TESLA S ON TEST
HI-DEF? SO PASSÉ
YOU’VE GOT ALE
So much fun to drive, the electric bit’s just a bonus
The three best quad-HD TVs money can buy
Brew the perfect pint with your smartphone
GADGETS / APPS / GEAR
ANDROID WEAR WORN A smartwatch you actually need p80
THE £230 SUPERPHONE OnePlus One tested: So long Samsung, adios Apple p96
VR GETS REAL
www.stuff.tv / September 2014 / £4.60
Holodecks, armchair tourism, 360º films & VR Attenborough p51
THINGS ...and they’re here, now
PLUS! Turn your phone into a VR headset... for £25
CONS ON THE COVER p16
p62
p80 Talk to the wrist
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HOT STUFF
TESTS
12 The Hot Four O Google Glass Explorer UK Edition O Harley-Davidson LiveWire O LG G Watch, Samsung Gear Live O Samsung Galaxy Tab S 18 Vital stats Amazon Fire The other Big A gets in on the smartphone market with a tempting 3D-effect screen 20 Gigapixel Icon A5 Fancy a (relatively) inexpensive and stress-free piloting experience? 24 Apps Why you’ll soon be saying “FuseMe!” 28 Icon Denon CEOL Carino Smarter-than-it-looks mini audio system 32 Games First play of the terror-tastic Rainbow Six 36 Choice Wallets Stylish stuff to stick in your back pocket 40 Names to drop Elon Musk The techie tycoon behind Tesla and PayPal 44 Our month You need to know what we’ve been up to so you can strive to be just like us, obviously 46 Your month Head to the Edinburgh fringe for some funny, or watch Sin City for some gritty
62 First test Tesla Model S We play around with the dash-screen in the electric car that isn’t just an electric car 64 App:roved Stuff-certified apps for… Planet busting, footie training, ocean exploring and trying out skater tricks 68 Tested Samsung Galaxy Tab S The incredible screen on Samsung’s new tablet is sure to make it a bestseller 69 Tested SeeMeCNC Orion Delta 3D Printer A new shape for printing new shapes: Stuff gives the Orion Delta a good going over 80 First test LG G Watch It’s the dawn of the Android Wear era… but is LG’s smartwatch up to the job? 83 Group test 4K TVs Three ultra hi-def tellies inspected up close 86 Tested Games O Grid Autosport O Valiant Hearts: The Great War 96 Versus OnePlus One vs Oppo Find 7 Two of the best new Chinese smartphones battle to be the ultimate hipster handset
p96 OnePlus vs Oppo
p51 This is unreal
p83 4K TV me
09.14
WIN! p49
TOP 10
OF EVERYTHING p114
Been away for a while? There are three more Stuff Top 10s nowadays: Games machines, Wearable tech and Connected home. Check them out from p119
p51
FEATURES
PROJECTS 108 Beta yourself Climbing Kit up, chalk up and, er, go up. From ice to boulders, we’ll show you the ropes 110 Playlist Online courses The problem with evening classes is that you actually have to go to them. Not any more… 112 Super geek Homebrewed beer Five quid for a pint!? Forget it. I’ll brew my own craft beer and be everyone’s best friend 114 Instant upgrades Golf As Team Europe and Team USA tee off at the Ryder Cup, it’s time to turn bogeys into birdies 116 Gadget doctor Tech-buying ailments solved – and this mag costs less than an NHS prescription! 117 5-minute hacks If nothing else, at least… Streamline your fitness apps O Keep track of Amazon prices O Get a quick check-up
51 Reality 2.0 We’ve been here before, and it didn’t stick, but will it be different for the new generation of virtual reality devices? Yes, it will… 71 Chinese takeover The wave of affordable indie superphones zooming over from the Far East look too good to be true. We find out if they are 90 Stuff picks Photography setups We share tips and helpful tech to help you when snapping specialist shots, from super starry skies to macro shots of caterpillars 99 Fashion Trainers A selection of fancy footwear for the modern geek-about-town 138 Next big thing? HP’s time machine OK, not actually a time machine, but HP is upping its game with memristor chips p90
p108
OUR PRICES Prices in Hot Stuff are RRPs. Prices in features, tests and Top 10s are the best we could find from a reputable online retailer at the time of going to print.
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WELCO Reality is fine, really it is. I’m not planning to give up cycling on real roads, watching real bands or having meals with my real family just yet. But in the not-toodistant future I’ll augment my existence with a dose of unreality – and I expect life to be better for it. Thanks to the likes of Oculus VR, the escapism of the non-corporeal is going far beyond gaming: soon it will be possible to learn in virtual classrooms, watch movies from the inside and go on virtual tours of the wonders of the world, all from the comfort of your Sofa Workshop three-piece. Virtual reality is set to be reality’s more interesting cousin. Read all about the fantastic possibilities on p51. Reality’s also about to be shaken up for some of the established players in the smartphone game. There’s a shadow spreading from the East, cast by a squadron of massive-screened, super-powered smartphones that carry improbably small price tags. We have the full story on p71, and a test of two of the best on p96. In fact, this issue is drowning in world-changing tech. We’ve tested Android Wear, the first smartwatch that matters, on p80, and the Tesla Model S, the electric car that sets the bar, on p62. Real or unreal, life’s about to get a lot more interesting. Enjoy.
THIS MONTH IN STUFF’S iOS APP EDITION Q Exclusive 360-degree photography of the new LG G Watch Q More stunning hi-res pics of the hottest tech and the sweetest gear Good news! Stuff is also available on Google Play, Zinio, Exact Editions and various other services.
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[email protected] Call us 020 8267 5036 Teddington Studios, Broom Rd, Teddington, Middx TW11 9BE, UK Editorial Editor Simon Osborne-Walker Deputy Editor Tom Wiggins Production Editor Richard Purvis Consulting Editor Fraser Macdonald Associate Editor Will Dunn Features Editor Mark Wilson Managing Editor Marc McLaren Reviews Editor Tom Parsons Senior Reviewer Tony Horgan Reviewer Sophie Charara Art Editor Alex Fanning Deputy Art Editor Ross Presly App Art Editor Chee-Chiu Lee Senior Digital Designer Will Clarke Online Deputy Ed Stephen Graves Multimedia Editor Lucy Hedges Staff Writer Esat Dedezade Sub-Editor Emily May Editorial Assistant Max Langridge
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[email protected] Web www.themagazineshop.com Editorial Director Mark Payton Creative Director Paul Harpin Strategy and Planning Director Bob McDowell Managing Director David Prasher Chief Executive Kevin Costello k Volume 18 issue 9 k ISSN: 1364-963 k On sale 6 August 2014 k Audit Bureau of Circulations: 77,340 (Jan-Dec 2013)
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© 2014, Haymarket Media Group Ltd. Reprographics by Anthony McDonald at Fresh Media Group. Printed by Wyndeham Heron; cover printed by Stephens & George. Distributed by Frontline Ltd, Midgate House, Midgate, Peterborough, PE1 1TN. The US annual subscription price is $75.50. Airfreight and mailing in the USA by agent named Air Business Ltd, c/o Worldnet Shipping Inc., 156-15, 146th Avenue, 2nd Floor, Jamaica, NY 11434, USA. Periodicals postage paid at Jamaica NY 11431. Subscription records are maintained at Haymarket Media Group, Teddington Studios, Broom Road, Teddington TW11 9BE. Air Business Ltd is acting as our mailing agent. All rights reserved. This publication may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form in whole or in part without the written permission of the publishers. Liability: while every care has been taken in the preparation of this magazine, the publishers can’t be held responsible for the accuracy of the information herein, or any consequence arising from it. In the case of all product reviews, judgements have been made in the context of ware based on UK prices at the time of review, which are subject to fluctuation and only applicable to the UK market.
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HOT FOUR #1 FACE TIME FOR BRITS
Google Glass Explorer UK Edition
[ Picture Pete Gardner ]
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The future arrived on our shores this month. Probably bumped down on our Atlantic-facing cliffs from Project Loon balloons. Probably swept up the A303 in a fleet of cloaked self-driving bubble cars, conducted by fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg. Probably piled up in a pop-up boutique in London’s King’s Cross, where dis erning celebrities and futurologists were invited to buy it. Actually, that last bit is true: we went along. In addition to the DvF designer versions of Google Glass you see here,
several developers were showing off their Glass apps. Shazam had one that would identify a song then scroll the lyrics down in your eyepiece. The Zombies, Run! people had one where encouraging narrative animations took place in your field of view. All very fascinating and yet – just over the page – a whole load of new smartwatches just flew in from the other horizon. The future, as ever, comes in several forms. As hot as… a glassblower in a heatwave from £1000 / google.co.uk/glass 13
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HOT FOUR #2 GET YOUR MOTOR HUMMIN’ Harley-Davidson LiveWire
Now just hold on a YouTube-bufferin’ minute. We weren’t surprised to see mainstream car manufacturers getting involved in electric cars – it helps to lower their range-wide CO2 levels. And as for the electric motors turning up in limited-run cars such as the Porsche 918 and McLaren P1, well, that instant-on hybrid torque makes them go like stink. So that’s explainable. But when a belts-and-braces motorcycle manufacturer launches an electric bike – even if it is just a technology demonstrator, and even if it does still hit 62mph in under four seconds – we start to think that maybe, just maybe, there’s something to all this fossil-fuels-bad talk… As hot as... zero-emission kicks on the A66 £tba (concept) / harley-davidson.com
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HOT FOUR #3 THE COMING OF THE G WATCHES Samsung Gear Live, LG G Watch
Actually, the hot topic at this year’s Google I/O conference was not the arrival of the Android Wear OS in the form of the LG G Watch, Samsung Gear Live and soonavailable Motorola Moto 360. As this was mostly a developers’ confab, discussions were about the possibilities of the Android Fit and Android Auto platforms… and the newest version of the Android OS itself, the so-called ‘L’ release. But for us physical gratification types, the watches were terribly exciting. We’ve got a review of the LG one on p80, and it’s the rollout of Wear-compatible apps (see right) that will really make them desirable. As hot as... sweaty anticipatory wrists £160 (LG), £170 (Samsung) / play.google.com
Fitness tracking
Task tracking
Android Wear watches have step-counting, but Runkeeper and Runtastic will give you more tasty data at a glance.
Well, did you call them? What about now? Watchsmashingly convenient reminders from Trello project cohorts.
Weather tracking
Seduction tracking
Because your cursor is on the ‘book now’ button and you want the very latest updates in your eyeline: the 1weather app.
Philips Hue – letting you undim the lights in the upstairs study. Again. Your son and his friend are supposed to be studying.
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HOT FOUR #4 TO INFINITY… AND BEYOND
Samsung Galaxy Tab S Samsung has revealed its Galaxy Tab S, and its Super AMOLED display. Woah there, buster – don’t go. This is the 2560x1600 super-slate that could finally make buying an iPad the second option (unless you really like Apple). Available in 10.5in and 8.4in variants, running either souped-up Snapdragon or Exynos chips, both will have 3GB of RAM along with 16/32GB of internal storage and either a 7900mAh or a 4900mAh battery. Both tablets feature a fingerprint-scanning home button with PayPal and multi-user support. It’s also the first Android gadget on which you can download Stuff’s digital edition. Read the full review on p68. As hot as... your matching titanium bronze tan £320 (8.4in), £400 (10.5in) / samsung.com
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YOUR PHONE IS ABLAZE Amazon Fire £tba / amazon.co.uk
Already battling other tech giants with its Fire HDX tablets and Fire TV media streamer, Amazon’s now taking on the smartphones O It’s got 3D. But not to worry. It’s not the awful lenticular display that plagued the HTC Evo 3D. The Fire instead makes use of four front-facing cameras and infrared LEDs, which can track your face, producing a 3D effect. Like iOS 7’s parallax effect, but supercharged. Apart from offering pretty 3D lock screens, it could pave the way for innovative 3D games. Imagine peeking around corners in an FPS, or controlling a car with your head. Whether this will go beyond a gimmick – or dissuade buyers with its paltry 4.7in 720p spec – remains to be seen. But we give Amazon points for daring to be different. O 3D is not its only party trick. That makes up just one part of the ‘Dynamic Perspective’ feature set. Accelerometer-driven one-handed gestures including auto-scrolling, tilt, swivel and peek are all possible. Amazon has released an SDK that will enable developers to take full advantage of these features. Here’s hoping they do, because the Fire does have potential. It just needs some clever coders to show us what it’s really capable of. O Meet Firefly… Holding down the Fire’s camera shutter button brings up the Firefly app, which can recognise phone numbers, email addresses, URLs, QRs and barcodes. Scan a book, DVD, game or CD and it’ll take you straight to Amazon’s online store. Useful? Absolutely. Dangerous? Definitely. O One for your mum’s mum. If you’re stuck, the Mayday feature will put you in direct contact with an real human being (remember those?), who can annotate your screen and take control of the Fire remotely. We’d buy one for our non-tech-savvy relatives for this reason alone, as now they’ll have someone else to bug. Result.
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THIS COULD PAVE THE WAY FOR INNOVATIVE 3D GAMES
The Fire is powered by Qualcomm’s quad-core 2.2GHz Snapdragon 800 processor
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SWATCH SISTEM51
404: ANDROID NOT FOUND
There’s a pattern to human endeavour that involves simplifying what once was complicated in order that more people can make more of them. What the mighty Swatch group has done is apply that theory to mechanical watchmaking – an industry that apparently abhors simplicity – and made an automatic watch with just 51 parts. It still looks like a battery-powered Swatch watch, in its four designs, and it ought to be as reliable as one – its timekeeping is set by laser at the factory, thus negating the need for extra adjustment parts and regular servicing. £100 / swatch.com
O What, no ’droid fun?
Well, sort of. The Fire is running Amazon’s Fire OS v3.5, which is a very heavily modified version of Android. It’s so heavily modified, in fact, that you won’t even see a glimpse of Google’s OS in use.
O Goodbye Google
The downside is that Google apps like Maps, Gmail and Chrome are all missing, as is the Play Store. Sure, Amazon’s own app store has a fair number of virtual goodies on its shelves, but it still can’t provide the full offering of the official Play Store. Tech-smart users can of course sideload apps, but if you’re in it for the Google experience then this (as with all of Amazon’s tablets) could be a deal-breaker.
O A Prime deal
In the US, Amazon is offering 12 months of Prime with all Fire purchases. That includes Prime Instant Video, and access to millions of songs and books. Hopefully, this deal will make it to the UK.
Look not to the horizon
OLYMPUS PEN E-PL6 As we get older, so our horizon of desire grows more distant. It begins with the kid next door’s toys. At some point it’s the working hours of the Italians. And then it’s the Olympus PEN E-PL6, the interchangeable-lens camera model only available in Japan. So delight at the news that it has now arrived in the UK, with its tiny pancake lens, the M.ZUIKO Digital Ed 14-42mm (1:3.5-5.6) – complete with its 16.1MP Live MOS sensor and TruePic VI image processing, and bundled Wi-Fi SD card. £380 / olympus.co.uk
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The bigger picture in tech
STRESS-FREE PILOTING There are several reasons why more of us are not pilots. One is the exorbitant cost of acquiring a licence, then buying and running a plane. But there’s also the very real concern that the plane will plummet out of the sky like a stone, leading to bruised knees and spilt G&Ts all round. The amphibious Icon A5 (iconaircraft. com), though, costs less than US$200,000 and can be flown on a Sport Pilot licence, yours for about US$5000. And, as you can see, it has a parachute, so you’ll be able to fly like an idiot until it breaks, then float serenely to the ground and buy a new one.
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STREAMING TV IS SO TOMORROW
Today we’re more interested in this standalone Freeview digital tuner that can share a TV connection with several phones or tablets using Wi-Fi. No need to use tricksy, costly data to watch TV on the go: you can record stuff via its app too. The Tvman Mobility is £70 (maplin.co.uk).
THE BEATS SOUND BETTER WITH YOU
Way more people are buying decent headphones for their phone or audio kit. Hooray! But to truly level up, take Philips’ free online Golden Ears Challenge, which tests your ability to recognise changes in range, compression and timbre (goldenears.philips.com).
OHMYMAPS
Last month we featured Marc Khachfe’s ace night-time maps. We even pointed out that you could buy your very own hand-created map of your very own city. But the crucial bit of info – that you could do so at etsy.com, by searching for ‘Ohmymaps’ – somehow got lost. But you can, and you should.
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Its pretty face will make your body hot
WITHINGS ACTIVITÉ Doesn’t that look like a lovely watch? But it’s more than just a pretty face. The smaller activity dial is the only visible clue to the Activité’s secret fitness tracker agenda. It lets you know how far you are towards completing your fitness goals for the day. No distracting blinking LEDs, no screen flashing up messages – mind you, no smartwatch features either, such as message notifications or phone calls. The Activité’s built-in accelerometer can track your steps, distance, swim lengths and sleep. An accompanying iOS app (sorry Android fans) will track its data via Bluetooth 4.0, and let you set vibro alarms so that the watch can get you up for a morning jog. The pièce de resistance is that it uses a regular watch battery, and it’ll last around a year. Not too shabby. £320 / withings.com
Cordless crease canceller
TEFAL FREEMOVE Oh, take that look off your face. We can hear you sneering at the idea of a cordless iron, as if you’ve never been impeded by a tangled cable as you and your iron dance around the board like a steamy Torvill and Dean. As if you’ve never dropped the plug on your slippered toe while trying to fill Christopher at the sink. Well, we’re not as perfect as you, and damn our eyes if we don’t quite like the idea of a free-roaming iron – especially this year’s newly updated versions with more power and more steam output than before. from £90 / tefalironing.co.uk
? WTF IS TEQBALL?
That ping-pong table is fubar.
In order to avoid historical trademark infringements, we prefer to refer to the game to which you are referring as ‘wiff-waff’. Although to refer to it as a ‘game’ belittles it somewhat, as Wiff-Waff – capitalised now to show respect – has been in the Olympics since 1988, so probably classifies as a sport rather than a game. Then again, the Olympics are often referred to as the ‘Games’, which just goes to show that the nomenclature of things is a bag of old toot.
Can we get back to the matter at hand? Backhand, is it? Waff! Guard your lines, boy, me to serve! Actually, no hands required, nor allowed, for Teqball, which is a kind of incredibly constrained game of headers ’n’ volleys with 22
no goal. Well, there is a goal, and that is to display exemplary levels of ball control, but there’s no actual goal, no hallowed netcave in which to blast one’s bladder, sort of thing.
Oh, so it’s a football thing. Foot, knee, chest, face, whatevs: the idea is that two or four players pass the ball between them, having pre-ordained a specified number of touches and/or bounces. The curvature of the surface ensures that the ball always comes out towards the player, and the point of having the ‘Teqboard’ at all is that it stops the game
getting wilder and wider and fun and that. If you’re excited by this appearing on a common or in a recreation station near you, then you’ve got until 11 August to point your moneyed nose at their Kickstarter page.
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from £2.99 / iOS, Android Steve Jackson’s you-are-the-hero app has been on iOS for a while but has now made the jump to Android. It’s innovative use of text and animation has made it a favourite among Fighting Fantasy fans and norms. A third part is on the way.
£2.99 / Mac We don’t cover many Mac apps, but we couldn’t resist this. It’s a supersimple text editor that allows you to organise your docs in a lovely tree structure. Just the thing for budding authors… unless you like to blame MS Word for missing deadlines.
£1.49 / iOS, Android Up to something for which severe weather would be a disaster? Building a house? Training for a triathlon? AlertsPro will give you up to 48 hours’ warning of a thunderstorm, gale or other Mother Nature mishap.
2 Citymapper
5 Kiwanuka
8 Urban Trial Freestyle
£free / iOS, Android Popular get-me-somewhere app Citymapper has added its ‘Meet Me Somewhere’ feature to the Android app. Previously available on web and iOS, this pings chosen friends with easy directions to your location. Minimum faff. Like.
from £0.69 / iOS, Android A little bit of Lemmings, a little bit of new and a whole lot of weird – sounds like a delicious recipe. You, a magician, must use your humble disciples to create disciple spans to allow you to get to the other wizard trapped somewhere on the level.
£1.49 / iOS If Ubisoft’s Trials: Frontier annoyed the merry hell out of you with its cynical money-grabbing in-app purchase nonsense – like it did us – then UTF might be the return to trials game simplicity you have been craving.
3 FuseMe
6 Timbre
9 Caribu 2.0
£free / iOS, Android The thing about WhatsApp is that there are too many syllables. A parting call of ‘FuseMe!’ is one whole syllable less than ‘WhatsApp me!’. And its messaging, SMSing, video chats and feed reading, with split-screen operation, seem solid.
£free / iOS, Android UK music ticket reseller Seatwave has bought this band discovery app. Which is OK by us, as Timbre looks classy and intuitive. But this market is as crowded as a moshpit: Bandsintown, Yplan and Songkick are also vying to get you to the gig.
£free / iPad Mommy’s away doing a six-month stint on the ISS and Dad’s in Brixton Pen for Bitcoin forgery. But no worries, either can read you to sleep via this app that syncs you up with a video call and a book – an IAP funded by pater’s ill-gotten gains.
APP SPOTLIGHT GARMIN VIAGO £1.16 / Android The Garmin team are gambling you’ll pay a series of £10 in-app purchases to download regional maps, or get traffic alerts, or be annoyed by speed camera warnings. Will you, though? Is it enticing enough to go a couple of jumps up the premium navigation ladder from Google Maps or Waze?
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Apple addeth, Apple taketh away
APPLE IPOD TOUCH Not everything that comes out of Cupertino is accompanied by noise and excitement and live worldwide keynote feeds. The iPod Touch range has been quietly refreshed. The 32GB and 64GB versions are now £50 and £80 cheaper, while the baby of the bunch is now all grown up – the 16GB gets the colour combos and 5MP iSight camera of its counterparts, despite also getting a £40 price drop. Tempted by an Android smartphone but worried about missing out on iOS-exclusive apps? This might be your quietly awesome solution. from £160 / apple.com/uk
It’s a small Galaxy
SAMSUNG GALAXY S5 MINI Say g’day to Samsung’s minified version of the S5. It has a 4.5in 720p screen, a smaller 2100mAh battery and a half-gig drop in RAM from the S5’s 2GB. Looked at from the glass-half-full side of things, it still has a decent per-inch resolution, the fingerprint-scanning home button and the heart-rate sensor. The Mini is still water-resistant, still has Android 4.4 with all of Samsung’s TouchWiz trickery, and still has the delightfully dimpled derriere. In fact, the only reason you wouldn’t buy one – were you in the market for a miniphone – would be the ace Sony Xperia Z1 Compact. £tba (due autumn) / samsung.com
Pistons all over the law of gravity
CANYON STRIVE CF “What goes up must come down” were not Newton’s full words. They were: “What goes up easily and with minimal pedal-induced suspension bob must leave the rider full of beans to come down like a mountain goat fired from a gun.” It was a startlingly accurate prophecy of the issues facing mountain bike designers of the modern age. Canyon has solved it with a handlebar-lever-actuated piston that moves the rear shock angle just enough to make uppity-up on the ups and yippity-skip on the downs. Sir Isaac would have ridden it like gravity hadn’t been invented. from £3200 / canyon.com
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Geek Force 4
VAAVUD WIND METER “That guy sure knows which way the wind is blowing,” is something you sometimes hear being said. And “Ahh!” you can reply, “but does that guy know how hard it’s blowing, between two and 20m/s with a precision of +/-4%?” No, he doesn’t. But you do, with your handy wind meter that uses your iPhone or Android phone headphone socket as a holder, but actually works via your phone’s magnetometer. So the device doesn’t need power, which is neat. What’s more, the company is just about to Kickstarter another product that does know which way the wind is blowing. So then you can be that guy. €45 / vaavud.com
4K for £0.6k
SEIKI SE50UY01UK Look, can we have a word? We were speaking to Dave and, well, he said that you said that you didn’t see the point of 4K. We know you don’t really believe that. If it’s about the money, then maybe have a look at this – it’s a Chinese-made 50in 4K TV. No need to be proud: Seiki TVs have been selling like hot cakes in America, where they’ve achieved over 20% market share. So you wouldn’t be the only one. Yeah, it might not have all the bells and whistles, but with this “I don’t need more than 1080p” thing, you’re not just embarrassing yourself. You’re embarrassing us. £600 / seiki.com
Your 3D printer just got obsoleted
ORANGE MAKER HELIOS ONE 3D Well, this is exciting. An entirely new 3D printing technology has just appeared on the horizon. It’s called heliolithography and the developers are keeping pretty schtum about how it actually works; suffice to say it’ll be quicker, less wasteful and much higher-resolution than current industrial stereolithographic systems. And certainly much, much better than the heatedplastic-splodge printer you’ve just bought, having waited patiently for the prices to drop under £500. Oh well. This won’t be out until next year and will cost thousands of pounds. So it’s not like it just popped up and made your printer look ridiculous. Not at all. £tba (due 2015) / orangemaker.com
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I C O N THE CARINO EMBRACES NEW TECH LIKE THAT AUNT YOU ONLY SEE AT CHRISTMAS
DENON CEOL CARINO [ Picture Pete Gardner ]
£300 / denon.co.uk
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Nice. Hardly ‘iconic’ though, hmm? Hear that? It’s a big-ass clock, and it’s striking ‘wrong’ loudly enough that all the geeks in the land will gallop across hill and dale on their electric skateboards and Segways to see the cause of such a kerfuffle. A kangaroo court will find you guilty of Hilarious Assumption and demote you to ‘Level 2 Windows Vista, Administrated User’. The shame! Now let’s take a look at where you went wrong, shall we?
Please do. I’m feeling put-upon. Denon, as anyone knows, is the decorated master of the mini system. The things it doesn’t know about the three-box music-maker formula could be written on the back of a carbon nanotube. And if you think that sounds impossible, then it’s no matter, because there is nothing Denon doesn’t know and so the writing on the nanotube is a non-problem. Zing! But hush now and listen, for this is
no formulaic, done-like-wealways-done disco drone – the Carino embraces new technology with the ferocity of that aunt you only see at Christmas.
wireless streaming, arranged super-conveniently by a simple NFC tap of your music, podcast, audiobook, radio and DJ app-streaming smartphone.
Oh yeah, like what technology? Like, it’s got a USB connection, so your comput-o-choons can entirely bypass that nasty integrated soundcard and go straight to lovely external DAC handling. It’s got AptX Bluetooth
No CD player, then? Oh no, you’re only making things worse for yourself, you know. CDs! If it had a CD drive, would it be able to stand vertically and horizontally? OK, yes it would – but the Carino can anyway.
