer jobs. Fast-forward to 2026 and the Ooni Halo Core Spiral Mixer has arrived as a smaller and lighter alternative. Importantly, though, it keeps the professional-style spiral mixing technology that made the original so interesting.

I've been putting it to the test with plenty of dough-based experiments, and you'll find all my thoughts below.

Price and availability

The Ooni Halo Core is priced at £499/$599 and is available from Ooni's online store, Amazon and John Lewis. For comparison, the Ooni Halo Pro is priced at £699/$799.

The Halo Core comes in black or white, and there are a number of optional accessories available too, including the Ooni Dough Tool Set and Dual Platform Digital Scales.

Design and features

The Halo Core is 25% smaller and 30% lighter than the Halo Pro, making it much easier to keep permanently on a kitchen worktop or move around when needed. Despite shrinking things down, Ooni has retained the recognisable Halo design as well as its tilt-head mechanism. This lets you lift the top of the mixer to remove the bowl and easily switch between attachments.

It features a removable 4.5-litre stainless-steel bowl, down from the Halo Pro's 7-litre capacity. It's smaller, but is still capable of handling up to 2.5kg of dough in a single batch. According to Ooni, that's enough for around ten 12-inch pizzas or three large sourdough loaves – but we'll get onto this later.

Unlike a conventional stand mixer, where an attachment moves around a stationary bowl, the Core combines a rotating bowl with a rotating Spiral Dough Hook and stationary removable breaker bar.

Together, these create what Ooni calls a dual-kneading action. Dough is continuously stretched and worked between the hook, bowl and breaker bar, helping to develop a stronger gluten network without generating excessive heat. This makes it particularly well suited to pizza, bread and sourdough, especially recipes that require longer kneading times. The breaker bar also helps stop dough climbing and bunching around the hook, but it can be removed when you want to use the mixer for more conventional baking jobs.

There are 20 speed settings, reaching up to 300 RPM. That's considerably fewer than the Halo Pro's 58, but still gives you plenty of control for different recipes and dough types. There's also built-in motor protection, which can automatically adjust the speed when necessary to help prevent overheating during tougher mixing sessions.

Like its predecessor, dual LED lights illuminate the mixture whilst the machine is running, making it easier to keep an eye on dough consistency and gluten development. There's also a separate LED indicator which clearly displays your selected speed.

One feature you don't get from the Halo Pro is its set-and-forget auto-stop timer, so the Core does require slightly more supervision.

Attachments

You get three main attachments, giving it much more versatility than a traditional commercial spiral mixer.

Alongside the Spiral Dough Hook and removable breaker bar, there's a Dual-Geared Whisk for whipping and lighter mixtures, as well as an Angled Silicone-Edge Beater for batters and everyday baking. This means you can still turn to it for cakes, creams and other recipes when you're not making dough.

The included clear splash guard also has a pouring spout, so you can add ingredients whilst mixing without sending flour across the kitchen.

There's an airtight silicone lid for the bowl too, allowing you to leave dough to prove inside rather than transferring it to another container. A pop-out vent can be opened when airflow is needed, and all of the attachments are removable and dishwasher-safe.

Performance

The first thing that stood out during testing was just how premium the Ooni Halo Core feels, and despite testing plenty of stand mixers before, very few have felt quite as high-quality as this. Everything from the finish and weight to the illuminated controls felt deluxe, and it looked fantastic left out on the kitchen counter.

The attachments are equally as impressive and, whilst £499 is undeniably a lot of money, you do get plenty for it. Each attachment is easy to fit, remove and swap, and cleaning couldn't be simpler either. Mine came out of the dishwasher spotless, even after dealing with sticky dough and batter.

I also particularly loved the rotating bowl and LED illumination, which are exactly the kind of premium details that set the Halo Core apart from your average stand mixer.

For my first test, I deliberately used an M&S pizza base mix that I've struggled with when kneading by hand in the past. Using the Spiral Dough Hook and breaker bar, the dough came together in around six minutes with very little intervention from me. Most impressively, it didn't climb up the hook or sides of the bowl, with the breaker bar keeping everything moving nicely.

Once it was ready, I simply removed the attachments, popped the included silicone lid over the bowl and left the dough to prove for around an hour. Being able to mix and prove in the same bowl made the whole process noticeably easier, not to mention cutting down on the clean up afterwards.

I also wanted to see whether the Halo Core could take the place of a more conventional stand mixer, so I used it to make banana bread batter a few days later. The whisk worked brilliantly, combining everything quickly and evenly, and switching between attachments was effortless. Dough may be its speciality, but it's certainly not all the Halo Core can do.

That said, there are a few small things to be aware of. Ooni says the 4.5-litre bowl can handle enough dough for around ten 12-inch pizzas or three large sourdough loaves, but once proved, my dough for just three pizzas was already nearly at the top. Of course, mixing and proving capacities aren't quite the same thing, but it did make me wonder how comfortably the mixer would handle enough dough for ten pizzas at once, and whether everything would knead as evenly. If you're planning on making large batches, I'd recommend starting smaller and transferring the dough to another container for proving if needed.

My other small issue the speed dial. There are 20 settings to choose from, but there aren't 20 individual markings or numbers around the control, so selecting a precise speed can feel like a bit of a guessing game at first. That said, the illuminated dial looks fantastic and fits perfectly with the Halo Core's premium design, so it's certainly not something that would put me off buying it.

Verdict

The Ooni Halo Core may be designed with dough in mind, but it's far more versatile than that suggests. It made light work of pizza dough, handled cake batter just as confidently and felt incredibly premium throughout testing. The smaller 4.5-litre bowl and slightly unclear speed dial leave room for improvement, but neither took away from the overall experience. It's certainly an investment, but the excellent build quality, range of attachments and incredible results make it a fantastic option for anyone who regularly bakes at home.

Alternatives to consider

The Ooni Halo Pro is the obvious alternative, particularly if you think you'll benefit from its larger 7-litre bowl, 58 speed settings and automatic timer. However, I personally think the Halo Core offers more than enough capacity and control for the average household, especially if kitchen space is limited.

If you want something even more compact and geared towards general baking, the Kenwood Go Stand Mixer is another great option. It doesn't have the specialist spiral dough-mixing setup found on the Ooni range, but its smaller design and versatility make it particularly well suited to compact kitchens.

Insta360 has become a household name in recent years, not just in action cameras but also in vlogging gimbals, webcams and even drones. That said, the company’s main strength is still 360º action cams. In fact, it’s still the number one brand in the 360-degree camera market, with over 68% unit share and 71% revenue share (according to IDC).

Its flagship 360º camera franchise, the X Series, saw a mid-cycle update in October 2025 in the form of the Insta360 X4 Air. Prior to that, the Insta360 X5 came out in April 2025, which remained the top-of-the-range model – until now.

Looking back now, it’s clear that Insta360 ‘demoed’ the new form factor in the X4 Air, but we had to wait until now for meaningful spec upgrades. The new X6 is a better camera in all conceivable ways than both the X5 and the X4 Air, which shouldn’t come as a surprise. It also builds on the learnings from the Insta360 Luna Ultra, which launched earlier this year.

Looking at the data, the new camera has bigger sensors, a faster processor, tougher lenses and weather-proofing, better on-camera editing, longer battery life and Dolby Vision and I-Log capability. It’s also a lot more expensive than its predecessors, and some more casual users might not be able to use the X6 to its full potential.

Worth buying, though? I’ve been playing around with the camera for nearly a month, and I would be lying if I said it’s not a fun gadget, especially with its creative shooting modes that practically turn the X6 into an action/vlogging/360º cam hybrid. It’s certainly the best action camera for those who need versatility and appreciate AI doing the legwork with editing!

Insta360 X6 review

Price and availability

The Insta360 X6 was announced on 12 August 2026 and is available to buy now directly from Insta360. The Standard Bundle costs £619 in the UK, $700 in the US, €699 in Germany and the wider European market, and AU$1,050 in Australia.

That’s quite an increase from the X5’s £500 / €590 / $500 / AU$880, and the X4’s £399 / $400 / €359 / AU$640. It’s worth noting that the X4 Air was marketed as a more affordable, lighter alternative to the X5, so a comparison between that and the X6 in terms of price might not be fair.

The Essentials Bundle, which includes the X6, an extra Xtreme Battery, 114cm Invisible Selfie Stick, Lens Cap, Fast Charge Case and Insta360 Extended Warranty, costs £709 in the UK, $800 in the US, €799 in Germany/Europe and AU$1,160 in Australia.

That’s a £90 premium over the £619 Standard Bundle in the UK, $130 more in the US, €100 more in Europe and AU$110 more in Australia.

At £619, the X6 costs around 38% more than the GoPro MAX 2 and 51% more than DJI’s Osmo 360. It’s quite a statement from Insta360, positioning the X6 as the premium 360 camera. Evidently, the brand doesn’t want to pretend that the X6 isn’t the market leader, and prices the gadget accordingly.

Design and build quality

Body

The Insta360 X6 looks and feels more substantial than the X4 Air, but it is surprisingly compact for a flagship 360 camera. At 196g, it is only marginally lighter than the X5, yet the body is much shorter at around 100mm tall.

The trade-off is thickness: those substantially larger sensors and lenses protrude noticeably from either side, giving the X6 a squat, chunky profile as opposed to the slimmer shape associated with previous X-series cameras.

