TechRadar Reviews

The Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box 8K is the second generation of the Hue entertainment product, following on from the 4K Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box. It’s designed to synchronize your Hue smart lighting system with the on-screen action in movies, games and with music, and it works with a wide range of different lights and lamps: simply create an entertainment area in your Hue app, add the bulbs or lights you want to sync, and the Sync Box 8K does its thing. It works very well and has an excellent app, but as ever with Hue it’s quite expensive.

The 4K version is still for sale and works fine, but if you’re using games consoles or just want to get the most future-proof option this is the one to go for even if an 8K TV is not currently in your home or on the horizon.

Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box 8K: price and availability

• List price $349.99 / £299.99 (about AU$520)
• More expensive than 4K Sync Box

The Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box 8K launched in September 2024. The UK price is £299.99 and the US price is $349.99. That’s about AU$520.

That's a slight price increase over the previous model, the Sync Box 4K, which is £229.99 / $229.

(Image credit: Signify) Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box 8K: specifications

• Very similar design to previous version
• Supports 8K at 60Hz, and 4K at 120Hz

While the Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box 8K looks almost identical to its predecessor bar its slightly larger dimensions, there are some key differences.

The first and most important difference is that the four HMDI ports are HDMI 2.1b with HDCP 2.3. The previous version has HDMI 2.0b with HDCP 2.2. Both versions support HDR10+, Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos and CEC for device control.

The 4K version delivered resolutions of up to 4K at 60Hz and 1080p and 1440p at 120Hz. The new 8K model has 8K at 60Hz, a gaming console-friendly 4K at 120Hz, plus 4K/60Hz and 1080p/120Hz.

The 8K version has Bluetooth 5 compared to the Bluetooth 4.2 of the 4K box.

There are some minor changes to the power consumption too: standby power is down from 1.5W to 0.8W and maximum power consumption is down from 7.3W to 7.0W. The USB connector is now USB-C rather than micro-USB.

The box is slightly larger than before but retains the familiar shape and setup, with four HDMI inputs and one output. (Image credit: Signify) Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box 8K: setup

• Requires Philips Hue Bridge
• User-friendly app makes setup straightforward

As before, the Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box 8K requires a Hue Bridge to connect to your lights. It can only sync with audio-visual devices that are connected to its HDMI ports, which rules out the apps already installed on your TV. However, it will happily sync with apps on HDMI-connected devices such as an Apple TV 4K.

If you have a Samsung TV, you can sync your lights with your TV's apps via the Hue Sync TV app on compatible TVs. That doesn't require this sync box; your TV connects to your Hue Bridge via the app. The app is $2.99 per month in the US or £2.68 in the UK, and requires a Q60 QLED TV or a later QLED model.

You can connect your various devices directly via the HDMI ports. If you have them connected to an AV receiver, that connects to HDMI 4: that’s the HDMI port where you can enable CEC pass through so that your devices can control your TV. Whichever connection option you choose, you can set the Sync Box to detect a video signal and turn itself on automatically.

The original Sync Box required a separate Hue app, but the sync functionality is now in the core app to keep things simpler. It’s more user-friendly than before, but gives you the same options: game, movie or music modes, four levels of intensity and a brightness control. Pairing the sync box, adding it to your Wi-Fi network and checking for software updates are all handled by the app and work efficiently.

The sync features no longer require a separate app: it's all in the core Hue app (Image credit: Future) Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box 8K: performance

• Effectively 'expands' your TV screen when connected to smart lights
• Much better than previous version for gaming
• No noticeable lag between images on TV and lights changing

With the best smart lights, the Hue Play HDMI Sync Box 8K works exceptionally well: it’s very fast and very accurate, so for example my gradient lightstrip didn’t just blast the wall with one or two colors but a mix that followed the on-screen visuals very well. It’s best suited to lights that are in the immediate vicinity of your TV; you can have the whole room synced if you wish, but I felt it distracted from the effectiveness.

For me, the lighting was at its best when it seemed to expand my TV to the entire wall behind it and the objects and furniture on either side. It really does make your TV feel much bigger and immersive, and the response speed means it looks very natural.

I noticed a big difference in gaming, especially on PS5: the glitch that would frequently give me a black screen for a moment at the worst possible time in intense games such as Helldivers is gone, and input switching issues that previously confused my TV were absent too. If you have a PS5 or Xbox X, that alone is a big reason to go for the 8K model rather than the older one.

For me, this is one of those products that you tend to take for granted almost immediately: the effect it produces is great but you soon stop noticing it, in part because the response rate is so fast that there isn’t a lag between what you see on screen and how your lights respond. That means after a short time you only really notice it when you turn it off: the room seems awfully bare and the TV awfully small without it.

The lighting effects don't overpower the on-screen colors; instead, they make the TV feel bigger (Image credit: Future) Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box 8K: verdict

There's no doubt that the Sync Box is expensive, even more so than its predecessor, and functionally it's not very different from the 4K box. If you're not a gamer, that's the one to go for here unless of course you have an 8K TV.

For gaming, though, this is a vast improvement: HDMI 2.1 is a must-have for modern consoles, and the upgrade addressed issues that have been annoying me for years – so while an 8K TV is not in my foreseeable future, this is still the box I'd recommend for Hue gamers.

Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box 8K: how I tested

I’m a long-time Hue Sync Box 4K user, so I swapped the new model with my existing one. It’s connected to a Sony AV receiver, which in turn is connected to a PS5, an Xbox Series X, an Apple TV 4K and a Sony Blu-Ray player. I used the Sync Box to control a Hue Gradient Lightstrip on the back of my Samsung TV, and also added other Hue bulbs around my living room to check the syncing worked with multiple Hue products. Read more about how we test.

First reviewed October 2024

Audio-Technica AT-LP70XBT: Two-minute review

The Audio-Technica AT-LP70XBT is a fresh entrant from the good ship AT that continues its successes in matching quality with affordability. This pre-calibrated plug-and-play machine delivers fuss-free playback and a great rounded sound, all of which can be enjoyed wired or wirelessly, via foolproof Bluetooth connectivity.

Digging in a little, there’s some room for improvement when it comes to sound but, in a break from tradition for budget players such as this, the stylus can be upgraded to another Audio-Technica needle with consummate ease. The body is also a little lightweight, but the turntable is nonetheless stable and plays records near-flawlessly, thanks to its beefy motor.

Will it be appearing in our best turntables list? Well, the Audio-Technica AT-LP70XBT's little flourishes make it both a fun and reliable turntable to use. It won’t be replacing anyone’s pride-and-joy record players, mind, but it is a great candidate for someone’s first. From producing solid sounds to taking care of your records, this is a fantastic option for a budget player that reaches beyond the stereotypes of its category.

Audio-Technica AT-LP70XBT review: Price and release date

(Image credit: Future / James Grimshaw)

• $249 / £219 / AUS$599
• Launched on July 31, 2024

Audio-Technica has curried a lot of favor over the years, between its pro-sumer headphone offerings, pioneering efforts in cartridge design and, of course, its ever-evolving roster of well-regarded record players. 

The Audio-Technica AT-LP70XBT is the latest in its entry-level automatic turntable range, and supersedes the AT-LP60XBT, a capable, if slightly flimsy-feeling, record player that’s deservedly won out over other entry level players in its orbit. The AT-LP70XBT is undoubtedly an improvement and flaunt some major changes, from a new chassis design to a dramatically improved tonearm and stylus system.

While some things have changed for the better, the point of the AT-LP70XBT remains the same and the new changes only cement Audio-Technica’s supremacy in this corner of the market. Against dozens of other automatic and Bluetooth-compliant turntables, this one wins out on a fair few fronts.

Audio-Technica AT-LP70XBT review: Specs Audio-Technica AT-LP70XBT review: Features

(Image credit: Future / James Grimshaw)

• aptX Adaptive Bluetooth transmission
• AT-VMN95C stylus
• Built-in phono preamp

The Audio-Technica AT-LP70XBT is a fully automatic turntable, designed with ease-of-use firmly in mind. As such, it is a simple record player, which does away with the finicky aspects of cartridge alignment and calibration.

This is usually a cause for concern in cheap automatic turntables, which suffer for their overweighted tonearms and imprecise tracking. Yet here, with a carefully weighted tonearm and a fixed, aligned cartridge, it’s a newbie-friendly benefit. Many cheap entry-level turntables also suffer from the provision of an underpowered motor, and again the AT-LP70XBT rises above; it’s belt-driven, and its motor is both plenty strong and plenty quiet.

The turntable has an integrated cartridge system, but which utilises Audio-Technica’s VM95 series’ replaceable styli. It comes equipped with the VMN95C, an entry-level conical stylus with a passable sound to it – but with a little aftermarket expenditure, you can upgrade the stylus to most any other in the series. This assembly is encased in an all-in-one J-shaped tonearm, so shaped to benefit from reduced tracking errors (and also as something of a wink and nudge to Audio-Technica turntable tonearms of old).

The AT-LP70XBT’s loudest feature is its Bluetooth connectivity, which enables you to send audio to any compatible receiver of your choosing. Whether casting audio to your wireless headphones or your kitchen Bluetooth speaker, you’ll have a riot with this feature. The Audio-Technica AT-LP70XBT supports both SBC and aptX Adaptive codecs – a single press of the dedicated Bluetooth button has it searching for devices to connect to, and this writer encountered no difficulties in getting it to pair.

• Features score: 4.5/5

Audio-Technica AT-LP70XBT review: Sound quality

(Image credit: Future / James Grimshaw)

• Robust, dependable playback
• Charmingly rich sound for price
• Sometimes a tad hollow

This turntable is a gratifyingly sturdy play, and delivers reliable performance somewhat beyond its own remit. The pre-installed AT-VMN95C stylus is conical, which provides smooth and unproblematic playback, albeit at the expense of some definition. Though basic, it is still a serious leg up on its predecessor’s cartridge, and on those typically offered by other automatic turntables in this bracket.

The first test was Radiohead’s There There 12in single, which was every bit the sonorous sledgehammer you’d hope. Big driving toms cut through by throaty, clanging guitars, with Thom Yorke’s voice carried cleanly and smoothly through the rest. However, higher-end elements were found to be a touch bright, Jonny Greenwood’s erratic guitar stabs being the chief culprit.

The low end is surprisingly well-served by this turntable, as proven by There There, but also by records of an altogether heavier constitution. Queens of the Stone Age’s Songs for the Deaf is rich, deep, full and just as gratifying as it should be on any medium, while Slift’s Ummon kicks proverbial right from the drop. How, on something this cheap?

This comes with caveats, though. Elsewhere, this low-end representation can be a little indistinct; bloomy, as opposed to focused. Charlotte Adigery and Bolis Pupul’s Topical Dancer is a record rich in spongy subs and textured bass synths, some of which are resultingly underserved; Esperanto’s sliding bass hook resonates imprecisely, and the big kicks of It Hit Me encroach upwards, sometimes squashing the rest of the track.

Tactile elements, however, are a joy. The thrilling transients of Blenda’s beat and kalimba samples, and of Ich Mwen’s propulsive drums, are lightly smoothed but otherwise distinct, even three-dimensional. In heavier scenarios, this clear high end can veer into overrepresentation, QOTSA and Slift both suffering a little from spiky string-squeal and tissy hi-hats.

The Bluetooth transmission is as clear as you could ever ask for, sending a generally unbothered signal to my kitchen Bluetooth speaker. It sounds clean, clear and wholly representative, which is obviously great – however, the turntable’s shortcomings elsewhere are rendered a little more naked for this. Pile’s All Fiction sounds amazing in its quieter moments (Blood’s sparseness translates near-perfectly), but a bloomy low end and shelved high end in louder tracks lead to a slight mid-scooped hollowness.

In short, the AT-LP70XBT doesn’t sound perfect. But it does sound good, and a darn sight good-er than most anything else in its weight class. While it could never measure up to better-specced turntables outside its price class, it scores highly here for its impressive stability, surprising depth and otherwise clear voice – a difficult find in other budget turntables.