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Back on two wheels
ARIEL ACE The Ariel Atom is a stupendous stripped-out sports car, as anybody ‘cool’ already knows, and holder of one of the fastest times on the Top Gear test track. But what not many people know is that Ariel is also well respected for its history of building motorcycles. And it’s at it again, with the Ace – handbuilt in limited numbers in the UK. You can pick and choose from myriad components to get the bike you want, be it a cruiser, streetfighter or whatever. And you can swap bits out too. What you can’t change is the engine, Honda’s smooth shaft-driven 1200cc V4. from £20,000 / arielmotor.co.uk
START MENU
Playing tag
POM
The month’s best concepts, start-ups, crowdfunded projects and plain crazy ideas
Tie me up, tie me down
STRAPMOUNT
Listen up
EARIN
from US$25 / totalpom.com
US$14 / indiegogo.com
£160 / earin.se
We thought this campaign must be an Australian mickey-take, suggesting us ‘Poms’ are so ditsy we need a Bluetooth, cellular or GPS tag on us to keep track of ourselves. But no, it’s actually an American campaign, and in true American fashion, POM is a cheesy acronym: Peace Of Mind. Choose from POM tags – just local Bluetooth tracking – or Total POMs that have cellular and GPS built-in too.
Zip ties – infinitely useful fixer-uppers of things. Used by bikers, stylists, gardeners, people who post ‘lost cat’ signs and zip-tie collectors. And now also you, in your quest to find yet more original positions for your GoPro videography. Your pennies earn you a rubber-based mount and – depending on your pledge – some zip-ties too. Such a simple idea, yet so useful, yet at time of writing, only marginally funded.
“Paff!” you’ll think when we tell you the battery life of these tiny Bluetooth earphones is less than three hours. But how long do you really listen? Maybe an hour to work and an hour back? Or a couple of hours out on your rollerblades? The Earins come with a capsule container that also gives them a wee charge, are truly tiny and have balanced armature drivers. We’d give them a go.
Status Seeking funding (Kickstarter)
Status Seeking funding (Indiegogo)
Status Funded (Kickstarter) 29
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When I’m four-by-four
FORD EDGE “I’d like to be, in the Ford Edge SUV, in an octopus’s garden, in the shade.” Ringo Starr sure had it going on, back in those crazy days. What hasn’t quite stood the test of time is the other song he wrote about how the Edge has been designed to rival the BMW X3 and Audi Q5, and how it’s absolutely jam-packed with tech including a Front Split View Camera, Active Noise Cancellation, Adaptive Steering, Torque Vectoring Control, Curve Control and airbag-equipped seatbelts. By this time everyone, young and old, had mostly stopped listening and wondered instead how Ringo made money from singing about this nonsense. from £30,000 (approx) / ford.co.uk
Be the toastess with the mostess
DUALIT BRUSHED ARCHITECT FOUR-SLICE TOASTER Dangerous territory, this. Dualit owners tend to take their toast terribly seriously, and something called Perfect Toast Technology is going to put the willies up them. But, on paper, it looks like a superb idea: a young brainiac from Imperial College London has been employed to develop a toasting algorithm that takes into account the ambient temperature of the room, and the toaster, and how busy it has been. The result, says Dualit, is perfectly golden-brown toast every time. Time to take the Perfect Toast theory from the paper to the plate, we think – it’s available in both this and the £85 Stoneware Lite Four-Slice. £100 / johnlewis.com/dualit
Chromachronology
COLOUR O’CLOCK Way back, numbers were merely a property inherent in the things lying around. ‘Enough’ rocks and pointy sticks to repel that other tribe, should they come looking to steal ‘lots’ of our dried berries. Unless said rival tribe turned up with a ‘truckload’ of fighters and totally ‘pwned’ the defenders. No numbers, see. Hence, no clocks. Time was told by the light level and colours of the sky. And that is a blessed simplicity we could return to with British designer Duncan Shotton’s clock, which also has no numbers but does have a colour spot that makes its way through a whole spectrum of colours throughout a 12-hour period. And yes, it has hands, but consider those a training tool to be ripped off once the colour pattern has become second nature. Or first nature, possibly. £22 / dshott.co.uk
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G A M E S
DUE 2015
FIRST PLAY RAINBOW SIX PS4, Xbox One, PC Ubisoft told us it began planning the new Rainbow Six with two words in mind: ‘multiplayer’ and ‘destruction’. There are people who have spent years just on de_dust and de_italy in Counter-Strike. Those maps remain interesting because no enemy AI can beat the unpredictability of a human opponent. And even with a limited number of maps, we can imagine Rainbow Six attracting a similar cult following. Before each round, the bad guys vote on where to hide their hostage. Then there’s
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a preparation stage: fortifying walls and barricading windows. Meanwhile, the SWAT team sends camera drones into the house for reconnaissance. We played two rounds as the bad guys and, although they took place in the same house, with the same teams, they were entirely different games: in one, our team hid the civilian in a bedroom, blew out a wall or two and each covered a potential entry-point. On our second round we hid our hostage in the basement, sealed up several walls and used the building more like a fortress,
but the SWAT guys blew a hole in the ceiling, poured in flashbangs and wiped us all out. This is real strategy: not just finding the one way to win a fixed map, but constantly having to adapt your plan to what the other team is doing by checking your CCTV or drones. Playing as the SWAT team is also huge fun: again, you can only win by planning well and then adapting. You get more use of the highly destructible environment too. We can imagine this fairly simple concept playing out into a huge variety of scenarios.
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2-UP SEQUEL VS SORT-OF-SEQUEL
DYING LIGHT
PS4, PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PC Remember Dead Island, the game with that trailer with the zombie girl dying in reverse that got everyone really excited and then really disappointed when the game arrived and actually had nothing to do with the trailer at all? That was by Techland, which isn’t making Dead Island 2 (below). Instead it’s making a zombie game that looks even better. It’s open-world and involves first-person dismemberment of the undead, but there’s also Mirror’s Edge-like parkour and faster, more knicker-wettingly scary zombies that only come out at night.
VS
DEAD ISLAND 2
PS4, Xbox One, PC Grasping the fetid Dead Island reins is Yager, the studio behind shooter-with-a-conscience Spec Ops: The Line. But there seems to be no conscience here at all. This is about killing zombies in glorious Californian sunshine with the kind of gusto Gregg Wallace reserves for pudding. Kill them with homemade weapons, kill them with customised vehicles, kill them with up to seven (!) friends. There’s even a fully motion-captured cat. No, we’re not sure why either.
FIRST-PERSON 2.0: NO SHOOTERS ALLOWED
MIRROR’S EDGE
PS4, Xbox One, PC Freerunning in a game isn’t new but to do it in first-person, and for it to be such a major part of the game’s dynamic, is brave indeed. Our tattoo’d lady Faith can slide, jump, spin and somersault not only as a defensive manoeuvre but also in order to drop like a kung-fu death-kat on adversaries.
HELLRAID
PS4, Xbox One, PC OK, a first-person slasher isn’t far from a shooter, but where swords-and-sorcery game Hellraid will hopefully prove innovative is in the diversity of melee weapons available, and also its promise that you’ll be able to use architecture and objects to cut a swathe through the hordes of the dead.
[UNTITLED CRITERION GAME]
tba No, this isn’t humourlessly post-ironic; it’s some way off and they don’t have a name for it yet. Nor much in the way of gameplay. But the cornerstone for this extreme sports game is GoPro-style POV footage, so everything you fly, ride or drive, you’ll be behind the controls. Sounds like a blast.
INCOMING AUGUST O DIABLO III: REAPER OF SOULS ULTIMATE EVIL EDITION SEPTEMBER ONHL 15 OFIFA 15 ODISNEY INFINITY: MARVEL SUPER HEROES NOVEMBER OHALO: THE MASTER CHIEF COLLECTION OFAR CRY 4
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She seems to have a mo’visible Touch
VERTU SIGNATURE TOUCH Smartphone prices are going down – but it appears no-one told Vertu. The luxury company’s latest flagship, the Signature Touch, is an eye-watering £6750 – but at least it competes with this year’s flagships: you get a Qualcomm Snapdragon 2.3GHz processor, 2GB RAM, a 4.7in 1080p screen, 64GB of memory, NFC, Qi wireless charging, and 13MP and 2.1MP cameras. For travelling types, you get 10 bands of LTE, while the speakers are tuned by Bang & Olufsen with Dolby Digital Plus virtual surround sound. This is, in spec terms, a good phone. But what you’re really paying for is the 24-hour concierge, club and VIP event entry – accessed by tapping a (real) ruby button on the side of the phone. £6750 / vertu.com
Scoots manoeuvre
PEUGEOT SPEEDFIGHT 125 DARKSIDE Having had your trilby knocked off by oiks on scooters, you decide to get revenge the only way you know how – capitalism. You breeze into a dealership and buy this. Parked up in the estate, where you know they’ll see you, you review your choice. Among scooters, the Speedfight is the dog’s danglers. Performance brakes and suspension, sports profile tyres and, of course, this is the tuned-up 125cc version that those young ’uns can neither legally ride nor insure. This limited-edition Darkside colourway, well, that just puts this another £100 out of their reach. Here they come now, probably to show their grudging respect… Oi! Come back with that! £2400 / peugeotscooters.co.uk
The circle is closing
YAMAHA SRT-1000 Soundbases probably mark the penultimate step in the process that has taken us from using the speakers in our TVs to once again using the speakers in our TVs… via multi-channel home cinema systems, wireless home cinema systems, virtual home cinema systems, soundbars, soundbars with subwoofers and now soundbases. This one has Yamaha’s Intellibeam tech to create surround effects, along with two subs, a learning remote and a chassis capable of supporting up to a 55in TV. Shame it’s not built into your TV, really. £500 / uk.yamaha.com
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WALLETS
[ Pictures RGB Digital ]
Because your homemade duct-tape money bag is wearing a little thin
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1 Chester Mox Wiry Wallet
4 Herschel Roy Wallet
Handcrafted from French calf leather and with room for five cards, this sophisticated wallet with flap closure is the gentleman’s choice. US$80 / chestermox.com
The speckle pattern and red pinstripe lining on this poly-cotton wallet make it the ‘smart casual’ choice. And it will match your Herschel backpack. £30 / surfdome.com
2 Band-it
5 Ogon RFID Wallet
Hate walking around with lumpy pockets? The leather and elastic Band-it wallets are about as minimal as you can get without resorting to wrapping your cards in clingfilm. from US$18 / amagpoc.com
This wallet’s aluminium shell is designed not just to be shiny, but also to protect your contactless cards from being accidentally (or maliciously) scanned. from £28 / firebox.com
3 Incase Leather Zip Wallet
6 Alpinestars Arena Wallet
If your iPhone bears scars from keys and coins, this wallet/case combo is for you. Its zip closure and soft suede compartment will keep your phone scratch-free. £60 / goincase.co.uk
Does its dimpled design help it fly like a golfball? No, but it has plenty of space inside, with one of those thumb-holes so you can easily slide out your gym pass. US$20 / alpinestars.com
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TOM WIGGINS
MEDIA HOARD
Don’t you wonder sometimes ’bout sound and vision?
£60 is new cost of sensible
BEANCO MOBILE HOME So, here’s the scenario. You’re in your car. Your iPhone is connected, via Bluetooth or some such, to your in-car audio system. So far, so awesome. But looking for your phone, or trying to balance it in your hand, puts you outside the law. This simple device takes the Apple home button and puts it wherever you need it: on your sun visor, door pocket, or wherever. Now, regardless of where your actual phone is, you can answer calls or activate Siri and do whatever it is that Siri can do for you. How terribly sensible. £60 /drivewithsiri.com
Pi has new filling; essentially still a Pi
RASPBERRY PI B+ It’s probably an exaggeration to call the Raspberry Pi B+ ‘new’: it uses the same BCM2835 processor and has the same 512MB of RAM, but there are a number of exciting changes. Power consumption has been cut by 30%; the card slot is now push-push microSD; audio has been improved; USB 2.0 ports have doubled to four; the GPIO header now has 40 pins rather than 26 (so you can use the B+ to control more real-world objects such as LEDs); and the design has been tweaked to make it neater while keeping the same tiny form factor. The good news is, despite the changes, the price remains the same. £26 / element14.com
OI have a set of gig rules that cannot be broken. Gig Rule #1 says you must not listen to the band you’re going to see on the day. It makes you that little bit too familiar with the songs and spoils the enjoyment. Well, it does for me. After the gig, though? Knock yourself out. And use The Set Listener to do so. It uses data from Setlist.fm to create Spotify playlists based on a band’s most recent gig, so in theory you could be listening to the set you’ve just heard on the way home from the gig. And I’ve got absolutely no rules against that.
OIn a month of excellent Spotify tools, Roadtrip Mixtape helps you to make route-specific playlists for car journeys. Just tell it where you’re driving from and to and it’ll pick artists from along the way. And it doesn’t do a bad job (although we had to skip some terrible drum ’n’ bass from Croydon). For a trip from Balham in south London to Brighton it began with Turin Brakes, offered The Cure as we passed Crawley then a Brett Anderson solo track near Haywards Heath, finishing on British Sea Power’s triumphant Waving Flags for arrival at our final seaside destination.
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Light transmogrified into music
SOULRA RUGGED RUKUS Yes, yes – we know those fold-out pocket solar panels are frustratingly rubbish at charging anything. But the panel on this Bluetooth speaker looks bigger than most and, if you’re going to the trouble of lugging a water-resistant speaker about, then one that might extend its own life by an hour or two has got to be worth a look. And you can also charge it via USB. The Rukus measures 16x15x4.5cm, and is willing to sacrifice its own ability to play tunes by giving its laboriously stored energy to charge your phone. £90 / soulracorp.com/uk
What’s that under your phone? A gamepad?
RAZER JUNGLECAT Thy knife is blunt, would say Ray Mears. Thy racquet is unsprung, would say Andy Murray; and Lewis Hamilton, too, would shake his head. Thy aero package is way not boss, he’d remark. They’re all right, too. You aren’t ever going to win large on the online gaming scene unless you sharpen up your act. How? By getting a slidey-out gamepad iPhone case – complete with custom config and compatible game launcher app – from the not-too-gamey Razer. Now that’s a whip, would say Xzibit. £80 / razerzone.com
DROP EVERYTHING AND DOWNLOAD...
Hostelworld £free/iPad
A long time ago when intercontinental travel was slow, expensive and dangerous – about 2010 – Airbnb was just a fledgling website. And yet budget travellers found somewhere to lay their unwashed heads. How so? Mostly via Hostelworld, the internet hostel booking site. It lists tens of thousands of places to stay, with a huge up-to-date library of reviews. It now has a new dedicated iPad app, designed to run slickly on the big screen. Airbnb might be zeitgeisty, but don’t forget Hostelworld if you’re scrimping. 38
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Autonomous driving will come in the next year or so. We want AutoPilot [Tesla’s self-driving platform] to go from highway on-ramp to highway offramp without touching any controls. Google’s self-driving car is not very attractive. I haven’t seen it in person, but it’s only going to go 25mph and it has two feet of foam bumper on the front. I’m not sure if it’s sending quite the right message. I hope they put an ‘I’m feeling lucky’ button on the dash, which you can press and it’ll just go somewhere. Tesla’s self-driving auto is going to be the car that you see now. The radar will be hidden inside the bumpers and the cameras are packaged into quite a small space, where the mirror is.
NAMES TO DROP #10
Elon Musk
THE MAN BEHIND TESLA, PAYPAL AND SPACEX We sit down with the co-founder of PayPal, Tesla and SpaceX to talk about how he electrified car-making – now that Tesla’s Model S is available over here (see page 62) – and how he plans to build a city on Mars. Well, he does have roughly a thousandth of the world’s money in his pocket. If somebody orders a Model S now, by the time it arrives they’ll be able to travel anywhere in southern England. The British launch of Tesla will bring a network of Superchargers that can add 200 miles of range to the car in half an hour. By the end of 2014, it’s the bottom two-thirds of the country; by the end of 2015, you’ll be able to drive anywhere in the British Isles without having to dramatically divert your route. The next car after the Model X SUV will be mass-market. We’re aiming for 20% smaller and half the price, and it’ll be coming in about two and a half years. 40
I think the UK should be Tesla’s biggest market in Europe. UK consumers make a decision based on the car itself, not for nationalistic reasons. Germany and France tend to be a bit parochial. There’s so much engineering talent in the UK. Our head of vehicle engineering, Chris Porritt, is from Aston Martin. About half of our engineering team is European, with British engineers the biggest single constituent, and we’re making plans to establish an R&D centre in the UK. It wouldn’t just be modifying cars for Europe: to attract the top talent, they’ve got to be part of the core design process. In the longer term, we expect to have a UK factory – as you get more affordable, it makes sense to move to local production.
Big companies promote people who don’t rock the boat. The incentive structure tends to reward incremental improvements, which is why most of the world’s car manufacturers aren’t taking electric cars seriously. When you look at the underlying reality, it’s maybe 0.2% of new cars made. There were almost 100 million new cars made this year, and 2 billion cars on the road. So even if all new cars instantly became electric, it would take 20 years to replace the fleet. That said, I think what BMW has done with the i3’s carbon-fibre chassis is interesting, and I’m impressed that they can make it at a non-crazy cost. I applaud anyone who’s trying to do something new and interesting. I see us going to Mars in ten years. [Google’s Larry Page recently said he’d rather bequeath his immense fortune to Musk than to a charity, because he’d ‘do more with it’…] Mostly what I would use it for is building a base on Mars. Because there’s an initial cost to establish the essential infrastructure that’s quite high, and you don’t have an immediate return, because you can’t charge people a billion dollars each to go there. So you’ve got to carry it to the point at which someone can sell their house on Earth, move to Mars and get a job – at that point, I think it becomes a self-sustaining business.
“I WANT TO GET TO THE POINT WHERE SOMEONE CAN SELL THEIR HOUSE ON EARTH, MOVE TO MARS AND GET A JOB”
LICENCE TO THRILL
Hero or villain, there’s no doubt that Musk lives life like a Bond movie, to the extent that he recently bought the Lotus Esprit submarine that 007 drives in The Spy Who Loved Me. His intention, of course, is to make a real one: “In reality, it doesn’t transform. There’s no way those pods could possibly turn into one another. So we’re going to create a submarine that looks just like it, and that does do a transformation. It’ll have to be about 10% bigger, because we can’t fit everything in, and it’ll use the Model S motor and battery pack. It’s not something we’ll sell. We’ve joked about having a submarineplane-car.”
[ Illustration Alexandre Efimov ]
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EZEECUBE? Well, that’s a cute… um, what now?
Scootcommuter
SWIFTY SCOOTER Hang around on the rush-hour streets of London for long enough and you’ll see a grown-up wearing a suit and riding a micro-scooter. These die-hards are doggedly continuing a city craze whose time has passed. Or so it seemed… The demand for squeezing every minute out of the day has not abated, while the fashion for artisanal transport has never been stronger, and these two have combined to form a resurgence in the commute-scoot. With bigger wheels that flow faster on broken pavements and adult-friendly geometry, the Swifty is available in several respectable finishes. Now are you brave enough to get in at the beginning of something, or will you wait for ubiquity? from £350 / swiftyscooters.com
The larger unit on the bottom is the EzeeCube, a new media centre currently being crowdfunded on Indiegogo, which has a dual-core A9 processor, 1GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. The thinner box on the top is the EzeePlay Blu-ray player, but there are also 2TB EzeeDisk boxes.
You just stack them and it all works? Indeed, up to four of the EzeeDisks can be stacked (via small built-in connectors) to complement the storage in the main EzeeCube unit, allowing up to 9TB total storage space for your myriad files.
What might I use that storage for? The EzeeCube features a built-in XBMC media centre app, allowing you play back all sorts of locally stored digital media and stream media from your computer or mobile device. It’s also an automated photo backup, using a paired mobile app to wirelessly save photos from your device(s) and auto-remove duplicates, plus it creates a media cloud bank.
Wow, quite a bit of stuff going on. And there’s quite a bit more. Optional attachments will allow you to stack on an open-source EzeeGame unit that features Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis cartridge slots via XBMC’s emulator. Meanwhile, a USB attachment allows you to watch and record live TV.
Sounds like a bit too much, maybe.
Pianist envy
YAMAHA U1TA Piano players like to play pianos – actual pianos, not digital triggering devices that look a bit like a piano, sound a bit less like a piano and feel like Hungry Hippos. So here’s an actual piano. Nice, eh? Switch to TransAcoustic mode, however, and the lines blur. The keys still operate the hammers and your plonking is still amplified by the soundboard – no speakers here – but the sounds are digital samples, fed to that soundboard via a pair of direct-mounted transducers. It’s a genuinely piano-like experience, but with one massive advantage over the real thing: a volume control. £10,600 / yamaha.com
Right, that’s one of the negatives about the campaign — this system is designed to be easy and approachable, yet there are so many configuration options and confusing backer levels that some folks might get scared off. There are great ideas here, though, so we hope it has a chance to be refined before it’s widely available.
How do I get stuck in? By the time you read this, the campaign will have closed. Turn that frown upside down because it’s already passed its goal! Get in the queue with US$300…
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OUR MONTH I ORDERED COCKTAILS IN MY POD…
…at the pop-up cinema at Battersea Power Station. The films are shown under the iconic towers while you chill on a squishy beanbag. Or, like me, in a luxury ‘pod’ – complete with waiter service.
Sophie Charara reviewer/ very smug viewer
I TRAVELLED THROUGH A V6 ENGINE…
…using an Oculus Rift. It’s a virtual tour created by Shell, with Murray Walker yapping about the benefits of its V-Power fuel. Looking down, I realised that my avatar didn’t have any arms – a bit of a problem for a racing driver.
Stephen Graves online deputy ed / (h)armless geek 44
I WATCHED WAY TOO MUCH CYCLING
…as Le Tour winded its way through Yorkshire, London, the cobbles of northern France and the high Alps. All while simultaneously designing this magazine. The Eurosport Player app is well worth £3/month for one month of the year.
I FILMED MY OWN 4K WORLD CUP…
…with Sony’s Xperia Z2 while I played football against a team of local kids round the corner from the Maracana. They were so good all we could do was film it.
I RODE AN ELECTRIC MOTORBIKE AT THE TOP GEAR TRACK
…but only for a few laps, because (a) motorbike journos had flattened the 80-mile batteries and (b) I scared myself going too fast. Get your Brammo Empulse R at goingreen.co.uk
Tom Wiggins deputy editor / not quite Neymar
I MEASURED TORTURE…
…with a Garmin Edge 1000, training for the Prudential RideLondon 100, a 100-mile bike self-flagellateathon. Strava-style segments plus real navigation mean I know where I’m going and precisely how much faster others got there.
Fraser Macdonald consulting editor / scaredy-cat Ross Presly deputy art editor / saddle bore
Will Findlater editor-in-chief / tortured soul
[ Picture Getty ]
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YOUR MONTH AUG
Because you’re too old to spend all the holidays playing conkers in a treehouse
01 EDINBURGH FRINGE FESTIVAL
In which you discover that a lot of talented fledglings (such as therubydolls.com, pictured) have Kickstarted and Indiegogoed their way out of the Fringe’s classic cardboard production and into technicolour awesomeness.
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14 Bryan Lee O’Malley
In which Bryan releases that tricky second book. Well, that’s not really true because Scott Pilgrim was episodic, and actually he released some stuff before that. But you know what we mean. All eyes on Seconds.
17 RED BULL AIR RACE Ascot
In which you have a lovely day out at Ascot watching some lovely deathdefying aeroplane racing. What’s more, our Brit lads Paul Bonhomme and Nigel Lamb could potentially tip Austrian Hannes Arch off the top of the table. Have at ’im, boys!
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LUCY
In which you spend a goodly amount of time wondering whether writer and director Luc Besson (Léon, The Fifth Element) actually named this film Luc, but was convinced to change it to Lucy and cast Scarlett Johansson. Either way, SJ as a superhuman drugs mule will be a must-see.
In which you are glad you brought your Dyson along to suck the grit out of your ears and eyes. Author Frank Miller’s got a hand on the tiller and Mickey Rourke’s involved, so this second Sin City instalment, long-awaited, should be a treat.
31 MOTOGP Silverstone
In which you watch international stars – including Bradley Smith – engage in wheel-to-wheel breakneck racing. All for a fraction of the price of the Formula 1, and without anyone complaining about the lack of ‘proper’ engine noise.
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WIN ONE OF 3 LG SMART TVs WITH BT YOUVIEW+, WORTH £550 EACH For decades, ‘smart TV’ meant choosing to watch Channel 4 News instead of Emmerdale… but now it means you can watch both. The super-sleek LG 27MT93V Smart 3D LED TV, exclusive to Currys & PC World, comes inclusive of Freeview HD, built-in Wi-Fi and MHL connectivity. You can use the catch-up services to ensure you never miss your favourite shows, and the full HD screen renders every detail in optimum clarity, giving you a truly immersive 3D experience. You want more? Well, how about enjoying all your favourite shows without subscriptions with the BT YouView+ HD recorder? An essential in any busy home, it lets you pause and rewind live TV and store programmes for up to seven days. Currys & PC World has teamed up with LG and BT to offer Stuff readers the chance to win one of three prize packages, each consisting of an LG 27MT93V TV (worth £350) and a BT YouView+ box (worth £200). Here’s how…
HOW TO ENTER
For a chance to be one of THREE winners of this awesome entertainment package, just go to stuff.tv/win and answer this question:
WHERE IS EMMERDALE SET? A … In Buenos Aires B … In the Yorkshire Dales C … In a dystopian future where humans are nothing more than slaves to an all-powerful race of alien lobster-droids
HURRY!
COMPETITION CLOSES 10 SEPT 2014
Terms & conditions 1 Open to UK residents aged 18 or over. 2 Entries close: 11.59pm on 10 September 2014. 3 Prize is as stated. 4 Prizes are non-transferable. 5 Only one entry per person. 6 For full Haymarket terms and conditions see: www.stuff.tv/legal Promoter: Haymarket Media Group, Teddington, Middlesex TW11 9BE
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VIRTUAL REALITY
When it was announced in 2012, the Oculus Rift kickstarted a virtual reality revival that’s now on the cusp of exploding. But what makes VR different this time? And why will it succeed now when all it’s ever known is failure? 51
VIRTUAL REALITY
umping US$2 billion on something you’re not entirely sure about is either incredibly brave or incredibly stupid – especially if it’s something that’s failed many times before. But when Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg bought Oculus VR – the company behind the Kickstarter-funded Rift headset – it became clear that 2014 was set to be the year virtual reality finally delivered. In the reception of 3D production company Inition, a five-minute walk from East London’s Silicon Roundabout, an old View-Master stereoscope – arguably the original virtual reality headset – sits on the table. Inside is a disc showing rudimentary 3D scenes from the Trooping of the Colour. The company’s basement is a funfair of VR experiences: a moving wingsuit simulator (complete with fans), a 50-foot high-dive through three rings of fire, and a terrifying, Knightmare-esque vertigo challenge that uses Kinect to track your movement across a chasm of nothingness. A bowl of fruit and creative director Andy Millns are
about the only real things in sight. “In the past, whether you put on a £10,000 headset or a £50,000 one, what you got was disappointment,” says Millns. “The only hi-res displays were for camera viewfinders so it was impossible to make an image that filled your field of view. What you got was a screen surrounded by black. It was like looking through a window.” So what’s different this time? In a word, smartphones. Early prototypes of the Rift used displays taken from Samsung’s Galaxy S4, while the previously pricey motion sensors required to track your head movements are now ubiquitous and cost just a few dollars. That combination of factors means disappointment has been replaced by astonishment – and for a fraction of the price. Oculus founder Palmer Luckey recently told Stuff: “Whatever it costs us to make, that is what we’re going to sell it for.” You lookin’ at me? Aldin Dynamics makes games exclusively for VR. “The difference between virtual reality and a regular monitor really can’t be overstated,” co-founder Hrafn Thorri Thórisson tells us down the phone from the company’s base in Iceland. “It’s a whole new medium and entirely new experience. Everything from how the game is designed to how it’s played changes. People behave completely differently because even the most mundane details become interesting and exciting.” Thórisson and his co-founder Gunnar Steinn Valgardsson know VR isn’t just about the visual impact, but
Philco Corporation develops the first head-mounted display, known as Headsight.