Build quality feels suitably premium, with a heavily textured body that provides plenty of grip. The camera is also IP68 waterproof to 20 metres without a case, up from 15 metres on the X5. The new Star-Ridge cooling system is designed to keep sustained 8K recording temperatures under control.

Display

The biggest visual change is the 2.32-inch OLED touchscreen, which reaches a claimed 1,200 nits and is designed to remain visible in bright conditions. Insta360 has also removed the physical shortcut buttons that previously sat beneath the display.

Their replacements are touch-sensitive controls that appear along the bottom edge of the screen when the camera is switched on. I personally find these more awkward to use than proper buttons, particularly when trying to operate the camera quickly.

There are still physical controls on the side, including dedicated power and record buttons, which are reassuringly easy to locate by feel.

Microphones

Around the body is a four-microphone omnidirectional array, supplemented by what Insta360 calls a Hidden Engine Mic, designed specifically to reduce wind noise while preserving engine sound when recording motorcycles. The camera can also connect directly to two Insta360 wireless microphone transmitters.

Lenses

The exposed lenses remain the most vulnerable part of any 360 camera, but Insta360 has at least improved matters here. Its Replaceable Lens 2.0 is claimed to be five times more scratch-resistant, and replacement lenses cost 60% less than before.

They're still not user-removable in the same straightforward way as the lenses on the GoPro MAX 2, though. That's a little disappointing, although I'd still take replaceable lenses over the DJI Osmo 360's fixed arrangement, where damage to the lens can potentially become a much bigger problem.

Image and video quality

Sensors

The Insta360 X6 uses dual custom Sony 1/1.1-inch square sensors, which Insta360 says provide 33% more sensor area than the X5 and roughly four times the light intake per frame. The company describes this as delivering “full 1-inch equivalent 360 imaging”, with the larger sensors intended to improve detail, colour and low-light performance.

Backing those sensors is a new triple-chip processing system, consisting of an eight-core 3.3GHz 4nm processor and two dedicated imaging chips. Insta360 claims this setup provides 500% more computing power than the X5, with a 106% faster clock speed and 35% lower power draw.

According to the brand, the extra processing power is used for improved detail, cleaner colour and stronger denoising.

Image quality

Maximum 360 video resolution remains 8K, but the X6 increases the frame rate to 8K50fps, giving it considerably more headroom for action than the X5's 8K30 ceiling.

The X6 is also the first 360 camera, according to Insta360, to support native in-camera Dolby Vision. Dynamic metadata is analysed frame by frame to adjust brightness and contrast, while 10-bit capture allows the camera to record more than 1.07 billion colours.

The camera can also shoot in I-Log, which is designed to retain the camera's full dynamic range across highlights and shadows and provide greater latitude when grading footage. Insta360 Studio continues to provide desktop stitching, multi-clip editing and export on Mac and Windows.

As with the previous model, the maximum resolution is more for cropping than actually displaying anywhere online. Plus, even 6K videos generate huge file sizes, which clog up your phone/laptop’s storage rather quickly.

The new colour modes are certainly welcome, but they don’t help keep the file sizes at bay, for sure. That’s the tricky bit with the “shoot first, edit later” approach; you end up collecting a lot of ‘redundant’ footage, which requires a lot of storage.

Speaking of storage, it’s nice that the camera has built-in memory for footage, but it’s somewhat limited, especially with such huge file sizes. When I ran my battery test (more on this below), I had to start and stop the test three times, as the 47GB memory could only store ~50 minutes of 8k@30fps footage.

All that said, the footage does look better on the X6. There is less noise, and even without Dolby Vision/I-Log, colours look nice and the dynamic range more impressive. There is an inherent warping due to the fisheye lens, but you can ‘dewarp’ videos and images in the Insta360 app.

The larger 120MP photos can be cropped into, which is a bonus. Thanks to the larger sensor and the new processor, cropped photos have more detail and less noise. Strangely, I find zoomed-in (as in, digitally cropped) photos more appealing on the brand’s dedicated vlogging camera (Luna Ultra), even though I think it has less internal space (physically) than the X6.

(It might just be the more cinematic look of vlogging cameras that I’m drawn to.)

The X6 is a different camera, of course, and needs to perform well under circumstances the Luna series simply can’t, such as when it’s thrown into the water from a certain height, or when it’s strapped onto a motorbike’s handlebar.

In that sense, even though the marketing materials and features suggest otherwise, the X6 is very much an action camera. It’s tough, with replaceable lenses, has good shake reduction and allows creators to edit footage after recording, which reduces the pressure to get things right straight away.

Low-light performance

Low-light performance is one of Insta360's major talking points for the X6. Alongside the larger sensors, the camera introduces two ambient-light sensors that feed into a dedicated low-light mode. Insta360 says these help reduce flicker and improve night scenes.

There's also AdaptiveTone 2.0, which meters each lens independently and records two exposures per frame. The system is designed to increase usable dynamic range when the two sides of the camera are dealing with very different lighting conditions, such as bright skies on one side and deep shade on the other.

I took the camera out on a few walks in Tokyo after dark, and did a few recordings in properly dark environments. The footage is certainly decent, but again, no one should expect any compact camera, X6 or otherwise, to be able to give you the same results as a medium format camera.

The sensor size, albeit bigger, is still much smaller than larger cameras, which means the algorithm has to do the legwork to fill in the gaps where the sensor can’t. The results certainly look convincing on a smartphone’s screen, but the lack of light will always have an effect on the final results.

The fact that you can record something in the dark using the X6 is impressive, and if your main concern is capturing action in the dark, the X6 will do perfectly well.

Single-lens mode

Switching to single-lens mode turns the X6 into a more traditional action camera. It can record at up to 5K60fps, while the widest 170-degree field of view is available at 5K30fps. It can also shoot 4K120fps for slow-motion footage.

FlowState stabilisation and 360 Horizon Lock remain part of the package, with Insta360 claiming they keep footage smooth and level regardless of how the camera is moving.

I used this mode the most, probably, as it removes the awkward process of trying to avoid stitched areas in post. The downside is, of course, framing, especially if you’re shooting footage vertically or horizontally. Mixing the two during the day would result in having Frankenstein-monster-style videos afterwards.

It certainly adds to the versatility of the camera, though, and the footage looks good, which is excellent.

Battery life and charging

The X6 uses a new 2,600mAh Xtreme Battery, with Insta360 claiming up to 140 minutes of recording at 8K30fps, a substantial 51% improvement over the X5. The battery is also designed to operate in temperatures as low as -20°C, while fast charging is claimed to take it from empty to 80% in 24 minutes.

Those figures held up remarkably well in my testing. I started recording continuously at 8K30fps with 97% battery remaining. After 50 minutes, the X6 was down to 66%. The internal memory filled at that point, so I deleted the footage and immediately restarted recording without giving the camera time to cool down.

Another 50 minutes took the battery from 65% to 30%. Again, I deleted the footage and carried straight on. The low-battery warning appeared after a further 25 minutes, with 10% remaining, and I eventually stopped recording after 135 minutes in total, when the battery reached 3%.

That's extremely close to Insta360's official 140-minute figure, particularly considering I started at 97% rather than fully charged. The X6 became hot during the test, as you'd expect after more than two hours of near-continuous 8K recording, but never became unbearably so.

Charging

Charging performance was equally impressive. Starting at 3%, I saw the X6 initially draw around 30W. It reached 70% after just 19 minutes, at which point charging power had dropped to around 15W before falling further to roughly 8W as the battery filled.

The camera reached 80% after 25 minutes, almost exactly matching Insta360's 24-minute claim from empty, and hit 100% in just over half an hour after I plugged the gadget in. In other words, my X6 went from 3% to fully charged in just 36 minutes. It became a little warm during the process, but nothing concerning.

Verdict

The Insta360 X6 is an impressive piece of technology. It is smaller than you might expect, tougher than before, lasts significantly longer on a charge and produces excellent-looking footage from a camera you can throw into situations where a conventional vlogging camera simply wouldn’t survive.

Its biggest strength is versatility. The X6 can be a 360-degree camera, a conventional action camera, a subject-tracking camera and, with the right accessories and shooting modes, something approaching a vlogging setup.

That versatility is also its main limitation. A camera designed specifically for one of those jobs will often do that job better. I prefer the Luna Ultra for straightforward vlogging, for example, while dedicated action cameras can offer a simpler shooting experience when all you want is conventional wide-angle footage. The X6 is at its best when you genuinely need several of those capabilities in one device.

There is also the familiar action-camera problem that no amount of processing or AI editing can completely solve: interesting technology cannot make boring footage interesting. The X6 can automatically find subjects, reframe clips and assemble edits far more intelligently than previous generations, but it still needs something worthwhile happening in front of the lenses.

None of that takes away from what Insta360 has achieved here. The X6 is expensive and arguably overkill for casual users, but as a rugged, highly capable camera for people who want to capture almost anything without carrying a bag full of kit, it is one of the most convincing do-it-all options available.

If you've found your way to this review then it's likely that you're looking for one of the best 4K monitors in the business for colour calibration, graphics and design work, and general computing use – and that's exactly what the Dell UltraSharp U3226Q delivers.

The first QD-OLED display in Dell's UltraSharp range, the U3226Q suits studio and creative professionals after a high level of colour precision, or anyone who wants a premium office monitor and has the budget to consider something that stands out from the crowd.

I've been testing this Dell for several weeks to put together this review, and you'll find everything you need here to decide if this is the monitor for you: details on its performance, setup, features, and the all-important pricing information.