• Sound quality score: 4/5

Audio-Technica AT-LP70XBT review: Design

(Image credit: Future / James Grimshaw)

• Plussed-up aesthetics
• Truly plug-and-play
• A little underweight

For looks, the AT-LP70XBT is a considerable improvement on its elder. The J-shaped tonearm is slinkier and satisfyingly uniform, while the ensleekified body features control buttons and switches re-located for maximum minimalism. That includes the automatic mechanism’s 7in/12in toggle switch, once a prominent top-mounted lever and now smartly concealed in the tonearm pivot. Speaking of automatism, the AT-LP70XBT’s automatic mechanism is slow but sure, and activated with a satisfyingly mechanical clunk.

With this smart-lookin’ redesign comes the smallest of gripes, though: there’s nowhere for the provided 45rpm adapter to live on the unit anymore. This is a shame, for sure, but one easily forgotten when you see just how pleasingly the tonearm lift blends into the tonearm pivot’s surround. Mmm.

The AT-LP70XBT loses a point or two when compared (perhaps unfairly) to manual turntables at or slightly above its price range – the weight is one such point, the other is adjustability. Where most turntables worth their salt will have a half-inch headshell that allows you to replace your cartridge with whatever you’d like, and an adjustable counterweight to calibrate for said cartridge, the AT-LP70XBT is pretty firmly set in its ways, by both a fixed cartridge system and a fixed-weight tonearm.

You might be hearing the distant screams of a thousand spectral gear-heads about now, and that’s because I’m about to suggest that this turntable’s fixed nature isn’t that much of a big deal. Indeed, it’s a smart move for easily intimidated newcomers to the format, and a simple way of foolproofing aspects of the turntable which could otherwise (and in unfamiliar hands) cause harm to a record collection.

Besides, the fixed cartridge system here is a dramatic improvement on the LP60XBT’s ubiquitous, good-but-not-great AT-3600L-toting tonearm. Here, the tonearm effectively contains the moving-magnet assembly from Audio-Technica’s AT-VM95 series, meaning it’s compatible with any VMN95-series stylus. The AT-LP70XBT ships with the cheapest, the VMN95C conical stylus, but with a little extra expenditure (and an exceedingly simple pull-and-replace operation) you can replace it for a better stylus with ease.

The pre-weighted tonearm gives a tracking force of 2.05g – comfortably in the mid-range of the 1.8g to 2.2g recommended tracking force for all AT-VMN95-series styli – and hence, in principle at least, never in need of adjustment for the entirety of the turntable’s lifespan. For this turntable’s purposes, perfect!

More generally, the AT-LP70XBT is a little on the light side. This is with thanks to its plastic chassis, but thankfully the unit retains a low center of gravity, and so squats  reassuringly on your furnishing of choice. That being said, try not to nudge said furniture too much thereafter.

• Design score: 4/5

Audio-Technica AT-LP70XBT review: Value

(Image credit: Future / James Grimshaw)

• Excellent performance for price category
• …but expensive enough to give you pause

It’s difficult to talk about the value prospect of the AT-LP70XBT without being hugely subjective about it. While manual turntables elsewhere are considerably more precise, tweakable, upgradeable, and even high-fidelity out of the box, the AT-LP70XBT isn’t really trying to be any of those things.

The AT-LP70XBT was never meant to be a customisable last-turntable-you’ll-ever-buy affair. Instead, it’s aiming at being the best in a crowded field of often-lacking automatic turntables, offering reliable performance and great sound as an accessible appliance, as opposed to an audiophile-appeasing starter turntable. As such, it might not be of much value to anyone that already knows their hi-fi onions, but represents a massive amount of value to someone getting into (or back into) records as a format.

This turntable rightfully runs rings around most of the turntables that share its attributes, and as such would be a killer purchase – if it came in slightly cheaper than $249 / £219 / AUS$599. That UK price point, in particular, is an awkward one – close to the £200 mark but just high enough to give you pause; does its convenience outweigh the better sound and less plasticky construction of its manual turntable competitors? This reviewer has a soft spot for the AT-LP70XBT, but this corner of the budget price bracket is a toughie regardless.

• Value score: 3.5/5

Should you buy the Audio-Technica AT-LP70XBT? Buy it if...

This is your first record player
It’s a plug-and-play device from start to finish, and the perfect on-ramp for someone starting their vinyl journey. No calibration, no adjustments, and barely any fiddling with the Bluetooth functionality – just you, your speakers of choice and your first records.

You’re a fellow of convenience
The automatic functionality is slow, deliberate and extremely handy; you can trust this thing’s mechanisms with your records, and you aren’t sacrificing a great deal of fidelity for the privilege either.

Don't buy it if...

You value customisability
While the AT-LP70XBT does benefit from an upgradeable stylus, your options are still limited. If you want a solid base turntable for your hi-fi, with the possibility of upgrading to a moving-coil cart in the future, you need to look elsewhere.

You’ve got a killer hi-fi
This is a great turntable in its field and for its type, but does not belong in every set-up. If you’ve already spent the cash on an enviable hi-fi set-up, you’ll immediately notice where the AT-LP70XBT falls short sound-wise.

Audio-Technica AT-LP70XBT: Also consider

Fluance RT81
Though it's neither an automatic nor a Bluetooth-friendly turntable, the Fluance RT81 does have fidelity, adjustability and customisability well and truly covered. If you want a bit more flexibility in your hi-fi, this could be the starter turntable for you.
Read our Fluance RT81 review here.

Victrola Eastwood II
The Eastwood II is an all-in-one affair that can both stream its vinyl output to Bluetooth, and receive Bluetooth audio to its built-in amp. It’s not automatic, and its tonearm bears more in common with the AT-LP70XBT’s inferior predecessor, but if your hi-fi needs are minimal then this could be the money-saving option for you.
Read our Victrola Eastwood II review here.

How I tested the Audio-Technica AT-LP70XBT

(Image credit: Future / James Grimshaw)

• Tested for 4 weeks
• Used as primary turntable in living-room hi-fi system
• Predominantly tested through Cambridge AV amplifier and Celestion speakers, as well as a Soundcore Bluetooth speaker

The Audio-Technica AT-LP70XBT became my primary living-room turntable for a month. The RCA outputs fed my dependable Cambridge Audio Azur 540R amplifier and Celestion F1 bookshelf speakers; for Bluetooth, I connected to a Soundcore Motion 300 speaker in another room. I used personal favourite records with which I am intimately familiar, and with which I was able to get a feel for the AT-LP70XBT character both wired and wirelessly.

First reviewed: October 2024

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Digital photography means we don’t have to restrain our itchy trigger finger, and we’re able to take hundreds, even thousands of photos per assignment, project, trip or event. However, that also means we need the best photo editor software to organize and edit these shots. Most computers come bundled with these apps, but is it worth paying a little extra to access even more tools for editing and managing photos?

CyberLink PhotoDirector is one such tool, expanding photo editing capabilities for professionals and beginners alike. We’ve long been fans of the company’s content creation suite, and when we last reviewed the software, we praised it for providing one of the best Photoshop alternatives and best alternatives to Lightroom. So, how does CyberLink’s latest version compare to the competition? We put PhotoDirector to the test.

CyberLink PhotoDirector: Pricing & plans

• The price alone makes PhotoDirector extremely competitive, compared to Lightroom, and the fact you can opt for subscription or perpetual license is the icing on the cake

CyberLink is a rare beast: in a world increasingly dominated by subscription packages, this company still offers you the choice of purchasing a perpetual license. The version known as Ultra can be yours for $100, which is less than one year of renting Adobe Lightroom. A subscription is also available of course - for those who enjoy not owning their software - and the price here is also very competitive: it usually costs $60 a year to get PhotoDirector 365, but as of this writing, you can get it for $40.

The main advantage of subscribing to any software is the constant regular updates you get, and CyberLink releases fixes, new features, and new media each and every month.

If you’re curious about this software, you’re encouraged to download the free trial by clicking here.

• Pricing & plans: 5/5

CyberLink PhotoDirector: Launcher

The launcher window is where you get to choose which tool you'd like to use (Image credit: CyberLink)

• The Launcher is where you choose which tool to use - and which interface to open. This way of working isn’t as intuitive as having everything in one window, but it doesn’t take long to get used to it

Launch PhotoDirector and you’ll be faced with a simple launcher, prominently featuring an animated advert at the top for some of its latest features. Beneath this distracting 40% of the interface are the main icons in yellow. Some open a floating window onto which you’ll drop an image to perform the required action, while others open up a whole new interface. The various icons that do this present you with a different yet similar interface, offering unique tools for the job at hand. It can get a little confusing navigating through this way of working, but the more we used PhotoDirector, the more we got used to it.

Further down the launcher window are more icons. These offer quick links to regularly used tools, and this section is customisable, letting you choose which of these icons to display or hide. There’s also a link to CyberLink’s tutorial page, which offers over a hundred how-tos to help you understand the software better.

• Score: 3.5/5

CyberLink PhotoDirector: Library & Adjust

You can even make pretty drastic facial alterations - no plastic surgery required (Image credit: CyberLink)

• Library and Adjust lets you organize your shots and alter them to look their best. The ability to switch between Guided, Manual, Presets and Expert modes gives you a lot of flexibility, depending on your skill level

The ‘Library and Adjust’ module is likely the one most get PhotoDirector for: a place to organize your shots, and use various tools to improve the quality of your photographs. When selected, you’re confronted with a very traditional interface, with a sidebar on the left containing various categories for the ‘Library’ section, or tools while in ‘Adjust’ mode.

In either case, most of the interface on the right is taken over by your selected photo, while thumbnails at the bottom help you see other shots in the same category.

Using the available tools is as easy as any image editing app you’ve likely used before, with a generous number of sliders to make the necessary alterations. Be aware though that if you’re using the free version, the vast majority of these tools are premium only. You can use them, but if and when you do, the image will be prominently watermarked, until you undo the change, or pay for the proper version.

You’ll find Manual and Preset options, and to the right is a drop down menu offering you Guided and Expert interfaces. As its title implies, Guided is a simplified version, whereas Expert opens up a multi-layered interface, giving you more free reign over your modifications. There’s also a third option in that menu, the Generative AI Studio, but we’ll be exploring that part of the software a little later on.

Organize your photos in the Library (Image credit: CyberLink)

As for the library section, it’s pretty standard actually. You can organize your shots into albums, with tags, by faces, there’s also a calendar view, and you can set up various smart collections to atomically organize your photos based on set criteria. There’s nothing drastically new here that we haven’t seen many times before. Still, it works, and works well.

There is however a third section: Create. This is where you get to transform your stills into something potentially more interesting, such as a slideshow, or an animated GIF. You have the ability to create panoramas, perform digital witchcraft with ‘Face Swap’, merge photos with different exposures to get the best out of them, and there’s even a section turning video clips into photos. Interesting though all of this is, these tools are only available to paying customers.

• Score: 4/5

CyberLink PhotoDirector: Editing

Remove a background, and replace it with another - all quite easy to do with PhotoDirector (Image credit: CyberLink)

• PhotoDirector has extensive edit features which go well beyond image editing, and comfortably enter the image compositing. The list of tools is vast, and are incredibly easy to use

The Edit module takes more of a leaf from Photoshop, expanding from the ‘Create’ section we looked at just before, and allowing you to create complete image composites. With it you’re able to add multiple text layers, perform some basic actions like cropping, resizing and rotating, you’ll find some animation effects, you’ll be able to apply lens effects, modify the shape of faces, remove backgrounds, add stickers, frames, and overlays, the versatility is quite extensive, and oh so easy to use; you’ll find it’s pretty effortless to just dabble and experiment until you reach the look you’re after.

Regretfully, as with the premium alteration we explored in ‘Library and Adjust’ you cannot save any changes you’ve made which contain premium effects. We understand the watermarking and the restriction when exporting, but being unable to save changes does restrict the amount of experimentation you can perform without getting a plan or a perpetual license (and that’s likely the reason).