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NASA creates the Virtual Environment Workstation, an early example of VR.
SONY PROJECT MORPHEUS
These lights on the outside aren’t just for show. They help the PlayStation Eye camera track your head movement, like the Move controllers. what it can do for the mechanics of gaming. As well as allowing you to look around the world, their game Asunder: Earthbound (above), an adventure game set on a plane in an alternative 1930s, uses the Rift’s head-tracking sensors to detect whether you nod or shake your head in response to questions asked by non-playable characters. “If you stop looking at them while they’re speaking they’ll notice you’re not paying attention and yell at you,” explains Thórisson. “People in the environment will also notice if you stare at them. Stuff like that really adds to the feeling of presence, and that the characters are actually there and aware you’re there too.” Voices in your head Thórisson and Valgardsson have been experimenting with these head gestures for everything from player commands to menus. A nod of the head could indicate where the player’s squadmates should move to in a team-based shooter, for example, while doors to different rooms in a house could be used to launch chapters or modes of a game. There’s still plenty more testing to be done until VR gaming is ready for the masses. Pro headsets such as those made by Sensics are able to track where your eyes are looking, while Thórisson believes voice control is a very promising direction: “The best speech recognition today is on phones rather than desktop machines – but what’s most interesting is when you combine all of these together.” With its roots in smartphones there’s no reason why these won’t filter down to the Rift by the time it’s ready for release. “The original dev kit was a $300 headset with features
Nintendo’s Power Glove accessory converts motion into game movement. Badly.
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Despite its fledgling status, Project Morpheus looks more finished than the face-mounted military lunchbox of the Oculus DK2.
A cable connects the headset to the console. Being tethered can spoil the fun, so expect Morpheus to be wireless at launch.
that only a year previously would cost thousands of dollars,” says Thórisson, “and the DK2 is a huge leap from that, especially the refresh rate and the way it updates frames. Essentially your brain is interpreting this as the real world so motion blur can make you feel like you’re drunk or you’ve been poisoned.” An interesting tool for game designers, perhaps? Or at least a useful tool against VR piracy. What’s clear is that the mind-blowing experiences we’ve seen so far are just the tip of tech’s biggest iceberg. “We’re at the beginning of virtual reality and there’s a lot the world is yet to see – it’s gigantic,” says Thórisson.
The term ‘virtual reality’ is coined by former Atari programmer Jaron Lanier.
DISAPPOINTMENT HAS BEEN REPLACED BY ASTONISHMENT… FOR A FRACTION OF THE PRICE California comes to London Inside an anonymous-looking office just off London’s Oxford Street, the Golden Gate Bridge stretches away into the distance. The sky is the colour of liquidised Smurfs. Over my shoulder I can hear some tourists chatting about
Sega VR console announced but never released. Sega claims it’s ‘too realistic’.
the view, so I turn my head to glare at them for puncturing the tranquility. If it weren’t for the Oculus Rift headset covering half my face I could almost feel the Californian sunshine. This time virtual reality isn’t just about gaming, which is why Scott Broock, VP of content for Jaunt, is demo-ing the firm’s ‘cinematic VR’ experiences for me. Before I arrived in San Francisco I stood in front of an orchestra while it played, and then at the bottom of a bowl in a skate park. Traffic roared from an unseen road behind me, getting louder as I turned my head to watch the dude on a BMX glide around behind me, before turning to the
Virtuality 1000CS virtual reality games machine starts to appear in arcades.
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OCULUS RIFT DK2
This part isn’t a webcam; it’s to track the position of your head while you play, so the game knows when you lean in for a closer look.
opposite shoulder to see him reappear from the other side. These ‘virtual tourism’ experiences are just one aspect of Jaunt’s cinematic VR, inspired by founder Tom Annau’s failure to recapture the full experience of a trip to Utah’s Zion National Park using traditional photography. Rather than using the more common dual-lens stereoscopic camera, Jaunt films its 3D experiences using a custom-made rig formed of 14 cameras arranged around a central point, with a microphone capturing a complete sphere of audio. “Every point in space has at least three eyes on it, which gives you the sense of depth,” explains Broock.
The Lawnmower Man starring Pierce Brosnan is released. VR is now evil.
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It’s easy to forget the DK2 is still only meant for developers, so the finished product is likely to look different to this.
The Rift’s 100° field of view is slightly wider than on Morpheus but the 960x1080 pixels offered to each eye are the same.
JAUNT’S PROTOTYPE WAS BUILT FROM A GOPRO ATTACHED TO A LEGO BASE The first prototype was built from a GoPro attached to a Lego base, while a subsequent one looked like a spiky naval mine (pictured opposite). Secret cinema Rather than stitching the whole thing together in post-production, Broock
Nintendo’s Virtual Boy headset goes on sale in the US and Japan, but not the UK.
claims all the footage needs is some colour correction (“a camera pointing towards bright sunlight is going to have a different colour temperature to one pointing at shadow”) and some tidying up. You end up with something akin to a Mercator projection – what you’d get if you unwrapped a globe and laid it out flat – which can be fed into editing software such as Final Cut before being passed through Jaunt’s proprietary software and turned into something watchable on a VR headset. And it’s not just for lazy sightseers. Inition’s Andy Millns thinks VR could be used to give existing footage new life via what he calls ‘cinema 1.5’. He compares
Tiger Electronics launches R-Zone, a handheld console you wear on your head.
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it to Secret Cinema, or Punchdrunk’s immersive theatre, in which the actors move among the audience and the latter become part of the production. “Imagine using a headset to watch Drive at a drive-in movie theatre in LA,” he says. “As the helicopters scan around in that opening chase sequence, there are helicopters doing the same in the skies above the theatre. It’d be an astonishing way of heightening the experience.”
Making the VR short Black Mass
All the world’s a film set Jaunt, on the other hand, actually wants to put you in the movies. Scott Broock also demo-ed two clips of narrative-driven VR experiences: one aboard a boat being attacked by huge crab-like monsters and another from Black Mass – a horror short directed by Greg Plotkin (of Paranormal Activity 5, er, fame). These, of course, are not your regular 3D movies. Characters talk to you directly as if you’re part of the story: “Why are you just standing there?!” screams one as I watch her fighting off a monster in the former, a nice nod to the limitations of VR cinema. And while both clips are exhilarating and engrossing, filming in VR presents a whole new set of challenges to those faced by games developers: Where do you put the lights? How do you stop the crew getting in shot? And how do you make sure the viewer doesn’t miss anything important? It’s more like shooting on a theatre stage than a film set. “If you’re building a set you have the flexibility to build the necessary lighting into the environment,” says Broock. “Otherwise you have to use the natural light, or put one underneath the camera. In the scene from Black Mass the director is actually in the room giving direction; he’s just cleverly hidden – but we’ll leave that as an Easter egg for people to find later.” The biggest issue is storytelling. ‘Show, don’t tell’ goes the famous rule of movie-making, but as soon as you break away from the fixed framing of traditional movie cameras you give the viewer freedom to look where they want in the scene – and that’s potentially disastrous to the art of storytelling. “Sound is one of the most important parts of telling the
Vuzix launches iWear VR920, the first VR headset bought by Palmer Luckey of Oculus.
story,” says Broock. “You’re able to use sound and light to pull people’s attention in a particular direction – and that’s not just with things that are actually on the set. You can also do it in post-production.” Audio star Imagine you’re in a field and the only thing you share that field with is a tree. Suddenly a bird starts tweeting from high in the branches and you peer up towards it. While you’re distracted by the bird, a different kind of wildlife entirely starts to stampede over the hill behind you, announcing itself with
Oculus Rift is shown off for the first time at the E3 gaming jamboree in LA.
a dull rumble, gradually building to a roar that drowns out the birdie. You turn to see a zombie horde racing towards you. Now that’s something worth tweeting about. It’s a crude example but it goes to show how important audio is to VR film-makers and the potential for replayability that VR movies could have. Of course, there’s a danger that people won’t bother, but Broock is convinced that VR is such a compelling proposition that people will take any opportunity to dive back in. He also sees a time when full-length movies will be made in VR, but isn’t sure what ‘full-length’ will mean in that context. “Some people get hung up trying to think about how to use traditional ideas inside this new medium,” he says, “but VR doesn’t have to replace movies; it’s a very good adjunct to it.” Something extra With Facebook’s acquisition it’s easy to see a time when VR videos could become something akin to DVD extras, uploaded to a film’s Facebook page for fans to view in their headsets and then share with their friends. “Imagine Michael Bay shooting the
John Carmack, lead programmer on Doom and Quake, joins Oculus.
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CONTROL FREQS A next-gen gaming device needs a suitably next-gen controller…
MYO
Thalmic’s motionsensitive armband also detects electrical impulses and translates them into a virtual world, so you can aim, fire, reload and even move through a first-person shooter. US$150 / thalmic.com
SIXENSE STEM SYSTEM
Comprised of two motion-sensitive handsets, plus sensors that attach to the head, torso and legs, the Stem System tracks the position and orientation of your body. US$300 / sixense.com
VIRTUIX OMNI
A hamster wheel for frag-happy gamers, the Omni treadmill converts footsteps into in-game movement. It might take up space in the living room, but stops you from bumping into walls. US$500 / virtuix.com
PRIOVR
PrioVR’s tracking suit comes in three cuts: eight, 12 or 17 sensors. With a pair of handheld controllers, the suit tracks your limbs and torso for aiming, dodging and hand-to-hand combat. US$430 / priovr.com
CONTROL VR
A spiritual successor to the Nintendo Power Glove, Control VR’s Kickstarted controller tracks the movements of each finger, thanks to seven sensors. Handy for flicking Vs at the enemy. £tba / controlvr.com
Oculus adds positional head-tracking to the Rift with Crystal Cove update.
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next Transformers movie with a Jaunt camera right next to him as he blows up a whole street,” says Broock. “He calls ‘action’ and huge explosions go up, walls come down and cars are flipped over. Who’s ever going to get to experience that? To have that seat of privilege?” Once you start thinking of it like that the possibilities are practically endless. Jaunt has shot a boxing match from just behind the turnbuckle, while cameras could also be placed in the front row and high above the ring. Motorsport seems an obvious avenue to pursue, with the camera either in the car or at a particular corner on the track. “It’s all about giving people access to something they may not otherwise have the opportunity to do in their life,” says Broock. It’s not just about sports. “There’s a company recreating historic moments in VR and calling it immersive journalism,” says Jonathan Tustain, communications manager at Inition. “You could use this to put somebody in a scenario from a warzone to really help them understand what went on.” Millns even suggests using VR on long-haul flights to deal with the claustrophobic effect of being cooped up in a flying metal tube for hours on end: “If you put on a headset you could suddenly have an incredible sense of space,” he says. Out-of-body experience The main issue affecting both gaming and video, though, is movement and interaction. While a headset allows you to move your head and neck, the rest of your body is essentially paralysed. Sony has tried to bring some arm movement into its early Morpheus demos by using either the gyros in a DualShock 4 controller or a pair of Move controllers, with the triggers used to open and close your in-game grasp. It worked brilliantly in the Castle Morpheus demo Stuff tried earlier in the year, but when the dragon attacks you still can’t run away. Other developers have incorporated third-party motion controllers too, but LA-based Survios – set up by graduates from the same VR course as Palmer Luckey – takes it a step further. Survios has developed a wearable system that creates a doughnutshaped magnetic field around your entire body and tracks your movement and orientation within it using magnetic receivers – a bit like stepping inside a
Sony announces its own headset for the PS4, called Project Morpheus.
capacitive touchscreen. The current prototype also uses Razer’s handheld Hydra controllers, which rely on similar magnetic tracking, but for the next version the company plans to develop its own controller in partnership with Sixense (see panel, left). “It means you can pump a shotgun, swing an axe, climb ladders, duck and dodge, or go prone on the ground with a sniper rifle,” explains Survios co-founder and CCO James Iliff. “Gestural interfaces are cool, but if you want to actually unholster a gun and aim down the sight, you need a system that tracks position and orientation of an exact point. Pretty much any movement you can imagine in real life, you can do in VR.” Manipulate to exterminate Sounds like a recipe for a bloody nose and broken furniture, right? Well, for starters a VR headset should be enough to protect your face but Survios’ system also has an in-built warning system to prevent accidental lounge collisions. “You can tell it how big your space is and you get a visual warning within the headset if you get too close to the edge,” says Iliff. Survios plans to have a product to announce in 2015, ideally with leg tracking “so you can kick a crawling zombie’s head off”, but Iliff is conscious of overloading players with sensors: “It’s very important to balance usability with the technical side if people are ever actually going to use it. You could have sensors covering every inch of your body and that tracking would be awesome, but nobody wants to put on a full motion-capture suit.” For video it’s a more complex issue. A full game world has been created and is rendered as you go, but with video you’re restricted by what was filmed. “There’s nothing physically stopping you from moving the camera but Oculus’ best practices say that can create disorientation,” explains Jaunt’s Scott Broock. For now, then, the first step is tracking your hands, allowing you to pick up and manipulate items within the virtual world. Inition’s Andy Millns points to the depth-sensing camera on Google’s Project Tango phone as a sign of where things might go next: “If you’re already wearing a headset you might as well take advantage of that and mount
Facebook buys Oculus VR for $2bn. Original Kickstarter backers are pissed off.
VIRTUAL REALITY
some sort of camera on it – it’s very short-range and perfectly positioned to see your hands. Essentially it’s a small Kinect strapped to your head.” Where’s your headset at? First we need a product to strap it to. Nate Mitchell, VP of product at Oculus, believes Valve’s VR headset is “light years” ahead of the original Rift prototype but told Stuff recently the consumer version would be “as good, if not better”, with haptics, audio-, eye- and mouth-tracking features being explored in the company’s R&D lab. Resolution will inevitably improve too – GameFace Labs already has a prototype with a 2K screen, with Millns suggesting that you’ll still see the benefit up to 16K or 20K. Don’t expect to see anything until early next year, though, and by that point Rift may well not be alone (see
Michael Abrash leaves Valve to become Chief Scientist at Oculus.
p58). Project Morpheus doesn’t have a release date yet, but with games being announced for it already (see p60) it can’t be too far off, while Samsung is believed to be working on a headset of its own (albeit with help from Oculus) that you slot your phone into, Google Cardboard-style. Andy Millns believes this mobile VR – either standalone or using a phone as the screen – is the way forward for the “vast majority” of people, while larger simulator-type experiences could even lead to a renaissance of VR
“YOU CAN SWING AN AXE, CLIMB LADDERS OR GO PRONE ON THE GROUND WITH A SNIPER RIFLE” Oculus’ DK2 starts shipping, with improved screens to reduce motion blur.
gaming arcades, such as Australia’s Zero Latency,which is building a 50m-square VR arena in Melbourne. Harsh reality But will it be a success this time? With 85,000 dev kits sold by Oculus and telly heavyweights such as David Attenborough already making VR documentaries (pictured above), those involved are certain it won’t go the way of 3D TV. “VR will definitely take off this time,” Millns assures Stuff. “Even on a development kit with relatively low resolution people are still blown away by it. And it’s not going to be expensive: the devices will be subsidised with people making money through app stores. It’s so versatile as well.” Thórisson from Aldin Dynamics agrees: “3D glasses just add an effect to a regular monitor but VR transports you to another world.”
Oculus will hold its first developer conference in Los Angeles.
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Rift and Morpheus might be grabbing all the attention but they’re not the only VR headsets in the pipeline. Give ’em the eyes with this goggle-licious line-up
vrAse Early Oculus Rift units used AMOLED screens taken from Samsung Galaxy S4s – but the vrAse takes the concept further. The screen and processing power of the headset is a Galaxy S4. Or an HTC One. Or an Xperia Z – any smartphone with a screen between 3.5 and 6.3in, although between 5 and 6 is best. Inside the headset are lenses, which take any side-by-side signal on the phone and split it for each eye. vrase.com
Sulon Cortex Like a combination of VR and augmented reality, Sulon’s Cortex uses your Android phone as a screen but also has built-in sensors and cameras that map the room you’re standing in and recreate it in front of your eyes, with digital objects and virtual environments overlaid by the phone’s processor. Its US$500 development kit is expected to ship at the end of the year. sulontechnologies.com
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GameFace While most VR headsets require a PC to munch through the binary, or a smartphone to be slotted in the front to also provide the visuals, GameFace’s effort is a combo of the two. The 5.5in 2560x1440 display (2K resolution) is built-in but it also does grunt work onboard with a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, console-quality Tegra K1 graphics and Android Jellybean OS. gamefacelabs.com
ANTVR With its matching gun-shaped controller there’s something decidedly retro about the ANTVR kit, but inside it’s anything but old-fashioned. A wireless receiver sits between the two parts, meaning it can receive signals from a range of platforms, while the headset’s aspherical lenses mean it will run games not specifically designed for VR. The gun controller also unfolds to reveal a traditional gamepad. antvr.com
Cmoar Cmoar’s modular make-up means you can change the lenses inside depending on what you’re using it for. The VR lenses offer a 95º field of vision provided by whatever phone you’ve positioned in the front section. The other lens sets are for movies: one offers the equivalent of an 80in 3D screen from two metres away and another mimics a standard, 125in full HD screen from the same distance. cmoar.com
InfinitEye When it comes to virtual reality, the larger your field of view the better. The latest Rift development kit has a 100º horizontal FOV but the InfinitEye’s two 1280x800 displays and Fresnel lenses provide over twice that, drastically increasing your peripheral vision to 210º and ramping up the feeling of immersion. It’s just a prototype at the moment, but the InfinitEye shows where next-gen VR helmets are likely to head. facebook.com/InfinitEyeVR
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Or make your own…
GOOGLE CARDBOARD from £free / google.com
True Player Gear Totem While VR isn’t necessarily all about graphics, if your computer’s struggling to push the required number of pixels the experience will suffer. So Totem might be the VR headset for you. It has hardware acceleration onboard, relieving some of the strain from your computer to make sure there’s no lag. It also has a pair of cameras that look like eyes. Eventually they’ll also be used for positional tracking. trueplayergear.com
Vrelia VReye Vrelia offers two HMDs (head-mounted displays): one that requires a phone to be slotted in, and one with the brains. With two 5.9in full HD screens providing two million pixels to each eye, the VReye Pro (pictured) offers a field of vision stretching to 123º. The other one accepts any phone with a screen from 4 to 6in, and side dials let you adjust the lenses – so users who normally wear glasses can take them off. vrelia.com
Altergaze Altergaze’s headset doesn’t look like this picture. At least, it doesn’t have to. While it requires a smartphone to provide the pixels and power, the chassis itself is 3D-printed and can be customised via the company’s website, with a whopping 8.4 million possible combinations. It comes with a set of lenses that always provide a Rift-beating 110º field of vision, no matter which phone you’ve got inserted. agvr.co
Avegant Glyph The Glyph is a pair of noise-cancelling headphones with an extra-special trick. Fold it down and on the underside is a 1280x720-per-eye micromirror array, which reflects light into your eyeballs rather than lighting up a screen. Avegant reckons it’s far sharper than a traditional screen, although its 45º FOV could prove detrimental to the VR experience. Just plug it in via HDMI and you’re good to go. avegant.com
This is basically just a box for holding two 40mm lenses 40mm from your Android Jelly Bean-running phone’s screen to make a DIY VR headset. Except it’s not that simple. The lenses Google recommends aren’t easy to get hold of but we bought a pair from Edmund Optics for less than £10. The printing process is straightforward. Do it at work – nobody in their right mind pays for print toner – and while you’re there, nab a strong, thin cardboard box. The cutting-out process takes over an hour and it’s dull, fiddly work. A good sharp scalpel and a ruler to guide the blade are essential – if you use any ol’ pair of scissors it’ll take half a day and
the end result will look like a wasps’ nest. After about two hours of painstakingly cutting out the shapes you realise that you hate cardboard, because the little tabs don’t quite reach the holes, and the cardboard is too thick or too small or just in the wrong place. When this happens, just keep Sellotaping it together until it looks about right. Cram the lenses back in (they’ll have fallen out several times), tape it some more and get a phone in there. With the Cardboard app running, obviously. And… IT WORKS! It actually works! Everyone will want to hold your creation to their face. Hear their gasps as they fly around Google Earth! Hear their guffaws as they observe a cartoon mouse losing his hat! Yessss!!
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These are the new worlds you’ll be peering into when Oculus Rift and Sony’s Project Morpheus finally launch – and we’ve tried some of them out already
War Thunder HAN HA H AN A ND DS S ON ON
SuperHOT
u play the demo version of SuperHOT at superhotgame.com now, and we recommend you do. What sets it apart is that time moves only when you move: run towards your enemies and they’ll be able to shoot you, but stand still and bullets travel through the air like coins falling through treacle. Manage the time dilation right and you can weave through a hail of bullets like Neo from The Matrix, doing slo-mo yoga to despatch them. What Oculus brings to this, apart from a far more immersive first-person experience, is a finer level of control. This makes bullet-avoidance more intuitive; enjoy the satisfaction as bullets fly ponderously over your shoulder.
This free-to-play World War II MMO is available on PC, Mac and PS4 but it’s also been shown off with Oculus Rift support, adding to the already claustrophobic experience of being in the cockpit of one of the 186 different planes in the game. Pick from the Spitfire and Hurricane, or go history hipster and pilot a Gloster Gladiator bi-plane.
Project Cars We might still be waiting to get behind the wheel of Driveclub but the PS4 has another racer to look forward to – and this one supports Project Morpheus. Wearing Sony’s VR headset, you’ll be able to peer at the dashboard or admire the scenery and weather effects while you bomb around a racetrack at high speed. Just try to keep one eye on the road, eh?
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Elite: Dangerous An unfinished beta version of David Braben’s long-awaited Elite sequel is already available, offering five star systems to explore, plunder and fight your way through as a trader, pirate, bounty hunter or, well, pretty much whatever you want. The final, Oculus-compatible version will have 100 billion systems to traverse, with plans to add planets that can be explored.
Private Eye HAN HA H AN A ND DS S ON O N
Lucky’s Tale
e a n’t really thought about Oculus Rift as something you could use to play platform games, but this charming jumpabout shows VR can be a lot more versatile. You play a cartoon fox who springs about a multicoloured world that will be familiar to anyone who’s played Crash Bandicoot or anything else in the same vein – but the viewpoint, floating like cloud-riding Lakitu from the Mario games, is new and exciting. It does feel weird for a minute or two as your brain adjusts to this new form of perception, but it soon becomes natural. Most impressive is the main menu, a Super Mario World-esque map that you can peer at and zoom in on like a curious giant.
With a premise reminiscent of Hitchcock’s Rear Window, Private Eye puts you in the un-scuffed shoes of a paralysed detective, consigned to a wheelchair and suffering from amnesia in his New York apartment. A murder has been committed and you must use a pair of binoculars and any other objects within reach to solve the crime and stop the killer striking again.
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The Assembly The Assembly is about a mysterious group of scientists experimenting on people and animals in an underground lab. Little more is known about it apart from the fact that it’s being made for VR (that includes both Project Morpheus and Oculus Rift) and will be available at the launch of both – the timing of which is another mystery that could do with being solved.
HAN HA ND DS ON ON
Alien Isolation
On a flat screen, this game is scary. When you’re trapped in virtual reality, it becomes a nervejangling brownquake of bowel-loosening terror, on a par with the genre-creating film from whose chest it exploded. It’s not just the immersive graphics and sound, although these do a horribly good job of convincing you that you really are locked in a drifting spaceship with a hissing, invincible nightmare made from knives and acid. It’s also the control system: take the proximity sensor, for example (you have no weapons that can kill the alien, so the only way to survive is to stay away from it). In the flatscreen version, you
Eve: Valkyrie press a button to pull up the sensor and watch the deadly green blob moving across the screen. In the Oculus version, you have to physically look down to see the sensor. This feels wrong at an instinctive level, because you’re turning your body away from the unsafe space that harbours the claws and teeth from which you’re hiding, exposing the top of your head and the back of your neck. In fact, our one worry is that Alien: Isolation is a little too good at stimulating the primal fears at the centre of our mammal-brains. Playing it alone, on a more advanced version of the Oculus, might be more than we could handle.
The first game to really show what this new generation of virtual reality was capable of, Valkyrie’s intergalactic dogfighting is simple but effective, reminiscent of the X-Wing games of the ’90s. Rift support allows you to look around the cockpit and even down to see your own legs, while aiming missiles is also taken care of just by looking at what you want to blast.
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FIRST TEST TESLA MODEL S
Power ranger Tesla’s Model S promises to be much more than just an electric car… and it is £50,000 / teslamotors.com
The Tesla Model S upends the electric-car status quo like only Silicon Valley can. This Californian-built hatchback limo solves the EV range problem with a whopping great battery pack giving a potential 300 miles between charges. Then it eliminates dashboard clutter by putting all the cabin controls on a touchscreen tablet. The styling is graceful, the speed ballistic. It weighs 2.1 tonnes but the Performance version (£68,700) gets to 60mph in 4.2 seconds – and even the standard model makes it in 5.4. Because it’s electric all that muscle is available from rest, and the Performance version we tested was yell-out-loud, rollercoaster fast.
2 Charge! From a standard house plug it’ll take 20 hours to charge from flat to full, but a £95 state-subsided wall-charger halves that to 10 hours, while the optional £1900 dual charger halves that again. Quickest at 45 mins to full are the Tesla Superchargers the company plans to build at service stations along the M4, M1 and M6.
3 Massive battery Tesla claims the Model S has the range of a regular car thanks to the huge underfloor battery pack. The standard one is rated at 60kWh, to give a quoted range of 240 miles, and the 85kWh version is reckoned to be good for 312. To put that into context, the battery pack in the new LaFerrari hybrid hypercar is just 2.3kWh.
[ Words Nick Gibbs ]
Good Meh Evil
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Four hours with the Model S
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1 Undercover agent The Model S is stealthy. Find an open stretch of road, nail it, and nobody will hear your hooliganism. A pleasing whine from the rear electric motor sounding like a tiny jet engine is the extent of it. The Tesla even checks body roll in the bends while resisting the Germanic urge to pummel the spine on bumps.