Price & Availability

The Dell UltraSharp U3226Q is out and available to buy now, and the widgets embedded on this page will direct you to the best prices currently available on the web.

At the time of writing, the monitor can be picked up for in the region of £2399 / $2599 / AU$3699, though this seems to be a model that's often discounted.

In the UK, you can currently get it at outlets including Dell directly or from Laptops Direct.

Design & Setup

Putting the Dell UltraSharp U3226Q together couldn't be any easier, and you'll be done in a minute or two, with no tools required.

The base slots into the stand, then the stand slots into the screen. That's it!

There's also an optional hood included in the box, and fastening it to the edges of the display and taking it off again is all very straightforward, thanks to magnetic attachments. It also stays firmly in place if you move the monitor.

There's a lot of play and flexibility in terms of tilt, swivel, rotation, and height adjustment, so with a few pushes and pulls you can get this configured just right for your desk and eye level.

The monitor can stretch as high as 624 mm (that's almost 25 inches), while you can rotate the screen around a full 90-degrees if you're after that tall, narrow look that coders are particularly fond of. Wall-mounting is an option too.

In terms of ports, there are two HDMI 2.1, one DisplayPort 1.4 port, two USB-A 10Gbps downstream ports, one USB-C 10Gbps upstream port, one Thunderbolt 4 40Gbps upstream port, one Thunderbolt 4 40Gbps downstream port, and one Ethernet 2.5GbE port.

There's also a handy pop-out hub panel, with a USB-A 10Gbps downstream port, and two USB-C 10Gbps downstream ports. This pop-out function makes it simple to attach peripherals and charge devices without having to reach around the back, but you can hide it away if you're not using it.

Overall, I'm a fan of the aesthetics of the Dell UltraSharp U3226Q. Unlike many monitors in its class, it manages to be subtle and minimalist by design, without being boring, and you certainly get a lot here in terms of flexibility and versatility.

Features & Performance

The Dell UltraSharp U3226Q offers a QD-OLED screen (think of it like an OLED with a richer colour upgrade), with a native resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels, a refresh rate of 120Hz, and a maximum brightness of 300 nits across the entire screen (or 1000 nits for HDR highlights).

Those specs are decent rather than remarkable, but they translate into a visual experience that's very easy on the eyes. Details are sharp, colours are vibrant, and text and graphics are crisply defined all across this screen – it's a pleasure to look at across its 31.5 inches.

That QD-OLED panel ensures deep blacks and excellent contrast, and it's the kind of panel quality you'd expect from a company that's been in the monitor business as long as Dell has.

As good as the monitor is in general though, it's the colour gamut and calibration where it really stands out – and where it's going to appeal to users who are serious about creative workflows.

In terms of gamut coverage, you've got 100% sRGB, 100% BT.709, 99% DCI-P3, 99% Display P3, and 94% Adobe RGB, and there are seven pre-tuned, industry-standard profiles you can quickly switch between.

Colour calibration is available out of the box too, with no need for an external tool or separate software. There's a little colourimeter that swings up from the bottom of the bezel, making sure that the colours you're seeing really are the colours you want to be seeing, and you can even schedule it to run overnight when the monitor's not in use (though it only takes a maximum of 30 minutes anyway).

It's this colour performance that puts the Dell UltraSharp U3226Q above its peers and justifies that extra price, compared to the mass of other standard 32-inch/4K office monitors you'll find on the market. It's an intriguing middle ground between your run-of-the-mill monitors and those aimed at professionals who require precise calibration – with a price that reflects that.

This monitor functions as a KVM (Keyboard-Video-Mouse) switch too, which means you can connect a keyboard and mouse to it and use them (as well as the screen) across multiple computers and other devices plugged into the back. It's another plus point for what's already a very impressive and versatile unit.

It's not quite the perfect monitor though. There are no built-in speakers here, which is something I always like to see – just so you can hear audio at a pinch if you need to, without separate devices. T

If I were nitpicking, the standard brightness levels could be a little higher, and the price is above what a lot of people are going to be willing to pay at this size and spec.

The value-for-money proposition here really depends on whether you're comparing it against a standard consumer screen or a professional mastering display. As it's far more leant towards the latter.

Dell UltraSharp U3226Q review: Verdict

I've reviewed a lot of 4K computer monitors over the years for T3, and I can confidently say the Dell UltraSharp U3226Q is one of the best I've come across in recent times.

The picture it produces is genuinely great, particularly in terms of its clarity and colour performance, which is where it really excels.

Clearly it's the colour-accuracy features that will attract prospective buyers – and help justify its massive price. If you need the extra configuration tools and precision that the U3226Q offers – including the hood you get in the box – then it's all easy to operate.

It's not just about the colour though. This monitor has several features, including the pop-out hub and the built-in KVM capability, that really I wish many other monitors included – as they're great.

There's clearly nothing average about this monitor – and it's certainly not for an average user. But niche or not, it's a perfect pro stunner that'll be hard to ignore for a select audience.

Also Consider

If you're after something more suitable for gaming, then can I direct you towards the Alienware AW2725Q, which is an excellent 27-inch 4K display that's going to appeal to serious gamers. There's a QD-OLED panel here as well, but the refresh rate gets bumped up to 240 Hz – and it's going to cost you significantly less than the Dell UltraSharp U3226Q.

Another option is the Sony Inzone M10S, which is also aimed at gamers but can easily do double duty for office work and creative tasks too. This is a screen that shows off just how good OLED technology can be: it's great value for money, with some very appealing specs to offer, though the 27-inch panel is limited to a 1440p resolution.

The best electric toothbrush market changed for the better when SURI arrived on the scene. Launching with the SURI 1.0 (now discontinued) in 2022, followed by the SURI Pro 2.0 in September last year, the brand has grown hugely in popularity thanks to its refreshingly simple approach to oral care.

Now, the new SURI Core 1.0 joins the Pro 2.0 to offer two distinct approaches to your morning routine. Whilst the Pro 2.0 remains SURI's most complete and premium brushing experience, the Core 1.0 strips things back, focusing on everyday performance and the features you'll actually use.

I was invited to a secret briefing a few weeks ago to find out more about the Core 1.0 and was lucky enough to take one home with me. I've been brushing with it for the past fortnight, so you'll find all my thoughts below.

Price and availability

The SURI Core 1.0 is priced at £65 and is available from SURI's online store and Amazon, as well as online and in-store at Boots. For comparison, the SURI Pro 2.0 costs £85 on its own or £105 with the UV cleaning case, making the Core a considerably more accessible entry point into the SURI lineup.

It's available in four colours – Haze (green), Ember (orange), Nightfall (blue) and Moonrise (grey). They're deliberately different from SURI's previous colourways, which helps give the Core its own identity.

Design and features

The Core 1.0 carries SURI's recognisable sleek design into a lightweight bio-circular handle, and it noticeably feels lighter in the hand than the Pro 2.0. Like every SURI toothbrush, it also uses plant-based brush heads that can be returned for recycling in the UK and US. This focus on reducing waste is one of the many reasons SURI picked up our Sustainability Award in the T3 Awards 2026.

Despite its lower price, SURI hasn't cut back on the essentials. The Core 1.0 is clinically tested to remove 100% more plaque than a manual toothbrush, and still includes a built-in pressure sensor and two-minute timer.

It also retains the impressive four-week battery life SURI has become known for, alongside quiet sonic cleaning at under 65dB. A compact wireless charging pebble and magnetic mirror mount are included too.

The most obvious omission compared to the Pro 2.0 is SURI's UV cleaning travel case, which isn't included with the Core 1.0. Instead, you get a plant-based brush head cover, keeping things simple and lightweight when you're travelling. There's also a built-in button lock, so you don't have to worry about the toothbrush accidentally switching itself on inside your bag.

The Pro 2.0 also has a more powerful motor with a higher number of brush strokes per minute, alongside SURI's TouchSense pressure sensor, which the brand says can help deliver four times healthier gums. You also get colour-matched plant-based brush heads with the Pro, whereas the Core comes with white brush heads regardless of which handle colour you choose.

Performance

After using the SURI Core 1.0 for the past fortnight, the biggest difference I've noticed compared to the Pro 2.0 is simply how much lighter it feels. It's noticeably more lightweight in the hand, but otherwise the two feel remarkably similar to use.

You still get the same two cleaning modes as the Pro 2.0, which is perfectly fine in my opinion. The Core does have a slightly less powerful motor, but I didn't notice a huge difference during everyday brushing. My teeth felt just as clean afterwards, and the pressure sensor and two-minute timer worked reliably throughout testing.

Battery life is just as impressive too. SURI claims up to four weeks, but I managed to get closer to five weeks before needing to recharge, which I know will be very useful for travelling.

Two of my favourite features on the Pro 2.0 are its magnetic mirror mount and UV cleaning case, so I was very happy to see the mirror mount stick around. However, I did find myself missing the UV case more than I expected, particularly for its charging functionality. When I've travelled for a few weeks at a time, being able to store the toothbrush securely and top up the battery without packing the separate charger has been incredibly useful. That said, it's undoubtedly a more premium extra, so I completely understand why SURI has left it out to keep the Core 1.0 more affordable.

One thing I'm not quite as sold on is the white brush head. SURI has introduced four completely new colours for the Core 1.0 anyway, so I don't really understand why the heads couldn't have been made to match. It's purely an aesthetic complaint and doesn't affect performance whatsoever, but part of SURI's appeal has always been its design, so the mismatched head does take away from that slightly. Whether it'll be enough to push design-conscious shoppers towards the Pro 2.0 remains to be seen.