• Editing: 4/5

CyberLink PhotoDirector: AI tools

Add text, work with multiple layers, and much more, similar to Adobe Photoshop (Image credit: CyberLink)

• The AI tools can be found throughout the PhotoDirector interface, and they work as you would expect them to - although you’re given as set number of credits each month with your subscription

There’s no escaping artificial intelligence - we’ve even reviewed the best AI tools, and PhotoDirector has a wealth of them that can be accessed from various parts of the interface. By now you should know how this works: you type in a description of what you’re after, select an aspect ratio, style, and away you go. But here PhotoDirector goes beyond that: you can import a photo and transform it based on specific criteria, such as changing the clothing someone wears or the background they’re shot in front of, or replacing an object with another, expanding an image beyond its borders, do a spot of interior redesigning of an existing shot, turn a photo into an anime drawing, and much more.

This all sounds great, but there’s a catch, which is the same for other software offering such services: PhotoDirector’s generative AI feature works on a credit system, which you spend each time you create a new AI image. You get 100 credits a month with a basic subscription. If you need more you need to pay for those separately, from 50 to 500 credits a pop, and the more you buy in one go, the cheaper each credit becomes (from $6 for 50 to $35 for 500).

Should I buy?

CyberLink has over 100 tutorials to help you learn PhotoDirector (Image credit: CyberLink)

Buy it if...

You need an app that’s a mixture of a photo organizer and a powerful image compositor, with an increasing number of AI tools thrown in for good measure, and you appreciate having a choice between subscribing to the service or buying the software outright.

Don't buy it if...

Your needs are more modest, you might be better off sticking to the photo organizing software that’s bundled with your computer, or you’re not a fan of the extensive AI tools here.

We tested out the best photo editing PCs and the best laptops for photo editing and these are our top picks.

Lenovo Legion R25f-30: Two-minute review

There are many reasons why PC gamers may prefer a 1080p gaming monitor like the $179 Lenovo Legion R25f-30 over displays with higher resolutions. Beyond serving individuals who may be on a tighter budget, performance gains through higher frame rates in the modern gaming era can help more competitive-minded gamers.

With a 24.5-inch VA panel, 1080p native resolution and 280Hz refresh rate, the Legion R25f-30 does a great job where it counts. The image quality is wonderful thanks to covering 99% of the sRGB and 90% of the DCI-P3 color space while supporting HDR. On the other hand, AMD FreeSync alongside a 0.5ms response time helps on the performance side of things.

To further improve gameplay performance, the Legion R25f-30 comes equipped with AMD FreeSync Premium technology and ClearMR 7000 certification, eliminating stutters and screen tearing for an ultra-smooth gaming experience. Gamers will enjoy stunning visual fidelity, as the monitor covers 99% of the sRGB and 90% of the DCI-P3 color space, delivering vibrant, true-to-life colors. This is great for entry-to-mid-level content creators or beginning colorists in terms of color accuracy for the Adobe crowd. The Legion R25f-30 works fine enough when browsing the web or using management software with clarity and crisp fonts.

With support for HDR, lighting and shadows appear more realistic, adding depth and detail to every scene. If that’s all PC gamers on the cheaper side are looking for, then that sub-$200 gaming monitor could be worth it. Gamers playing titles like Black Myth: Wukong, Cyberpunk 2077 and Alan Wake II will get some of the best image quality they can get at this price point. The same goes for more esports titles like League of Legends, Fortnite, and Call of Duty where input latency and high frame rates are vital for victory.

The Lenovo Legion R25f-30 has a few drawbacks, starting with its rather plain design that lacks visual flair. While the monitor provides adjustable comfort with lift, tilt, pivot, and swivel options, its two built-in 3W stereo speakers are underwhelming and not ideal for serious use. Additionally, it lacks USB ports and in-display overlays, with crosshair overlays and color settings only accessible through the separate Lenovo Artery software. Compared to other budget gaming monitors, it falls short at times.

Lenovo Legion R25f-30: Price and availability

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

• When is it available? Now
• How much does it cost? $179.99/£139.00/AU $299.00
• Where can you get it? US, UK, and Australia

The Lenovo Legion R25f-30 is available now in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia territories. Priced at $179.99 (£139.00, AU $299.00), the gaming monitor can be purchased from Lenovo’s online store or various online stores like Newegg in the U.S., Currys Business in the UK, and Centrecom in Australia. If image quality and performance matter more to you, the sub-$200 price tag could be worth it.

You won't find any USB ports or powerful speakers in way of features, just the Lenovo Artery software compatibility and onboard speakers. If you want more bang-for-your-buck, you may want to look into the RCA Evolution Select M27SG134F. At the cost of only having 168Hz refresh rate, the 1440p display provides commendable image quality and performance, plus better speakers and on-screen displays.

Understand that there are affordable 4K monitors of quality as well like the Asus TUF Gaming VG289Q. Of course, those two other potential choices will require a rig that can handle solid output beyond 1080p.

Value: 4 / 5

Lenovo Legion R25f-30: Specs

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler) Lenovo Legion R25f-30: Design

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

When it comes to overall design aesthetics, the all-black colorway of The Lenovo Legion R25f-30 is a bit boring. Don’t expect an aggressive angular design outside of the base which features the Lenovo logo stretched across triangular grills.

No RGB lighting or anything of the likes are to be found here. Thankfully, the fairly generic design does lend itself to a simple setup. Simply screw in the base to the neck and snap both into the back panel.

To secure the back panel to the neck, there are four large screws that require some tightening.

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(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

The overall weight of the gaming monitor is a bit less than 15lbs which means it's easy to maneuver around. Meanwhile, adjustments to display position include lift, tilt, pivot and swivel.

The swivel can also convert the Legion R25f-30 to portrait layout as well. There are several buttons on the back panel for power, input, game-related modes and a thumb stick for navigating and selecting options on the in-display menu.

Power comes through a port that connects directly to an outlet so you don’t have to worry about an adapter. Outside of that, the only ports are one single DisplayPort, two HDMI ports and 3.5 headphone jack. Some USB ports would have been nice but considering the budget nature, these are understandable.

• Design: 3 / 5

Lenovo Legion R25f-30: Features

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

The feature set of the Lenovo Legion R25f-30 is very light which is expected given the sub-$200 price tag. Alongside the lack of USB ports or more standard gaming monitor features like KVM, there are two extras that you may find interesting - the first is compatibility with Lenovo’s Artery software.

This allows features like crosshair and frame rate overlays and easier access to color correction on the monitor. Understand that console players are going to miss out on any of these capabilities since it’s tied to the software.

Another feature are the two 3W in-display speakers that are fairly weak for everyday usage. If the room is quiet, they could be good for the occasional YouTube video.

However, serious gamers are going to either use the 3.5m headphone jack or a pair of the best wireless headphones around. The volume on the speakers aren’t the highest and lack any real sonic nuance.

• Features: 3 / 5

Lenovo Legion R25f-30: Performance

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

Performance is the highlight of the Lenovo Legion R25F-30 thanks to its 280Hz refresh rate and 0.5 latency which will definitely give gamers a competitive edge. Add AMD FreeSync Premium into the mix and this display competes very well in that department. Playing competitive online titles like Fortnite and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III feels great on the R25F-30.

Motion is buttery smooth with no noticeable screen tearing. Having a powerful desktop for this 1080p display means these games enjoy significantly higher framerates that make good usage of its 280Hz refresh rate. Even more fast-paced games like Black Myth: Wukong and Forza Motorsport (2023) feel incredibly tactile thanks to the low latency.

When it comes to image quality, the Legion R25f-30 makes great use of its 380 peak nits of brightness, 3000:1 contrast, and 16.7 million color support. Though some tinkering is required to get near perfect color accuracy in both SDR and HDR, images look great on the gaming monitor.

This is noticeable in gaming when playing titles like Alan Wake II and Cyberpunk 2077. Having the settings pumped up to max on these games provide great visuals that the Legion R25f-30 can really take advantage of at the 1080p resolution range.

This leads into general application use as well. Text is crisp and easily legible on Google Chrome, and videos offer bold colors and deep enough blacks. Creative tools like Adobe Suite mean that content creators will be fine using Photoshop and Premiere Pro.

• Performance: 4.5 / 5

Should you buy the Lenovo Legion R25f-30?  Buy it if… 

You want a solid budget 1080p display
The Lenovo Legion R25f-30 is definitely for budget gamers with a lower-spec PC. The 1080p imagery this monitor provides is crisp and clear, and the price tag is definitely reasonable for the panel.

You want great performance
Having a high 280Hz refresh rate is one thing, but having a 0.5ms response time and AMD FreeSync Premium capabilities is another for any competitive-minded gamer.

You require fantastic image quality
This gaming monitor makes well use of its 380 nits and high contrast ratio. Add some good HDR into the mix(that might require some tinkering to get right) and the Lenovo Legion R25f-30 offers some great image quality.

 Don’t buy it if… 

You want a design that balances look and substance
The Lenovo Legion R25f-30 offers a pretty boring design that lacks any real extras like USB ports.

You need some in-display options and settings
This gaming monitor has some simple options from jump but things like overlays are only useful from the Lenovo Artery software.

You want high-quality speakers
Two built-in 3W stereo speakers are fairly weak on the audio quality side. Thankfully, there’s a 3.5 headset jack for gaming headsets.

Also Consider

RCA Evolution Select M27SG134F
At around the same price, the RCA Evolution Select M27SG134F offers so much more than the Lenovo Legion R25f-30. This includes a higher 1440p display with a reduced refresh rate of 160Hz, better speakers and more features.

Asus TUF Gaming VG289Q
If image quality matters more than performance, the 4K Asus TUF Gaming VG289Q might be something to look into.

Read our full Asus TUF Gaming VG289Q review

How we tested the Lenovo Legion R25f-30

For the review, the Lenovo Legion R25f-30 was tested over the course of about a week. Daily tasks primarily involved using Google Chrome and Slack, including working with Google Docs and project management software like Asana, as well as social media management tools such as Hootsuite. Slack was also frequently used to communicate across various channels. Additionally, Adobe Suite, including Photoshop and Premiere Pro, was used throughout the week for video and photo editing.

For gaming tests, I evaluated both image quality and performance. To assess image quality, I played Black Myth: Wukong, Hogwarts Legacy, Starfield, and Cyberpunk 2077. On the performance side, I tested Fortnite, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, and Forza Motorsport. Additionally, I played Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon and Redout 2.

I’ve spent the past several years covering monitors alongside other PC components for TechRadar. Outside of gaming, I’ve been proficient in Adobe Suite for over a decade as well.

First reviewed September 2024

Apple AirPods 4: Two-minute review

Apple's AirPods 4 – which are the cheaper version of AirPods 4 at $129 / £129 / AU$219, not the more expensive model with active noise cancellation and some other extra features – are the latest version of Apple's open-ear wireless earbuds. Designed for people who don't want anything inside their ear canal, the AirPods 4 sit just outside it, and they stay remarkably stable and sound nice while doing it.

But the main refrain you're going to hear throughout this AirPods 4 review is that if you don't mind in-ear tips, you can get better sound quality and a more flexible set of features for a lower price among the best budget earbuds.

There are good reasons for Apple users to stick with AirPods though, because all their best features work with Apple tech exclusively, as you'd expect. The head-tracked spatial audio is so impressive with movies, the auto-device switching between Apple tech is really useful, and it's generally a seamless experience.

The sound is fulsome and fairly dynamic, and it's easy to have a good time listening to all kinds of tracks, thanks to their superb balance between frequencies. But there's a lack of fine detail compared to the mid-range competition that means music lacks that extra realism and deep satisfaction. The open-ear design allows a lot of sound to leak in as well, which interferes with the audio fidelity.

The issue for people at large is the lack of standard Bluetooth multi-point pairing, which means you only get seamless switching if you have multiple Apple devices. Nearly all the best wireless earbuds at a similar price offer multi-point pairing, which means you can switch from an iPhone to a Chromebook or Windows laptop easily – and those earbuds also offer better sound, the option of active noise cancellation, and on-ear volume control – for a lower price than the AirPods 4.

These earbuds do the job for their intended Apple audience, with some great unique features and a good design (I really like the pinch controls) and fit. But if you want real bang for your buck, look to the $119 / £79 / AU$149 Sony WF-C700N or the $99 / £99 / AU$169 Nothing Ear (a).