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1.40hrs 1.48hrs
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2.33hrs
FIRST TEST TESLA MODEL S
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Tech specs Top speed 120-130mph Max power 382bhp-418bhp Max torque 440-600Nm 0-62mph 4.2-5.4 secs Official range 242-312 miles Charging time 45mins-10hrs (depending on charger) Dimensions 4970x2187m, 2100kg
Titanic tablet on the dashboard
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Tesla’s revolutionary touchscreen will blow your mind – but it’s not meant for motorway browsing
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5 Room for all the family Staff at Tesla’s sole UK ‘store’ in London’s Westfield shopping centre claim it has more room than a BMW X5 SUV in there, and you can believe it. One option includes two rear-facing jump seats in the boot to take the max passenger count to seven. There’s further room under the bonnet where a petrol engine would have been.
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4 Wide load Sometimes the Tesla feels too large for UK roads – even driving cautiously we managed to scrape an alloy on a width restriction bollard (we weren’t fiddling with the screen at the time, promise). And it lacks safety features such as lane-departure warnings, radar cruise control and related automatic emergency braking.
3hrs
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Q Double take The interior is mostly well designed and the second screen behind the steering wheel is welcome, but Tesla’s upright, 17in in-dash touchscreen tablet is the main event.
Q Too distracting? The touchscreen gives you control over the heating, sat-nav, radio and more. But it’s so moreish to the eyes you might need a co-pilot, at least at first, to look out for traffic ahead slowing.
Q Helpful passenger There’s a camera looking back that’s clear enough to use in place of the rear-view mirror, or you can configure it so the Google map occupies all the space.
Q Break the mould Screen updates come via a built-in 3G sim and each time you get one you could find you’ve got an entirely new button. Nothing new in smartphones, but revolutionary in a car.
The Tesla isn’t just a better electric car – it’s a groundbreaker that history could well hoist into the automotive hall of fame alongside the original Mini or even the Ford Model T. The speed is breathtaking, the styling sensational, the range good – and that 17in dash tablet embarrasses anything the premium German cars can offer. @nickgibbs
STUFF SAYS +++++ An electric car of such staggering talent it’ll have mainstream makers racing to catch up 63
TEST APPS
App:roved FOR FOOTBALL FLEDGLINGS
O Wayne Rooney’s Soccer Training
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FOR POPPING PLANETS
FOR MINI MARINE BIOLOGISTS
FOR KNEEGRAZERS
OEliss Infinity
O MarcoPolo Ocean
O Riders
Rooney, arguably the best British forward player of his generation, is here to teach professional training. The bulk of the app are videos that outline and demonstrate drills designed to develop specific skills, such as ‘running with the ball and finishing’ and ‘passing and receiving’. Most are unlocked with in-app purchases from £1.49, which is pretty good value, especially if you end up with a Premier League contract.
The bold and brilliant follow-up to the original Eliss that blew the minds of iPhone users in 2009, Eliss Infinity is somehow still fresh.Your task is to keep an abstract universe clean, empty and free of space-dust. To deal with the many planets that litter your screen, you need a propensity for multitasking and a strong level of dexterity – it’s basically Twister for your digits. Like the original, this is about as essential a purchase as you can get for your touchscreen.
A super-fun diversion for pre-school children, this sandbox adventure is all about populating ocean environments with various animals, then absorbing fascinating facts and exploring their habitats. You can also build boats and submarines to get you around your watery world. It can be a bit too freeform in places, so we’d like to see more prompts and direction in future updates, but for now there’s lots to keep creative, inquisitive minds occupied.
This isn’t just heaven for skaters. Riders is an extensive collection of how-tos that encompasses inline skating, BMX, mountain bike, longboard, scooter, skateboard, snowboard, ski and wakeboard. Look up a trick, read the simple description and watch a snappy demo. Think you can do better? Upload your own vids or pics for others to comment on. The amount and quality of user-generated content and interaction gives Riders long-term appeal.
Stuff says ++++, from £free / iOS
Stuff says +++++ £1.99 / Android, iOS
Stuff says ++++, £free / iOS
Stuff says +++++ £free / Android, iOS
TEST APPS
Mini meme
HOME DESIGN TOOLS
O Virtual Plan 3D This is currently a concept but one that you might be using for real quite soon. It’s an augmented reality app that turns 2D architectural drawings into 3D models. For now you can only use it with some demo drawings – and even though it’s not going make your own plans pop up, it’s a lot of fun to play with. Stuff says ++++, £free / Android, iOS
If Changing Rooms was still on, Handy Andy would be using these apps. Carol Smillie would still be annoying, though
O 3D Room Designer Interiors retailer Crate & Barrel is behind this one. Regardless of whether you intend to buy any of their gear, the app gives an idea of how you can decorate, rearrange or transform a room, using 3D models overlaid onto your photos or preset room templates. Of course, if you do fancy anything, the ‘Add to cart’ button is never far away. Stuff says +++++ £free / iOS
O Homestyler Interior Design
O Home Design
O Dulux Visualizer
O MagicPlan
Say you want to make over a room. Clear it out, take a picture and then import it into this app. Give the positions of the walls and corners as clues, and then you can choose from a host of furnishings, plopping the 3D models into your room. Proof at last that you can’t fit a snooker table in the kitchen.
A brilliant app for designing extensions or whole buildings, taking the grind out of digital design. You can quickly throw up walls, add doors and windows and drop in furnishings, then take a virtual tour around your new abode in 3D. There are two free editions of the app but we recommend the full-fat option.
Now you can paint your walls with virtual brushes. Snap a photo, choose a colour and start splashing away. It’s a quick way to get an idea of the tones that will work in a space. There are limits to the app’s accuracy – so much of a paint’s appearance is to do with lighting conditions – but you can order testers to be delivered direct from the app.
Here’s a neat solution for creating floorplans of existing properties. Mark out the walls, floor, ceiling, doors and whatnot of a room. From that, the app makes 2D plans to be exported as PDF, JPG, DXF, HTML or CSV files. It’s free to try with in-app purchases to unlock the export options, ranging from £1.99 to £69.99.
Stuff says +++++ £free / Android, iOS
Stuff says +++++ £6.99 / iOS
Stuff says ++++, £free / Android, iOS
Stuff says ++++, from £free / Android, iOS
3D GOLD
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T E S T S A M S U N G G A L A X Y TA B S
A way with the pixels Yep, Samsung’s released yet another tablet. But the exceptional screen of the Tab S elevates it far beyond the masses QFirst things first: this Tab’s screen is incredible. Not just a pixel-packed 2560x1600 resolution, it uses Super AMOLED tech that provides eye-searing colour and blacks levels that blow the competition away. You won’t want to take your eyes off it. QWhile it can’t match the metal iPad Air or glass Xperia Tablet Z2, the dimpled plastic back is pleasant to the touch and offers plenty of grip. The Tab S is also thin and light, making tablet arm-ache a thing of the past. QThis tablet can tackle whatever you chuck at it. Its 8-core Exynos 5 processor and 3GB of RAM give plenty of power for multitasking and 3D gaming, although oddly there’s still the occasional UI stutter. Disappointing, yes, but it’s not a deal-breaker. QSamsung’s updated TouchWiz UI is a massive improvement. The lurid day-glo colours are gone, and there are useful tweaks such as a Kids Mode and Multi Window for running apps simultaneously. Galaxy smartphone users can even use the Tab S to take calls. QThe 7,900mAh battery excels. It will manage at least 12 hours of non-stop video playback, and it has the same Ultra Power-Saving mode as the Galaxy S5, which freezes apps and switches to a black and white interface to save even more power.
Tech specs OS Android 4.4 Screen 10.5in, 16:10, 2560x1600 Super AMOLED RAM 3GB Storage 16/32GB (up to 128GB) Connectivity USB 2.0, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi Battery 7,900mAh Dimensions 247x177mm, 465g Price £400 / samsung.com
What’s your flavour?
Clip for protection
While the bright palette will seem oversaturated to purists, you can adjust settings for more realistic hues without sacrificing black levels. Adaptive Display autoadjusts white tones too.
The Tab S opts for two circular ‘Simple Clickers’ on the back, to which cases can quickly attach themselves. It’s simple but sturdier than it looks. The Bluetooth keyboard is our pick.
STUFF SAYS Samsung’s best tablet yet: gorgeous, slim and long-lasting +++++ Where’s my stylus? Esat Dedezade @EsatDedezade
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The Galaxy Tab S lacks the stylus hardware and software of the Galaxy Note 10.1, so doodlers, artists and fans of hand-scribbled notes might want to opt for that model instead. Or, perhaps, wait for Samsung to refresh its Note tablet line. We are likely to see the newer Note 10.4 make its debut at IFA in September, hopefully complete with the best bits of the Tab S. So, if you fancy wielding an S Pen, hold your horses.
T E S T S E E M E C N C O R I O N D E LTA 3 D P R I N T E R
Fresh prints The SeeMeCNC Orion Delta shows us a bold new format for 3D printers, but does its unusual engineering make for better results? QWhile most consumer 3D printers move a bit like inkjet printers with another dimension added, the SeeMeCNC Orion Delta has the extruder head (the bit that squirts out the plastic) suspended from three arms – a system used by packing robots on production lines. QIt may not look quite as slick as the later Makerbots but the build quality is reassuringly solid. The plastic filament feeding system is outside, leaving the extruder head nice and light so it moves quickly. QYou’ll spend around half an hour installing the mains cable and front-mounted display. Once set up and levelled it needs very little tweaking – ours pumped out a perfect print first time. QPrinting can be done from an SD card as well as from a PC or Mac via USB. It doesn’t come with proprietary software, so use the free Repetier Host application. From here you can control every fine detail, but it requires quite a bit of tinkering. If you’re a beginner it’s a steep learning curve. QYou can print in either PLA or ABS. We found that PLA stuck beautifully to the glass build platform, but ABS required a glue stick to keep the layers firmly planted. Experimenting with different thicknesses can be the key to a solid base. Once stuck, the heated bed warded off any warping issues .
Ordering off the menu
Tidy work
The system takes a bit of getting used to with its single jog knob and button combo, but once you’ve found your way around it’s quick to navigate and has a wealth of information and settings to tweak.
The prints themselves were impressively neat, with ABS showing off the Orion Delta’s 50-micron accuracy. The occasional blocked nozzle aside, it performed extremely reliably.
Tech Max print dimensions 152x228mm (cylindrical) Layer height 50-400 microns Maximum print speed 150mm/s Dimensions 41x68cm Weight 9kg Price £1320 / robosavvy.com
STUFF SAYS This mind-bending printer is a new favourite, but not for beginners ++++, Opinion: Riding the hobby horse Jools Whitehorn @joolswhitehorn
Consumer-level 3D printing may be evolving with new formats such as the three-arm delta setup, but it’s still a long way from being a ‘plug and play’ gadget. You will need patience in the face of failures and a drive to experiment with CAD software such as TinkerCAD (tinkercad.com). You also need to ask: “Am I ready to make this my new hobby?” If the answer’s no, it’s probably best to spend your cash elsewhere.
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[ Words Andrew Willliams, Mark Wilson ]
You won't have heard of your next smartphone, but it’ll be more powerful, cooler and cheaper than any of today’s big names. Meet the Far Eastern upstarts ready to invade your pocket
‘Made in China’. It’s on virtually every gadget you own and is still tech’s most common hallmark. But as the haughty ‘Designed by Apple in California’ suggests, only western companies can actually dream up iconic trinkets and desirable brands, right? Wrong. A new wave of Chinese tech stars are starting to redefine what ‘Made in China’ means – and they’re focusing first on smartphones. You might not be familiar with such names as Xiaomi and OnePlus right now, but they’re cooking up high-end handsets that offer an experience to rival Apples and Samsungs, for half the price. But why is this happening now, and should you be looking to buy a Chinese smartphone? Join us on a journey to the land of Eastern gadget promise…
JARGON BUSTER QSHANZHAI Cheap knockoffs that imitate existing products. A Shanzhai maker can design, build and sell a new phone in 40 days. QMEDIATEK Taiwanese Qualcomm rival making low-cost processor bundles that power most Far East phones and tablets. QWCDMA 3G is transmitted over WCDMA and HSPA bands. Many Chinese phones only have WCDMA. QCYANOGENMOD Chinese phones often have custom interfaces like CyanogenMod, an open-source take on Android that offers oodles of control.
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ere’s a fascinating fact for you: half of the world’s top ten biggestselling smartphone brands are now Chinese. Before we ask you to name them, we’ll forgive you for not being too shocked. After all, China accounts for a fifth of the world’s population and has 700 million smartphone users. But what are potentially revolutionary are the ramifications – with China’s domestic phone market maturing like a fine bottle of Huangjiu, where will it go next? The answer, according to the elite’s newest member Xiaomi, is everywhere. With its biggest domestic rivals – Lenovo, Huawei, Coolpad and ZTE – dipping their toes into the global smartphone pool party, Xiaomi is preparing a big international splash. Last year it poached Google’s Android boss Hugo Barra, who has since promised “truly global products” within the next two years. Why is this exciting? Because Xiaomi and Huawei have recently cooked up some of the finest smartphone hardware we’ve seen. And as you’ll see in our test on p78, they’re just the beginning. Yuan vision Why is this happening now? There are a few reasons. The most obvious is that Chinese smartphone makers haven’t
Opening the box:
the Oppo Find 7 launch event in Beijing, 19 March
previously needed to go global. “When you’ve got a market approaching one billion active smartphone users in China, it makes sense to start there first,” says Far East tech expert Phil Muncaster. “It’s all about achieving scale in the domestic space, then using that as a springboard to launch abroad.” The springboard is now ready for lift-off. We, the increasingly savvy smartphone buyers, are now more in sync with the Chinese approach too. “Three years ago, a £100 smartphone would have provided a hugely different experience to the latest iPhone, but that is changing fast,” says Dominic Sunnebo from smartphone analysts Kantar Worldpanel. “Consumers increasingly understand that phone prices are bumped up by marketing, a key reason why Chinese brands are able to make quality handsets at much lower prices.” As smartphone buyers increasingly get their smartphone fix away from the network subsidy model, they’re also on the hunt for better value, he suggests. The sums add up So which of these high-spec handsets are early Chinese phone adopters most excited about? There are many, but the one getting all the attention now is the OnePlus One. It has Galaxy S5-matching specs, but starts at just £230. We asked OnePlus where all this came from. “The idea came when a few of us were chatting in a café. We laid our phones on the table and realised no one was using an Android device. Nothing on the market was good enough,” says Carl Pei, director of OnePlus Global. The company’s bold, ‘never settle’ approach has paid off. “In less than seven months, we went from being a brand new company to launch day, when we were two of the trending topics on Twitter,” says Pei. The phone is so popular that the release was throttled with an invite-only system that had some fans up in arms. They were ravenous for the 5.5in wonder. It costs how much? The obvious question: how come the OnePlus One is so cheap? There are a few reasons. “We barely have any marketing budget at all,” Pei told us. “We focus on online marketing and distribution to cut down expenses.” And we the customers seem to be reaping the
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Oppo’s top camera geek runs through the Find 7’s finer photographic points for his rapt Beijing audience
OPPO CHINA’S... LG HQ Gongguan, Guandong Oppo started life in the very mid-noughties fields of Blu-ray players and PMPs, before entering the smartphone market in 2008. It’s shown an LG-like penchant for world firsts, including the then-world’s thinnest smartphone (Finder) and first 1080p phone (Find 5). STAR PLAYER Oppo Find 7 The world’s most specced-up superphone is fronted by the first quad HD display and has a ‘50MP’ camera mode that stitches ten shots together to create your wall photo. Read our full review on p96.
ONEPLUS CHINA’S... Jolla HQ Hong Kong, Shenzhen Founded in December 2013 by the ex-vice president of Oppo, OnePlus currently has just one product – the aptly-named One. Stock for the OnePlus One is currently so limited you need an invitation to buy one. Which has naturally pushed its desirability through the roof. STAR PLAYER OnePlus One Less star player and more one-man team, the OnePlus One costs just £230 but on paper rivals the Galaxy S5. You can read our full review on p96.
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benefits… not that this can last forever: “We also sell our devices at cost and are not concerned with making money for the first couple of years; we’re focused on building a trusted brand.” OnePlus is the freshest face in the world of Chinese phones. But what does an established company at the other end of the spectrum look like? Meet Huawei. It’s all in the name Like ZTE, Huawei once pootled along in the UK producing phones for other companies. If you’ve ever owned a Vodafone-brand mobile, there’s a good chance Huawei or ZTE made it. But just a couple of years ago, Huawei came to a realisation: brand matters. “Huawei started from a point where consumers were not able to pronounce our name,” says VP of marketing Shao Yang. This year its attempts to become a real western brand came to a head in the Huawei Ascend P7: a phone launched on major networks as an alternative to the Galaxy S5. It’s a great-looking phone, and unlike the OnePlus One, you don’t have to jump through hoops to buy one. It’s also around £100 cheaper than a Galaxy S5. “Three elements determine our success: quality, innovation and accessible premium,” says Yang. If there’s one phrase that sums up the Chinese smartphone philosophy, it’s “accessible premium”. Identity crisis But Chinese phone-makers still have a lot of work to do before gadget fans relate ‘China’ with
‘premium’. We talked to another relative veteran, Oppo, and asked VP of overseas Sky Li whether the company’s Chinese identity had come with problems. “In a way, yes,” he said. “There was some scrutiny towards us in the very beginning. It was not until the release of the Find 5 that opinion changed rather quickly.” Back in 2012, the Find 5 was the world’s first 1080p phone. Innovation among the Chinese upstarts is strong, even if they don’t have the marketing to ensure they get credit they
LENOVO CHINA’S... Dell HQ Haidian, Beijing
“CHINESE STUDENTS HAVE SHARPER EYES AND WOULD BE EMBARRASSED TO BE CAUGHT WITH A KNOCKOFF”
Working its way into the West by buying up some of our old favourites, Lenovo makes the ThinkPad laptops once touted by IBM. It also snapped up most of Motorola from Google earlier this year. This has led many industry watchers to single Lenovo out as the Chinese manufacturer to watch.
EMELYN BAKER, SHANZHAI DIGEST STAR PLAYER Motorola Moto G Lenovo technically owns the Moto G, and has promised to continue Motorola’s much-praised devotion to near-stock Android with the rumoured flagship X+1.
deserve for it. These companies have to prove themselves at every turn, and this is part of the reason why so few Chinese phones are on sale in the UK. You got Shanzhai’d Why do Chinese companies have to work so hard? The Shanzhai market doesn’t help. Reams of Chinese companies much less concerned with quality than Oppo and Huawei are producing low-cost phones that ape popular
THE OLD WAY: DECONSTRUCTING A GOOPHONE i5
HUAWEI CHINA’S... Samsung HQ Longgang, Shenzhen
The laser-etched Goophone logo is one of the few giveaways that this isn’t a real iPhone 5. Build quality is impressive. An 8MP camera is present and correct, with the iOS camera app also cloned The Goophone runs a heavily skinned version of Android Ice Cream Sandwich A 3.5mm jack, speakers and a cloned Lightning port complete this convincing (if underpowered) ‘tribute’
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Pronounced ‘Hua-wey’, China’s fourth-most-popular smartphone maker builds some of the highestprofile Chinese phones on sale in the UK. It also provided the tech to make BT's fibre-optic broadband possible, and made the 4G car dongle behind EE’s ‘Buzzard’. STAR PLAYER Huawei Ascend P7 One of the thinnest smartphones in the world, the Ascend P7’s 6.5mm-thick body makes the iPhone 5S look tubby. It’s probably the most widely available Chinese phone to date.
handsets. Some say this kind of imitation is the sincerest form of flattery – Oppo calls it “a bit of free advertising” – but if this happened in the West you’d be looking at enough lawsuits to keep Judge Judy in work for several lifetimes. However, there are signs that the Shanzhai phenomenon is on the way out. “Shanzhai devices are declining in sales,” says Emelyn Baker from the blog Shanzhai Digest. “Government officials and international corporations are teaming up to crack down on counterfeits and knockoffs. “And the public is attaining a keener eye for design; while Shanzhai devices provide the illusion of good design for the novice, younger Chinese students have sharper eyes and would be embarrassed to be caught with a knockoff.”
GO EAST
Trust issues But the ‘knockoff’ stigma isn’t the only hurdle between Chinese companies and global domination. Security fears could have an impact too. In 2005, Huawei was chosen to provide equipment for BT’s network infrastructure, but last year the UK government
admitted its consideration of national security issues in the decision had been “insufficiently robust” and that “Ministers should have been informed”. This followed allegations from a former CIA chief (strenuously denied by Huawei) that Huawei has spied for the Chinese government. The lack of any evidence for such nefarious behaviour hasn’t prevented tabloid stories that bring to mind low-budget Jean Claude Van Damme movies. And the more recent NSA revelations haven’t exactly calmed nerves about government surveillance either. But could it all have a effect on the adoption of Chinese tech? Phil Muncaster, previously based in Hong Kong, doesn’t think so: “I don’t think your average UK smartphone user will really care – users are much more interested in features, apps and usability. And as Edward Snowden has taught us, there’s probably just as much to be worried about buying a US-made handset.” A different angle So how can Chinese startups compete with established rivals? Xiaomi, which now outsells Apple in China, sells its phones at cost
The western exports that China is lapping up
NAMES TO DROP
HOLLYWOOD Major film studios are increasingly tailoring their flicks to the Chinese market, the world’s second-biggest box office. It’s working: Iron Man 3’s opening weekend was the biggest ever for a foreign production.
The pigeonhole-defying honchos driving this tech revolution
LIONEL RICHIE The moustachioed ceiling-botherer recently starred in the finale of Chinese Idol and found out schools use his songs to teach English. Ah, time for double Endless Love.
ANDROID Android is the most popular mobile OS in China, but it’s not all good news for Google – with its Play store all but banned in the country, Chinese Android fans only use it to download 5% of their apps.
KFC The Colonel has the largest chain restaurant in China, invading Beijing in 1987. The bird flu outbreak put people off for a while, but its 4618 outlets are proving popular again.
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1 JACK MA
2 HUGO BARRA
3 MA HUATENG
CEO of Alibaba CHINA'S… Jeff Bezos
Xiaomi VP (Int’l) CHINA’S… Phil Schiller
Tencent founder CHINA’S… Mark Zuckerberg
Ma founded China’s biggest online retailer in 1999 – last year it registered bigger sales than Amazon and eBay combined. Though Alibaba is now spreading west with its first US store 11main.com, Ma has now gone a bit Bill Gates by turning his attentions to solving China’s social problems.
Brazilian ex-Googler Barra is the new international face of Xiaomi. He decides which countries Xiaomi should expand into next, so will have a big role in the global spread of Chinese phones. Like Apple’s Schiller, he’s known for his engaging keynotes, so make sure you tune into Xiaomi’s next big launch.
Ma Huateng may go by the nickname of Pony, but his tech cred is anything but. He’s behind the company that has come up with the Chinese equivalent of WhatsApp and Facebook. With nearly one billion users, it’s helped make him the richest man in China, with an estimated worth of around US$13 billion.
INDIE SUPERPHONES
but profits by selling services and software upgrades. “The approach is similar to Amazon’s business model for the Kindle,” says Ovum’s principal analyst, David McQueen. “And it’s helped by the fact that, although Android is the dominant mobile OS in China, the Google Play store remains banned in the country.” Success in countries like the UK is therefore far from a formality. Ben Thompson from Taiwanese tech blog stratechery.com thinks other factors will delay Xiaomi’s expansion to our shores: “The big barrier is that they don’t have any relevant intellectual property, which means licensing fees in Western markets would be
extremely high.” Cheap price tags are also no guarantee of success, according to McQueen, who says Chinese brands need to “continue building their brand and reputation not only through marketing but also by providing core experiences unique to their devices”. That means experiences such as Xiaomi’s MIUI (see below), a new twist on Android that’s gaining fans around the world.
Look familiar? Xiaomi’s Apple-style ‘Mi Home’ store in Beijing showcases its phones and offers product servicing, though you can’t yet buy its handsets there.
Stuff says… Chinese smartphones are gearing up for a global expansion that will redefine how much we expect to pay for a ‘high-end’ phone. And it’s not just a question of ‘the same but cheaper’ – bolshy brands such as Xiaomi and OnePlus are cooking up genuine hardware and UI innovations that push Android into new territory. It won’t be an overnight revolution: Chinese companies have big cultural, marketing, network and intellectual property hurdles to overcome. And the UK could prove to be one of the hardest nuts to crack. But as our OnePlus One review on p96 suggests, it might not be long before big changes are afoot in Stuff’s Smartphones Top 10.
XIAOMI CHINA’S... Apple HQ Chaoyang, Beijing Pronounced ‘She-yow-mee’, Xiaomi was founded in 2010 but already sells more phones in China than Apple. Its founder Lei Jun gives dramatic, Jobs-like product launches. And like Apple, it sells smartphones directly to customers. STAR PLAYER Xiaomi Mi3 Shades of Nokia Lumia design and specs that can keep up with £500 phones. The only thing it lacks is 4G, which is the reason we gave it a gallant four stars (read the Stuff review: bit.ly/XiaomiMi3review).
WHAT IS MIUI? 1. THAT LOOKS HARD TO SAY… Don’t worry: it's pronounced ‘Me you I’. It’s short for Mi User Interface, with the ‘Mi’ being Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi’s new global brand. Chinese smartphone makers like creating heavily modified Android interfaces, and MIUI is one of the most advanced. It’s also updated every week according to user feedback, which is nice.
2. WHAT’S SO GOOD ABOUT IT? Well, if you’re bored with Android’s look, MIUI opens up a new world of fun. Its fancy ‘Themes’ (see right) are one of its most popular features, allowing you to choose from thousands of new looks for your phone’s interface and menus. There are hundreds of other tricks too, including an alarm clock that works even when your phone’s off.
3. BUT I NEED A CHINESE PHONE, RIGHT?
4. SOUNDS LIKE A LOT OF HASSLE…
Nope. Xiaomi has made custom MIUI ROMs for most leading Android phones. Just go to en.miui.com/download. html. If you haven’t rooted your phone or installed a ROM, you can get most of the functionality from the MIUI Launcher on Google Play instead. The only thing it’s not available for is the iPhone.
Well, it’s not for everyone. Some users like the way MIUI mixes the polish of iOS with Android’s freedom; others prefer the infinite tweakability of CyanogenMod. But the cool thing is that, while we wait for Chinese smartphone giants to launch their phones over here, you can get a taster of what it’s like to use one. 77
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IMPORTING A CHINESE PHONE With so few of these phones officially on sale in the UK, should you import one? We bought two from very different backgrounds to find out…
BUYING TIPS 1 USE PAYPAL PayPal is a good idea when importing. For using sites you’ve never heard of, it offers good buyer protection and an extra level of security between the retailer and your credit card details.
2 CHECK THE FREQUENCY, KENNETH As UK networks use different 3G/4G bands to other countries, try to make sure you get bands 3, 7 and 20 for 4G, and 2100/900 WCDMA frequencies for top-speed 3G.
3 RESEARCH WEB-UTATIONS They’re not foolproof, but sites like webutations.info and resellerratings.com can give you a good idea about a web store’s trustworthiness. If there are any horror stories, you’ll find them very quickly.