However, when you consider the £65 price, these are relatively small compromises. The Core 1.0 still looks and feels like a SURI toothbrush, delivers an almost identical everyday brushing experience and retains many of the features that made the Pro 2.0 so easy to recommend. Bringing that experience to a lower price point feels like a sensible direction for the brand.

Verdict

The SURI Core 1.0 takes everything I already love about the Pro 2.0 and puts it into a lighter, more affordable package. The motor isn't quite as powerful and I definitely miss the UV charging case, but it still provides an excellent everyday brushing experience. Battery life remains exceptional, the pressure sensor and timer work reliably, and my teeth felt just as clean throughout testing. I'm still not convinced by the mismatched white brush heads, but at £65, it's a small complaint. The Core 1.0 feels like a natural next step for SURI and makes the brand's excellent design and performance accessible to more people.

Alternatives to consider

The obvious alternative is the SURI Pro 2.0 itself. The two toothbrushes share plenty of similarities, but if you want the more powerful brushing experience and think you'll make use of the UV cleaning case, I'd say it's worth spending the extra.

Another affordable electric toothbrush I regularly recommend is the Oral-B iO2, particularly if you're not interested in extras such as multiple cleaning modes or Bluetooth connectivity. It can often be found for around £30 and comes in black or forest green.

We're in a fundamentally pretty rancid era for computer tech. Everything seems to be getting more expensive by the day. But if you haven't yet been priced out then there's some real interesting stuff going on. Case in point: the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7X Gen 11, which still represents a great deal too.

Yes, this is a series some of you may know already. But the latest Lenovo Yoga Slim 7X is among the first laptops that we've tried with a Snapdragon X2 Elite processor. This is what's going to have to do battle with not just Intel's new Series 3 generation, but the Nvidia Spark tech that could potentially rewrite the thin-and-light laptop rulebook.

Price & Availability

The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7X Gen 11 was announced at the CES show in early 2026 as part of the first wave of Snapdragon X2 laptops.

It starts at £1050 / $1099 / AU$2449 retail price (you’ll typically pay a bit less online) with the lower-end Snapdragon X2 Plus, or is £1199 / $1649 / AU$2799 for the Elite CPU family we have.

Our specific review model has 32GB RAM, though, which pushes the price up a bit more. Max out all options in Lenovo’s configurator, including a 2TB SSD, and you can get the “RRP” price up again. But at least it's configurable to your needs and budget!

Design

For years, Lenovo has nailed both the looks and practicality of the Lenovo Yoga Slim family. But the one part we always have to mention is the way this isn't quite as "yoga" a laptop as you may assume.

It's not a hybrid. It doesn't even have a touchscreen – although you can spec it up with one. The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7X Gen 11 is a pure ultraportable laptop, with no funny stuff involved, bar a near-but-not-quite 180-degree hinge.

Lenovo has made some perhaps slightly contentious moves to get the weight down to a trim 1.17kg, though. While the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7X Gen 11 has a lovely all-metal outer casing, the screen has a plastic top layer. It's a dead giveaway when reflections distort a bit, as they do here.

This also means we lose the desirable pure flat screen finish you typically get in a glass screen PC. A biggie? That's up to you to decide.

Display

The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7X Gen 11 has a 14-inch 120Hz OLED screen, one whose 3K resolution looks sharp and clean at this size. Colour depth is fantastic too. And, as usual, OLED gets you those inky and deep blacks that make movie borders disappear completely in a dark room.

This generation gets a big brightness upgrade, although you won't see it in all conditions. In a normal room the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7X Gen 11 will reach around 500 nits brightness with normal content.

Feed it some high dynamic range (HDR) video, though, and the ceiling rises to an impressive 1000 nits. This is far brighter than what we saw in previous generation OLED laptops. It's not going to change your life, though, as there's no obvious way to enable that searing brightness when you're web browsing. It's likely to avoid excessive battery use, and should also help avoid OLED burn-in, too.

Make sure you check before buying, though, as Lenovo sells this PC with at least three different screen types. In the cheapest spec you get a 1200p OLED, which wouldn’t look as sharp. And the mid-tier one has a glass touchscreen, but not the brightness of this review model.

Would we be tempted to upgrade to the top-tier display with glass panel but all the goodies of our review one? Absolutely. But you don’t get these options with any retailer, most likely just Lenovo direct.

Keyboard & Touchpad

New tech and trad vibes combine in the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7X Gen 11. And that continues in the keyboard and touchpad.

This laptop has a more chunky and substantial-feeling keyboard than most of its contemporaries. It’s one of my favourites in this class, and is ideal for long stretches of typing, and for all-day working that doesn’t just involve meetings with middle managers.

You can feel some of the Lenovo ThinkPad heritage here, even if these keys aren’t really as deep as those enthusiast-favourite designs.

The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7X Gen 11 also has a decent white LED key backlight. It’s a standard one-zone affair with two intensity levels and an Auto setting.

This laptop’s touchpad is very familiar too. It’s not a haptic pad, just a classic mechanical one. And that means it does have a slim dead zone at the top, an area that does not click.

It’s old-school, but is still a great pad. It has a quality click response, and a super-smooth textured glass surface. There’s been no scripting to save a gramme/quid or two with a plastic pad.

Performance

The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7X Gen 11 will be many folks’ first exposure to Qualcomm’s true second-generation Snapdragon laptop processors.

The chip-maker's first generation made a splash in 2024, for their unusual architecture, long battery life and fab CPU performance. This generation’s aim is to take things even further while addressing the biggest issues with the first, compatibility with some traditional x86 apps.

The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7X Gen 11’s raw performance is terrific, particularly considering how portable this PC is. Its CPU power beats the rival 3rd Gen Intel Ultra Series according to benchmarks, and represents an up to 30% increase in power. That’s not bad across one generational leap.

GPU performance get a huge upgrade too, with a roughly up to 70% boost over the last generation. This is a healthy generational bump, way more than what we typically see.

It means you can run Cyberpunk 2077 at 60fps with a bit of settings massaging, rather than 30fps, and plenty more besides. Gaming power is roughly equivalent to a low-tier gaming laptop, which isn’t bad going given it’s at most a secondary job for the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7X Gen 11.

The one caveat is there’s a version of the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7X Gen 11’s processor that has masses more graphics power, the X2 Elite Extreme. But it’s not seen in all that many models as, presumably, it costs a packet. Check out Asus’ impressive Zenbook A16 to see that one in action.

What this PC and that one don’t have, though, is access to the best of the tech that can turbo-charge real-world frame rates. There’s no bespoke frame generation or upscaling tech here, as seen in entry-level gaming laptops with Nvidia GPUs.

Lenovo also claims this processor offers up to 80 TOPS of AI power, matching the figures for the recently-announced Nvidia Spark. The real-world benefits of this are a little less clear than the base CPU and GPU power, though, unless you’re a power user already running AI models locally off your PC(s).

The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7X Gen 11 also does have a full-on fan-based cooling system, despite having one of these new super-efficient processors. You should be glad about that, though, as it will mean this laptop can operate at, or close to, its max exertion level for longer without major throttling.

As an ultraportable cooling system, the fan tone is relatively low on decibels and higher on the frequency range. But it’s mostly inoffensive.

We’ve also noticed a significant improvement to app compatibility – some apps that flat-out don’t work with Snapdragon X1 laptops run just fine here. However, there appears to be some support issues with the DirectX 12 graphics framework, which has been an issue in getting some games to run, including Resident Evil 5 and Guardians of the Galaxy.

Compared with the class of 2024, though? A major compatibility glow up.

Battery Life & Features

The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7X Gen 11 has a fairly ordinary 70Wh capacity battery but you can stretch this out to a very long runtime if you don’t push the laptop too hard.

When playing video, the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7X Gen 11 will last around 15-and-a-half hours. That’s towards the higher end of what we’ve seen from the latest generation of portability-first laptops, despite some of them claiming stamina upwards of 30 hours.

Or, at the other end of the spectrum, expect around 92 minutes when maxed out playing games. These processors may be dead efficient, but there’s no getting around that rendering gaming visuals needs power – and a good amount of it.

The speakers are the one area of the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7X Gen 11 that isn’t particularly remarkable. While these are decent-sounding, their bass depth is not close to that of Apple MacBook Air or Pro.

Extra attention has been given to the webcam, though. I has a 9MP sensor, typically enough for 4K stills or video. By default it takes 2560 x 1440 stills and video, but you can bump up the photo resolution to a native 3840 x 2400 pixels if you like.

While this isn’t a clever camera that uses high resolution to offer two fields of view – a normal one and a super-wide view – it is a good league above the laptop webcam norm. And there’s a physical privacy switch on the side for the security aware. You can use it for face recognition logins too.

Unlike a bunch of other Lenovo slim-and-light-laptops, this one absolutely does not bridge the generation gap on connectivity. You get three USB-C ports and that’s it. These are all high-bandwidth USB4.0 ports, though, each offering 40Gbps.

Should you buy the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7X Gen 11?

The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7X Gen 11 is among the best laptops in its class if you’re happy to prioritise practicality and the fundamentals over flashy stuff and extra features.

Highlights include an excellent keyboard, a bright OLED screen (in the top spec), very long battery life, and world-trotting portability.

Our review spec doesn’t have a desirable end-to-end glass screen, nor a touchscreen, but you can spec that. Lenovo offers options in its configurator, leaving the speakers as the only grating issue.