(Image credit: Future) Apple AirPods 4 review: Price & release date

• $129 / £129 / AU$219
• Released on September 20, 2024
• The cheapest current AirPods

With an official price of $129 / £129 / AU$219, the AirPods 4 wander dangerously into 'mid-range earbuds' territory for earbuds with a feature set that's closer to those of budget buds. Apple does now offer discounts on its earbuds around sales events (which didn't use to be the case), but I doubt these will drop under $100 / £100 for quite a while.

It's not a bad price for a pair of good-sounding earbuds with excellent spatial audio, but basically all the competition at this price offer active noise cancellation – including the $99 / £99 Nothing Ear (a), for example.

Apple AirPods 4 review: Specs Apple AirPods 4 review: Features

• Good features for Apple devices
• No cross-platform multi-point pairing
• No on-ear volume control

As we expect from AirPods, the AirPods 4 only give you the full power of their features if all your devices are Apple-made.

They offer fast pairing with Apple tech, and will auto-switch between any bit of Apple tech you're signed into with your Apple ID, which means they're effectively 'paired' with all your devices at once, whether that's an iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Mac or Apple Watch. Just start playing something on a new device while wearing them and you can automatically switch, or choose to switch in some cases. It works extremely well, and is a slick benefit of buying into Apple's cosy ecosystem.

While they can be paired with non-Apple devices, you won't get access to most of the features mentioned here, and they don't support Bluetooth's standard multi-point pairing, meaning that if you have an iPhone and a Windows laptop, you'll only get the good features when you’re using the AirPods with your iPhone, and there's no easy switching to your laptop.

They offer head-tracked spatial audio when used with Apple devices, which is a highlight. This means that when listening to anything in surround sound or Dolby Atmos, it'll seem like the sound is coming from a set of static speakers around you that don't move even when you move your head, like a home theater system. I've never been a big fan of this with music because I just tend to move around too much while listening for it to make sense (though I enjoy spatial audio without head-tracking for music, where it just creates a kind of bubble of expanded sound around your head), but spatial audio with movies is just fantastic.

You get a convincing feeling of surround sound, with your device as the 'center' of the home theater effect, and the feeling of speakers all around you. When you're watching movies on a long journey, it really helps you to feel like you're less trapped in a space, and makes the experience more engaging and immersive. I love it.

Speaking of journeys, one nice touch with AirPods (and many of the best Beats headphones) is that you can share audio between them, so two people can watch the same show on an iPad together while traveling.

There's limited support for Apple's Find My service here: the app can tell you where you last had them, and the AirPods can 'call home' via the Find My network of other people's iPhones to tell you roughly where they are. But these don't have the precision finding of the AirPods Pro 2 (where your iPhone can literally point you towards them), or the ability of the AirPods 4 with ANC to play a sound to help you find them.

(Image credit: Future)

They support 'Hey Siri' so you can ask Apple's assistant for things, though frankly I don't find Siri useful enough to want this turned on. Similarly, the AirPods 4 support Apple's 'Announce Notifications' feature, where Siri's voice will read you out notifications that have arrived on your iPhone or Apple Watch, which I also have turned off. It certainly can be a useful feature in a clutch, but as an Apple Watch user I already have quick access to my notifications on my wrist, and that route doesn't interrupt my podcast.

Still, if you use Announce Notifications (you'll be given the option when you first pair), you can also use the AirPods' new gesture controls to respond to certain notifications by nodding or shaking your head. For example, when my Apple Watch asks if I'm doing an outdoor walk, I can nod to confirm and start the tracking.

These gestures are smartly implemented, with a blip of audio feedback when the AirPods detect that you're moving your head. You'll need to move your head fairly definitively to confirm, so perhaps left, right and left again to reject a notification with a shake of the head, but it's very clear if and when the AirPods are picking up the gestures, though I felt like the head motions I made were a little too exaggerated to be subtle – while waiting with other people to cross a road, I can only assume that people thought I was vehemently agreeing with a radio call-in show or something.

Also for controls, you've got pinchable stems on the earbuds, basically borrowed from the original AirPods Pro. You can pinch to play/pause, double-pinch to skip tracks, triple to skip back, hold to trigger Siri. I really like this control system, because it's comfortable (you don't push the buds into your ears while pressing a button) and works if you're wearing gloves (unlike touch-only systems). However, you can't pinch for on-ear volume control, which seems very miserly.

Apple's claim of five-hour battery life was, frankly, extremely disappointing, but the good news is that in my battery testing at 50% volume the AirPods 4 took seven hours and five minutes to run down from 100% to nothing. Apple says you should get another 25 hours from the case (though that could be as much as 34 hours based on my testing), and that five minutes of charging in the case provides the buds with around an hour of listening time.

Five hours is way behind the curve on battery life, and while seven hours is acceptable for such lightweight buds, it's still not amazing considering there's no ANC here. We measured 9.5 hours from the Nothing Ear (a) with ANC turned off.

There's no wireless charging here, unlike the more expensive models – just USB-C charging.

The microphone quality is very good, as is common for Apple's earbuds. The voice is a little quiet (common for earbuds in general) and there's a little bit of digital artefacting to the sound, presumably coming from the clean-up and processing Apple is applying, but speech is clear and represents your voice well, and that's all we need.

• Features score: 3.5/5

(Image credit: Future) Apple AirPods 4 review: Sound quality

• Very well balanced
• Good bass and energy
• Loss of fine detail

Compared to Apple's previous cheapest AirPods, the AirPods 4 are in another world of sound quality, even without considering spatial audio. They're a bigger, more natural, and more dynamic listen, and I enjoyed music with them.

The bass feels well presented and full, and while it's not super-deep, it underpins things exactly as it's supposed to. It may not hit unctuous levels of sub-bass, but it's really well controlled, so something like the bassline of Allie X's Black Eye bounces along as it should – some cheaper headphones will lack the range for a full bounce, or each beat will hit with a thud. The AirPods are nimble enough to handle this kind of thing.

The mid-range is clear and well resolved, capable of letting individual instruments stand out even among more crammed songs, such as when Moloko's I Want You gets super-busy with lots of overlapping sounds – the AirPods are capable of holding onto each strand, and making sure it doesn’t just turn into a mess of noise. Vocals of all types are lifted out of the mix well.

The treble is similarly well represented, and there's plenty of sparkle in high-frequency details so they shimmer among the rest of the mix. In terms of being a good representation of the bones of music tracks, the AirPods 4 work great, especially since they're reasonably dynamic as well, shifting up a gear in good time when songs pop off.

The problem is that they're soft on fine detail, and it means they're limited to being a fun listen rather than a truly satisfying one, or one that lets you engage with your music at a high level.

The open-ear design that lets in more outside sound doesn't help with this – fine detail is exactly what you lose most from being able to hear chatter or traffic – but I listened in multiple environments and the issue is still there.

When the fine resolution is lost, the realism of the track is lost. That doesn't matter in every track (I wasn't exactly missing it in Eric Prydz' Call On Me, I was just bopping along), but there's a clear difference in a few tracks. Sonny Rollins' St. Thomas is a track that should really put you among the instruments, because it's built around the slight scrape of a drumstick or the click of a tongue on a reed – but that's basically lost when listening on the AirPods 4. The track sounds like a recording, a diminished facsimile, not the close-to-real audio that it can do.

Rains Again by Solji is another clear example – it opens with a heavy rainfall sound that becomes static on headphones that can't deal with the complex detail, but stays as distinct drops on headphones that can deal with it… and on the AirPods 4, it's more in the static column.

With movies, spatial audio works excellently, providing convincing sound that moves around you, doing a great impression of a home theater. There's also a great sense of impact to bassier sounds and a good elevation of treble details – it's exciting to watch action movies this way, and the AirPods' ability to be dynamic is effective here too.

However, dialogue isn't represented as well as effects in the mix, so feels quieter and more unclear, relatively speaking – and with sound leaking in through the open-ear design (and no ANC), it's the first thing to get muddied by outside noises. I compared the AirPods 4 to my AirPods Pro 2, and while the dialogue is a similar level in the Pro 2, the other sounds are closer to that level, so you can just crank the volume up and get a good experience. With the AirPods 4, turning the volume up means effects become a bit much when dialogue gets to the right level.

The lack of fine detail also hits here – for example, during The Matrix's helicopter rescue scene, the cascade of water from the sprinklers becomes a hiss of sound in the background, but again other headphones can pick out the drops. I don't mind this as much here as with the music, though – it's better to have it, but it isn't essential.

I don't think the AirPods 4 are bad for sound at all, but when the competition is as hot for music fidelity as the Sony WF-C700N and the Nothing Ear (a), they pale.

• Sound quality score: 3.5/5

(Image credit: Future) Apple AirPods 4 review: Design

• Secure open-ear fit
• Smallest case yet is great
• IP54 rating for buds and case is good

I've never been a fan of this kind of earbuds design, where they're held in place by the areas of skin around your ear canal – I much prefer the fit of an in-ear tip. However, the AirPods 4 are the best and most comfortable version of this design so far, and I can happily wear then for an extended period without feeling like they're sore or applying pressure, which hasn't always been the case for me. However, when taking them out after a long time, I can slightly feel where they were sitting, so they won't convert me from in-ears just yet.

They're very secure, and didn't shift in any meaningful way during my general use – i.e., mostly while walking or working. They stayed secure while I was jogging too, though I can't promise that this will also be the case for long-distance runs or other workouts.

They're extremely light at 4.3g per bud, which helps with comfort, and they stick out of your ears less far than the AirPods Pro 2 do, which might please some people. And while not everyone likes the stick design, I think it works well for balancing the weight, and this is arguably the most subtle and perhaps preferable version of the design so far.

The case is Apple's smallest AirPods case to date, and I really appreciate that as well – some buds makers perhaps forget that people often just want to slip this stuff into a pocket and not feel it pressing against them. There no reason not to carry these buds with you everywhere, and that's useful.

A nice touch is that the charging light is now totally hidden behind the white of the case – when it's illuminated it appears out of nowhere. A less-nice touch is that the pairing/reset button is now a touch element on the back with no indicator, rather than a physical button, and given that this will mostly be used when people are in a pinch, I think the clarity of a real button was better.

I found that the AirPods 4 are a little harder to grab out of their case than previous models – you'll develop a technique for getting a grip to overcome the magnets, but I suspect that, like me, many people will take a couple of days to get in the groove.

The IP54 waterproof rating for both the earbuds and the case is impressive – not too many mid-range or budget earbuds offer both. This means they should keep dust out, and be fine against water splashes, including rain if you get caught outdoors for a short time.

Incidentally, if you're wondering if it's possible to tell the difference between these AirPods 4 and the ANC model: not from the buds. They are truly identical apart from a tiny printing of the model number. The ANC case has telltale speaker holes on the bottom, though.

• Design score: 4/5

(Image credit: Future) Apple AirPods 4 review: Value

• Cheaper headphones offer better sound
• …and better cross-platform features
• But for Apple-only users, they have big advantages

The AirPods 4 are aimed at people who are big on Apple tech, so I'm taking that into account when scoring their value. But as you've likely already picked up in this review, for sound quality, or if you have an iPhone and a Windows laptop (for example), they don't excel for bang-per-buck.

You'll get the extra realism and detail pop in music that these AirPods lack from the likes of the Sony WF-C700N and the Nothing Ear (a), as well as active noise cancellation to make sure you can really hear it. You'll get Bluetooth multi-point with both those devices as well – and even hi-res audio from the Nothing. They both have on-ear volume control as well (and the Nothing even pinch the great pinchable gestures from the AirPods).

However, if you are all-in on Apple, the auto-switching between all your devices without pairing, the (admittedly limited) Find My support, and the excellent spatial audio all help boost the value here. It is frustrating that the AirPods 4 with ANC offer lots more features, though, including wireless charging, and improved Find My support in the case, in addition to the ANC itself.

Let's not forget the design: some people really don't want ear tips, and my recommended alternatives have them. So if your preference is not to have tips, there's added value to these because of their shape. But still, on balance, I don't think they offer any better value than average.

• Value score: 3/5

(Image credit: Future) Should I buy the AirPods 4? Buy them if...

You want Apple's cheapest earbuds
If you really want Apple's unique tech that works with all your Apple devices, and you want to spend the minimum, these tick the key boxes, and sound fun while doing it.

You hate in-ear tips on earbuds
The options that really beat the AirPods 4 tend to use in-ear tips, so if you don't want that style, these become a much better option.