4 PREPARE TO TINKER Phones made for the Chinese market are generally quite unfriendly for UK folk at first. Before buying check for Google Play access and, if 4G is a must, make sure your network works with the phone’s supported bands.
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THE OFFICIAL ROUTE XIAOMI MI3
US$314 (including shipping)
THE SHANZHAI ROUTE ELEPHONE P8 £150 (including shipping)
Bought from ibuygou.com Delivery time Six days Alternative to... Google Nexus 5 (£290)
Bought from chinavision.com Delivery time Six days Alternative to... Samsung Galaxy Note 3 (£400)
Given that Xiaomi is often referred to as ‘China’s Apple’, we had high expectations for its flagship phone – and we weren’t disappointed. Bought from ibuygou.com, it came as nicely packaged as any UK phone you can buy. The Mi3’s magnesium-alloy build means it looks like a high-end Nokia Lumia, but with a thinner body, MIUI-flavoured Android and a beautiful 5in 1080p screen. Not a bad combo.
A truly shameless Samsung Galaxy Note 3 rip-off, the Elephone P8 nicks that phone's design, its lock screen wallpaper and even that annoying Samsung notification sound. It just doesn't have the stylus, the brand or 4G. But what are your chances of getting a Note 3 for £150? After a few credit card fraud alerts we managed to order the phone from Chinavision, who handily supplied a UK charger adaptor.
THE GOOD
OMagnesium body looks and feels great. OSnapdragon 800 makes the phone feel very fast. ORarity attracts covetous glances from Android nerds.
THE BAD
OWhere’s Google Play? Mi Market is mostly not in English. ONo 4G? And a full-size SIM? How 2007. OThe keyboard seems to think we’re writing in Chinese.
THE GOOD
OA good 5.7in 1080p screen for this price? Amazing. OWith Google Play and the app suite, using the phone is a doddle. OVanilla interface is clean and the MTK CPU is snappy.
THE BAD
OCopycat design may earn you ridicule from your mates. OIt’s missing finishing touches in the hardware. ONo Gorilla Glass? The screen goes funny if you press too hard.
STUFF SAYS Thanks to the inclusion of Google Play, the Elephone is actually more UK-friendly than the classier Xiaomi. It works well enough too, but we remain sceptical about copycat handsets due to their variable build quality and lack of support. Better to stick to reputable brands like Xiaomi, though phones like the 4G-less Mi3 remain hobbled in the UK.
F I R S T T E S T LG G WAT C H
Wear and flair? It’s the first Android Wear device – but is the LG G Watch a worthy flagship for Google’s new wearable operating system? £160 / lg.com
Well hello, Android Wear – we’ve been expecting you. And we see you’ve brought your new friend the G Watch with you. Right, let’s have a proper look at you… Yes, Google’s bold new wearables platform has finally arrived. The OS displays glanceable location, search and calendar-based info from your Android phone, as well as serving up notifications, all in a clever, context-sensitive way – so in theory it’ll provide handy info exactly when you need it. Google wants to get it on to millions of wrists before Apple’s iWatch launches, and as the first device to run it, the G Watch has a headstart over rival designs. So, is it a worthy vehicle for the OS? And is the OS as useful as it sounds?
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Good Meh Evil
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3 days with the LG G Watch
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F I R S T T E S T LG G WAT C H
1 Design: subtle nerd The G Watch is smartly inoffensive, with a rectangular glass front and stainless steel frame. Like most smartwatches it ultimately resembles a mini phone with two straps attached, but the metal sides of our Black Titan version catch the light nicely and there’s a blingier White Gold model. The straps can be swapped out and it’s fairly comfortable to wear.
2 Screen: good, but… Android Wear’s colourful cards and icons (see panel) look great on the G Watch’s big 1.65in screen and make the e-paper Pebble seem even more retro. The IPS display is easy to see even when not fully tilted towards you and contrast is decent. However, at 280x280 it’s hardly sharp – the 1.63in Gear Live will be 320x320 – and it can be tricky to make out in the sun.
Tech specs Screen 1.65in LCD IPS (280x280) OS Android Wear Compatibility Smartphones running Android 4.3 and up Processor 1.2GHz Snapdragon 400 RAM 512MB Storage 4GB Features Bluetooth 4.0, 9-Axis sensors (gyro / accelerometer / compass), IP67 water & dust resistance Battery Li-Polymer 400mAh Strap size 22mm Dimensions 37.9x46.5x9.95mm Weight 63g
So what can Google’s new OS do? 3 The power and the glory The G Watch performs excellently, with not a hint of a stutter when opening agendas or swiping away notification cards. That’s no surprise considering its power: it runs on the same processor as the HTC One Mini 2, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 400, which you might think is overkill considering all it has to do is display Google Now cards and take care of voice input.
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4 Battery All that power comes at a cost: battery life. We never got more than 24 hours from it, which is a pain. OK, so it was never going to rival the five-day Pebble Steel – Android Wear is too busy and colourful – but that processor was probably unnecessary. What’s more, there’s a charging cradle to contend with – no microUSB here. 5 OS After living with it for a few days, it’s clear that Android Wear could take smartwatches mainstream. Yes, it’s rough around the edges, and yes, it’s early days for apps, but the basics are so exciting that you won’t care. The Google Nowstyle cards work brilliantly, it has the best voice control we’ve tried and it’s super-easy to use. With more apps it’ll be a must-have.
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Quite a lot, actually. For instance, it can…
Q …Notify you Wear pushes calls, texts, emails, social media and calendar notifications to the watch, but there’s no control over what you get: for now it’s all or nothing. Still, you can read emails in full rather than just view a summary, and even reply via voice control.
Q …Predict you The big new idea here is the Google Now-style cards, containing info Wear thinks you might need: weather in the morning, bus times for the bus stop you’re walking to etc. It doesn’t always guess right, but it’s mostly genius.
Q …Listen to you The G Watch/Android Wear combo comes close to nailing voice control: it’s useful, accurate and picks up your voice from a distance. You can already use it for replying to emails but we couldn’t get the navigation feature to work on our test unit.
Q …Help you Third-party apps are in short supply, but expect that to change soon. Of those that are around, FlyDelta supports QR code boarding passes, Bunting takes care of voice tweeting and Runtastic will look after your fitness needs.
There’s lots to like about the G Watch, but not quite enough to make it an essential purchase. Samsung’s Gear Live, due any day, has a higher-res screen, while the circular Moto 360 should be easier on the eye. Both will run on Android Wear too, so it makes sense to wait until their arrival before choosing between the three of them. @sophiecharara
STUFF SAYS ++++, The G Watch works just fine but Android Wear is the real star here. Smartwatches just got essential 81
TESTED 4K TVS
3 OF THE BEST
4K TVs BEST FOR... YOUR WALLET
Eight million pixels no longer costs silly money, but should you buy a 4K TV? We’ve picked three of the shiniest for an ultra hi-def fight
Don’t worry if your shelf is small – the feet can be placed near the centre of the screen
Sony KD-55X8505B What’s on? This is Sony’s entry-level 4K TV. It doesn’t have its bigger brothers’ massive built-in speakers, and it doesn’t have their aesthetically pleasing yet stable wedge shape either. But it does have a pop-up camera and flexible stand placement, so you can have its feet together or wide apart. The smart interface has been
spiced up: Discover mode recommends things you might like, while Social View turns the bottom of the screen into a version of Twitter, only worse.
Phwoar K? Watching Breaking Bad on Netflix 4K shows off plenty of detail: it’s sharp without looking processed. Colours are nicely
judged and skin tones are convincing. It’s a little too punchy to look neutral but it is great to look at, and there’s plenty of subtlety in gradation and shading – though black levels are an issue unless you play around with the black corrector settings. It’s good at upscaling, but the Samsung over the page does it with more nuance.
Tech Screen size 55in Resolution 3840x2160 pixels Dimensions 123x79x29cm Weight 24.1kg Main platforms Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, BBC iPlayer, Demand 5, Sony Video Unlimited Price £2100 / sony.co.uk
STUFF SAYS The design could be more exciting, but the Sony’s picture is solid ++++, 83
TESTED 4K TVS
BEST FOR... LOOKING AWESOME
There’s no built-in camera, which means no silly arm-waving to change channels
T TES R E NN I W
Samsung UE55HU7500 What’s on? Samsung’s learned a few things and now it’s no longer making ridiculously flashy TVs that might fall over. This one manages to look fairly sensible while maintaining a high-quality finish. The smart interface has been updated to include a degree of multitasking, and also gone is last year’s camera-based hand-waving
nonsense, replaced with a gyroscopic remote pointer. This must be the future – the LG has something similar.
Phwoar K? Despite having similarities to the LG opposite in terms of control and interface, Samsung distinguishes itself by looking awesome in 4K (with Netflix),
Full HD and standard definition. The palette’s less shouty these days: retina-searingly bright colours have been swapped for more mature hues. Now the picture looks realistic while maintaining a degree of punch. Contrast is good, blacks actually look black and there’s as much detail as you could want. A most rounded, versatile individual.
Tech Screen size 55in Resolution 3840x2160 pixels Dimensions 123x75x27cm Weight 21.1kg Main platforms Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, Blinkbox, BBC iPlayer, 4oD, ITV Player, Demand 5, Spotify, Plex Price £2300 / samsung.com
STUFF SAYS A restrained approach makes the Samsung a great all-rounder +++++ 84
TESTED 4K TVS
BEST FOR... MULTITASKERS
Never before has pointing at the screen been such a satisfying experience
LG 55UB950V What’s on? LG launches into the 4K foray armed with WebOS. Sound familiar? That used to be a Palm operating system. Now it’s a super-slick smart TV interface that promises to “add 100 per cent more multitasking to your viewing experience”. All the inputs and apps are divided into tiny little cards, controlled and
navigated with a remote pointer resembling a gyroscopic banana from the near future. If only the TV looked less plasticky up close.
Phwoar K? Netflix looks blisteringly sharp in 4K, and very detailed too. If you’ve ever wanted to scrutinise every single line on Kevin Spacey’s face, now’s your chance. Colours are
very punchy, but contrast could be better because the blacks actually look a bit grey. Local dimming helps, but it struggles with the really dark stuff, so best to avoid Batman. It’s also not the most subtle picture, which is especially noticeable when you upscale HD and SD. It’s got decent sound, though.
Tech Screen size 55in Resolution 3840x2160 pixels Dimensions 123x78x24cm Weight 24.2kg Main platforms Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, Blinkbox, BBC iPlayer, Now TV, Demand 5, Spotify, Plex Price £2300 / lg.com/uk
STUFF SAYS Ingenious interface, but that picture could be better ++++, 85
TEST GAMES
Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC / codemasters.com
Grid Autosport Codemasters absolutely nailed the thrill of racing at 140mph+ against a pack of touring cars in Grid 2. Will that elusive feeling make a return in the latest edition? ike the Need For Speed and Forza franchises before them, Codemasters split the Grid series in two – and Autosport is for those who prefer a more realistic racing experience. Your career is broken down into five racing disciplines – Endurance, Touring, Tuner, Open Wheel and Street – and you need to become proficient in all five to progress. Some styles are more fun than others – we loved racing Touring cars but the Endurance category, where you have to try to minimise
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tyre damage, quickly made us long for a pit-stop feature. Everything about the racing just feels right, though, from the way the cars connect to the road to the sublime track design – seven city circuits are included, among them Dubai and Washington DC, and all are a joy to race around. The handling is less twitchy than Grid 2 thanks to weightier cars, while the computercontrolled competitors provide a real challenge at the standard
difficulty level. In fact, many races are tense, physically draining affairs, in which fighting for first place is as difficult as maintaining it. Grid Autosport’s cold, almost clinical approach to the career mode seems to be a direct antidote to the OTT Hollywood glamour on offer in Grid 2. There’s plenty to do and it’s varied – but given that it takes hours to reach the game’s main events, you might just give up. On the other hand, the multiplayer mode is a rewarding
experience – you build your own garage of cars, with progress tracked on each one including mileage and win/loss rate. Hardcore sim fans will surely love Autosport’s unswerving dedication to fast cars and the excitement of racing on the track. It falls some way short of the showroom size of Gran Turismo 6 and can be a little sterile at times, but it’s a fun and satisfyingly authentic racer with an abundance of tracks and locations. Guy Cocker
STUFF SAYS A great racing model, with challenging AI and plenty of track variation ++++, 86
TEST GAMES
Cockpit cam
The track/street ratio is flipped from Grid 2 to make pure track racing the focus
Take your pick from 78 cars and 100 circuits across 22 locations
With Grid Autosport, Codemasters aims to return to the series’ simulation roots, with a greater focus on track racing, more realistic AI and the return of the in-car camera. Despite their assertion that only five per cent of players used the cockpit view in its previous racing games, that small group of people were very vocal about its omission in Grid 2. As a result, the cockpit cam makes a much-vaunted return in Autosport… although its implementation looks lazy at best. There are two viewpoints to choose from – close to the dash and slightly further away. While using an in-car view adds to the immersion when you’re driving, the car interiors themselves look blurry and lack details such as working dials or mirrors. True, we’ve been spoiled by the dashes of Forza 5 on Xbox One, so Grid Autosport was always going to suffer as a previous-gen game, but even on PC the interiors look poor. Other than that, and some pretty basic damage modelling, Autosport is visually pretty good, with the aforementioned PC version delivering the clarity and vivid effects that we’ve come to expect from modern racing games.
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TEST GAMES
PS4, PS3, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PC / valianthearts.ubi.com
Valiant Hearts: The Great War A game inspired by letters written during World War I? Tom Parsons finds out how gameplay can handle the serious realities of a brutal conflict ’m a sucker for a kooky art style, and I’m not ashamed to admit that the purdiness of Valiant Hearts was practically all I knew about it when I started playing. What I found, though, is a genuinely unique game. The cutesy comic-book graphics initially seem an odd choice to tell a story set in the battlefields and trenches of WWI, but the decision is inspired. This is a gore-free experience, but the horror and sadness of war still hit home through the stories of the four characters you play and those they meet on their journeys. The character removed from his French wife and newborn son to join the German army is a particularly strong storyline. The game is also full of diary entries and collectables that contain snippets of perspective on the war, and each level comes with encyclopaedic entries on various aspects of the conflict, from the introduction of tanks to the role of volunteer nurses and the astonishing scale of losses in
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key battles. Turns out computer games can teach you a thing or two. In fact, if I was a teacher (and the world remains ever grateful I’m not) I’d make sure every student played through Valiant Hearts. The actual gameplay is probably the least interesting aspect. For the most part it’s a side-scrolling platform-puzzler, with problems ranging from straightforward to only vaguely challenging. At later stages there’s a slight stretching of the brain, but you’re unlikely to find yourself stuck. There is a hint system, but I never needed to use it so I doubt you will. The core gameplay is interspersed with little sections that effectively act as mini-games, from the rhythm-action surgery you perform as nurse Anna, to the driving bits. Essentially you find yourself continuing not for the gameplay but for the story, art style and interesting snippets of WWI knowledge. That definitely wasn’t what I was expecting. Tom Parsons
The game will teach you a lot about World War I without ever feeling like a history lesson
The comic-book graphics may seem at odds with the theme but they have real impact
STUFF SAYS Unique and compelling, a game that educates as well as stimulates ++++, 88
STUFF PICKS
Photography setups Specialist shooting styles demand extra-special tools – the Stuff team go in search of the perfect rigs for their preferred genres
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Night sky Sam Kieldsen Stuff contributor
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Having photographed pretty much everything under the sun, I thought it’d be nice to try shooting things that only appear once the sun has gone down. For starters you’ll need a sturdy tripod like the Velbon Sherpa 250R ( 1 £85, wexphotographic.com), because shooting the night sky handheld just won’t work – the lack of light requires long exposure times. The other issue derives from these long exposures: stars move in the sky, so with long exposures they become lines rather than dots. The Pentax K-50 DSLR ( 2 £400, jessops.com) and an accompanying O-GPS1 ( 3 £200, wexphotographic.com) get around this issue brilliantly: the camera’s Astrotracer mode uses GPS data and anti-shake tech to slowly shift the sensor according to the sky’s position – leaving you with crisp, trail-free images of those heavenly bodies (like the one on the right).
STUFF PICKS
Pro tips Mike Oria mikeoria.zenfolio.com First, escape the light pollution of the city. Start with single frame wide shots, because the Earth is moving fast and time between shutter presses makes it harder to stitch in Photoshop. I use the Nik collection (google. com/nikcollection) for processing.
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STUFF PICKS
Wildlife Simon Osborne-Walker editor
I’m increasingly shooting wildlife, thanks to zoo excursions and long walks in the countryside. To give myself the best chance of success with fast-moving, often skittish subjects, I’ve opted for the fastest gun in town: the Nikon D4S ( 1 £5200 nikon.co.uk), a full-frame SLR that shoots up to 10 frames per second with super-accurate focus tracking. Its low-light performance is spectacular, and a new 60fps, 1080p mode is good for slo-mo video. I’ve paired it with a similarly massive lens, a Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II ( 2 £1580 nikon.co.uk), which gives a long enough focal length and fast enough aperture to be able to focus through zoo bars, or keep me a safe distance from wild animals. To help keep things steady yet mobile, a carbon-fibre Gitzo GM5541 monopod ( 3 £265 www.gitzo.co.uk) can be screwed directly to a mount on the lens.
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Pro tips Ross Hoddinott rosshoddinott.co.uk In order to take great nature shots, know your subject – a little homework will help you anticipate animal behaviour. When using long telephotos to capture faraway wildlife, always use a support or image stabilising to ensure shake-free results.
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STUFF PICKS
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Mark Wilson features editor
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Even on a planet containing sea-pigs and jellyfish, humans stand out as an odd bunch. This is why the urban jungle is my favourite photographic destination, and the small, fast Fujifilm X100S ( 1 £870, fujifilm.eu) my ideal picture box. Its hybrid viewfinder lets you see beyond the frame for last-second adjustments and the autofocus is hyper-quick. But it isn’t perfect out of the box, so I added a metal thumb grip ( 2 £5, ebay.co.uk) to improve one-handed stability and an LH-X100 Lens Hood ( 3 £70, fujifilm.eu) to counter sun glare. The finishing touches are the Joby UltraFit sling strap ( 4 £35, amazon.co.uk), which keeps the camera close to your body but lengthens as you bring it to your eye, and the WCL-X100 ( 5 £280, wexphotographic.com) for turning the 35mm lens into a versatile 28mm wide-angle. Now, where’s that herd of long-beaked tourists?
Pro tips Alex Lambrechts alexlambrechts. viewbook.com Let the scene direct the viewer. Shallow depth of field is too obvious, so use composition, contrast and subject matter to direct focal points. To place my subjects within their context, I usually go wide with my focal range.
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STUFF PICKS 2
Smartphone Tom Wiggins deputy editor
They say the best camera is the one you have with you, which means there’s never a better one than your phone. Everyone knows it’s about more than just how many megapixels you have, but with 41 of them the Nokia 1020 ( 1 £360, nokia.com) takes clear, sharp pictures and performs brilliantly in low light. There are also proper camera accessories available for it, including a bulkier Camera Grip Case Cover ( 2 £35, amazon.co.uk) for added stability. This allows you to attach a standard tripod, so for portability I went for the Fotopro RM-90 Flexible Mini Tripod S ( 3 £8, ebay.co.uk). Using a phone means you can edit immediately, with apps such as Afterlight (£1, windowsphone. com) allowing you to add pre-made filters or make specific tweaks, and Storyteller ( 4 £free, windowsphone.com) on hand to group my snaps according to location.
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Pro tips Stephen Alvarez nationalgeographic.com/nokia/rio There are a few moments after the sun goes down but before it’s completely dark when cities are at their most beautiful. The 1020’s image stabilisers mean your pictures come out sharp even at slow shutter speeds. If it gets really dark, use a mini-tripod.
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STUFF PICKS
Macro Marc McLaren managing editor
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I’ve always been obsessed by insects: these tiny creatures that go mostly unnoticed but outnumber us by about a billion to one. So, no wonder I was drawn to macro photography; with the right setup, you can reveal incredible details about your minibeast subjects. Any DSLR will do the job, but with its 20.2MP sensor and flip-out screen, the Canon 70D ( 1 £850, wexphotographic.com) is a great choice, while the EF 100mm f/2.8 USM lens ( 2 £385, jessops.com) offers superb image quality for the price. You’ll need a small aperture – f/16 or higher – to keep things sharp at the macro level, so a tripod and flash are essential extras. I’ve gone for the Manfrotto 055 tripod with 3-way head ( 3 £300, www.manfrotto.co.uk) and MR-14EX11 Macro Ring Lite ( 4 £600, calphoto.co.uk). Pricey, yes, but trust me, the results will be worth it.
Pro tips David Parry Canon product expert Patterns can add an extra element and really hold a viewer’s attention, so try using them as your subject. Watch out for shadows too – being too close to your subject can cause your shadow to fall across it. Change your angle to the light to stop this happening.
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VERSUS INDIE SUPERPHONES
Underdogs unleashed
Two fresh Chinese brands to remember, two supersized smartphones to lust after and two teasingly affordable pricetags. But which is top dog?
Oppo Find 7
What’s the story?
Oppo’s Find 7 packs specifications to worry even the mighty LG G3. It goes toe-to-toe with the best smartphones money can buy on screen (5.5in, 2K), power (Snapdragon 801, 3GB RAM) and camera (13MP, 4K video). Plus 4G, a swappable battery, 32GB storage and a microSD card slot, all for £380. A 16GB G3 costs £100 more – so all in, not bad at all. But is it too good to be true? Turns out it isn’t. With the Find 7, Oppo has really arrived.
The flagship smartphone killer: that’s how this start-up has been pitching it and, trust us, you can believe the hype. The 5.5in OnePlus is almost physically identical to the Oppo but serves up top-end specs and up to 64GB of storage for less than a Google Nexus 5. Whether clad in matte polycarbonate or a hard, felt-style finish, the One oozes cool: light and slim, with a solid feel. The snag? You have to be invited to buy this £230 wonder.
Is it any good?
Is it any good?
This 5.5in phablet rocks some impressive numbers but it’s the 2560x1440, 528ppi screen that’s the showstopper. It’s incredibly detailed, as you’d expect, with deep blacks and vivid colours, though its whites aren’t the cleanest. The screen dominates the front of the device, and with a carbon-fibre case and titanium-aluminium frame that’s more subtle than the ‘chrome accents’ of the OnePlus, it’s a solid, understated design. The 13MP camera is good, with fast autofocus and a 50MP mode that stitches together ten separate photos into one megashot. There are no performance hiccups and only mild annoyances come from Oppo’s custom Color OS interface: its gestures and voice commands are useful, but we prefer the OnePlus’ lighter customisation of Android. The Oppo can struggle to last a day of heavy use; watching video drains it twice as quickly as the One, so a spare battery will be handy.
The 5.5in 1080p screen is gorgeous – it might not be the brightest but it bests its 2K rival on crisp contrast and punch. The phone is also just as powerful as it looks on paper, flying through gaming, multitasking and browsing, but its 4G radio is compatible only with EE and Three’s 4G bands in the UK. Still, the 3100mAh battery easily lasts a day, and with the same camera as the Oppo you’ll get great photos in all but the murkiest light. The software will also win you over. OnePlus runs CyanogenMod, a geeked-up version of Android KitKat that offers a high level of customisability. Clean and intuitive, it improves the Android experience. The One won’t be for every gadgeteer, though. It’s pretty big, the camera isn’t as versatile as the best and there's no waterproofing. But if you want a mighty phone, you no longer need £500 or £35 a month for the privilege. You need an invite.
Price £380 (32GB) / en.oppo.com Tech 5.5in, 2560x1440 IPS display, 528ppi
Price £230 (16GB), £270 (64GB) /oneplus.net Tech 5.5in, 1920x1080 IPS display, 401ppi
Stuff says +++++
Stuff says +++++
A 2K screen at that price? Superb… and only just pipped by the OnePlus.
Stonking value and serious performance. Watch out, world: the OnePlus One is here.
O2.5GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 O13MP f/2.0 rear, 5MP front, 4K video @ 30fps O152.6x75x9.2mm, 173g
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OnePlus One
What’s the story?
O2.5GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 O13MP f/2.0 rear, 5MP front, 4K video @30fps O152.9x75.9x8.9mm, 162g
INDIE PHONES VS SAMSUNG, LG & HTC: TOO RISKY? Sophie Charara Reviewer
Buying a OnePlus or an Oppo seems a bit of a gamble, right? Let me assuage those fears. Firstly, these devices are hardly ‘indie’ – both originate in the Oppo stable, and Oppo is over a decade old. Plus, they run the same silicon you’ll find in an HTC One M8. Secondly, they offer warranties: one year for OnePlus, two for Oppo. We can’t vouch for support at this stage, but we’ve been assured they’re investing in it. Yes, you have to find the cash up-front – there are no contract deals here – but OnePlus pre-orders (and more invites) are on their way. Be brave, then, and you’ll bag a proper bargain… and be the envy of your me-too mates. RISE OF THE CHINESE PHONES: SEE PAGE 71
VERSUS INDIE SUPERPHONES
Oppo Forget LEDs
Double time
A pulsing Skyline notification light below the screen is a stylish alternative to the blinking LED dot. Oppo shows us that budget doesn’t have to mean bog-standard.
The Oppo comes with VOOC fast charging built-in; using the bundled power adaptor, it’ll refill to 75% in 30 minutes. Good job if you don’t want to carry a spare.
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TEST WINNER
OnePlus Hypersensitive
Mix it up
Double-tap to wake is handy but the sensitive screen is also prone to misbehave. We perfected the art of turning on the One’s torch without realising.
Both these phones suffer from dim capacitive buttons below the display – luckily, on the OnePlus you can switch to onscreen Android buttons. Problem solved.