Also Consider

The laptop class of the Snapdragon X2 processor is mostly out there already, and there are some impressive candidates.

If you have more cash to spend, take a look at the Asus Zenbook A16. It costs a chunk more but has an even more powerful processor, a larger screen and yet is basically no heavier at 1.2kg. Its Ceralunium finish doesn’t have the obviously metallic feel of aluminium, though.

For a real hybrid, there’s the latest Microsoft Surface Pro, quietly updated with Snapdragon X2 tech. Its pricing is less aggressive than Lenovo’s, though. You need to spend a few hundred more to match it on specs.

Or there’s Microsoft’s laptop version, the Surface Laptop, which is more a direct rival for the Yoga. A lovely-looking thing that will feel fantastic too, but it “only” has an LCD screen, not an OLED, and again costs hundreds more versus the Lenovo.

I've been using Samsung's latest Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra foldable for a week for this review. And while it's veritably better than its Galaxy Z Fold 7 predecessor, in the current market context it's arguably weaker. Say what?

To explain: Samsung also revealed the shorter-and-wider Galaxy Z Fold 8 at its Unpacked summer 2026 event, which I used for the week prior to this Ultra review. And that device changed the way I think about folding phones.

As such, the Z Fold 8 Ultra is a technological marvel, yet a tall order – quite literally – given its higher asking price than before. It's as if Samsung has spent the last seven years perfecting the imperfect format, but we just hadn't quite realised.

What's clear is that this Ultra foldable is the most advanced to date. Its Flex Titanium display is impressive. It's the thinnest Samsung folding phone yet. It finally bolsters the battery technology. The cameras are even better. It's truly brilliant in so many ways.

But in this brave new world of folding phones, it's got competition not only from Motorola, Honor, Google and others, but even pressure from within Samsung's own camp. And with Apple's answer to come, could this be the beginning of the end for the classic, tall foldable?

Price & Availability

This is the first 'Ultra' in Samsung's foldable range, but that's more a marker to separate it from the base Z Fold 8 – and perhaps argue the 'ultra' price tag that's being commanded, too.

At launch, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra is priced from £1,899 in the UK, $2,099 in the USA, and AU$2,999 in Australia. Also known as 'a lot of money' – particularly as it's pricier than last year's equivalent.

What's New?

• New Silicon-Carbon battery, increased capacity (4400mAh to 5000mAh)
• Increased charging speeds (25W to 45W wired; wireless 15W to 20W)
• Latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite 'for Galaxy' chip
• Flex Titanium technology for flatter internal display
• Wide-angle camera now 50MP (up from 12MP)
• Thinnest ever Z Fold – just 4.1mm unfolded
• Brighter displays (2600 nits to 3000 nits)
• Internal display resolution increase
• New colourway: Violet Shadow

Here's where the Z Fold 8 Ultra brings some exciting updates over its Z Fold 7 equivalent predecessor. While it might look and feel much the same from the outside, it's got some other benefits going on inside.

A major addition is an upgraded battery type (now Si-C, not Li-Po), which has greater capacity and offers faster charging than before. However, other competitors have even higher capacities and faster charging speeds.

The Z Fold 8 Ultra's internal display is now higher resolution and brighter, too, plus it's backed by Flex Titanium technology – literally titanium that can flex to hold the display rigid and avoid as bothersome a crease – for even better visuals.

A new-and-upgraded chipset, better ultra-wide camera sensor and resolution, thinner overall design, and new colourways tick off the other main highlights.

Design & Displays

• Colourways: Graphite, Cream, Violet Shadow
• 6.5-inch AMOLED external display
  • 21:9 aspect ratio
  • 1080 x 2520 resolution
• 8-inch AMOLED internal display
  • Approximately 5:6 aspect ratio
  • 2256 x 2504 resolution
• 4.1mm thin, 215g weight

Of all the folding phones you can buy, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 has the flattest internal display of the lot. The caveat is one foldable you can't buy: Oppo's Find N6, which gives Samsung a run for its money – but is a moot point (for markets outside of China).

I've long said that Samsung's tall-and-narrow format prompts me to open its Z Fold devices more than other wider foldables, such as Google's Pixel Fold Pro series. I still find that the case – although, personally, I find the shorter-and-wider Z Fold 8 better still.

Nonetheless, once opened, the Z Fold 8 Ultra's panel is mighty impressive. Is the crease invisible? Not quite; it isn't on any foldable. But it's barely noticeable – and certainly of no bother when face-on during use.

This massive display is opulent to the max, so great for side-by-side apps, with Samsung's One UI software handling split-screen and floating windows well. There are even swipe gestures to launch apps in specific ways, which is handy.

You won't want to swipe to excess, though, as like with any folding phone, the screen's coating isn't able to negate fingerprint smears. This is more pronounced on a folding panel than a typical flagship phone's glass. I await the day when R&D finds a solution to this.

The main competitor to give Samsung a run for its money, however, is Motorola. The Razr Fold, which has also only just launched, has a panel that's marginally larger and brighter overall.

Considering that device has more storage, making it effectively more affordable, it's a tempting proposition – and one that works with a stylus pen, unlike Samsung, which ditched its S Pen compatibility from its foldable two generations ago.

When closed, the Z Fold 8 Ultra's form remains the same conundrum as ever – and it's not going to please everyone. That's because the 21:9 aspect ratio might be a bit too narrow and too tall for some. But you do always have that squarer panel ratio within, so it's not as if anything's lost.

Performance & Battery

• Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 'for Galaxy', 12GB RAM
• 5000mAh Si-C battery type, 45W charging
• 256GB / 512GB / 1TB (+16GB) options

Samsung has gone with the top-tier overclocked 'for Galaxy' Qualcomm chipset in the Z Fold 8 Ultra. You'll know about that in some scenarios, such as when gaming, as the device gets pretty hot when it's shut – as heat dissipates better when it's open.

That's part of the reason that the Z Fold 8 Ultra can deliver ultimate results, but it's not endlessly 'ultra'. If the software knows it needs a break then the screen will auto-dim, for example. And despite more cooling provisions than the equivalent previous generation, throttling of that top-tier chipset will happen if you push it for too long.

Fortunately, the new battery technology can take a bit more abuse than the previous generation. The addition of silicon-carbon type to a 5,000mAh capacity is around a 14% rise. It's faster to charge, which helps with quicker top-ups as needed.

Not that I've found myself getting nervous with the battery remaining at the end of a day. I've been hitting 15% remaining after 16 hours of considerable use across a range of media and screen time, including gaming, Bluetooth connectivity, tethering and so forth.

No, it's not the best battery capacity of a foldable. Motorola and Honor both beat Samsung's latest for sake of longevity. No question about that. But Samsung has spent a long time ensuring battery safety for its device, which is why it has taken the time to get this far.

Still, I find the usability here well balanced. There's plenty of power, that big internal display to make the most of, and a much-needed battery boost for this generation.

Cameras

• Main (triple):
  • 200-megapixel, f/1.7 aperture, optical stabilisation (OIS)
  • 10MP 3x optical zoom (67mm equivalent), f/2.4, OIS
  • 50MP ultrawide, f/1.9
• Under-display cameras:
  • Both: 10MP, f/2.2
  • 18mm equivalent (cover), 24mm (interior)

The Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, per its Ultra name, closes the gap with the Galaxy S26 Ultra flagship. It doesn't seal that gap shut, though, as the latter non-foldable has the upper hand with a higher-resolution selfie camera and improved aperture speeds across its lenses too.

Nonetheless, the Z Fold 8 Ultra delivers a suite of cameras that any other foldable is going to struggle to compete with. Yes, it's still a massive rear protrusion – that causes that pain-in-the-ass 'desk wobble' for everyday on-the-desk use – but it's full of quality photographic potential.

It needs such cameras, though, given the Ultra name – and this is a big part of what you're paying extra to have as part of this package. The base Z Fold 8, by comparison, isn't nearly as accomplished – and lacks an optical zoom altogether.

The star of the show is the main 200-megapixel snapper, which delivers sharp and balanced results. It's best in daylight, but the Nightography mode still sees it as mighty capable when the light dips. It's good with close-up shooting too, although the macro mode can auto-engage a bit too easily sometimes when you might not need it.

The Z Fold 8 Ultra clears up one aspect of its predecessor's biggest weakness, too, by delivering a 50-megapixel ultra-wide that's much improved in delivering clear and crisp results thanks to its higher resolution.

The telephoto remains the same 10-megapixel offering as previously, though, which could really do with a boost. Easier said than done, on account of space limitations, but I have really enjoyed using the zoom optic in this device – it's pointed out to me on repeat that it's a big omission from the base Z Fold 8.

Verdict

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra is, in many ways, the ultimate folding phone. It's the most refined ever, just as it should be after the seven generations preceding it.

But there's a problem: the Ultra enters a new landscape, one where the much wider Z Fold 8 has just rewritten the foldables rulebook for the better (save for the cameras).

It's in that context that the Ultra seems almost like a victim of Samsung's own success. Indeed, any other current foldable now feels too narrow as a result of this whole new world – and we'll see in time whether that marks the beginning of a new chapter.

No, the Z Fold 8 Ultra doesn't compromise, but for this sort of money and without the cameras going yet further, the base Z Fold 8 is where most attention will rightly be focused.

It's strange how context can change in such a short period. Samsung has undoubtedly created its most technologically adept foldable ever, but the competition is now abundant, and we're atop a precipice of imminent change.