Don't buy them if...

You don't own Apple gadgets exclusively
The lack of standard Bluetooth multi-point means no quick switching between, say, an iPhone and a Windows machine. So why not buy something that has that, and has better sound and ANC?

You travel a lot
AirPods 4's small size is great for travel, but they let in so much sound from outside that you won't hear your music very well. Get something with active noise cancellation.

Apple AirPods 4 review: Also consider

Sony WF-C700N
Sony's superb buds offer fantastic fidelity in music, solid noise cancellation, control via the Sony app, and Bluetooth multi-point. We've championed them since their launch, and you can read why in our full Sony WF-C700N review.

Nothing Ear (a)
If you like the stick design and pinch control of AirPods, these offer that, along with even better sound and ANC than the Sony option above, for just a little more cash than the Sony. These are the mid-range buds to beat right now, as our Nothing Ear (a) review explains.

How I tested the AirPods 4

(Image credit: Future)

• Tested over three weeks
• Connected to an iPhone, iPad Pro and MacBook Air
• Tested alongside AirPods 4 with ANC and AirPods Pro 2

I reviewed the AirPods 4 as part of my typical daily routine, using them at home, at the office, and while commuting. I have an iPhone 13 Pro, MacBook Air M1, iPad Pro, and an Apple TV 4K, so they were used just as Tim Cook intended.

For testing sound quality and battery life, I followed the procedures laid out in our explainer on how we test earbuds.

I had the AirPods 4 with ANC and AirPods Pro 2 available for any direct comparisons that were useful, across Apple's current earbuds lineup.

Read more about how we test

• First reviewed: October 2023

Netgear Orbi 770: One-minute review

(Image credit: Future / Cliff Joseph)

We were pleasantly surprised by the Nighthawk RS300 router that Netgear released recently as it marked a move towards slightly more affordable pricing than we’d seen from the company in the past. It looks like that trend is continuing, as Netgear has now launched a new addition to its range of mesh Wi-Fi systems in the form of the Orbi 770, which is considerably less expensive than previous models in the Orbi range.

It’s still not exactly cheap – after all, Wi-Fi 7 is still the current state-of-the-art for Wi-Fi technology – but the Orbi 770 provides tri-band Wi-Fi 7 with a top speed of 11Gbps, which should be more than fast enough for most homes and small businesses. And, more importantly, it’s a lot less expensive than previous Orbi models, and can even compete with mesh systems from rivals such as Linksys and TP-Link as well. The only sting in the tail, as always, is Netgear’s fondness for selling subscription services that provide additional parental controls and security features.

Netgear Orbi 770: Price and availability

• How much does it cost? $999.99/£899.99/AU$1499.00
• When is it available?: Available now
• Where can you get it?: Available in the US, EU, UK and Australia

There are two options for the Orbi 770 series, with prices starting at £649.99/$699.99 for a two-piece system that consists of one primary router and one secondary ‘satellite’. Netgear states that this two-piece system is capable of covering areas of up to 5,500sq.ft, although regions such as the UK and EU may quote slightly lower coverage areas due to differences in local regulations. However, we tested the top-of-the-range three-piece system that includes a router and two satellites, covering up to 8,000sq.ft, for a total price of £899.99/$999.99. That three-piece system is the only option currently available in Australia, where it is priced at AU$1499.00.

That’s a fraction of the price of Netgear’s high-end Orbi 9700, but also compares well with rivals such as the Linksys Velop Pro 7, which provides similar speeds and features. However, people who need parental controls or more advanced security features may want to shop around to see how much rival manufacturers charge for those features and services.

Value: 4 / 5

Netgear Orbi 770: Specs Netgear Orbi 770: Design

(Image credit: Future / Cliff Joseph)

• Upright design boosts Wi-Fi signal
• Primary router with two ‘satellite’ units
• 2.5GB Ethernet for WAN/LAN connections

Many mesh Wi-Fi systems simply provide you with two or three routers that are completely identical, but the Orbi 770 – like all of Netgear’s Orbi range – consists of a primary router and two additional ‘satellites’. The router and satellites do look very similar, with a tall, upright design that helps them transmit the Wi-Fi signal through a full 360-degrees all around, but there are a number of differences between them. The primary router – which has a helpful sticker on the front that says ‘ROUTER’ in capital letters – has a 2.5Gb Ethernet port (WAN) port for connecting to your existing broadband router or modem, along with three additional 2.5Gb ports to provide wired (LAN) connections for devices such as a games console or set-top box that might work better with a wired network.

(Image credit: Future / Cliff Joseph)

In contrast, the satellite units each have just two 2.5Gb port for wired connections. It’s also a little disappointing that there are no USB ports at all, which would allow you to connect a hard drive or other storage device that you could share with other people on your network. The white plastic casing of all three units also feels a little lighter and less sturdy than it does with some of the more expensive Orbi models, so parents with young children should probably place them out of reach of eager little hands.

Design: 4 / 5

Netgear Orbi 770: Features

(Image credit: Future / Cliff Joseph)

• Good app with simple set-up
• Can create guest and IoT networks
• Some features require subscriptions

Netgear’s Orbi app has always been easy to use, so getting started is very straightforward – apart from the fact that the router and satellites take a rather leisurely few minutes to warm up before their status lights announce that they’re ready for action.

The app starts by telling you to set up the main router on its own, and you can simply scan a QR code on the router to connect to the new Orbi network. You can use the default network name and password if you want, but you’re also given the option of creating new login details for improved security. You are then prompted to set up the satellites in different locations around your home, and the app automatically connects the three units together to complete your new network.

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(Image credit: Netgear)

The Orbi 770 is a tri-band router that can transmit a Wi-Fi signal on the 2.4GHz, 5.0GHz, and 6.0GHz frequency bands, with a top speed of 11Gbps (strictly speaking it’s actually 10.8Gbps but Netgear’s marketing info tends to round the numbers up).

To keep things simple for home users, the Orbi app combines all three bands to create a single network, but there are other options as well. Like most routers and mesh systems, the Orbi 770 allows you to create an additional guest network, but it also introduces a third ‘IoT’ network – or ‘Internet Of Things’ – that sets aside the 2.4GHz frequency band specifically for use with smart devices such as lights and security cameras.

It also supports Wi-Fi 7 features such as MLO – multi-link operation – that allow it to use the 5.0GHz and 6.0GHz bands together to improve performance (although your computers and other devices will also need to support Wi-Fi 7 in order to use MLO).

But while the Orbi app is easy to use, it’s not exactly overflowing with additional features, and more advanced users might prefer an app that provides more detailed control over your network settings. That rather barebones approach also allows Netgear to try and sell you additional subscriptions that provide more advanced parental controls and security features.

The basic parental controls that are available within the app merely allow you to pause internet access for individual devices, but there are no scheduling features that can limit Internet access to specific times, or content filters for blocking unsuitable websites.

If you want those features then you’ll need to sign up for Netgear’s Smart Parental Controls service, which costs £6.99/$7.99/AU$10.99 per month, or £49.99/$69.99/AU$99.99 per year. You do get a 30-day free trial with Netgear’s Armor security service, but after that you’ll need to pay for an annual subscription starting at £84.99/$99.99/AU$145.00.

As we’ve noted on many occasions in the past, there are rival routers and mesh systems that provide some of these features free of charge, so parents in particular might want to consider some of the alternatives in our list of best mesh systems.

Features: 4 / 5

Netgear Orbi 770: Performance

• 11Gbps, tri-band Wi-Fi 6
• 2.5Gb Ethernet ports
• Supports MLO and other Wi-Fi 7 features

It might be far less expensive than other models in the Orbi range, but the Orbi 770 doesn’t cut any corners when it comes to performance. Its 11Gbps speed is more than fast enough to cope with most domestic broadband services, and even many business networks as well, and it’s not even slightly bothered by the troublesome Wi-Fi ‘deadspot’ that we have in an office located towards the back of our building.

Netgear Orbi 770 Benchmarks

Ookla Speed Test - Single merged network (download/upload)

Within 5ft, no obstructions: 150Mbps/150Mbps

Within 30ft, three partition walls: 150Mbps/150Mbps

20GB Steam Download - Single merged network

Within 5ft, no obstructions: 150Mbps

Within 30ft, three partition walls: 150Mbps

Our normal office router can provide the full 150Mbps provided by our office network when connecting to devices that are close by. However, its Wi-Fi signal struggles to reach that back office, which means that we normally have to rely on a set of PowerLine adaptors to provide a more reliable wired network connection. As expected, the Orbi 770 doesn’t provide any real improvement for devices that are close to its primary router, simply matching the 150Mbps that we normally get when running the Ookla Speed Test or downloading games from Steam.

However, the Orbi satellites do a great job of extending our new Wi-Fi network into that back office, allowing us to maintain that 150Mbps speed for both Ookla and Steam with no trouble at all.

Admittedly, the Orbi 770 may still be overkill if you’re using older devices that only support Wi-Fi 5 or Wi-fi 6, but it provides a competitively priced Wi-Fi upgrade for owners of newer devices that have Wi-Fi 6E or Wi-Fi 7.

Performance: 5 / 5

Should you buy the Netgear Orbi 770? Buy it if...

You have lots of bedrooms (or offices)

Most homes and offices will be fine with a single, conventional router, but the Orbi 770 provides far-reaching wi-fi for larger homes and offices.

View Deal

You’re an early adopter

It’s still early days, but there are now lots of computers and mobile devices available that support Wi-Fi 7, making the Orbi 770 a good option for upgrading your Wi-Fi network.

View Deal

Don't buy it if...

You’re still on Wi-Fi 5 or 6

A Wi-Fi 7 upgrade will be complete overkill for millions of people who are still using older computers and mobile devices that only support Wi-Fi 5 or 6.View Deal

You’re on a budget

The 11Gbps speed of the Orbi 770 is far faster than most domestic broadband services, so cash-strapped customers can still get good performance from last-generation routers that use Wi-Fi 6 or 6E.View Deal

Also Consider

TP-Link Deco BE63

It’s not quite as fast as its Netgear rival, but the Deco’s 10Gbps Wi-Fi is still more than fast enough for most homes. It’s less expensive too, and also provides better parental controls.

Read our full TP-Link Deco BE63 reviewView Deal

Netgear Nighthawk RS300

Not everyone needs an expensive mesh wi-fi system. Owners of more modest homes will get a fast and affordable Wi-Fi 7 upgrade from a conventional router such as Netgear’s Nighthawk RS300.

Read our full Netgear Nighthawk RS300 reviewView Deal

Mous Day backpack one-minute review

The Mous Day Backpack is the brand’s latest addition to its newest line of products – tech-first backpacks – and it’s a fantastic option for commuters who also want a bag that’s both relatively rugged and stylish. 

Whether you’re a tech fanatic or simply in need of a solid backpack to get you to and from work with your laptop, the best backpack should be lightweight while still offering solid protection, keeping your back cool on busy public transport, but also displaying some stylish flair. I’ve been using the Mous 25L backpack for about a year now, and it’s been a real boon for traveling. Unfortunately, though, it’s just a bit too bulky and heavy for day-to-day use – so I was thrilled to learn the brand was introducing the slightly smaller 20L Day Backpack that’s a bit lighter at just 1kg. 

Priced at $149.99 / £149.99 / roughly AU$240, the Mous Day Backpack arrives in four color options: Sage (green), Marine (blue), Stone (gray) and Midnight (black). I opted for the Sage colorway, which with its contrasting gray accents, offers a stylish yet understated finish. 

(Image credit: Future)

The materials are all water-resistant (420D recycled nylon and coated 600D polyester), meaning any contents will be protected from light rain and showers. The bag has an adjustable, sewn-in strap with a minimum strap length of 22 inches / 56cm and a max of 32.67 inches / 83cm, plus the back panel is padded to offer a comfortable experience all day long; however, this does mean it can get a little hot.

The Day Backpack’s greatest asset is its inclusion of nine compartments – although, of course, this doesn’t compare to its older sibling’s seventeen. You’ll find three on the outside, two zipped compartments on the outside of the case (one on its right-hand side at the front, and the other at the back), plus a water bottle pouch.