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FASHION
The neighbours have been complaining about the smell from your old trainers. Let's shop… [ Photography Matthew Beedle ]
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Gourmet Libero
£80 / choicestore.co.uk 2
Adidas Adizero Prime Boost
£185 / adidas.com/shop
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FASHION
1 2
3
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Le Coq Sportif Milos
£55 / lecoqsportif.com 2 Jack & Jones Navy Denim High Tops
£40 / bankfashion.co.uk 3
Reebok Pump Running Dual
£100 / reebok.co.uk 4
Puma Trinomic XT 1 Plus
£65 / puma.com
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FASHION
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Boxfresh Swich
£65 / schuh.co.uk 2
Vans Era 59
£55 / vans.co.uk 3 Adidas ZX 5000 25th Anniversary
£90 / adidas.co.uk 4
4
New Balance 577
£125 / newbalance.co.uk
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REVIEWS
Sensory snacks ers,
WATCH
Preachers and century-old horror will keep you going this month
The Cabinet Of Dr Caligari_cinema t’s summer! And that means it’s time for the usual blockbusters, where everybody and their robots are blowing things up. All well and good, but isn’t it a bit predictable? Time to try something new? By ‘new’, I mean 94 years old. Released in 1920, Das Cabinet Des Dr Caligari was one of the original horror films, and it’s nothing like the ones you see today. There are no cheap scare tactics for starters. No jumpy supernatural nonsense, and no gratuitous gore. The horror lies in the telling of a surreal yarn, in which a creepy doctor arrives in a nice town with his pet sleepwalker. The place soon becomes less nice. It’s a weird tale, made all the more unsettling by the German
I
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Expressionist style, which is defined by radically stylised set design with jagged outlines and odd proportions. The experience is disorientating, and still effective after nearly a century. Best of all, it’s been knocked into shape for 2014. The original negative had been lost for years, going from Germany to Soviet Russia and back – and it’s been cleaned up, patched up and digitally restored in 4K. Now it looks good enough to feel like a home video gone horribly, wonderfully wrong. It’s only in selected cinemas, and for a short time, but you would do well to seek this out. Ced Yuen
While it’s missing the claustrophobia and skincrawl tension that the gangster-ridden building in The Raid provided, this one-man-army-goesundercover sequel makes up for it in arty violence and hold-your-breath action scenes. If you liked Mad Dog in the first film, you won’t be disappointed by Yayan Ruhian as fighter Prakoso. Sophie Charara
The moustache confirms its triumphal return to the mainstream in this intense and brutal ’70s-set drama about cops, robbers and family punch-ups over the Thanksgiving turkey. It’s hard to be sure how many of the clichés are knowing nods to the genre and how many are just careless, but Clive Owen gives great New York hoodlum. Richard Purvis
STUFF SAYS +++++
STUFF SAYS ++++,
STUFF SAYS +++,,
The Raid 2
Blood Ties
_Blu-ray
_cinema
REVIEWS
LISTEN
Futurology_Manic Street Preachers For a band who proclaimed they’d split up after one album and who peaked on their third, the Manics have sure been around for a while. Futurology is their 12th album but their best for years; much of it was recorded in Berlin’s Hansa Studios, a venue hewn from rock’n’roll history, and it’s clearly inspired them. It’s packed with ideas, takes tons of risks and has a definite European feel: the lovely Dreaming
A City (Hughesovka) could be on Bowie’s Low, also recorded at Hansa, while Europa Geht Durch Mich is an industrialkrautrock masterpiece. Lyrically it’s superb: angry, reflective, political, insightful and, on the fantastic The Next Jet To Leave Moscow, remarkably self-aware. A real return to form. Marc McLaren STUFF SAYS ++++,
Jungle
High Life
_Jungle
_Eno-Hyde
READ
The Causal Angel _Hannu Rajaniemi
This third Rajaniemi book starts gradually. There is a feeling – though this might be my fault for not quite remembering where I am with the plot of one sci-fi series or another – that the characters are being reborn into a new adventure. “Wasn’t this all sorted out in the second book?” I thought, even as I was becoming engrossed in the threads. It doesn’t help that these books are
The House Is Full Of Yogis
all about the juxtaposition of real and virtual; complex themes of representation and communication and social interaction. All may not be whom they seem. Bit like interstellar Twitter. But, the main characters Jean le Flambeur and Mieli are solid enough to warm to and the action, when it comes, is spectacular. Fraser Macdonald STUFF SAYS ++++,
Straight White Male_John Niven
_Will Hodgkinson Known only as ‘J’ and ‘T’, this mysterious duo have had festival crowds flocking to their euphoric synth and jangling Coke bottle sets. Jungle’s unique sound is an intriguing blend of funk and soul with a modern, stripped-back edge. The falsetto harmonies in Busy Earnin’ and The Heat will bother your head all day. Emily May
The most remarkable thing about this second album from Brian Eno and Karl Hyde is that they’ve barely had time to go to the toilet since releasing the first one. High Life has more of the same ear-flicking sonic textures, fearless repetition and slightly feeble vocals as Someday World, but with an added slap of African energy. Richard Purvis
Vivid and droll, this highly personal memoir describes a privileged, gently bohemian upbringing complicated by the arrival of a hippy cult. So it’s nothing to do with Yogi Bear. The fella doesn’t even get a mention. Still, a likeable read despite the pitiful childishness of almost everyone in it. Richard Purvis
Kennedy Marr is a selfish Hollywood scriptwriter and borderline alcoholic on a fast track to self-destruction, before fate and the taxman drag him back kicking and screaming to face reality. Niven’s hilarious depiction of a 21st-century mid-life crisis is littered with almost as many profanities as there are laughs. Emily May
STUFF SAYS +++++
STUFF SAYS ++++,
STUFF SAYS ++++,
STUFF SAYS ++++,
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PROJECTS MAKE. DO. UPGRADE.
p108 BETA YOURSELF: CLIMBING Looking for a bigger challenge than the stairs to your bedroom?
p110 PLAYLIST: FREE ONLINE COURSES
Learn about anything without going anywhere
p112 SUPER GEEK: HOMEBREW
Craft beer is all the rage – here’s how to be one of the craftsmen
p114 INSTANT UPGRADES: GOLF
The best kit you can buy for slick bunker-dodging
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PROJECTS | 09.14 BETA YOURSELF
CLIMBING
Sun, rain, snow, indoors, outdoors… whatever and however you want to climb, there’s a place for you to do it. Fearless clamberer John Steward tells you how to start your ascent to glory
THE BASICS
be strong enough to tackle the really crimpy stuff without risking injury.
Q Do a course. Almost every indoor climbing wall offers a taster course for rock rookies. They’ll teach you everything you need to know to get you started – all under the watchful eye of a qualified pro.
Q Try it all. There are several types of climbing (four of the most popular are below right). But to get a real flavour, try them all – including ice climbing and even big-wall stuff – if you have the head for them.
Q Warm up. Start slow and stretch, especially if you’re a beginner. Ten minutes of
Q Be open. Climbers are
jumping-jacks and stretches before you start can make the difference between a completed route and a pulled muscle.
Q Push it (but not too much). Climb at your limit if you can (which means falling off), but try not to go too hard. If you’re starting out, your fingers won’t
a friendly bunch, so don’t be afraid to ask experienced bods for advice if you’re stuck. They’ve all been through the same fear, head-scratching times and eureka moments you’re having.
Q Focus on your technique. Brute strength will only get you so far. To improve your climbing, look to women for inspiration – talented climbers like Sasha DiGiulian (just 21) use mega-skill to breeze through routes that will make your head spin.
TYPES OF CLIMBING Q Trad. Climbers are adorned with an array of ‘protection’, including wedges, cams and wires, to secure their rope to cracks in the rock as they climb.
Q Sport. Bolts are drilled or glued into the wall by those who set the route. Climbers clip their rope into these as they go.
Q Top-roping. No clipping: the rope is secured at the top of the wall and your partner takes up the slack as you climb. Q Bouldering. No rope, just a crash mat. Routes stay low but feature fiendishly tough moves.
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09.14 | PROJECTS LEVEL UP WITH...
UK CLIMBING
ukclimbing.com The bible for all things climbing in the UK and abroad. There’s information about every discipline you can think of, as well as gear reviews, tips and tutorials and a really active forum. It also has a route-by-route archive of thousands of climbs, including grades and user comments.
HOW TO CLIMB HARDER
£13 / amazon.co.uk This book is just as useful for beginners as it is for experienced climbers. It contains exercises, warm-up routines, training techniques and even a section on how to get your mind in the right place to climb properly. It’s great to refer to if you find yourself getting stuck between a rock and a scarred face.
NEXT STEPS
GET THE TECHNIQUE
GO HERE…
Q The footwear. Climbing
Q Use your feet. Climb from
Q Costa Blanca (Spain)
shoes have rubber soles and should feel tight – you need snugness for proper control.
the legs, not the hands. Think about where you’re putting your toes each time. Get your feet high, then push with your legs. It’s a lot better for balance.
There’s sun pretty much year-round, amazing scenery and thousands of routes. Want somewhere cheap to stay? Hit up theorangehouse.co.uk
Q Don’t grip too hard. Grip
Q Fontainebleau (France)
only as hard as you need to stop yourself peeling off the wall. Any more is wasted energy. Relax and you’ll be fine.
A cathedral of bouldering –you could spend a lifetime here and still not complete it all. Soft landings and quality patisseries.
Q Be OK with falling. You can’tclimb without being
Q Yosemite National Park (USA) El Capitan is a 3000ft
prepared to fall. Don’t fear it: you’re tied in and it can be quite fun. Look down where you want to fall and that’s where you’ll go.
monster that takes days to climb. Sleep on portaledges on the rock-face with the most stunning views in the world.
Q Why use chalk? Magnesium carbonate acts as a drying agent to help your fingers grip. But don’t use too much, or it’ll turn into slurry and have the opposite effect.
Q Get a helping hand. If you’re starting to lead-climb, use a Beta Stick Sport. It lets you clip the rope into the first or second quickdraw, so you don’t have to free-climb the first part. (betaclimbingdesigns.com)
REEL ROCK 7
US$35 / senderfilms.com Sometimes hilarious, sometimes terrifying, always captivating: the entire Reel Rock series is worth a watch, but part 7 is special. It features the hard st ever sport climb, a 24-hour free solo attempt of three peaks in Yosemite and some awesome crack-climbing hi-jinks by a couple of Brits.
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PLAYLIST
FREE ONLINE COURSES Brain yearning for a delicious slice of knowledge cake? Feed it a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) with help from this fine menu of the tastiest ones on the web…
COMICS Comic Books & Graphic Novels Are comics infantile or important works of literary art? You might think the latter after taking this seven-week course from the University of Colorado, which digs deep into graphic novels’ history, their merit and how they change the very concept of literature. coursera.org
CODING Codecademy Do you want to make your website look less 2005? Then join 24 million others and enrol in Codecademy, an interactive, straightforward programme that’ll help you quickly untangle your Python from your Ruby and your Javascript from your jQuery. codecademy.com
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PHOTOGRAPHY Phonar If you’re past the ‘how do cameras work?’ stage and want to take more compelling photographic stories, try this Coventry University course. You can go at your own pace using its excellent range of archived lectures, seminars and tasks. phonar.covmedia. co.uk
MUSIC Play With Your Music Get to grips with music production with this six-week course, which takes existing music (Peter Gabriel is one artist who’s donated his tracks) and prompts you to remix it using leading digital tools. You’ll share it with other course-users and get feedback. playwithyourmusic. org
A.I. Intro To Artificial Intelligence Although this is an introductory course, the subject’s complexity means it will take around three months. In fact, it’s recommended that you first have an understanding of probability theory. Who said creating your own robot butler would be easy? udacity.com
WEB School Of Webcraft A collection of free web development courses, backed by Firefox, aims to hone your skills through progressively harder challenges. Soon you’ll have learnt HTML and published your first website. Done that? Try the Peer-2-Peer Uni’s ‘Writing for the web’ course. p2pu.org
WEB Web Science We use the internet for everything from discussing GoT to complaining that the council didn’t collect the rubbish… which makes it easy to forget how complex it is from a social and technical perspective. This six-week course (starting 6 October) will boost your knowhow. futurelearn.com
09.14 | PROJECTS
MOOC TOOLKIT Need an extra hi of online inspiration? Put these apps in your digital pencil case for a rainy day
COURSERA
The Coursera app stuffs an entire university into your phone, letting you stream lectures from over 600 free courses and enrol in new courses. And you used to spend your bus rides playing Candy Crush… £free (iOS, Android)
GROUPMOOC
THEATRE Playwriting Are you the next Samuel Beckett? Dig your teeth into this 13-part iTunes U course, which explores writing a successful piece of drama through playwright interviews and in-depth looks at aspects of dramatic writing such as plot, dialogue and metaphor, darling. itunes.com
ASTRONOMY Moons: An Introduction This Open University course probes not just the mysteries of our own moon but also those of other planets: Jupiter’s Europa, Saturn’s Titan and Mars’ Deimos. It has a mixture of reading, video and audio, and should take no more than a week to complete. itunes.com
ELECTRONICS Electrify You’re reading Stuff, so you clearly have an affinity with gadgets – but how much do you know about how they work? This six-week course will clue you in on the basics, from electromechanics to programming to the differences between digital and analogue. Starts 22 September. futurelearn.com
OCEANOGRAPHY Exploring Our Oceans Training telescopes on distant nebulas, we forget there’s still a lot we don’t know about the watery half of our own planet. Get a crash course from the University of Southampton’s scientists on their latest findings and how the sea still controls our air, water and food. futurelearn.com
If you’ve developed a MOOC addiction, this app acts as a kind of TripIt for your e-learning, letting you create course plans and giving visual representations of your workload and deadlines. Don’t forget about your real job though, eh? £free (iOS)
FUTURE LEARN
It hasn’t yet launched a dedicated app, but follow this UK-based MOOCs hub on Twitter (@FutureLearn) and you will get all the news on its latest free courses, which range fro archaeology to electronic engineering. futurelearn.com
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PROJECTS | 09.14 SUPER GEEK
C
HOMEBREWED BEER
raft beer has really taken off in the UK. The beauty of being a home brewer is that there are very few things a brewery can do that you can’t. The process is the same, just smaller. I get a kick out of being able to reproduce any type of beer on the market and create my own unique blends. I started out using budget DIY kits, but after a few batches found them too limiting. Eventually I decided to do a one-day course in how to brew from scratch. Brewing requires patience and making lots of mistakes, but
JARGON BUSTER Q MASHING The first step of brewing, mashing is the process by which you mix the barley grain with water and boil it to release the vital sugars needed for fermentation. Alcohol ahoy! Q WORT Although it sounds a bit like a witchy broth from Macbeth, wort is the basis for your delicious beer – it’s the sugary water produced when the barley grain is strained out of the mash. Q SPECIFIC GRAVITY Measured in degrees Plato, this is the density of a liquid compared to water. It tells brewers the crucial alcohol content of their beer, and when it has finished fermenting. Q BOTTLE CONDITIONING The beer can go through a secondary fermentation process after bottling, which helps to create more complex aromas and flavours, and even add a bit of fizz.
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that’s the only way to learn. The first time I brewed a larger batch, I completely miscalculated the amount of sugar I needed for the carbonation process. An exploding bottle was the first sign that something was wrong! How far can you take this? There are a few great programs out there such as Beersmith (beersmith.com, Mac/PC/iOS/ Android), which will help you design beers and brew them consistently. They are a great way of logging your brewing efforts and keeping track of successes and failures.
It’s all about chemistry: I have details of my area’s water properties so I can alter the chemistry at the start of a brew to suit the style. Burton IPA has a distinct water profile. I am building a yeast lab – the first step is to buy a microscope to be able to assess yeast count and viability to ensure consistent brews. You might not expect it, but petri dishes, stir plates and conical flasks will help you brew better beer. I like the hands-on aspect of my hobby. But, if you choose to, you can buy an all-inclusive
Elliot Lancashire explains how to crack out the hops and start brewing at home
standalone system such as the BrewBot (pictured) or a RIMS (recirculated infusion mash system) setup, which looks like a miniature brewery. I’m planning an orange-infused IPA and barrel-aged oatmeal stout, but my current project is a mild English ale for my brother’s wedding. Handily, my wife is a graphic designer, so together we can produce some great-looking bottles for the big day. It’s also one of the first batches to come out of my new business creating bespoke craft beers. livingbeercompany.co.uk
BROOKLYN BREW SHOP BEER MAKING KIT
THE RETRO STARTER KIT
Making around 3.5 litres, this small-scale kit is ideal for getting a hands-on feel for the process without the need for a whole empty garage to do it in. This traditional-style kit contains a gallon glass fermenter, airlock, tubing, thermometer, tubing clamp, sanitiser, stopper, blowoff attachment and bottle labels plus malted barley blend, hops and yeast. All it requires is a bit of time in the kitchen and somewhere to pop your fermenter to let the yeast do its thing. There’s a choice of six ales including Warrior Double IPA, Chocolate Maple Porter and even Grapefruit Honey Ale. £40 / firebox.com
THE NEXT LEVEL
BEERBUG Unlike a pet or spouse, your brew isn’t very good at letting you know when it’s unhappy. So if all is not well you won’t find out until it’s too late to rescue it and you’ll have to start all over again. Enter BeerBug, which sits in the top of your fermenter in place of the traditional airlock, busily monitoring specific gravity, temperature and alcohol percentage and broadcasting its measurements via Wi-Fi for you to check on your computer or smartphone. Now you can tell if your brewing cupboard is too warm, and most importantly, the very instant when your latest batch is ready to drink. US$275 / thebeerbug.com
09.14 | PROJECTS
MAKING YOUR FIRST BREW
1
THE MASH Clean all your equipment with a sanitiser. Now heat 2.4 litres of water to 71°C, add the grain and mix well. Maintain at approximately 65°C for one hour, stirring every ten minutes. Then turn up the heat to 77°C, stirring continuously.
2
THE SPARGE Heat another 3.8 litres of water to 77°C, set up a sieve over a large pot and strain the mash. Then pour the rest of the water through the grain in the sieve. Pour once more through the grain in the sieve. The resulting liquid is the wort.
3
THE BOIL Heat up the wort until it boils and begins to produce a foam. Stir occasionally, maintaining a light boil for one hour. Add Columbus Hops at the start of the boil, then add one fifth of Cascade Hops every 15 minutes, turning off the heat after one hour.
4
BREWBOT
3 1
4 2
5
This app-controlled ‘nano-brewery’ lets you skip the difficult bits by automating most of the process and guiding you through the rest. Use the app to pick a recipe; Brewbot will add the correct amount of water and heat it up (1). The hot water then moves to the mash tun (2). Notification: add the malt. When the mash is complete the wort is pumped back to the boiler, where it will begin its boil (3). Notification: add the hops. When the boil has finished, the wort goes through a plate chiller (4) and then into the fermentation tank (5). Add the yeast and store in a temperaturecontrolled environment for two weeks. £2180 / brewbot.io
5
BOTTLING Wash your bottles thoroughly with a sanitiser. Dissolve 3 tbsp of honey in 120ml of water; pour into the sanitised pot. Using a racking cane and tube, siphon beer into the pot, then from the pot into individual bottles. Cap the bottles, then store in a dark place for two weeks. Enjoy!
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[ Photography RGB Digital Illustration Alan Eldridge ]
THE HOME BREWERY
FERMENTATION Put your brew pot in an ice bath until it drops down to 21°C. Funnel in your beer using a sieve. Add yeast and shake aggressively. Put in a stopper and slide rubber tubing 2.5cm into it, putting the other end in a bowl of sanitiser. Wait three days or until vigorous bubbling subsides.
6INSTANTUPGRADES GOLF With the Ryder Cup teeing off on 23 September, it’s time to tame your violent slice and start arrowing perfect, fairway-splitting drives with this choice kit
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[ Words Paul O’Hagan Illustration Jamie Sneddon ]
5
09.14 | PROJECTS BEST PLACES TO SWING
1 FOOTJOY DNA SHOES Happy, planted feet are the foundation of your swing, so your footwear needs to be both grippy and comfortable. These low-profile, stable and modern shoes are a refreshing break from FootJoy’s traditional designs and pack in plenty of tech too. Building on the successful DryJoys shoe, they have a ‘3D Foam Collar’, which moulds to the ankle to promote comfort and support while restricting foot movement. The leather ChromoSkin upper is also breathable and waterproof, perfect for a sodden links course. £150 / footjoy.co.uk
4 SKYPRO SWING ANALYSER Thwacking balls at the driving range isn’t much good if you’ve got a bad technique. The SkyPro analyses your swing and helps you to improve it. It clips onto the shaft of your club and sends thousands of critical data points to a smartphone or tablet. From there you can view your swing from any angle in 3D. Common faults are identified, then challenges and tips are offered to get you in shape. The latest version also features putting analysis to make sure you’re a demon on the green. US$200 / golfskypro.com
2 GALVIN GREEN MILLARD VENTIL8 POLO SHIRT ‘Golf fashion’ used to be an oxymoron, but these days the garb regularly combines sharp looks with technical powers. This breathable polyester shirt keeps moisture away from the skin. Designed to be worn with a base layer, it allows full movement in the shoulders and anti-bacterial tech helps maintain your clubhouse cred on hot days. If you don’t want the bold Tiger Woods red look, there’s also more humble blue, grey or white. £100 / galvingreen.com
5 PING G30 DRIVER Unless you’re trying to hit the spectator who keeps shouting “Get in the hole!”, you’ll want your drives to be straight and long. Ping’s G25 is already one of the most forgiving drivers on the market, and the G30 combines this with added distance thanks to increased swing speeds. It does this using turbulators on the crown of the club, which reduce drag forces as you swing. A range of shaft options and the ability to change the loft mean the G30 will suit everyone from beginners to pros. £300 / ping.com
3 STEWART GOLF X9 FOLLOW TROLLEY While other golfers hire some poor sap to be their club camel, you’ll be followed around by a loyal robo-caddy. This electric trolley connects to a Bluetooth handset and, when you press the ‘follow’ button, obediently trundles along behind you at a safe distance while reacting to your speed. The remote control allows you to send it to the next hole while you finish the green, while a rear stabiliser makes it ‘almost impossible’ to tip (unless a jealous rival attacks it). £1500 / stewartgolf.co.uk
6 GARMIN APPROACH S4 GPS WATCH Knowing how far you hit each club and the distance to the green is essential to shooting lower scores. Like a wrist-based caddy, the Approach S4 combines pre-loaded info on over 30,000 international courses with GPS to give you precise shot yardages and distances to the pin. It’s also something of a golfers’ iWatch, connecting to iPhones via Bluetooth LE to display missed calls, emails and texts, and promises ten hours of battery life when in golf mode. US$300 / garmin.com/golf
DUKES MEADOWS, CHISWICK Dukes Meadows offers an idyllic setting by the Thames to work on your game. A 50-bay driving range is combined with a fantastic nine-hole par-three course that’ll test your short game. dukesmeadows.com
GLENEAGLES, PERTHSHIRE Home to this year’s Ryder Cup, these three stunning courses are surprisingly affordable (fees for hotel guests start at £125) and no handicap certificate is required. There are also pitch-and-putts. gleneagles.com
GOLF STUDIOS, SURBITON This recently opened indoor centre has simulators allowing you to play 80 of the world’s top courses. It’s also home to a putting green, as well as a bar for 19th-hole larks. golf-studios.com
THE BELFRY, WARWICKSHIRE Not just for the pros: there are great practice facilities and three courses, which suit all standards. A recent hotel refurbishment makes it a great overnight option. thebelfry.co.uk
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MAIL OF THE MONTH Q
A DAB HAND
I’m looking to replace a dead DAB radio with one that has AirPlay built-in. Does such a thing exist? I need DAB for local radio football commentaries (which I can’t get on internet radio) and AirPlay to complement the rest of our home setup. Please help! Andy Crowhurst
For some reason, Crowdog, it’s not a common combo… but there is one option we’ve found: Sony’s CMT-BT80WB (£320, sony.co.uk). OK, it’s more of a speaker dock with AirPlay and DAB built-in rather than a dedicated DAB radio, but the end result is the same, right? Enjoy.
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Q
STAY RIGHT EAR
I recently took the tentative decision to start running, but I’m going to need a bit of help in the entertainment department as my Soundmagic E10s keep falling out. Could you recommend some good headphones that will stay in my ears and won’t break the bank? Peter Nicholls We’ve not managed to test them out fully yet but, if Sol Republic’s Master Tracks are anything to go by, its new Relays (US$80, solrepublic.com) will be a very decent bet, Pete. That vented wheel around the edge is called FreeFlex and it’s meant to hold the earphones in place when you run. According to editor-inchief Will Findlater, it works, too.
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HI-DEFINITELY
I’ve just got a PS4 and I’m in need of a full HD, 46in screen to go with it on a pretty tiny budget of £400. I’d also love a separate sound system and have been looking at soundbars but I only have about £50 to spend. Am I asking too much? Thomas Long You’ll have to sacrifice a few inches on that budget, Tommo. Perhaps you could sit a little closer to Finlux’s 40in, full HD 8073, a steal at £330. Take the £70 you’ve saved, throw in your £50 speaker budget and you can now afford a low-end soundbar such as Sony’s HT-CT60BT (£110, amazon.co.uk).
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LAP OF THE GODS
I want to buy a gaming laptop but don’t have a four-figure budget available. Is there anything available for around £550 that would suit my needs? I was thinking of the Intel Core i5 Toshiba L50-1DN but I’m open to suggestions. Jay Redfearn The most important thing when looking for a gaming laptop is that you get something
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116
with dedicated graphics processing, Redders. With a 2GB NVIDIA GeForce 740M, that Toshiba has a decent amount of grunt, plus plenty of storage, RAM and processing power to take care of all the other stuff. We say go for it.
Q
ANXIOUS VIEWER
It’s time for me to buy a new TV but I don’t want to get the wrong one and end up out of date in a year. Is there any point in shelling out for a 4K telly if I only have space for a 40-incher? Claire Lane Most 4K tellies tend to be on the larger side, Laney, but we are starting to see them come down. That said, the effect is less noticeable the smaller you go, as the recommended viewing distance is shorter with a 4K screen but you’ll probably still sit the same distance away. We’d suggest trying a set like Samsung’s UE40F6400 (£450, samsung. co.uk) for now and consider upgrading to 4K when you’ve got room for a bigger screen. Time for an extension?
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Q
HEY HO, LENS GO!
I have been doing some research into compact system cameras and want your views on the best ones to consider. My budget is between £500 and £1000. I am using the camera for a range of things – photos of my children, video, sport shots etc. I like interchangeable lenses but want a more compact body than an SLR. Patrick Woods We love the Olympus OM-D E-M1, Paddy, but with a lens it’ll break your budget by a few hundred quid, so take a look at the E-M10 (£600 w/ 14-42mm lens, jessops.co.uk). This is essentially an E-M1 without the weatherproofing but a better EVF and built-in flash, despite having a smaller body.
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09.14 | PROJECTS
IF NOTHING ELSE, AT LEAST...
5-MINUTE HACKS
…AGGREGATE YOUR FITNESS APPS
1
Oh dear, you’re in a right old lifetracking tangle, aren’t you? Better tidy all those Strava, Fitbit and Moves stats into one app:
1. Go to nudgeyourself.com or download Nudge (£free, iOS, Android). Fill in some vital stats to get an initial Nudge figure based on your sleep, diet and exercise. 2. To sync your Strava, Fitbit, Jawbone Up, Runkeeper, Moves or MayMyFitness stats, go to the ‘apps’ section. Once synced, they’ll contribute to the totals in your ‘log’. 3. For really in-depth lifetracking analysis, sign up for Exist (US$6/month, exist.io). It analyses your data and produces a report based on its patterns and trends.
…TRACK AMAZON PRICES That camera on special offer sure is tempting – but how do you know the price has hit a historical low?
2
1. Go to the Chrome Web Store (chrome.google.com/webstore), search for ‘Camelizer’ and install the extension. 2. Find the product you’re after on amazon.co.uk and click the camel icon in your address bar to bring up a graph of historical prices. 3. To play the waiting game, enter your desired price tag and click ‘create price watches’ to get email alerts when it moves into your budget’s crosshairs.