Also Consider

If the Z Fold 8 Ultra's exterior display is too narrow for you, but you think the base Z Fold 8's might be too wide, then it's Google's Pixel 10 Pro Fold that sits in between – although it's so much like a 'normal' flagship when folded that you might never unfold it.

Otherwise, there's no ignoring the previous Z Fold 7 product, which is largely similar to the Z Fold 8 Ultra, just lacking in the Flex Titanium display technology and upgraded battery and charging tech. A big enough saving might negate that, though.

Elsewhere, Honor's Magic V6 goes big on discounts to lure you in – offering a lot of spec for less money. Or Motorola's Razr Fold dangles a carrot in the form of an included stylus for its brand new release – offering a key point of difference.

Whatever your preference, there’s a style of tent available to meet your needs, whether it’s a large four- to eight-person family tent for a weekend or a two-week summer break in France, a feather-light 3-season backpacking tent for solo trekkers, bikers and globetrotting students, a cheap-and-cheerful shelter for a music festival or a 4-season storm-proof mountain tent for the truly adventurous.

However, there’s also a category of tent for those who enjoy the freedom of the open road and the wherewithal to stop almost anywhere a campsite permits, making spontaneous overnight stays far easier.

The most popular of these is the rooftop tent, which remains firmly fixed to the roof rack of a car, just like a standard roof box. These tents unfold in different ways but, in most cases, when you arrive at your destination you simply grab the attached ladder, pull it out and the whole tent unfolds in a thrice. When folded, it packs down into a compact hard shell or a covered fabric case.

The good thing about a rooftop tent is that you’re well above ground level, but the not-so-good thing is that you tend to feel the wind more strongly because of its elevation and the fact it’s attached to a car that rocks on its own suspension.

Also, you need to use a ladder to get in and out of the tent and that rules out taking a large dog with you. You also need the right type of car – usually a 4x4 or large estate – and that rules out car touring in an open top with the wind in your hair.

Which leads me to what Australians call a swag tent, of which I have a particularly fine example sitting on my lawn right now.

It’s called the Dometic Pico FTC 2x2 TC-i, and I personally think it’s a brilliant one- or two-person option for car touring and quick weekend pitch-ups, mostly because it sits firmly on the floor, it’s inflatable so it erects in seconds, it’s made from breathable polycotton, and you can take it in any type of car, including small hatchbacks and convertibles.

Let’s take a closer look at this new and very niche style of tent, and see if it ticks all the boxes for your next campsite-based driving holiday.

Dometic Pico FTC 2x2 TC-i tent review

Price and availability

The Dometic Pico FTC 2x2 TC-i is widely available in the UK through camping specialists and outdoor retailers, with a recommended retail price of around £525, although discounts bring it down to under £350 in some cases.

In the UK you can purchase this tent from Outdoor XL (£324.95), Berger Camping (£532) and Blacks (£469), when it’s back in stock. While currently out of stock at Go Outdoors, you can at least purchase the one-person version of the Pico for £450 (£399 members).

In Europe, prices typically range between €550 and €620 though my research suggests that it isn’t widely available. I would check the Dometic website for stockists in your region. Likewise, the Pico is currently very difficult to find through mainstream US retailers, making it a specialist import for American buyers.

Pitching process

I’ve lost count of how many tents I’ve erected and packed up over the years, but I’ve got to say that the Pico was easily one of the very fastest and most intuitive.

If it's windy, start by pegging out all four corners and grab the included air pump, which you will need to assemble before using for the first time. Now attach the pump to the main inflation inlet and start pumping. It took me thirty pumps before the tent suddenly popped up on its own and another twenty or so strokes to reach the required 9PSI of pressure.

Mind, I’m not sure I like the way the Dometic pump works because the needle on the gauge doesn’t remain static on the PSI figure as you’re pumping. Instead, it shoots up as you apply pressure and then drops to zero on the upstroke. This means you have to watch the needle carefully until it brushes the 9PSI figure.

A figure of 9PSI is pretty high for an air beam tent, so don’t panic if you think the beams feel too firm – they should be difficult to squeeze between the fingers. At this juncture, it would be a good idea to peg out the corners of the tent in case a rogue gust of wind rolls in.

The next stage is to inflate the bedroom’s full-width mattress, and this is done using a second air beam valve with a large warning label attached that states a maximum of 2 PSI. I presume Dometic fitted this warning following complaints by a handful of users who pumped it so full the mattress burst.

I think the most likely reason was user error because it’s easy to go overboard when pumping. For this reason, Dometic also provides a special release valve with the pump when inflating the mattress but I could never get it to attach to the inlet so I also winged it.

However, I did it very carefully in stages of a few pumps at a time, followed by a quick check. What you want is a bit of give in the mattress so your knuckle can touch the floor. The rest of the process entails pegging out the four guy lines and installing the two telescopic porch poles.

Unlike your average polyester tent, most polycotton tents require weatherproofing in the garden before being used, and this entails closing the doors and windows and properly soaking the whole tent with a hosepipe before allowing it to dry thoroughly.

When the fabric gets wet, the cotton fibres expand, which closes the tiny gaps in the weave, creating a complete barrier against rain. Wetting and then drying the tent also allows the material to shrink slightly and become properly tensioned on the frame.

Just be sure to fully dry the tent before packing it away, or mould may develop while in storage. This also applies when packing it up after use. If it’s raining on the day you’re leaving, find a place at home to open the tent so it can dry naturally because polycotton is much more susceptible to mould than polyester, and it’s not easy to remove.

Design and build quality

The Dometic Pico FTC 2x2 TC-i is a fascinating exercise in minimalist tent design, which is hardly surprising given that the company that makes it is Swedish. At first glance, it resembles an oversized Australian ‘swag’ more than a conventional shelter.

For those who have never heard of the term – me previously included – a swag is a type of hybrid tent with a built-in mattress that originated in the Australian outback.

It typically consists of a heavy-duty canvas shell, a built-in mattress and mesh panels for insect protection. In the Land of Oz, the swag has become one of the most popular types of tent for car- and motorbike-based camping. However, by comparison, this Dometic model is on another level, especially when it comes to design, build quality, and effortless pitching and packing.

For a fully polycotton tent with air beams and integrated inflatable mattress, the two-person Pico FTC 2x2 weighs in at a light-ish 11.5 kg and arrives in a backpack-style carry bag with padded shoulder straps, making it surprisingly manageable over moderate distances.

Its pack size, too, is much smaller than I expected – around 60 x 38 x 20 cm – and that likely makes it small enough for transport on a large motorcycle cruiser like a Honda Gold Wing.

The defining feature here is undoubtedly the Pico’s quick-pitch Air Frame Technology, which replaces traditional tent poles with a double T-shaped inflatable structural beam that inflates via a single external valve, allowing the entire frame to take shape in about 30 seconds.

According to the specs, the Pico’s outer Weathershield TC fabric has a GSM of 210 and is made from a blend of 35% cotton and 65% polyester. I would hazard a guess that its hydrostatic head is equivalent to more than 3,000mm, which is better than average for waterproofness. I certainly saw no signs of water ingress after squirting the tent with the hose gun set to full blast.

Most impressively, the Pico’s polyester fabric feels so much more substantial than the gossamer-thin, flappy polyester found on most modern camping tents. Moreover, polycotton has two distinctly favourable properties.

It naturally regulates internal temperature much more effectively than synthetic fabrics, keeping the interior cooler during warm afternoons and slightly warmer on nippy evenings, and it’s also breathable, which vastly reduces condensation on chilly mornings.

Build quality of the Pico is universally excellent, with neat stitching, reinforced stress points and a robust inflatable beam system that feels like it will withstand repeated packing and unpacking, which is what car touring is all about.

The heavy-duty zips glide smoothly, while the front door flap closes securely without snagging. While there is a bit of sag at the rear of the tent, it’s not something I noticed when inside. However, an extra centrally located rear pegging point would help pull the rear of the fly a little more outward and make the back end look a bit more taut in my opinion.

Another thoughtful design element is the inclusion of an integrated full-floor inflatable i-Beam mattress which measures 215cm in length and 140cm in width – suitable for two and even better for one.

Rather than using a separate air bed that slides around during the night, this dimpled mattress forms part of the overall design and reduces the amount of equipment that needs transporting, making the overall camping experience pleasantly simple. That said, you can easily add your own mattress on top or remove the main mattress pad altogether.

While we’re inside, I should also mention the addition of two small triangular mesh pockets for storing valuables like a phone and head torch. However, since this tent is ostensibly just a low-slung portable bedroom, you don’t get a protected vestibule for damp clothing and wet boots, so bear this in mind.

I’m a big fan of the Pico’s high-stepped entrance, which prevents running rainwater from entering the tent, and I also love the two side windows with fixed insect-proof mesh and zipped rainproof panels.

When unzipped, these windows provide excellent through ventilation. Furthermore, because the whole tent is constructed out of breathable polycotton, there’s practically zero condensation, even on the dampest of mornings.

I’m also impressed by the Pico’s two pegged-out storm flaps that cover the side windows because they really do a marvellous job of keeping driving rain at bay.

Likewise, when the front canopy is fully opened, there are two zipped triangular rain flaps on each side of the canopy that prevent running water from entering the tent from above, making this tent exceptionally storm-proof.

The front canopy, incidentally, can be turned into a small sheltered porch by supporting it using the two supplied telescopic alloy poles.