Open up the G-hook lid fastening and unzip its central base-to-lid YKK zip to reveal the main bag and the remaining compartments; two sleeves and a zipped pocket with two slip pockets sewn in. According to Mous, the laptop sleeve, which is the back-most pocket, is 14.9 x 11.6in / 380mm x 295mm (H x W), while the tablet pocket is 13.38 x 10.4in / 340mm x 265mm.

(Image credit: Future)

To protect your kit further, the bag has an elevated base, meaning that the edge of your device remains 1.18in / 30mm above ground, offering some drop and impact protection. However, unlike the Mous 25L backpack, there’s no AiroFoam, meaning extreme drops could still pose a risk of damage to any tech within – so no launching this bag down any stairwells.

The zip, it appears, isn’t for everyone. Personally, I love it – not having to rummage around from the neck of my backpack to the bottom every time I need to find my charger or whatever other odds and ends I’ve haphazardly launched into my bag is a huge boon.

However, whenever I opened my backpack on public transport, people looked on with a mix of horror and amazement as I practically gutted my bag. Among my friends and colleagues, there was a similar mix of intrigue, enthusiasm and disturbance – but most agreed that, at the very least, it’s a useful mechanism and that the discrete lining concealing it also retains the backpack’s overall stylish appearance. It will come down to personal taste, but I love it.

In my experience, the only slight design flaw is that, when more full, the Day Backpack’s embedded side panel magnets aren’t strong enough to snap the lip of the lid closed tightly, meaning that if the bag tips over, it’s possible smaller or loose contents may spill out. That’s only happened to me once, and in fairness, I was really pushing that 20L capacity to its limits – but it’s worth highlighting.

Mous 25L backpack: Specs Should you buy the Mous Day backpack? Buy it if...

You need a tech-focused commuting backpack, but not necessarily a rugged one

Rugged protection is often above and beyond what the average tech-fanatic will need, but if you still want some of the thoughtful design and protection inclusions, the Mous Day Backpack is an excellent choice. 

You want both form and function from your backpack

In all four color options, the Mous Day Backpack is chic and simple, while still offering great functionality thanks to its nine compartments.

You hate rummaging around in your bag

While drawing and quartering your backpack may feel a little odd at first, the full-length zip is an excellent addition if you often find yourself fishing around for loose items in your bag.

Don't buy it if...

You want to regularly fill it to the brim

Personally, I don’t trust the magnets and lid to fully protect all of my kit from slipping out of the sides when it’s full, so I’d say the capacity of the bag is more like 18L than 20L. 

Mous Day backpack: Also consider How I tested the Mous Day backpack

• I used the Mous Day backpack for a month
• I made several long-haul journeys, as well as everyday trips, with it
• I dropped it with my laptop inside... more times than I'd like to admit

I used the Mous Day 20L backpack for a month as my main commuting backpack, as well as my main travel bag for conferences and creative getaways. Inside, I stashed my laptop, iPad, various cables, headphones – name a gadget, it was in there – and I found its protections and compartments to be robust and useful.

During testing, I encountered various weather conditions from heatwaves to torrential rain, meaning I was able to test the bag’s environmental protections, too. To test its capacity and utility, I filled it with 2-3 days' worth of clothes while travelling, which is roughly the amount I’d expect a 20L backpack to be able to hold.

First reviewed October 2024

Pininfarina Sintesi Hybrid: One minute review

The Pininfarina Sintesi Hybrid is vying for a position as one of the best hybrid watches options out there, yet without actively doing so. In fact, it's more about style and sophistication, with the smart features there as an added bonus.

Known for working with Ferrari and Alfa Romeo for decades, the Pininfarina brand is synonymous with style. However, this instance is a simple licensing of the name by Globics, the company behind the watch, so while this might not have been designed by Pininfarina it certainly looks like it was. It follows the company's first foray into the hybrid watch world with the well-received Solaris: aside from looks, the two are very similar internally as well.

Outwardly, this is a premium analog watch – but thanks to that small AMOLED display, plethora of smart sensors and smartphone connectivity, it can do so much more. To be clear, this is a step towards a smartwatch with notification functionality, but isn't meant to replace a dedicated smartwatch like a Garmin or an Apple Watch. So it will keep you connected and cover some health tracking metrics, but it's not typically built for sports users.

Expect a long battery life with plenty of smartphone controls, like music and camera shutters able to be operated on-watch. It will track your sleep – whether you want to wear it at night will be another matter.

You can track sports, but with no GPS onboard, the utility is certainly limited. Yet with the tough design and waterproof build, this is a watch that can go beyond its formal looks and keep up with you as you sweat it out too. So is this the best hybrid watch for you – or do you need a more dedicated option like the Garmin Instinct Crossover?

Pininfarina Sintesi Hybrid specs

(Image credit: Future) Pininfarina Sintesi Hybrid: Price and Availability

(Image credit: Future)

• $379 / £379 / AU$732
• Cheaper than premium smartwatches
• Relatively affordable with the screen smarts
  

The Pininfarina Sintesi Hybrid is available to buy now starting at $379 / £379 / AU$732.

That makes this a relatively expensive notifications-based watch, or a very affordable premium analog watch, depending on how you look at it. Since it straddles both of those classifications, the price isn't out of the realms of possibility: it's cheaper than the Instinct Crossover and a little more expensive than the Withings Scanwatch 2. You get a premium-looking and feeling analog watch without losing out on smartphone connectivity and all that goes with that.

There are other straps you can go for with multiple color options at the outset. Or change straps by buying more as after-market options to suit your needs.

• Value score: 3.5/5

Pininfarina Sintesi Hybrid: Design

(Image credit: Future)

• Useful dial controls
• Clear AMOLED display
• Premium casing and crystal finishes

Right from the outset the Pininfarina Sintesi Hybrid feels premium. It arrived in a big fancy box with calligraphy writing on the outside that immediately had me excited for what was inside. Sure enough, the watch itself stayed true to that with a reassuringly weighty feel and a high-end, genuine Italian leather strap.

I could tell it was decent quality from feel: this is made using 316L Stainless Steel for the case while the glass uses a sapphire crystal finish with an anti-smudging layer to keep fingerprints off. This leaves you feeling comfortable in the knowledge that this is going to be resistant to scratches and damage, to maintain that quality look for longer. The two-year warranty and 5ATM waterproofing along with that also helped set me at ease.

(Image credit: Future)

The outer case features three chunky buttons, the central of which is a crown dial that can be rotated to scroll through menus and pushed in to select. All that makes for a great look but also an easy-to-use feel as you work through the menus, or quick select sports tracking using just a few button presses.

The model tested features a black face and strap but you can also pick from Azure Horizon that has a blue finish on the face and strap, Midnight Rose which has rose gold accents on black, or Sand Dune with a light brown strap and white face. All feature the same 44mm case and premium leather strap finish.

On the rear is a heart rate monitor that's also kitted out to measure oxygen levels so you can get detailed SpO2 data. The watch also tracks movements to give you step counts and sleep tracking, although there is no GPS onboard - you'll need to be connected to the app to use the phone's GPS for accurate tracking.

• Design score: 4/5

Pininfarina Sintesi Hybrid: Features

• Detailed HR tracking data
• At-a-glance notifications
• Remote control options

(Image credit: Future)

The main smart features of the Pininfarina are a suite of health tracking tools, remote camera / music controls and on-wrist notifications. The tracking comes from the combination of the movement and HR trackers combined with that AMOLED display located at the top of the watch face. That means you can twist and tap the crown dial a few times and have your heart rate measured live, or check your O2 levels on the small AMOLED screen as and when you need.

The screen is also used for onboard weather reports and WhatsApp notifications. There is the option to use the watch to control the phone's music to skip tracks or control volume, or to use the watch as a remote to take photos on the cameraphone from a distance.

(Image credit: Future)

You can use the watch to give you reminders if you're too sedentary and need to be told when to move, like most of the best fitness trackers. It'll also work as a compass, letting you find your way with its digital readout.

Thanks to haptic feedback, all those features can be interacted with clearly and (crucially) without the need for invasive audio or flashing screens, using vibration alerts to get your attention instead. Any of these can be disabled in-app, so you have as few or as many alerts as you want, removing distracting email notifications but enabling health-based alerts, for example.

While the watch doesn't have built-in GPS, it can piggyback off your phone so you can track a run or ride with accuracy using the data all pulled into the app, which can be sent to Strava or similar services. The battery life is decent, helped by that lack of GPS, so you can rely on a good few weeks of use at a minimum before you need to think about recharging.

• Features score: 3.5/5

Pininfarina Sintesi Hybrid: Performance

(Image credit: Future)

• Decent battery life
• Awkward display
• Limited sports uses

The idea of a hybrid watch and the reality proved to be quite different. On the plus side, I barely thought about battery life as this went for a good two weeks before that even got close to being a sub-20% issue. And recharging only took a few hours so that did offer a peace of mind that some sports watches can't attest to. That said, many Garmins now manage to achieve similar results even with moderate GPS use.

As an analog watch, it's lovely to look at thanks to that chronograph face and it's easy to read at a glance. Add in the display and you have access to heart rate, weather information and more. However, the reality is that the display is hidden if the hands are pointing up and covering that screen. The designers have addressed this, as the hands move out of the way once you start scrolling the menu. However, if you have a WhatsApp notification and want to glance at it, you can't if the hands are in the way. So I found the reality was that one of the most sought-after features – at-a-glance notifications – was largely useless at certain times of day as I either couldn't fully read the message on the small screen behind a watch hand, or I missed it and there was no way to have it display again easily.

(Image credit: Future)

The app did offer a lot more data, but even that was limited to that day's data – or after some menu diving, you could get yesterday's. There are options to see more overarching trends so the data is all there, it's just not as easy as some apps are at letting you get to what you need easily.

The lack of GPS was also an issue for anyone using this for sport. I found that using it as a timer and heart rate monitor at the gym was fine – although even then heart rate wasn't displayed front-and-center at all times. Wearing it in the gym also felt like being overdressed and I was constantly concerned about catching and scratching it. Then if you want to go for a run or ride without your phone, it's just a timer and HR monitor. If I wanted to carry my phone then I'd have that to track me anyway, so this is very specifically for those who want to have their phone with them and to use this for wrist-based heart rate data as well.

• Performance score: 2.5/5

Pininfarina Sintesi Hybrid: Scorecard Pininfarina Sintesi Hybrid: Should I buy? Buy it if...

You want analog that's smart

The Pininfarina Sintesi Hybrid gives you that premium analog look and feel, with some smartphone connectivity.

You want better battery life

The battery life is long enough that you don't need to charge often, and can use regularly.

You need heart rate tracking

A great option to add heart rate data to your analog watch without too many other extras.

Don't buy it if...

You want GPS

The lack of GPS onboard means you always need a phone for sports tracking, so keep that in mind.

You need clarity

The display is small and often obscured by the watch hands, so don't go for it if you want a clear and large data readout.

You want a dedicated sports watch

This falls short on lots of the sports tracking features that other dedicated watches can offer.

Also consider

Apple Watch Ultra 2

A fully fledged high-performance premium smartwatch.

Read our full Apple Watch Ultra 2 review

Garmin Instinct Crossover

A dedicated sports watch tool, like a smart Casio G-Shock.

Read our full Garmin Instinct Crossover review

FiiO FT1: Two-minute review

The FiiO FT1 are the company's very first pair of closed-back over-ear headphones and, given FiiO's extensive catalogue, it's strange to think there could be any kind of gap in the FiiO product line-up. But, in the established FiiO manner, the company has done its utmost to provide value for money.

A pretty modest outlay buys you balanced and unbalanced connections, a quantity of acoustically optimised black walnut wood for the earcups, a pair of oversized (60mm) dynamic drivers with a very promising claimed frequency response, an impressive degree of passive noise isolation, and Hi-Res Audio certification from two very credible audio organisations.

Comfort is good, and the FiiO FT1 are as pleasing where tactility is concerned as they are visually. The only false note (at least until you fire them up and start listening) is the relative bulk of their travel case – the headphones don’t fold anything like flat.