3
...SPEED UP YOUR DOC APPOINTMENTS Coming down with the sniffles? The doctor can fit you in next Thursday. Or this evening, if you sign up for this handy London-based service:
1. Feeling about as spritely as a cadaver? Head to zesty.co.uk, choose a service (such as NHS dentists, physios and private GPs) and enter your postcode. 2. Choose a clinic and time and simply enter your details to book. There’s no booking fee. 3. All patched up? Rate and review. And reassure others that the lovely Dr Pain doesn’t follow nominative determinism.
TUNE IN NEXT MONTH TO...
O Turn off GPS and try adventure racing O Craft yourself some virtual reality with a pizza box O Clue up on electric guitars
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TOP TEN Smartphones Tablets Hi-fi streaming Headphones Home cinema
Blu-ray / Speaker systems PVRs
TVs Laptops Best of the rest Home computers Sat-nav / Camcorders
Games Games machines Compact cameras Digital SLRs Geek accessories Wearable tech Connected home
120 122 124 125 126
127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 136 137
For full reviews of every product in the top 10s, visit stuff.tv/reviews
SMARTPHONES
T HO Y BU
LG G3
While we hoped the G3 would continue the great work started by the G2, we weren’t expecting it to be quite so much of a leap forward. Upgrades range from little touches such as the sleeker back buttons to major changes such as the bigger, better 2K screen and laser-assisted camera. The only thing that isn’t better is the battery life, but considering all that LG has crammed into the G3, the fact that it still lasts 15hrs is to be applauded.
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HTC One M8
Only just toppled by the new LG, HTC’s flagship phone has enough power to take it to the top of the AnTuTu benchmarks. It’s a beaut to look at and to use, and it’s even got a whole load of Lytro-style post-snap refocus features for photographic fun.
LG G2
Its 5.2in screen is razor-sharp, its Snapdragon 800 processor handles demanding tasks with ease and its 13MP camera takes amazing photos. Good enough – and cheap enough – to keep its top-three place despite the arrival of the G3.
Samsung Galaxy S5
Big, bold and stuffed with tech, the Galaxy S5 is a bona fide superphone that will delight Samsung fans, although it has some very stiff competition. It has a faster processor, a slightly bigger screen and a more solid (if not quite stylish) feel than the S4.
Sony Xperia Z2
Classy, clever and with talent in spades, the water-resistant Z2 oozes quality. It flies in use and is capable of taking brilliant photos and playing videos at 4K cinephile quality. If the design had just been a bit more practical, it would have been unstoppable.
Google Nexus 5
Delivering top-end spec at a mid-range price, the Nexus has a 4.95in screen, faster processor and satisfactory 8MP snapper. But the biggest improvement on previous versions is its chocolatey-smooth Android KitKat 4.4 OS. Astounding value.
Apple iPhone 5s
A curious blend of tried and tested – 4in screen, design, huge cost – with new and exciting features like a 64-bit processor, fingerprint-sensing home button and iOS 7. What it adds up to is an easy purchase for most… but we’re ready for iPhone 6.
Sony Xperia Z1 Compact
With a 4.3in, 720p screen, Snapdragon-powered performance, solid, waterproof body and a 20.7MP camera, the Z1 Compact is the first small superphone that delivers with no ifs or buts. If you’re small of hand but demanding of phone, it’s the Android for you.
Samsung Galaxy Note 3
Verily, ’tis indicative of the age in which we live, when a supercharged superphone gets five glowing stars, but only makes No9. By Crumbles, though, it’s good. Blistering processor, 5.7in screen and stylus smarts. It’s the best gigantophone there is.
Motorola Moto G
Google’s sprinkled some magical Nexus dust over its latest Motorola blower: the Moto G costs a mere £160 yet has a distinctly non-budget 4.5in 720p screen and quad-core processor. Paltry storage and poor camera count against it – but then again: £160!
STUFF SAYS LG surprises us again. There’s barely a single thing wrong with the G3… and so, so much that’s right with it
£500 +++++ £500 +++++
BEST FOR RAW POWER
£290 +++++
BEST FOR SUPERPHONE VALUE
£500 +++++
BEST FOR FUN FEATURES
£540 +++++
BEST FOR THE CONNOISSEUR
from £250 +++++
BEST FOR PRICE TAG
from £490 +++++
BEST FOR APPLE FANS
£400 +++++
BEST FOR DAINTY HANDS
£440 +++++
BEST FOR SAUSAGE FINGERS
from £160 +++++
BEST FOR RECESSION BUSTING
FOR THE FULL REVIEWS AND OUR SMARTPHONE BUYING GUIDE, VISIT STUFF.TV/TOP-10S/SMARTPHONES
PLUG INTO STUFF’S SOCIAL NETWORK facebook.com/joinstuff
O Prices quoted are for handset only unless otherwise stated
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TABLETS
T HO Y BU
Apple iPad Air
The more things change, the more they stay the same. As the addition of the ‘Air’ moniker implies, the iPad’s been slimmed down on the outside and beefed up on the inside, while retaining all the other goodies that made previous versions great. So it now rocks the 64-bit A7 chip and M7 motion coprocessor that debuted with the iPhone 5s, while keeping the gorgeous screen, quality build and abundance of tablet-optimised apps that first won our hearts.
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Apple iPad Mini With Retina Display
Apple’s baby tab has been in for a nip and a tuck and emerged with a youthful-looking 2048x1536 screen. The flawless build quality, creativity-friendly 7.9in form and oodles of apps remain; only a few colour inaccuracies keep it behind the Air.
Google Nexus 7
The Nexus has moved further ahead of the Android pack by virtue of getting an update to OS 4.4 KitKat. It’s now smoother, faster and more battery-friendly than ever, while its 323 pixel-per-inch 1080p screen and quad-core power still impress.
Asus Transformer Pad
The Transformers have always been more about laptop relacement than tableteering, and this one is the laptoppiest yet. A 2560x1600 screen, two-day battery life (with keyboard dock) and quad-core Tegra processor all work Android up into a frenzy.
Amazon Kindle Fire HDX 7in
The Fire HDX presents a sanitised version of Android cloaked in a user-friendly Amazon skin. There’s even a ‘Mayday’ button for instant video help. A great build, fast processor and stunning screen round off a package that’ll appeal to families and less techy types.
Asus Transformer Book T100
This 10.1in tab-and-dock combo has enough grunt to run full Win 8.1 thanks to Intel’s new Baytrail CPU. The 1366x768 screen is a good ’un, with crisp text, great contrast and colours that pop, while dual-band Wi-Fi and a day-long battery are also welcome.
Microsoft Surface Pro 2
The hardware boys and girls at Megahard do try awfully hard. But it’s taken a second iteration of the Surface Pro for us to raise a languid eyebrow. Improved ergonomics and a battery-saving Haswell processor finally make the superslate a worthy buy.
Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 (2014)
The new 10.1 is fit to bursting with clever tricks, comes with the note-tastic S Pen and has a stunning 2560x1600 screen. But while we can forgive it its tacky looks, minor performance glitches deny it that fifth star; we hope firmware updates will fix them.
Advent Vega Tegra Note 7
With Nvidia’s 1.8GHz quad-core Tegra 4 processor, and a 72-core GeForce GPU also thrown in, the Advent serves up a speed that shouldn’t be possible at this price. The build quality is a bit flimsy, but for movie-watching and gaming it excels.
LG G Pad 8.3
Life’s good for the LG team at the moment, with their smartphones making a massive impression. A good time, then, to bring out a decent tablet, sensibly pitching it out of the all-sewn-up Nexus 7 territory. Great 8.3in screen, quad-core power; merely OK price.
STUFF SAYS Now thinner, lighter and more powerful than ever, the iPad Air is a beautiful sliver of gadget heaven
from £340 +++++ from £270 +++++
BEST FOR CREATIVITY ON THE MOVE
from £150 +++++
BEST FOR VALUE AND PERFORMANCE
£300 +++++
BEST FOR ALL-ROUND EXCELLENCE
from £200 +++++
BEST FOR SAFE & SIMPLE TABLETEERING
from £350 +++++
BEST FOR DESKTOP VERSATILITY
from £600 +++++
BEST FOR SUITED ROAD WARRIORS
£400 ++++, £150 ++++, £200 ++++,
FOR THE FULL REVIEWS AND OUR TABLET BUYING GUIDE, VISIT WWW.STUFF.TV/TOP-10S/TABLETS
124
HI-FI & MUSIC STREAMING
T HO Y BU
Sonos multiroom system
Who needs to drill holes and re-plaster walls to get a multiroom music system? Not you. With the addition of the cracking little Play:1 (£170) Sonos has made it easier than ever to start spreading your tunes around. Then maybe hook up a Connect to your existing hi-fi and router, and add speakers to a Connect:Amp in another room, or a SUB for a bass boost. You’ll run out of rooms before you run out of options. For a further upgrade, the Arcam rSeries SonLink DAC works a treat with the Connect.
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Cambridge Audio Stream Magic 6
Our favourite music streamer is only kept from the top spot by the brilliant flexibility of the full Sonos system; as a single player, we’d go for this every time. Team it with the Azur 651A amp (£350), feed it high-resolution 24-bit tunes and you’ll never look back.
Naim UnitiQute 2
Awarded ‘Best Music System £800-£1500’ by our friends at What Hi-Fi? Sound And Vision, this punchy little system delivers superb performance. With streaming smarts, DAB+ and internet radio it’s highly capable. Just don’t feed it low-quality music.
Bowers & Wilkins Z2
The baby of B&W’s AirPlay range is a little belter, and it adds a proper Lightning dock to Apple’s wireless tech. It’ll easily fill a small to medium-sized room with chunky bass, punchy beats and lovely, clear vocals. You’ll buy it for the look, but love it for the sound.
Denon CEOL Piccolo
This diminutive standard-bearer for next-gen micro hi-fi has Spotify and a control app, and it’ll stream your own tunes, right up to 24-bit. The dock’s 30-pin, but who cares when you’ve also got AirPlay? Add Q Acoustics 2020i speakers for awesome sound.
Audio Pro Addon T10
Available in orange, white or black, the Addon T10 is a Bluetooth speaker that also has analogue inputs and a USB socket for charging your MP3 player. Sound-wise it’s punchy and deep, with just a little too much bass. It sounds best in orange, obviously.
Libratone Zipp
A fuzzy, cylindrical, colourful AirPlay dock that will deliver detailed, punchy 360-degree sound anywhere at all, thanks to a built-in battery that gives it four hours of outdoor life. Direct Wi-Fi skills free you from cables, routers and everything but the boogie.
Sony SRS-BTM8
Forget that this Sony looks uncomfortably like a handbag because it’s actually one of the biggest bargains in hi-fi right now. Pop in four AA batteries (old-school, right?) and it will power a party in the park. It’s got fancy NFC too, but the best thing is that it sounds ace.
Q Acoustics BT3
These ultra-versatile Bluetooth speakers have an optical input for waking up the audio of your flatscreen TV. The styling is simple and so is the sound – brilliantly so, with perfect hi-fi balance and an impressive focus to the stereo image.
Sony NWZ-ZX1
The latest Walkman is a premium high-res audio player, and it’s the best-sounding portable device we’ve ever heard: you’ll notice parts of songs you never knew were there. We’re not so keen on the high price and lack of expandable storage, though.
STUFF SAYS Infinite music in every room without the need for custom installers? Sign us up now, please
from £340 +++++ £700 +++++ £1150 +++++
BEST FOR TOP SOUND QUALITY
£330 +++++ £180 +++++
BEST FOR VERSATILITY AND VALUE
£230 +++++ £370 +++++
BEST FOR AL FRESCO PARTIES
£60 +++++
BEST FOR BARGAINOUS BLUETOOTH
£350 +++++ £550 ++++,
FOR THE FULL REVIEWS AND OUR HI-FI BUYING GUIDE, JUMP OVER TO WWW.STUFF.TV/TOP-10S/HI-FI
HEADPHONES 125 T HO Y BU
AKG K451
They’ve actually been around a little while now, but what put the K451 on-ears back on to our radar was an official price drop from £130 to £80, and a real-world price of just £50 or less. For that money they’re unbeatable – awesomely agile and punchy sound wrapped up in a subtly stylish and foldable design. Add both standard and three-button control cables for maximising compatibility and there’s practically no excuse for not getting brilliant sound from your phone.
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Bowers & Wilkins P3
Superb sound and a solid and achingly stylish design make these the best portable on-ears around. The fact that two cables come in the box – one with a mic and remote for iPhones, one without – only sweetens the already candyfloss-like deal.
SoundMagic E10
Yes, we also gave the very similar SoundMagic ES20s in-ears five stars. And they thoroughly deserve it. But we chose to keep these here because the more expensive E10s still represent a killer smiles-per-pence, sound-per-pound ratio.
Sony XBA-4iP
These chunky in-ears have four drivers pumping exceptionally punchy, detailed sound into your gloriously spoilt lugholes, but despite the fairly hefty design they’re surprisingly comfortable too. They were £400 at launch, so £250 is a fantastic deal.
Sol Republic Master Tracks
Really tough things are usually really ugly, which is why the lovely styling of the “virtually indestructible” Master Tracks headphones is so refreshing. Loud, punchy, fast and controlled, the sound is just as attractive as the design. Worth every penny.
Final Audio Design Adagio III
Calling a pair of headphones Adagio seems a bit pretentious, but these decidedly affordable in-ears from a Japanese company that usually occupies the most bonkers reaches of high-end earn it with brilliantly detailed and endlessly attacking sound.
Bose AE2w
We’re not going to pretend that the protruding Bluetooth module isn’t a rather ugly touch, but what’s most important is that these Bose headphones deliver wireless sound of superb quality. We’ll put up with looking a wee bit daft for musical magic.
SoundMagic P30
We love SoundMagic’s E10s, and our toe went into tap-spasms from the get-go with these on-ear P30s. Delivering a really easy-going yet dynamic sound, they aren’t perfect, especially in the treble, but they’ll do great work on low-res Spotify tracks.
Sennheiser Momentum
Classily styled, cushion-comfortable and smooth-sounding, the Momentums are the perfect over-ears for the dapper man about town. There’s also an on-ear version – smaller and cheaper at £170, available in pink, blue, green and, um, ivory/brown.
PSB M4U2
Yes, the M4U2s have got great noise-cancelling, but that’s only half the story. Using the built-in amp produces a sound that’s almost unbelievably punchy, clean and exciting. They might be a bit heavy, but that audio quality really is worth the weight.
STUFF SAYS Fantastic sound and great portability at an almost unbeatable price: the perfect PMP upgrade
£45 +++++ £125 +++++
BEST FOR ON-EAR EXCELLENCE
£30 +++++ £250 +++++
BEST FOR IN-EAR EXCELLENCE
£90 +++++ £60 +++++ £200 +++++
BEST FOR GREAT SOUND WITH NO WIRES
£70 +++++ £250 +++++
BEST FOR QUALITY AND STYLE IN ONE
£270 +++++
BEST FOR SHUTTING OUT THE WORLD
FOR THE FULL REVIEWS AND OUR HEADPHONE BUYING GUIDE, VISIT STUFF.TV/TOP-10S/HEADPHONES
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TOP THREES HOME CINEMA
126
BLLU-RAY PLAYERS
T HO Y BU
Sony BDP-S6200
The new king of Blu-ray players is the perfect balance of price, performance and features. It even looks pretty if you like that sort of thing. On top of the usual smart services (Netflix, iPlayer etc) you get Sony’s own brilliant Video Unlimited.
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Panasonic DMP-BDT260
If your budget won’t stretch to the Sony above, this ultra-affordable Panasonic will see you through in superb style. It lacks a display on the front, but the performance is impossible to fault. It’s got the core smart stuff too, including Netflix.
Marantz UD7007
Pricey like an Aston Martin is pricey and about as satisfying to own, this Marantz will play any disc you like, streams music at hi-def resolutions and can withstand an earthquake. If you really, really take movies and music seriously, this is your player.
£180 +++++
BEST FOR ALL-ROUND AWESOMENESS
£100 +++++
BEST FOR EXCELLENCE ON A BUDGET
£480 +++++
BEST FOR THE ULTIMATE IN QUALITY
£350 +++++
BEST FOR ALL-IN-ONE VALUE
£600 +++++
BEST FOR ALL-YOU-CANSTREAM MUSIC
£200 +++++
BEST FOR BASS AND SPACE
from £free
BEST FOR DELIVERING EVERYTHING
SPEAKER SYSTEMS T HO Y BU
1 2 3
Sony BDV-N590
The biggest bargain in home cinema, the Blu-ray-packing N590 has a massive spec but a micro price. Picture and sound are excellent, Sony’s smart services are immense and its stylish curves and touch-sensitive controls add a dash of premium quality.
Sonos Playbar
A characteristically Sonos take on the soundbar, the Playbar hooks up to your TV via its single optical input and fills your room with a big, detailed sound. And as with all Sonos kit, it can stream your own music files, Spotify and more wirelessly around the house.
Denon DHT-T100
Soundbases – deep soundbars that you put your TV on top of – are all the rage, because they’re bassier than soundbars but still fairly space-efficient. The Denon is our favourite right now for its sweeping musicality in addition to its movieness.
PVRs, ETC PV
T HO Y BU
1 2 3
Sky+HD
The new Sky boxes come with built-in Wi-Fi, to make it easier to access on-demand programming, and you can opt for a 2TB drive. Which, with more than 65 channels of HD, might well be worth the outlay. On the move, the Sky Go app is supremely slick.
Virgin TiVo
Hardware-wise, the taste-learning TiVo is a Sky+HD-beater, but it loses out on content. Mind you, subscribers to the ‘XL’ package now have free access to all the BT Sport channels: Premier League kickyball, MotoGP and more, in lovely HD.
Humax DTR-T1010 YouView
Delivering free-to-air TV with the convenience of Sky or TiVo, the Humax lets you browse the last week’s catch-up TV direct from the EPG or record your own on its HDD. The iOS/Android app’s remote record is handy, and it’s all without a costly subscription.
+ £21.50/month
+++++ + £24/month
BEST FOR SMART TELLYWATCHING
from £160 (500GB) +++++
BEST FOR SUBSCRIPTIONFREE TV
from £free +++++
FOR OUR COMPLETE HOME CINEMA TOP 10 LISTS, POINT YOUR CLICKER AT WWW.STUFF.TV/TOP-10S
SOCIAL NETWORK
TVs 127 T HO Y BU
STUFF SAYS
Sony KDL-50W829B
If you’d suggested two years ago that a 50in, edge-lit LED LCD TV as good as this would soon be available for less than a grand, you’d have been burnt as a witch. Or at least laughed at. It excels in almost every regard, from its stylish design to its bright, vivid picture and well-thought-out smart TV offering. Would we buy one? You bet we would. And if you’re in the market for a smart TV this year, we recommend you give it a look too.
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Panasonic TX-P55VT65B
Wow. The picture is nothing short of exceptional, with rich colours, deep blacks and outstanding depth in 2D or 3D. It’s packed with clever tech, from voice commands that actually work to multiple homescreens and smart apps. The TV of your dreams.
Samsung UE46F7000
The F7000 might just be the sweetest spot in Samsung’s current range – the same spectacular performance as the F8000 series but without the show-off design. Great picture quality and slick online functionality in one box.
Panasonic TX-L32E6B
Time was when buying a budget bedroom TV meant making major sacrifices on performance and features. Not any more. This 32in Panasonic serves up a vibrant, detailed picture and comes with on-demand treats such as iPlayer and Netflix built in.
Samsung UE40F6400
All of the UK’s catch-up TV services? Exciting and immersive picture? Costs less than £500? Yes, please. The Samsung comes with all the bells and whistles of a modern smart TV, including active 3D and voice control. It’s an amazing TV bargain.
Finlux 40F8073-T
Finlux is fast becoming the go-to brand if you’re after a decent TV at a proper budget price. The strengths of this screen – the crispness, the level of detail, the on-demand video services – far outweigh the sound quality shortcomings.
Sony KD-55X9005A
Welcome to the cheap end of the 4K spectrum. Yes, it’s all relative. This 55in Sony looks amazing when tasked with proper 4K content, but its main drawback is that very little of that exists yet. That said, normal HD stuff looks wonderful too.
Samsung UE55F8000
Yep, the F8000 has taken one hell of a fall from its previous position at the top of this tree. Has it suddenly got worse? No. But now that it’s been tested against newer sets, its picture flaws are more apparent. If not for its price it’d be higher, though.
Sony KDL55W955
Sony claims its new ‘wedge design’ gives greater internal volume and lowers the centre of gravity. The excellent colours, motion and sound quality are all admirable, but for a flagship, it lacks a wow factor and is hindered by a lack of depth in its black levels.
Samsung KE55S9C
A TV with a twist – well, a bend, actually. This beautiful OLED set’s curve divides opinion – some find it immersive, some find it annoying – but boy does it have a great picture. Its preposterous price and lack of future-proofing 4K are the only things that let it down.
Thank you, Sony. A great picture and tons of smarts for less than a grand… what’s not to like?
£800 +++++ £2000 +++++ £1200 +++++ £400 +++++
BEST FOR SMALL-SCREEN SMARTNESS
£450 +++++
BEST FOR BARGAIN HUNTERS
£280 +++++
BEST FOR TV ON A BUDGET
£2250 ++++,
BEST FOR 4K EARLY ADOPTERS
£1500 ++++,
BEST FOR FEASTING ON SMART TV
£1500 ++++, £6150 ++++,
FOR THE FULL REVIEWS AND OUR TV BUYING GUIDE, NAVIGATE TO WWW.STUFF.TV/TOP-10S/TVS
IN CASE YOU MISSED.. PS4 HEADSETS
Tritton Kama £25 / trittonaudio.com You’re not getting the same build and sound quality of the other two here, but you’re not paying for it either – and for £25 the Kama is actually very impressive. Sound effects and voices come through clearly and there’s plenty of weight for the big bangs of Battlefield 4. +++++
Sony PlayStation Wireless Stereo Headset 2.0 £85 / sony.co.uk The Sony’s virtual surround sound isn’t good: it messes around too much and makes everything feel unnatural. But you’re still left with probably the best-looking gaming headphones ever made. ++++,
Turtle Beach PX4 £150 / turtlebeach.com The PX4 is a pretty serious bit of kit, offering an extra level of immersion in game worlds. You do still need to use a cable between the headset and controller, but for crisp, dynamic sound that won’t wake the neighbours, this is currently hard to beat. +++++
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LAPTOPS
T HO Y BU
STUFF SAYS
Apple MacBook Air 13in (2014)
The 2014 MacBook Air update means, once again, our favourite old laptop is now our favourite new laptop. Nothing’s changed on the outside, and under the skin there’s just a slight processor boost from 1.3GHz to 1.4GHz, but combined with a price cut of £100 on each model we’re still happy with that. The very top model, which comes with a 256GB SSD, is now just under a grand, too. Head to stuff.tv for our full reviews of both 13in and 11in versions.
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It’s not a major upgrade, but Apple has improved the Air’s already awesome spec and lopped £100 off the price
from £750 +++++
Apple MacBook Pro with Retina Display 13in (2013)
from £1000 +++++
BEST FOR EVERYTHING BAR THE PRICE
Alienware 17
from £1500 +++++
BEST FOR SERIOUS GAMERS
We’re all agreed that the best laptop is a MacBook, but choosing between Air and Pro is getting steadily harder. Both now run on Haswell chips, but the Pro is faster. It also gets a 4K-capable Thunderbolt 2 port, and then there’s that Retina screen. Tough call. A brute of a machine in every way, the Alienware 17 weighs as much as four MacBook Airs and probably frags harder than 10 of them. Core i7 Haswell processor at 3.4GHz, Nvidia GeForce graphics, up to 32GB of RAM… Our trigger finger’s already itching.
Asus Zenbook UX302
Asus has done a wonderful job of creating an ultra-slim laptop that’s as far removed from Apple’s influence as possible, while maintaining a stylish and unique aesthetic. The 13.3in display is razor-sharp and colourful – this is our favourite Ultrabook.
Acer C720 Chromebook
Bargain Chromebooks are everywhere right now, but the C720 stands out even so. It’s well made, well specced (for a Chromebook) and, crucially, has proper ports: HDMI, USB3.0 and SD are all here. The HP at No.7 is prettier, but the Acer’s the one we’d buy.
Acer Aspire S7
The Aspire S7 is almost the perfect Ultrabook – it matches the MacBook Air for weight, beats it for slimness by 6mm, and has a gorgeous 1920x1080 touch-friendly screen. Only its battery, which lasted a mere 5hrs on test, prevents it getting that fifth star.
HP Chromebook 11
HP’s done a fine job with the 11 (ignoring the faulty power supply recall): it’s small, light and everything a neo-netbook should be. However, the Chromebook 14 has since launched on the HP store and is worth a look if you want a larger screen.
Asus S200E
The touchscreen makes it ideal for Windows 8, but the S200E’s also got a top keyboard, bags of connectivity and enough power for 3D gaming. Specs aren’t top notch, but with an i3 Sandy Bridge core, 4GB RAM and a 500GB HDD, it’s good enough at this price.
Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 15D
Lenovo’s latest contortioning computer is hefty, which is handy in that you get a full keyboard and 15in screen, but a bit of an issue in terms of portability – and it means the 1366x768 resolution looks a little soft. It stands up nicely for movie-watching, though.
Maingear Pulse 17
The brazen Maingear is fire-engine red and, at a colossal 17 inches, it certainly stands out. For gaming, its dedicated mode, smooth frame rate and storage make it a winner, but an unresponsive keyboard and average battery life hold it back from greatness.
£1000 ++++, £200 ++++,
BEST FOR VALUE AND PORTABILITY
£1100 ++++, £200 ++++, £295 ++++, £455 +++,,
BEST FOR LITERAL FLEXIBILITY
£1300 +++,,
FOR THE FULL REVIEWS AND OUR LAPTOPS BUYING GUIDE, VISIT STUFF.TV/TOP-10S/LAPTOPS-NETBOOKS
THIS MONTH IN.. 2000
Sony DAV-S300
Magellan 315
Polaroid P
Panasonic RR-QR240
£550
£180
£25
£100
Stuff said Sony’s home cinema system is a highly capable product with serious style. The remote is clear and logical, the on-screen displays make adjustments easy and, as if the cake needed icing, it can handle both Dolby Digital and DTS soundtracks. +++++
Stuff said Welcome to the proof of the theory that the more hardcore the gadget, the uglier it will be. With its prominent antenna, this is the perfect GPS device for the adventurer more interested in tracking wild bears than looking good in an anorak. +++++
Stuff said Nothing beats Polaroid’s classic design, and the P folds into a rounded bulk reminiscent of the helmets in Starship Troopers. Focus and exposure are fixed, but there’s a lighter/darker control that can be adjusted to cope with extremes of lighting. ++++,
Stuff said In long-play mode, this voice recorder is easily good enough for transcription: slightly flat but with little background noise. Switch to short-play and the sound is remarkable, picking up all the nuances of the human voice. A true winner. +++++
TOP THREES BEST OF THE REST 129 HOME COMPUTERS T HO Y BU
1 2 3
Apple iMac
The iMac is thinner and more powerful than ever: Core i5 or i7 and at least 8GB RAM running the none-more-elegant OS X Mavericks. A 2013 update brought Intel’s Haswell CPU, a hybrid storage option, speedy 802.11ac Wi-Fi and a price increase.