Judged on its intended purpose as a car touring tent, the Dometic Pico FTC 2x2 TC-i is a superbly executed combination of premium polycotton fabric, a rigid inflatable frame, integrated air mattress and meticulous Swedish engineering throughout.

No, it is far from being the cheapest two-person tent you can buy, but in my opinion it beats the pants off any synthetic polyester model, especially when it comes to interior ambience, controlled internal temperatures in both hot and cold weather and the wonderful breathability that only polycotton can provide.

Performance and comfort

I pitched this model on my lawn and slept in it for one night. Kipping in the Pico quickly highlighted why polycotton remains the fabric of choice for many seasoned campers.

The material creates a noticeably more comfortable sleeping environment than conventional polyester, helping to regulate temperature while dramatically reducing condensation.

Even after a cool night, the interior remained impressively dry, with none of the damp, clammy feeling that often accompanies synthetic tents. That alone makes a significant difference to overall comfort in my opinion.

The integrated inflatable mattress also deserves a mention. It provided a supportive, evenly cushioned surface that felt far more substantial than a typical camping mat, removing much of the compromise usually associated with sleeping on the ground. I had a genuinely restful night's sleep in it.

The Pico’s interior length provides ample room for anyone around six feet tall to stretch out fully without feeling confined, giving the interior a surprisingly spacious feel despite the compact footprint. Headroom is less generous, mind, although that is simply part of the swag design rather than a flaw.

At 5ft 5in, I could sit upright comfortably without my head touching the roof, but kneeling was another matter since my head did brush the ceiling. I’d say it’s still perfectly manageable for changing clothes, but it isn't somewhere you'll want to spend extended periods sitting inside during poor weather. I’d be back in the car seeking better weather down the road.

I also loved the overall ambience of sleeping under polycotton. During daylight it allowed a soft, natural glow to filter through the fabric, making the interior feel bright rather than enclosed. And yet despite this light transparency, the material proved exceptionally waterproof, at least according to the hosepipe thrashing I gave it.

If you’re in the market for a compact one- or two-person portable bedroom for your car touring needs, this one comes wholeheartedly recommended. To conclude, I personally could think of nothing better than stuffing this tent into the boot of a Mazda MX5, dropping the hood and touring the wine region of France or a few stages of the Tour de France. Dream on, Delvis, dream on.

Verdict

While the Pico falls just shy of five stars, I’ve been extremely impressed by its performance and wherewithal to pitch and take down in a thrice. Almost every aspect of its construction has been engineered around speed, convenience and comfort rather than shaving off every last gram.

Yes, there’s very little headroom on board, but then again it’s designed for campers who value arriving late, pitching quickly and enjoying a comfortable night's sleep without wrestling with a bundle of poles and a separate mattress. Check it out – it might just be what you’ve always needed.

More than just a Bluetooth speaker, and with the talents and chutzpah of a soundbar, the Music Studio 7 (officially the HW-LS70H if you enjoy a codename) smart speaker sits at the top of Samsung’s new Music Studio family.

Its stablemate is the related but less well-endowed Music Studio 5. Both models share a similar aesthetic, but the flagship boasts a far more ambitious acoustic architecture, with Dolby Atmos support, HDMI eARC connectivity and Q-Symphony compliance.

The brief may be a little confusing, but there’s no doubt this is one of the more intriguing premium wireless speakers to find its way onto the T3 test bench in 2026.

Price & Availability

You can pick up a Samsung Music Studio 7 in the UK right now, priced at £499 in the UK. It sells for $499 in the United States, and is AU$599 in Australia.

These tickets place it firmly in the premium wireless speaker category, which could be considered a little rich, until you factor in its Dolby Atmos and HDMI functionality.

Features & What's New?

There’s quite a party going on inside the Music Studio 7.

Samsung has crowbarred in a five-driver array for 3.1.1 Dolby Atmos playback.

Samsung kettles these front, side and upward-firing drivers with proprietary Pattern Control Technology, designed to minimise acoustic interference between drivers and improve directional accuracy.

A dedicated Super Tweeter extends frequency response to 35kHz, allowing support for 24-bit/96kHz Hi-Res Audio, if you have the source material. Power comes from a 150W Class D amplifier.

Alongside the Dolby Atmos there’s support for Eclipsa Audio, making this one of the first standalone wireless speakers ready for Samsung and Google's emerging immersive audio format. This may or may not prove significant, but time will tell.

Artificial intelligence (AI) also features prominently, selectable from the Samsung Sound app.

SpaceFit Sound Pro employs an onboard microphone to calibrate the speaker automatically to its surroundings. This happens in the background, optimising playback without requiring manual intervention. I’m not too convinced of its impact either way, but left it on for the bulk of this audition.

Active Voice Amplifier Pro uses AI processing to improve dialogue intelligibility when background noise rises. Not an issue in my case, so not routinely used.

Sound Quality

The Music Studio 7 has been voiced with entertainment in mind.

As a music speaker it produces an impressively large soundstage for its size. Those side-firing and upward-firing drivers extend well beyond the cabinet.

Samsung has always been good at needling out fine detail, and has produced an impressive line of low-cost, high-performance super tweeters over the years. That lineage continues here.

Bass is plentiful. Sometimes very plentiful. This low frequency bloom is more noticeable on some content than others. On piano recordings, low frequencies can become more dominant than ideal. Jon Batiste's meditative Always Know is robbed of its delicacy, sounding heavier and thicker than intended.

Modern pop and rock are much more natural companions. My Chemical Romance's pacey anthem Na Na Na arrives with tremendous energy, the speaker maintaining composure even at enthusiastic listening levels.

Film scores also play to its strengths. Hans Zimmer's Stay, from the movie Interstellar, benefits from the Music Studio 7's generous low-frequency extension. The ominous bass foundation and swelling organ notes create a genuinely cinematic sense of atmosphere.

Switching from streams to HDMI transforms the speaker's character again. With a Dolby Atmos bitstream, bass becomes noticeably tighter and more disciplined. Channel steering snaps into focus. Effects spread wide, while the up-firing driver introduces a tangible sense of height.

Is the Music Studio 7 a realistic alternative to a soundbar? I’d say conclusively it is. Helpfully, the speaker has a very wide sweet spot. That patented Wave Guide does a great job filling the room, making it ideal for a family audience.

The opening introduction to Stranger Things (season 1), on Netflix, is particularly immersive. The soundtrack's unsettling groans, distant rumbles and pulsing score are not squandered.

Dolby Atmos-encoded music proves equally rewarding. The spatial mix of Elton John’s Rocket Man, streaming from Amazon Music over HDMI, is fresh and airy, while Pink Floyd's Time alarm clocks are distinct and separate, before the track digs into David Gilmour’s opening vocal.

Design & Usability

The Music Studio 7’s distinctive Dot Design is the work of Erwan Bouroullec. He’s one half of the Paris-based Bouroullec brothers, who were also responsible for the look of Samsung’s The Frame and Serif lifestyle TVs.

Available in either black or white, the cabinet combines gently curved surfaces with perforated metal grilles. I like it, but can see it might prove divisive with bookshelf speaker traditionalists.

Build quality is reassuringly solid: at 5.6kg, the speaker feels substantial. A recessed carry handle at the rear helps to manoeuvre it around. The footprint is a tidy 185 x 269 x 190.5mm.

Controls line up across the top, including volume adjustment, microphone muting and a programmable shortcut button. Spotify Tap support allows users to launch personalised playlists with a simple double press.

Placement obviously deserves some consideration, and is a key part of the soundbar replacement debate, since much of the speaker's spacious presentation depends upon its side-firing and upward-firing drivers. These therefore need to remain unobstructed for the soundstage to work.

Connectivity is comprehensive. HDMI eARC allows direct TV integration, with optical digital audio as a legacy set backup. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 6.0 provide flexibility for music streaming. HDMI eARC is particularly welcome, not least because it allows volume adjustment via a TV remote.

Owners of compatible Samsung televisions also gain access to Q-Symphony, allowing the Music Studio 7 to work alongside compatible Samsung soundbars and TV speakers as part of a larger sound system. Great for additional height to the front soundstage.

Software setup involves Samsung's Sound app alongside SmartThings, and feels slightly less streamlined than it should be. Once configured, daily operation is relatively straightforward though.

Apple AirPlay, Google Cast, Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect, Roon Ready certification all get Hall Passes, as does Alexa, which is built in. Samsung's own smart assistant, Bixby, is notably absent (he’s been playing truant quite a lot lately).

Samsung Music Studio 7 review: Verdict

The Music Studio 7 is an excellent wireless music speaker. Bouroullec's industrial design is nothing if not elegant.

It’s also a capable TV sound upgrade and a foundation for Samsung's wider Q-Symphony ecosystem. Few rivals can multi-task so convincingly.

Its sonic personality isn’t without foibles, though. Bass can dominate more delicate recordings, yet this same authority becomes an advantage when watching a movie, or grooving with your mates.

If your listening habits span albums, streaming services and blockbuster movies in equal measure, the Music Studio 7 is well worthy of consideration. Just don’t park it on a crowded bookshelf.

Also Consider

If you like the idea of a versatile all-in-one, the Denon Home 400 is a strong alternative. It also looks great and supports Dolby Atmos. There's no HDMI though.

Another contender is the Sonos Era 300. This also delivers excellent spatial audio, and has top-notch multiroom capabilities, but once again it lacks HDMI eARC.

Motorola might be kicking itself. Having first announced shown off the Razr Fold back in January, it wasn't fully revealed until March, before then going on sale this May.