But while there’s lots to like in the FiiO sound – detail levels and nicely judged tonality in particular – it’s hard to get beyond the fact that the FT1 are a rather two-dimensional and unyieldingly energetic listen. There’s a forcefulness to the way they present music that’s not always appropriate, and as a result they’re far from the no-brainer best-in-class wired headphones FiiO was undoubtedly aiming for.    

(Image credit: Future / Simon Lucas) Fiio FT1 review: Price & release date

• Released on August 21, 2024
• Priced $159 / £139 / AU$239

The FiiO FT1 have been on sale since mid-August, and they will set you back $159/£139 – pricing is yet to be confirmed for Australia, but you’re looking at AU$239 or something quite like it. 

That's an aggressive price for headphones as eye-catchingly specified, both inside and out, as this – and exactly the sort of thing we’ve all come to expect from FiiO. That doesn’t mean the FT1 are without competition, though – hard-wired, closed-back over-ear headphones from the likes of Austrian Audio, Beyerdynamic and HiFiMan (to name but three) are all ready to serve as an alternative.

Fiio FT1 review: Specs

(Image credit: Future / Simon Lucas) Fiio FT1 review: Features

• 60mm dynamic drivers
• 3.5mm- and 4.4mm-terminated cables
• ‘Hi-Res Audio’ certification

As a pair of passive headphones, the Fiio FT1 are predictably short on features. Those features they do have, though, seem to be rather more upmarket than the asking price might suggest.

For instance, the FT1 are supplied with two 1.5m lengths of silver-plated oxygen-free copper cable. One is terminated in the usual 3.5mm unbalanced connection, the other in a rather more esoteric 4.4mm balanced alternative. Each cable splits at the other end – each earcup must be hard-wired – and ends in a 3.5mm connection, which means it should be pretty straightforward to upgrade the cables if you think it necessary.

The audio information travelling up the cable is delivered to your ears by a couple of 60mm dynamic drivers that are mostly built from wood-fibre. Each one is backed by a W-shaped suspension gasket and features an oversized (25mm) voice coil. FiiO reckons this arrangement offers wide frequency response – 10Hz to 40kHz, so it says – and minimal driver break-up. It also results in a fairly low impedance of 32ohms, which means the FT1 should be no trouble to drive efficiently. A conical baffle plate in front of each driver is designed to allow the drivers to be positioned parallel to the wearer’s ears, which theoretically will reduce standing waves.

There’s nothing theoretical about the FT1’s hi-res audio capability, though. Both the Japan Audio Society and the Consumer Electronics Association have certified these headphones to be Hi-Res Audio capable. 

• Features score: 5/5

(Image credit: Future / Simon Lucas) Fiio FT1 review: Sound quality

• Upfront and vigorous sound
• Punchy and detailed 
• Cramped and relentless presentation

In some ways, the FT1 sound just as enjoyable as many other products in the FiiO catalogue. There are areas of sonic performance in which they are easily a match for the best of their price-comparable rivals. 

Certainly they don’t lack where drive and attack are concerned. No matter if it’s a 320kbps file of Caribou’s Odessa, a 16bit/44.1kHz WAV copy of Wet Leg’s I Don’t Wanna Go Out or a 24bit/88.2kHz FLAC file of Giorgio by Moroder from Daft Punk, the FiiO sink their teeth in. They’re a vigorous, upfront listen and can summon the sort of levels of attack that make even quite laid-back recordings sound lively. This forward, up-and-at-’em attitude generates a fair amount of sonic excitement, no two ways about it.

Low frequencies are deep, nicely shaped and reasonably well controlled, so there are few issues where rhythmic expression or simple bass thump are concerned. Above there, the midrange is detailed and quite insightful, especially where vocalists are concerned, and share a nicely consistent tonality with everything that’s going on above and below. At the top end, the FT1 press on gamely, but give treble sounds just enough substance to balance out the bite and crunch that’s their primary characteristic.

(Image credit: Future / Simon Lucas)

The frequency range hangs together well, with no area given particular prominence and no area underplayed. Overall tonality is well judged, and fairly neutral to the point that it’s your source player, rather than these headphones, that will have the biggest influence here. And the eye for detail the FiiO demonstrate, even down to the small harmonic variations apparent in a solo instrument or in transient events, makes for an information-rich presentation.

But where soundstaging is concerned, the FT1 begin to struggle a little. Closed-back headphones, almost by definition, present a sound that’s more confined than the open-backed alternative – but these FiiO headphones struggle to create a meaningful sense of three-dimensionality. Their presentation is narrow and flat, with no real ‘front/back’ definition available to complement the ‘left/right’. Consequently, their stage is small-scale and quite cramped, and with every element of a recording involved in a scrap for elbow room at the front of the stage, once it involves more than a couple of elements it inevitably sounds congested and confined.

When you combine this lack of breathing space with the remorselessly upfront attitude, there’s a sort of relentlessness to the FT1 sound that, in the worst circumstances, can actually be quite oppressive. There’s a crowded, invasive sensation that’s not unlike someone reading over your shoulder or otherwise invading your personal space. There’s just no relief in the way the FiiO FT1 present music, and it can be quite a tiring overall experience as a result.

• Sound quality score: 3/5

(Image credit: Future / Simon Lucas) Fiio FT1 review: Design

• Black walnut earcups
• -26dB sound insulation
• 12-step headband adjustment

While there’s nothing at all unusual about the overall design of the FT1, there is one element that immediately makes these headphones stand out at their price point: the earcups are backed by a decorative, and expensive-looking, quantity of black walnut wood.

The acoustic properties of wood have been established for a number of centuries now, so there’s no need to explain FiiO’s thinking here. But as well as the inherent benefits of the material, there’s no denying it makes the FT1 look distinctive, distinguished and a fair bit more costly than they actually are.

Moving forward from the back of the earcups, the FT1 are fitted with quite generously padded earpads that are covered in a comfy breathable plastic. The headband, meanwhile, is equally judiciously padded, and covered with pleather on the outer surface and a suede-like material on the inner.

The headband connects to the earcups via slender length of metal, and the same material is used for the exposed headband adjustment mechanism. There are 12 steps of adjustment available which along with some nicely considered clamping force, means the FT1 wear their 340g weight quite lightly. The yoke arrangement allows the earcups to rotate horizontally and for pitch – but they don’t fold, which means the supplied travel case is on the bulky side.

FiiO reckons the FT1 provide class-leading sound insulation for a product of this type of -26dB. It’s achieved this by including sound-absorbing cotton, an acoustic damping tube and spiral-shaped ‘resonance dissipation’ chamber between the inner part of the wooden earcup and the driver itself. So as well as the inherent advantage of a closed-back design where sound leakage is concerned, the FT1 allow less sound in than the average.

(Image credit: Future / Simon Lucas)

• Design score: 4.5/5

Fiio FT1 review: Value

• Premium materials
• Impressive specification
• Rather hit-and-miss sound
  

You’ve read this far, so you know what’s coming. Where the standard of build and finish is concerned, where the quality of the materials is concerned, where comfort is concerned, the FT1 really hit the mark. Their specification, all-extended frequency response, class-leading passive noise-isolation and your choice of silver-plated balanced and unbalanced connecting cables, are impressive too. 

The value proposition is quite fundamentally undermined by the headphones’ forceful and confined audio characteristics, though. There’s precious little space in the sound, and a rather invasive and in-your-face quality that’s far from helpful in the medium-to-long term.

• Value score: 3/5

Should I buy the Fiio FT1? Buy them if... Don't buy them if... Fiio FT1 review: Also consider

They may look incoherent where the FiiO FT1 look quite glamorous, but there are a couple of Austrian Audio models (the Hi-X15 and Hi-X50) that bracket the FiiO in price and offer a fair bit of the balance and composure the FT1 are missing. 

Or, if you think the FiiO are on the small side, there’s always the excellent (and frankly massive) Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro – they have the sonic insight and poise the FT1 are crying out for. 

How I tested the Fiio FT1

• Wired to a laptop, a headphone amp and a digital audio player
• Connected using both balanced and unbalanced cables
• Using a variety of music of various file types and sizes

Though they’re obviously designed for at-home use, it’s important to get as complete a perspective as possible, so as well as connecting the FT1 to my Apple MacBook Pro (both directly and via an iFi iDSD Diablo 2 headphone amp/DAC) I joined them to a FiiO M15S digital audio player via the 4.4mm balanced cable. I even used them on an aeroplane, which got me looks that were not all admiring.

I listened to a variety of music, of course, of various file types and from 320kbps to 24bit/192kHz resolution. And I did all of this, on and off, for the best part of a working week.

• First reviewed: October 2024

This article first appeared in Issue 361 of PC Pro.

Lenovo, as the heir to IBM’s PC business, has a long and illustrious history of producing among the best workstation designs. The P3 Tower is the latest in the line of mid-sized tower systems, with a solid construction and labour-saving features.

However, the version we were sent came with a 13th generation Intel Core i9 processor, one behind other Intel-based systems this month, even though this system can be specified with the 14th generation. At least it’s a near range-topping 13900K, which has eight performance P-cores with Hyper-Threading and 16 efficiency E-cores without it. The P-cores have a base 3GHz clock and top Thermal Velocity Boost of 5.8GHz. The E-cores have a base 2.2GHz frequency with 4.3GHz boost. There is a KS version that’s a little faster still, but there’s not a huge amount in it – and Lenovo only supplies this workstation with vPro chips anyway.

Lenovo has backed the Intel CPU with 64GB of 4,400MHz DDR5 RAM, supplied as two modules. This leaves two DIMM slots free to upgrade to the 128GB maximum. The Lenovo P3 chassis has some well-thought-out design elements, such as the two 120mm fans extracting air directly from the graphics card, and the side caddy for a 3.5in drive. Lenovo has also chosen the 1,100W PSU option for this system, which is sensible considering the graphics card.

Our sample P3 was equipped with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 card, a hefty three-slot GPU drawing up to 450W on its own. However, this is a German model, while the UK configurator for the P3 only offers Nvidia RTX professional options. The price above assumes you opt for an RTX A4000 in the configurator, but an RTX A4500 would add £650 inc VAT to the price.

(Image credit: Future)

Lenovo has included two 1TB storage devices rather than a single 2TB unit. Both drives are catchily named SK Hynix HFS001TEJ9X102N M.2 NVMe SSDs running at PCI Express 4 speeds. They deliver a quick sustainable reading rate of 7,158MB/sec, though in this month’s company it’s one of the slowest SSDs. Writing rates were 6,532MB/sec for one drive and 6,784MB/sec for the other, which are fast, but most SSDs are faster in this test.

Despite the 13th generation Intel Core i9, the Lenovo is far from a slow system. The overall score of 683 in the PC Pro media benchmarks is good compared to systems we’ve tested in the past, but the slowest this month. The image-editing score of 281 is better than the PCSpecialist Zircon, but 605 in video editing and 869 in multitasking are the lowest on test. The multicore Maxon Cinebench 2024 result of 1,719 is also behind every other workstation, as is the Blender Gooseberry frame time of 392 seconds. CPUs have clearly moved on since Intel’s last iteration. But you can buy this workstation with the latest from Intel if you need better CPU performance – and it will cost a mere £10 extra.

The consumer-grade graphics card, as usual, has strengths and weaknesses. Game designers and 3D animators will get smooth frame rates, as evidenced by SPECviewperf 2020 results of 260 in the 3ds Max viewset and 691 in Maya. Some CAD, product design and engineering applications will also run smoothly. The Catia score of 133 is decent, 632 in the SolidWorks viewset is brilliant, but 149 in Creo is a little below par. The biggest problem is 43 in the Siemens NX viewset; you’ll see far superior results if you buy this a card from Nvidia’s professional RTX range instead. But the GPU has a lot of brute power, delivering a very healthy AI inference score of 27,706 in Geekbench ML, 24,394 in the LuxMark 3.1 OpenCL render, and the Blender Gooseberry frame took only 81 seconds to output using CUDA.

The Lenovo ThinkStation P3 Tower was never going to win any performance benchmarks this month with its previous-generation CPU and consumer graphics. However, Lenovo also hasn’t used anywhere near the £4,500 inc VAT budget, with this system nearly £1,200 below that figure – and that even includes a keyboard and mouse. You could upgrade to the latest Intel CPU and RTX A4500 graphics and still have plenty of change. With the dependable Lenovo chassis design, this is a fine workstation that’s well worth considering.