Sapphire Edge VS8
This mini-PC may look like the Terminator’s lunchbox, but it houses AMD’s 1.6GHz A8 APU and dedicated HD7600G graphics with 4GB of RAM. A capable little fellow, the VS8 even does a decent job with the latest gaming titles (with the detail dialled back a little).
Alienware X51 (2014)
The X51 hasn’t changed a huge amount, but the wee size matched with powerful components make it perfectly suited to HD gaming. Steam Machines are going to liven this market up but right now it’s the best balance of power and form in PC land.
from £950 +++++
BEST FOR ALL-ROUND BRILLIANCE
from £310 +++++
BEST FOR COMPACT POWER
from £700 +++++
BEST FOR HARDCORE GAMERS
£250 +++++
BEST FOR TOTAL TRAFFIC KNOWLEDGE
£free +++++
BEST FOR BUDGET TRAVELLERS
£270 +++++
BEST FOR TRAVELLING WITH STYLE
£360 +++++
BEST FOR TOP-QUALITY HOME MOVIES
£1200 +++++
BEST FOR SERIOUS SHOOTERS
£180 +++++
BEST FOR ACTION-JUNKIE FILMMAKERS
SAT-NAV T HO Y BU
1 2 3
TomTom GO 6000
The four-figure model name marks this an ‘Always Connected’ device with a SIM card for live traffic updates, while the ‘6’ in the name refers to its crisp 6in, 800x480 screen. It’s rather good, if huge. Smartphone-connected versions (600, 500, 400) are cheaper.
Google Maps Navigation
Apple’s Maps app remains pretty, but flawed. With Google Nav now back in the iTunes Store, there really is one solid choice for both iOS and Android users and this is it. Street View, accurate public transport info, cycle maps and decent traffic warnings. Bingo.
Garmin nüvi 3598LMT-D
Still pricier than the TomTom, the flagship Garmin has a similarly crisp (if only 5in) 800x480 screen, with clever photo-realistic junctions and 3D terrain. The DAB traffic works fine, but the extra cable is a faff too far for us.
CAMCORDERS T HO Y BU
1 2 3
Sony HDR-CX410VE
Our choice for full-fat filming at non-professional prices, the Sony records razor-sharp footage at a TV-style 50fps, has a monster 55x zoom, a three-hour battery and image stabilisation that lets you run and shoot handheld simultaneously. Just don’t trip up.
Canon XA10
Canon’s ultra-compact XA10 handles fine detail superbly due to its f/1.8 lens and 2.37MP chip. It might not look big enough to play with the big boys, but twin XLR inputs on its detachable handle give would-be filmmakers professional prowess right out of the box.
GoPro Hero3+ Silver Edition
You may well wonder why the flagship Black Edition of the Hero3+ isn’t in this slot, but for our money the extras don’t quite justify the extra expense. We reckon the Silver Edition is the current, umm, hero of the range, and a killer cam for your killer stunts.
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130
GAMES
T HO Y BU
Grand Theft Auto 5 PS3/Xbox 360
You probably think you already know everything there is to know about GTA 5. After all, if you’ve been alive anywhere in the world for the past year you’ll have read all about life in Los Santos. So you’ll already know that it shines a satirical torch on the 21st century religion of celebrity. And that everything from social media to self-help gurus gets a kicking. And that it’s better-looking than ever. But really you only need to know one thing about it: it’s the most fun you’ll have on a console this month.
2 3
STUFF SAYS The gargantuan gameworld of Los Santos is the most entertaining place to hang out since Vice City
+++++
The Last Of Us PS3
The best zombie-apocalypse game ever? Definitely. The Last Of Us looks magnificent and plays even better, with a genuinely moving story and frights aplenty. It’s tough – but then a real-life zombie apocalypse would be. Think of this as essential prep.
+++++
BEST FOR ZOMBIFIED HORROR
Tomb Raider PC/PS3/Xbox 360
Yes, it’s a franchise reboot, but the well-paced mixture of puzzles, action sequences, gunfights and stealth make the latest Lara Croft adventure an immersive, cinematic experience. Possibly the best fun we’ve ever had pretending to be a 21-year-old girl.
+++++
4
Bioshock Infinite PC/PS3/Xbox 360 From its achingly gorgeous setting in the skies to a super-intelligent story that tackles religion, racism and metaphysics, Infinite is an innovative tour de force. None of that would matter if the gameplay lagged – but it barely puts a foot wrong either. Stunning.
+++++
BEST FOR MIND-BENDING STORYLINES
5
FIFA 14 PS4/Xbox One The next-gen edition of FIFA 14 is, perhaps unsurprisingly, better than the PS3/Xbox 360 version, thus its recent leap a couple of places up the table. Players and crowd are more realistically presented, and there are improvements in gameplay and flow.
+++++
BEST FOR SIT-DOWN KICKYBALL
6 7 8 9 10
Batman: Arkham Origins PC/PS3/Xbox 360/Wii U
The third game in the Arkham series sees the caped crusader go back to the beginning for a not-so-merry Christmas in Gotham. New multiplayer mode and new gadgets freshen things up, but otherwise it’s more of the same. For once that’s no bad thing.
+++++
Titanfall Xbox One
The biggest Xbox One game launch so far, this FPS robot-fighting sim came with high expectations… and just about lives up to them. It’s a brilliant smash-fest, in a world where it rains massive ‘Titan’ robots to board and attack. The storyline is weak, though.
++++,
Mario Kart 8 Wii U
Building upon lesser recent entries while adding flashy new twists and delightful physics-defying courses, Mario Kart 8 is a rare Wii U highlight. Although single-player still lacks punch, multiplayer is endlessly entertaining: it’s glossy and fluid throughout.
++++,
Dark Souls II PC/PS3/Xbox 360
You might never play a tougher game than this old-school action-RPG sequel, which drops you into the mystical land of Drangleic and lets you figure things out for yourself. Mostly by being killed… but that just makes it all the more rewarding when you get it right.
Wolfenstein: The New Order PC/PS3/PS4/Xbox One/Xbox 360 How do you solve a problem like Nazi world domination? With guns. Lots of guns. Even so, this remake might not be exactly what you’re expecting: as well as carnage and genetically engineered soldiers, there’s a sombre message on the pointlessness of war.
++++,
++++,
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GAMES MACHINES 131 T HO Y BU
Sony PlayStation 4
Sony’s next-gen console may not quite be the finished article, but it’s already the best games machine on the planet. With whisper-quiet operation and a sleek form, it’ll slot neatly into your lounge setup, but more importantly it offers bags of power, with full 1080p on all titles and not a whiff of lag. The controller’s vastly improved, too, while remote streaming to PS Vita is a nice bonus. All that and it’s also cheaper than the Xbox One. When proper media streaming arrives, it’ll be unstoppable.
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Microsoft Xbox 360
Yes, it’s been succeeded by the One, but the years have been kind to the 360. With an amazing catalogue of recent games that use its full potential, brilliant media streaming skills and a low, low price it’s impossible not to recommend it to cash-strapped gamers.
Sony PlayStation 3
The PS3 has been around a while, but, like the Xbox 360, that just means it has plenty of great games. Online gaming via PlayStation Network is still brilliant and still free (it’s £40/yr for PS4), and it’s worth buying for its Blu-ray and media streaming alone.
Alienware X51 (2014)
The X51 hasn’t changed a huge amount, but the wee size matched with powerful components make it perfectly suited to HD gaming. Steam Machines are going to liven this market up but right now it’s the best balance of power and form in PC land.
Microsoft Xbox One
The new Xbox aims for the stars and, if it falls short on occasion, it should be praised for trying. Next-gen games run beautifully – albeit in 720p, in some cases – and it’s packed with tricks such as Kinect voice control. Once the minor UI flaws are fixed it’ll get 5 stars.
Nintendo 3DS XL
The bigger version of Nintendo’s latest handheld serves up a larger 3D sweet spot and slightly more premium finish than its smaller sibling. There’s still only one thumb-stick, but it’s a tried and tested design that’s served Nintendo titles very well over the years.
Sony PlayStation Vita Slim
The Slim (aka PCH-2000) is comfier to hold than the original Vita, it lasts longer, it no longer relies on proprietary cables and the screen is an improvement… but Sony could have gone so much further, not least by adding more than 1GB of internal storage.
PC Specialist Nvidia GTX Titan Battlebox
This powerhouse delivers mind-blowing 4K gaming, bringing eye-searing detail to Arkham Origins in our test. But twin Nvidia GTX Titan graphics cards and liquid cooling don’t come cheap, and neither will the 4K monitor you’ll need to go with it.
Nintendo Wii U
While it hasn’t had the same impact as the original Wii, don’t underestimate the Wii U’s fun factor. Nintendo’s bottomless bag of superb game franchises rolls on with the excitement of the Mario Kart 8 release (with its anti-gravity karts and submarine racing).
Nvidia Shield
Like an Xbox controller with a 5in screen stuck to it, this Android console is (just about) portable enough to play on the bus. As well as having access to hundreds of games via Google Play, the Shield can stream full PC titles from your PC – pretty damn cool.
STUFF SAYS Slick, powerful and packed with stand-out features, the PS4 delivers on the next-gen console promise
£350 +++++ from £145 +++++
BEST FOR BUDGET GAMING
from £180 +++++ from £600 +++++ £395 ++++, £150 ++++, £150 ++++,
BEST FOR PORTABLE PLAYTIME
£3900 ++++,
BEST FOR FLUSH 4K FETISHISTS
£240 ++++,
BEST FOR NINTENDO FANS
£185 ++++,
FOR FULL REVIEWS OF ALL THE CONSOLES FEATURED HERE, VISIT STUFF.TV/TOP-10S/GAMES-MACHINES
132
COMPACT CAMERAS
T HO Y BU
Sony DSC-HX60
Last year’s HX50 was our previous pick for the best compact camera around, and 2014’s HX60 isn’t a huge departure from its predecessor in terms of build quality, ease of use, specifications and performance – all of which are excellent. And thankfully the superb 30x zoom lens remains. What it does add is NFC (for quick pairing with a tablet or phone) and a newer Bionz X processor, making it a slightly nippier performer.
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TE DA UP
10
Fujifilm X20
The X20 isn’t all retro looks and no trousers. It excels in Advanced Auto mode and has manual controls and RAW shooting for creative days. The optical viewfinder, though small, is linked to the 4x zoom and frames well. All this, and it looks cool.
Sony DSC-RX100
The 20MP RX100 is just what we’re looking for in an advanced compact: pocketable with a huge 1in sensor that serves up great images. After something a bit different? Sony’s crazy lens-without-a-body, the QX100, has much of the same tech.
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ200
If you want a superzoom cam, the Lumix FZ200 wipes the floor with its rival snoopy snappers. A small and solid build is coupled with a 24x optical zoom, an excellent auto mode and spot-on exposure abilities. The downside is the video, which is a mixed bag
Fujifilm FinePix X100S
Fujifilm’s souped up its fixed-lens retro shooter, with faster focusing and a big APS-C sensor. It’s not all new, though, keeping the 35mm-equivalent f/2 lens and hybrid viewfinder from the X100. A less retro version with black finish is now available too.
Canon PowerShot G16
The G16 packs a lot into its sturdy body: optical viewfinder, loads of manual controls and an f1.8-2.8, 28-140mm (equivalent) zoom lens. Upgrades over the G15 include Wi-Fi and faster burst shooting of up to 12fps, while image quality is as good as ever.
Canon PowerShot G1 X MkII
This powerful snapper is back, with a tilting touchscreen and a wider wide-angle lens but no viewfinder. The zoom and video are still fairly underwhelming but in terms of sheer image quality there aren’t many non-system cameras around that can beat it.
Canon PowerShot S120
Replacing the S110, the S120 is a compact camera for DSLR users on their days off. Its 12.1MP stills, low-light prowess and useful long-exposure modes are welcome, while its slightly laggy lens-ring control and hit-and-miss Wi-Fi features take the shine off.
Nikon Coolpix S6700
Your phone can probably match it for wide-angle photos in good conditions, but if you want to go equipped with a bit more creative control without loading yourself down with kit, the S6700 will be a useful addition to your gadget arsenal.
Samsung Galaxy Camera 2
Only a minor update of last year’s model – the sharing and backup features remain impressive, but the photo quality needed a bump and this hasn’t got there. Still, you can upload selfies directly to social media via Wi-Fi, so what more do you want? Hmm…
STUFF SAYS Sturdy, simple to use and offering a huge zoom range for its size, this is a hugely capable all-rounder
£260 +++++ £330 +++++ £350 +++++ £310 +++++
BEST FOR AT-A-DISTANCE SHOOTING
£700 +++++
BEST FOR DSLR PICS IN A SMALL BODY
£320 +++++ £510 +++++ £260 ++++, £125 ++++, £300 +++,,
BEST FOR ON-THE-GO IMAGE SHARING
FOR THE FULL REVIEWS AND OUR CAMERA BUYING GUIDE, VISIT STUFF.TV/TOP-10S/COMPACT-CAMERAS
SLRs, ETC 133 T HO Y BU
Olympus OM-D E-M1
Olympus’ new flagship is armed with the same excellent 16.3MP sensor as its predecessor the E-M5, but now has an improved autofocus system, a startlingly good electronic viewfinder and masses of direct controls. And look out for the E-M10: pretty much an E-M5 minus the weatherproofing and with only 3-axis stabilisation, but with an improved EVF, better metering, enhanced Wi-Fi and built-in flash in a smaller, cheaper body.
STUFF SAYS Take the E-M5’s amazing speed and quality, then add pro controls and you get the best system cam so far
£800 +++++ (body only)
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Canon EOS 700D
Look, it’s a new Canon at No2. No, wait, it’s the old one. Actually, it’s kind of both. The 700D is a minor upgrade over the 650D, keeping its 18MP sensor, flip-out touchscreen and autofocus during video and adding little beyond a new kit lens. Still great, though.
Sony A7R
We love this camera. It’s lightweight but tough and delivers results that outstrip pretty much any other compact system camera on the market. It has a huge full-frame 36.4MP sensor and noise-suppression. Your wallet might weep, but your photo album will sing.
Nikon D600
Pro power has never come at such a reasonable price. A full-frame 24.3MP sensor combines with accurate 39-point autofocus for stunning results. Dual SD card slots, built-in flash and 5.5fps shooting speed complete a seriously powerful proposition..
Canon EOS 70D
The 70D is Canon’s best camera in years. It’s the first ‘proper’ DSLR to nail autofocus in videos and Live View, offers a multitude of manual controls and can take stunning pics in almost any situation. Amateurs who’ve outgrown the entry level should look no further.
Fujifilm X-T1
There’s lots to love about this snapper, from its clever viewfinder and lightning-speed focus to the weatherproof body. One for the analogue lovers, it has actual buttons and dials with no touchscreen. The lack of in-cam image stabilisation is our only complaint.
Panasonic Lumix GH4
Its 4K recording might grab the headlines, but the GH4 is more than that – it’s Panasonic’s finest all-round camera yet. Build quality is superb, autofocus is fast and accurate, image quality is great and video is even better.
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX7
The 16MP Panasonic is a versatile beast that, while not being much of a looker, has added tricks such as a tilting EVF and a handy touchscreen LCD. It’s great for smooth hi-def video recording and, with the bijou 20mm f/1.7 lens, is a great travel companion.
Pentax K-3
With a 24MP APS-C sensor, advanced autofocus system, snappy burst shooting and clever anti-aliasing simulator, the K-3 is a stills snapper par excellence. A weatherproof body and in-camera stabilisation are welcome too, but it’s not quite so hot with video.
Canon EOS 6D
Canon’s cheapest ever full-framer is an awesome little SLR with a few clever tricks up its lens. As well as its all-new 20.2MP sensor, it boasts a GPS receiver for geotagging your pics and Wi-Fi for direct uploading or remote control from a smartphone.
£380
(body only)
+++++ £1330
(body only)
+++++
BEST FOR ALL-ROUND VALUE BEST FOR SHOOTING LIKE THE PROS
£960
(body only)
+++++ £675
(body only)
+++++
BEST FOR ADVANCED AMATEURS
£850
(body only)
+++++ £1300
(body only)
+++++
BEST FOR HI-RES VIDEO
£500
(body only)
+++++ £800
(body only)
+++++ £1080
(body only)
+++++
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134
GEEK ACCESSORIES
T HO Y BU
There’s a new Paperwhite out on the streets of the world, and it’s brighter, whiter, faster and no more expensive. Contrast is improved, making your text blacker and the background less grey, while a claimed 25% faster processor goes largely unnoticed because it was always the fastest of the e-readers. A handy new Page Flip feature lets you keep your current page while flicking through the chapter in a pop-up window: finish the chapter, or go to sleep now?
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
3Doodler
The best screen, the best ebook store and new book-challenging features: Kindle’s still on top
£110 +++++ £100 +++++
BEST FOR 3D SPACE CREATIVES
£120 +++++
BEST FOR ANALOGUE MAESTROS
These gaming cans – with a noise-cancelling mic, bass boost and controls for in-game and voice channels – are aimed at Xbox 360 users. Not of the Xbox persuasion? Look out for the U 320s, which will play nicely with your PS3, PC and Mac.
£20 +++++
BEST FOR GAMEWORLD IMMERSION
Tesla Model S
from £50,000 +++++
BEST FOR EXHILARATING ECO-DRIVING
£1800 +++++
BEST FOR POWERED-UP PEDALLING
£750 ++++,
BEST FOR HIGH-FLYING FILMERSHAR
£60 ++++,
BEST FOR ALT-CTRL FREAKS
£70 ++++,
BEST FOR iGAMING ADDICTS
£1250 ++++,
BEST FOR EARLY ADOPTERS
Essentially a 3D printer nozzle in a pen. Sticks of plastic are fed through like a glue gun and extruded at 200ºC into thin air, where it immediately cools and solidifies, letting you ‘draw’ 3D structures. Amazing, and we’ve only burnt ourselves once. Maybe twice.
Korg Volca Beats
This Roland TR-808-aping drum machine uses analogue and digital beats to amazing effect given the bargain price, offering a studio’s worth of wizardry in a tablet-sized package. If this doesn’t get the nation’s youth making amazing music, nothing will.
Sennheiser X 320
The Tesla isn’t just a better electric car – it’s a groundbreaker that history could hoist into the automotive hall of fame alongside the original Mini or even the Ford Model T. The range is good, the speed is breathtaking and the styling is sensational.
Smart ebike
This electric bike may be heavy and expensive, but its futuristic design, 250W motor and range of up to 62 miles make it ideal for the daily commute. And don’t get hung up over the price anyway – petrol and car insurance for a year would cost you way more.
DJI Phantom 2 Vision
Want to recreate those Apocalypse Now sequences at your local lido? This quadcopter offers great filming potential thanks to its 14MP/1080p HD camera and videolink, built-in GPS and ability to beam images to your smartphone from 300m away.
Leap Motion
Huge Kickstarter funding and promises of Minority Report-style PC input have come to this: a silent, KitKat-sized block of tech. It is very accurate, and the taster games are a blast, but it’ll need more consistency between apps to become truly useful.
Moga Ace Power
This click-on controller adds two analogue sticks, a D-pad and all the usual buttons to an iPhone 5/5c/5s or 5th-gen iPod Touch. It’s not brilliantly built and only works with selected games, but dedicated iOS gamers will swiftly get their money’s worth.
Up! Plus 2
Not since the early days of video encoding has a Stuff test caused such emotional rollercoastering. The Up! is the least frustrating – and least commercial – of the 3D printers we’ve tried, and the updated Plus 2 has a helpful auto-levelling build platform.
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136
WEARABLES
T HO Y BU
Pebble Steel
Unveiled at CES 2014, the Steel keeps the straightforward looks, crisp display and five-day battery life that helped the standard Pebble win our hearts. But it holds more RAM, apps and customisable faces this time, and swaps the plastic for either a ‘Steel’ silver or matte black stylish suit, making it look and feel more like an actual watch. The Steel goes beyond the gimmicks and into the world of real-world wearable tech. Pop it on your wristwear wish-list.
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Fitbit Flex
The Flex delivers all of Fitbit’s activity-tracking smarts but in a form factor that’s less fiddly than its belt-clip counterparts. It’s packed with Bluetooth, NFC, vibratamotor and a display. America already has the new Force band, with a proper display. Here soon.
Jawbone UP24
Now with Bluetooth for hassle-free syncing, the stylish UP24 is worth the extra £25 over the Jawbone Up. The app introduces new challenges and tracks your sleep patterns. It will also gently nudge you, if you’re lazing around, to get back on the move.
Nike Lunar TR1+
The TR1+s are the smartest gym clogs we’ve seen, packed with pressure sensors and accelerometers. The Nike+ training app tracks your exertions and helps refine your technique, for example telling you to shift more weight to your heels during squats.
Garmin Forerunner 620
Garmin’s wealth of experience in wrist-mounted GPS shines through, offering up a cacophony of stats, including vertical oscillation (how much you jiggle while running) thanks to the smart heart-rate belt. Could be cheaper and more user-friendly, though.
TomTom Multi-Sport Cardio
The new version of the TomTom Multi-Sport adds an impressively accurate heart-rate sensor to an already strong formula, allowing for more focused and personal training. It’ll track runs, cycles and swims, and the companion app is also much improved.
Samsung Gear 2 Neo
It’s the ‘budget’ plastic version of Samsung’s Gear 2, but does 99% of what the more expensive device can do, although it does not have a camera. Only compatible with certain phones, it is the Gear we’d be most likely to buy, but it’s far from essential.
Martian Notifier
The Notifier does one job very well – alerts – and you won’t be ashamed to wear one in public. It doesn’t shake off smartwatches’ dorky image but does blend a regular-looking watch design with smartphone smarts in an affordable, comfortable, reliable package.
Nike Fuelband SE
The original Fuelband was early to the fitness tracker scene, doling out Nike Fuel points like slices of fitness carrot. Though updated, it’s still easier to fool than other fitness bands and its high price and iOS-only app mean it comes in at three stars.
Samsung Gear Fit
Durable, comfortable and only 55g, the Gear Fit looks great but is ultimately a bit disappointing. It has unreliable heart-rate tracking and an unresponsive curved OLED screen that’s awkward to read, especially on a run. Fit by name, but not by nature.
STUFF SAYS The best smartwatch money can buy… and the original plastic Pebble is still available for £50 less
£130 +++++ from £65 +++++
BEST FOR TRACKING YOUR LIFE
£120 +++++ £125 +++++
BEST FOR STEPPING UP YOUR STATS
from £265 ++++, £270 ++++,
BEST FOR TRIATHLETES IN TRAINING
£160 ++++, £95 ++++, from £100 +++,, £140 +++,,
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CONNECTED HOME 137 T HO Y BU
Philips Hue
It might seem like a gimmick, but having Wi-Fi-enabled, colour-changing lightbulbs isn’t just good for impressing mates and spooking guests at seance parties. These smart LED bulbs come into their own when paired with ‘recipes’ on ifttt.com – set them to change colour with the weather or when it’s time to run to the train. They also tie in neatly with Philips’ own Ambilight TVs, casting the colours from the screen across your entire room. A great thingternet starter.
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Sonos Play:1
You don’t need to be planning a multi-room system to buy the Play:1, as it’s a stellar speaker in its own right, streaming from Spotify et al at the command of your phone or tablet. But team it up with another Sonos and you’ll be multi-rooming in minutes.
Synology DS214SE
Within this entry-level hardware beats the best NAS (network attached storage) software yet. Not gorgeous to look at, but at least it’s small and easy to hide away. If you’re new to the NAS party, the DS214se is the cheapest way to get onboard.
Devolo dLAN 500 Wi-Fi
Not that sexy, perhaps, but the Devolo system is faultless in its execution. Putting the ‘Internet’ in your ‘Internet of things’, it pipes broadband from your router, through your mains wiring and into the farthest reaches of your home, no messin’ ’bout.
Roku Streaming Stick
‘Streaming Stick’ tells you all you need to know, really: this is a stick, and it streams. It streams plenty, too – Netflix, iPlayer, Spotify, Sky Now and Sky Go to name a few. And unlike Chromecast, it’s also a dab hand with your own video and music files. Lovely stuff.
Ninja Blocks
This little box is a hacker’s dream. With everything from temp/humidity sensors to remotely switched power points, it has boundless potential for giving your home 21st century smarts. It’s open-source and has a devoted developer community, too.
Koubachi Wi-Fi Plant Sensor
Why have real plants when you can 3D-print space-age fake plastic trees? Because if you have real plants you can use this Wi-Fi-connected thingternet device to monitor their vitals and relay their photosynthetic desires back via an iOS app. That’s why.
Belkin WeMo
It started as an unassuming Wi-Fi-enabled socket that let you set lights or other mains-powered items on a schedule via an app. Now the range includes a motion sensor and a baby monitor (left), while a Hue-style lightbulb was announced at CES.
Netatmo
With an indoor and an outdoor module, the Netatmo monitors the conditions all around you, checking temp, humidity, air pressure, CO2 levels and noise. Use the info to fine-tune your sleeping conditions, or just tap into the global community of Netatmo users.
Google Chromecast
This USB memory-stick-sized cord-cutter is compatible with Netflix, YouTube, Google Play movies and BBC iPlayer: a cheap, simple way of getting web-sourced movies and shows onto your living-room TV.
STUFF SAYS The humble lightbulb is reborn as a net-connected, colour-changing, moodsensing smart device
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NEXT BIG THING?
hat, really? Of course. Honestly, your constant incredulity about the wonders displayed on this page grows wearisome. The suggestion that these are mere fancies, the products of an enthusiastic mind carefully spun into pseudo-reality with silken words… Lawks, just look at that guy. Not even a scientist would wear eyewear like that unless they’d been to a place about which we can only dream. And what’s that in the foreground? Wasn’t it Einstein who said: “Where there be lasers, there be awesome”?
W
So one can genuinely travel into the future with this… whatever this is? Oh, absolutely not. Where do you get these daft ideas? Don’t pull that face, though – there is an inkling of truth in it. After years of incremental hardware gains and endless software tweaks – largely brought about by cloud powerhouses like Amazon and Google who demand efficiency rather than horsepower – HP is upping its game. It’s planning a new computer architecture, called The Machine, that uses memristor tech and optical interconnects that make today’s copper wiring look as antiquated as it sounds.
I’m still not seeing the time reference… Simply that this computer, when it comes, will munch through processing tasks like a honey badger through a barrel of snakes. And it is coming: the memristor chips – combining storage and RAM to smash data access times – need to come first, but HP puts The Machine at 2018. (Rival computer companies had a good snort at this, but HP did not falter.) And so, come the day, you’ll have a PC that can do in ten minutes what currently takes hours. Thus, you’ll be doing the afternoon’s work in the morning. Which is time travel, you see?
[ Words Fraser Macdonald ]
the time mhine
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