A couple of months later, as we come to this review, and the talk of folding phone town is now focused on Samsung's new format, in the Galaxy Z Fold 8 – with barely a glimmer of interest in the taller, classic Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra.

The Razr Fold is more akin to the latter's format, arriving just as the industry looks to pivot, leaving taller devices to assert themselves against an exciting newcomer. It's taken Motorola a long time to launch its Fold, not least when you consider that it joined the folding phone party with the flip version of the Razr back in 2019.

But don't write it off, as there's still a lot of positives going on in the Razr Fold. It's one of Motorola's most premium devices yet – and shows it means business thanks to a stylus pen included in the box, which is something Samsung's foldables ditched a couple of years back.

Price & Availability

The Razr Fold is widely available, coming with 16GB RAM and 512GB storage. That's generous compared to Samsung, making the Razr Fold cheaper than the new Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra.

Buy it from Motorola.com and you'll get Moto Buds and Moto Watch bundled into the package (in the UK – regionally that deal may differ), all for £1799.99 / $1899.99 / AU$2399.

That's significantly cheaper than Samsung's offering, but it is a little more expensive than the Honor Magic V6. There's no shortage of folding phones vying for your cash these days, it seems.

Motorola Razr Fold vs Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra

• Razr Fold comes with Pen Ultra stylus; Samsung has no stylus capabilities
• Razr battery lasts longer, also features faster charging tech
• Both the Razr Fold displays are brighter than Samsung's
• Z Fold 8 Ultra is thinner and lighter
• Z Fold 8 Ultra also more powerful

As there's no previous Razr Fold model, let's just quickly compare it to the competition – the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra being its most key rival.

Samsung and Motorola have fundamentally different approaches to design, with the Z Fold 8 Ultra sporting a slim-and-light industrial design.

That makes the Razr Fold look a little chunky, at 9.89mm thick (folded; 4.55mm when unfolded) and weighing 243g. And, while the Razr Fold has a lovely textured back with Pantone colours, it's not as dramatic as some of the brand's other models.

Motorola makes up for that with a much larger battery – both brands use silicon-carbon (Si-C), but Samsung's 5000mAh is dwarfed by Moto's 6000mAh. Motorola backs this up with 80W wired charging, while Samsung only offers 45W.

The Samsung phone is more powerful, with Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 'for Galaxy', while Motorola sticks with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 – which is a bit of a step down. Motorola responds by offering more RAM and storage as standard and for much less cash than Samsung, though.

Displays

• 5.6-inch external LTPO OLED display, 21:9 aspect ratio
  • 6000 nits peak brightness
  • 2520 x 1080 resolution
  • 165Hz refresh
• 8.09-inch LTPO pOLED, 8:7.2 aspect ratio
  • 6200 nits peak brightness
  • 2484 x 2232 resolution
  • 165Hz refresh

Motorola's approach to the displays in this folding phone are much the same as they are in its other devices: nothing is left to chance, on the spec sheet at least.

You just have to glance at the top line numbers – 6200 nits brightness for the main display, 165Hz refresh rate – and you'll realise that many of those are to upsell, rather than always deliver.

That's because 165Hz content is exceptionally rare, as is getting any display to actually output 6200 nits. Futureproofing? Sure. At the same time, I have very little to complain about when it comes to these displays.

The cover display is large enough and resolute enough to be used as a regular phone. It's a little tall and narrow, but I've found it performs perfectly well in this role.

There's a very slight curving away to the edges, which I don't really like on a regular phone, but considering the thickness of the Razr Fold when closed, it helps make it slightly easier to manage.

Open the phone up and that internal 8.09-inch display is massive. Yes, there's a crease down the middle, it's visible and it can be felt when running a finger across it. There's no Flex Titanium technology going on here. I've not reviewed the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, but first impressions were that the crease was less obvious there than it is on Motorola's phone.

With that said, I've been using the Razr Fold for a month – and I'd expect the crease to get a little more established during that time. But like other folding phones I've used, I don't really notice the crease when I'm using it. This is, after all, a display that folds –there's going to be a crease.

But like other folding phones, the top layer of this device is a protective polymer film that's prone to reflections and fingerprints – it just doesn't look as nice as typical glass. That's the same as Samsung's latest devices and, to be honest, that's a bigger bugbear than the crease for me. Still, Motorola's big brightness can at least cut through reflections.

Visually I've been nothing but impressed with how the Motorola Razr Fold looks when using these displays. They are vibrant with rich colours, content looks great, while there's also support for HDR10+ from apps like Netflix.

Hardware & Performance

• Colours: Pantone Lily White, Pantone Blackened Blue
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 5, 16GB RAM
• 6000mAh Si-C battery, 80W charging
• 512GB storage

Folding phones trade screen space for performance to a certain extent and that seems to be as much the case for the Razr Fold as it is for other foldables.

That might justify the decision to use the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5. For those who don't know, it's a slight step down from the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, with the cores clocked slightly lower and lacking some of the graphical features.

But let's put that into context: folding phones aren't great at cooling themselves down, so high-performance hardware often gets throttled because of the form factor. Basically, not having the top-tier hardware doesn't hold the phone back, and I never found the Razr's performance worrying.

With that said, testing this phone through a series of heatwaves, I've felt it get really warm – especially when using Android Auto – and I've also fished the phone out of my pocket a couple of times to discover that it had turned itself off. A byproduct of overheating or a software quirk? I haven't been able to determine in today's climate.

The battery life, however, is truly impressive. I've easily got the Razr Fold through the day and well into the next, thanks to that huge 6000mAh battery. The 80W charging is the icing on the cake, because you can top it up in barely any time at all.

So I don't have a problem with the hardware loadout, despite it not matching Samsung's overall power, which I don't think that's a huge disadvantage. This isn't a gaming phone, after all, and multitasking (opening a number of spreadsheets and PDFs for a closer look) didn't seem to bother the phone during my testing at all.

But Motorola hasn't been doing itself any favours with its software recently. The introduction of Moto AI through Hello UI over the past couple of years has seen increased bloat and the attempted insertion of additional junk on your device. The newsfeed and AI search box in the apps tray are terrible, slowing the experience down. I turned both off – and a lot of the other Moto AI options besides.

There's a dedicated AI button on the frame that can only be assigned to Moto AI tasks, so after a couple of weeks I disabled that – it sits right next to the volume controls and it's too easy to accidentally press it.

Some housekeeping is required, therefore, but do so and you'll find a phone that should run smoothly for plenty of years to come. That's bolstered by Motorola stepping up with 7 years of support on this phone, finally matching the competition.

Cameras

• Triple rear cameras:
  • Main: 50-megapixel, f/1.6, 1/1.28in sensor, OIS
  • Wide: 50-megapixel, f/2.0, 1/2.76in sensor
  • Tele: 50-megapixel, f/2.4, 1/195in sensor, OIS, 3x optical
• Seflie cameras:
  • Cover: 20-megapixel, f/2.4
  • Internal: 32-megapixel. f/2.4

Motorola's big push on the Razr Fold is offering three 50-megapixel cameras on the back. It's a hefty chunk of camera, not just on the spec sheet, but it's physically bulbous, matching Motorola's other phones in terms of design.

However, the selfie cameras drop down to a lower resolution, but the argument is that on a folding phone you can open it up and use the main camera to take selfies, benefitting from the higher quality that it offers.

Taking a selfie with the internal camera is unwieldy, which makes it surprising that the cover display camera seems to be the lowest spec, considering it's the easiest to use. It has a tendency to overexpose, so it's definitely my least favourite camera for selfies on this phone. The selfie cameras have a noticeably different tone too, so there's little consistency.

The main camera on the Razr Fold is great, supported by the ultrawide and telephoto cameras for a complete set. I found the colour consistency across these to be great too. The best results come in daylight conditions, but once it gets darker the main camera suffers, failing to capture detail cleanly. While taking a set of complex night photos, I had to revert to the Google Pixel 10 Pro to get usable results.

The telephoto is great to have on a folding phone, with the native 3x optical zoom or even 6x cropped zoom delivering great results – but the 100x digital zoom that it offers just goes a little too far to be useful. That's down to AI upscaling being too obvious – not presenting what you actually saw, rather what AI thinks it should be.

I've found the video recording to be generally good, too, with the option for Dolby Vision a quick tap away and making a noticeable difference to the quality when playing it back on the phone.

Motorola Razr Fold review: Verdict

The Motorola Razr phone is a great folding phone, with the battery life a clear advantage over Samsung's best, while the overall camera performance is decent and the design has a touch of class – even if it's a little chunky.

While there's a welcome 7-years of support into the future, Motorola's general software experience needs work to make it more friendly, with the bloat and Moto AI interruptions unwelcome. But that can be turned off, excess apps removed, and the AI button deactivated too.

Motorola's first full-scale foldable is more affordable than big-name rivals, with better battery life and charging, a lovely duo of displays, and a competitive camera setup. Ultimately, if you're shopping for a classic, taller type folding phone, then you're in safe hands with the Motorola Razr Fold.

Also Consider

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra is the biggest rival to the Motorola Razr Fold, but while it has nicer software and a slimmer design, it's more expensive with a smaller battery and slower charging.

Or there's the Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold for a better software experience, great cameras, but less power and a smaller battery. It's now heavily discounted, however, so is much better value.

Or there's the Honor Magic V6, which has a nicer display, more power, a larger battery and a slimmer-and-lighter design, but with software that's a little more bloated and fussy.