We've rated the best business laptops.

This article first appeared in Issue 361 of PC Pro.

British workstation specialist InterPro has quietly been delivering some of the best workstation systems for over two decades now, and the IPW-RL is another case in point. The system combines a sensible selection of components for general content-creation tasks, and backs it up with a huge amount of memory.

The CPU choice is from Intel’s stable, but not the absolute pinnacle of the range. It’s the latest 14th generation, but the Core i9-14900K rather than the slightly faster KS variant. Both CPUs combine eight P performance cores with 16 E efficiency ones, offering base clocks of 3.2GHz and 2.4GHz respectively. However, the K processor has a 5.8GHz P-core maximum Turbo Boost frequency and 6GHz Thermal Velocity Boost, versus 5.9GHz and 6.2GHz respectively for the KS. The E-cores can only hit 4.4GHz with the K versus 4.5GHz for the KS.

What InterPro has saved on the processor has clearly been put towards memory, with 48GB 5,200MHz DDR5 DIMMs filling all four slots on the Asus ROG Maximus Z790 Dark Hero motherboard, for a massive total of 192GB. You’re unlikely to need more RAM for the lifetime of this machine.

Graphics acceleration is sensible for this price point, coming in the form of a PNY Nvidia RTX 4000 Ada Generation card. This sports a whopping 6,144 CUDA cores and 20GB of ECC-protected GDDR6 memory with 360GB/sec bandwidth. The 4000 series is the everyday workhorse of the Nvidia RTX professional range, offering a sensible balance between potency and price.

(Image credit: Future)

InterPro also gives you everything you need when it comes to storage. The main system drive is a 2TB Crucial T705 NVMe M.2 PCI Express 5 unit offering blistering 14,157MB/sec sustained reading and 11,884MB/sec writing, according to CrystalDiskMark 8. The secondary 4TB Crucial P3 Plus drive is also an NVMe M.2 unit, but uses a PCI Express 4 bus so delivers more modest sustained reading of 4,783MB/sec, with writing recorded at 4,365MB/sec. That’s going to be more than capable both in terms of speed and capacity for throughput-sensitive tasks such as editing high-resolution video.

All these components are integrated into a Fractal Design Define 7 chassis, a regular sight in the PC Pro workstation Labs over the years. InterPro has chosen the Compact version, which can accommodate two 3.5in or 2.5in drives and up to four 2.5in drives on top of that. This solid black machine has been equipped with a 1,000W Corsair RM1000e V2 PSU, with a 360mm Corsair iCue H150e RGB Elite liquid-cooling system for the CPU.

On an absolute scale, the InterPro’s components are potent, but in this month’s Labs company it falls behind in most areas. The overall PC Pro media benchmark score of 716 would have been a Labs-winning total a few years ago – as would the individual results of 297 for image editing, 649 for video encoding and 901 for multitasking – but it was the slowest overall this month. The Cinebench 2024 multi-CPU rendering score of 1,968 only beats the 12-core Scan system. The Blender render test took 350 seconds on CPU, which was beaten by the 12-core Scan machine.

The SPECviewperf 2020 results are similarly adequate for most tasks, but every other system here includes more powerful GPU acceleration. The scores of 161 in 3dsmax-07 and 576 in maya-06 demonstrate excellent 3D modelling animation abilities, while 132 in catia-06, 218 in creo-03, 530 in snx-04 and 360 in solidworks-07 will be great for engineering, CAD or product design. But there are even better scores in this test.

If you use this Nvidia GPU for rendering or AI inference, it also falls behind other systems, taking 124 seconds for the Blender render using CUDA, delivering just 11,853 in LuxMark 3.1 and producing 17,727 in the Geekbench ML 0.6 AI benchmark.

Overall, while this is a very capable workstation that would make light work of most real-time content creation or output rendering tasks, there are alternatives that provide more in either department.

We've rated the best business computers.

Dali IO-8: Two-minute review

The Dali IO-8 are the wireless over-ear noise-cancelling result of the company's attempts to cater for more mainstream customers. A brand like Dali should have more than one pair of wireless over-ear noise-cancelling headphones in its line-up, of course, especially when the one pre-existing pair it does have costs pennies less than £1,000 in the UK. Yet, even at a price of £599, the aforementioned word ‘mainstream’ is perhaps not the first that should spring to mind for the new Dali IO-8. 

With one fairly notable exception, the IO-8 are specified to compete at this fiercely contested price point for the best noise-cancelling headphones crown. They’re very acceptably built and finished, from high-quality materials (although the real leather isn’t going to excite vegan customers). Bluetooth 5.2 with aptX Adaptive compatibility, 30 hours of battery life with ANC engaged, 24bit/96kHz support, 50mm full-range drivers with 10Hz-43kHz frequency response… these are all welcome features. The ability to work passively, with no requirement for power, when wired via an analogue connection, is a very nice touch too. 

Only the lack of a control app sounds a slightly bum note, no matter how Dali might seek to spin it as a virtue.

(Image credit: Future / Simon Lucas) Dali IO-8 review: Price & release date

• Released on October 8, 2024
• Priced $899 / £599 / AU$TBC

The Dali IO-8 wireless over-ear noise-cancelling headphones launched on October 8, 2024, and in the United Kingdom they currently sell for £599. In the United States they’ll cost you $899, while in Australia the going rate has not officially been confirmed, at the time of publishing (but it'll be around AU$1,165 or thereabouts). 

These are affordable wireless headphones by Dali standards, true, but everything’s relative, isn’t it? This sort of money can buy you some extremely well-regarded alternatives from brands that don’t necessarily consider $899 to be ‘entry-level’...

(Image credit: Future / Simon Lucas) Dali IO-8 review: Specs

(Image credit: Future / Simon Lucas) Dali IO-8 review: Features

• 50mm free edge full-range dynamic drivers 
• Bluetooth 5.2 with SBC, AAC, aptX HD and aptX Adaptive compatibility
• 35 hours of battery life

As far as the ‘wireless’ part of ‘wireless over-ear noise-cancelling headphones’ goes, the Dali IO-8 use Bluetooth 5.2 for connectivity, and have compatibility with SBC, AAC, aptX HD and aptX Adaptive codecs. But it’s also possible to use them via a wired connection – the USB-C socket on the right earcup can be used for data transfer as well as for charging the battery, and connected this way they’re able to deal with digital audio files of up to 24bit/96kHz resolution. Obviously you can give them even larger files to deal with, but these will be downscaled before the digital-to-analogue conversion takes place.

Dali provides a USB-C / USB-A cable in a reasonably compact travel case, and also includes a 3.5mm / 3.5mm analogue alternative. There’s a 3.5mm input on the left earcup, and if you make an analogue connection to a source player the Dali don’t even need to be powered on. Flat battery? No problem: the IO-8 can be used passively, which is a definite bonus.

Mind you, letting the battery run flat will smack of negligence. The Dali will run for 35 hours from a single charge with active noise-cancelling switched off, and if you switch it on that figure drops to a still-competitive 30 hours. The ANC itself (or ‘audiophile active noise-cancelling’, as Dali rather self-importantly has it) has ‘on’, ‘off’ and ‘transparency’ settings, and the company has tuned it for maximum sound quality rather than maximum noise-cancellation.

(Image credit: Future / Simon Lucas)

No matter how you get your audio information on board, it’s delivered to your ears by a couple of 50mm free edge full-range dynamic drivers that are good, suggests Dali, for a frequency response of 10Hz-43kHz. Just as it does with its full-size speakers, Dali has built these drivers from a paper fibre material with randomly aligned fibres of varying lengths to create a light-yet-stiff diaphragm with optimal damping.

As far as control is concerned, there are a couple of options here. Each earcup features a couple of mic openings – Dali has used cVc technology for telephony, and these mics also allow communication with your source player’s native voice assistant. In addition to its USB-C input, the right earcup features a combination of push- and touch-controls covering ‘play/pause’, ‘volume up/down’, ‘skip forwards/backwards’, ‘answer/end call’ and ‘power on/off/Bluetooth pairing’ as well as cycling through your ANC options or choosing between two EQ settings (‘hi-fi’ or ‘bass’).

What’s conspicuous by its absence, though, is a control app. Dali wants to make a virtue of this – it’s tuned the IO-8 to sound as good as they can, goes the rationale, and the last thing the sound quality needs is the end user sticking their oar in. Whether or not you think an outlay as significant as this ought to buy a swanky control app a la Bowers & Wilkins, Bose and all the rest of them is a question of personal preference.

• Features score: 4.5/5

Dali IO-8 review: Sound quality

• Detailed and expansive sound
• Positive, dynamic presentation
• Great low-end expression and agility

If you’ve heard any of Dali’s more expensive loudspeaker designs lately, the combination of talents the IO-8 demonstrate when playing music, of any type, won’t come as any kind of surprise. If you haven’t, though, well… it’s like this…

The IO-8 are remarkably insightful, detailed headphones. No element of a recording is too fleeting to elude them, and they have the happy knack of being able to put even the most transient events in a singular recording like Children Crying by The Congos into convincing context. Their remarkable facility for detail retrieval and expression is not at the expense of the bigger picture, either. The Dali create a large overall image, and it’s only when you peer closely at it that you realise just how alive with detail it is. 

There’s a sensation of directness and of positivity to the way these headphones deliver music, a sensation of engagement that some similarly priced alternatives forgo in an effort to sound somehow more ‘accurate’. There’s no lack of precision to the IO-8, no lack of apparent fidelity – but they’re no dry tool of analysis. The idea of music as entertainment does not escape them, not even for a moment.

They have ample bite and shine at the top of the frequency range, but it’s controlled to the point that there’s never any glint of hardness, even in a Lee Perry production that is constantly on edge where treble sounds are concerned. The transition into the midrange is seamless, and once there the Dali communicate with absolute assurance and no little articulacy. They can relay a vocal performance's minutiae with the sort of effortlessness that makes for a direct and unequivocal listen.

(Image credit: Future / Simon Lucas)

At the bottom of the frequency range there’s a great combination of weight, texture and momentum. Listening with the ‘hi-fi’ EQ setting selected, the Dali offer straight-edged attack, rhythmic certainty, a decent amount of punch and an absolute stack of tonal and textural variation. Switch to ‘bass’ and while the amount of low-end presence increases noticeably, it’s not at the expense of any of the other work the Dali do with bass information. For my money it’s a slightly less naturalistic setting, but those who crave a bit of wallop won’t be disappointed.

Tonality is carefully neutral, and the frequency response is delightfully even from the very bottom of the frequency range to the very top. The broad dynamic shifts in intensity apparent in a 24bit/96kHz FLAC file of Stay Lit by Holy F*** are described in full – the IO-8 have no problem putting considerable distance between ‘loud’ and ‘quiet’. And the harmonic variations that are apparent in every instrument in this recording are given plenty of expression, too.

The Dali summon a large and persuasive soundstage, organizes it with utter authority and makes specific elements of even very complex recordings easy to identify and individualize. But at the same time it offers a very persuasive sensation of togetherness and singularity to recordings – there’s always an impression of ‘performance’ to the way it presents music.

Noise-cancelling, predictably, falls squarely into the ‘very good’ category rather than the very brief list headed ‘as good as Bose’ (single occupant: Bose). The IO-8 can do a reasonably thorough job on external sounds and keep those external distractions at bay, sure, but just as importantly, it does so without affecting the sonic characteristics in the slightest.

• Sound quality score: 5/5

Dali IO-8 review: Design

• ‘Iron’ black, or ‘caramel’ white finishes
• Real leather contact points
• Weighs 325g

It comes to something, doesn’t it, when ‘round’ counts as a design flourish? But the fundamental design of over-ear headphones is so established that the perfectly circular earcups and earpads of the IO-8 is about the only part of their appearance that’s even remotely unusual.

They’re expertly built and finished, mind you, and from very upmarket and tactile materials. The round plate that covers the outside of each round earcup is of brushed and anodised metal, while the contact points of the inside of the headband and the earpads themselves are of memory foam covered in genuine leather (so long, vegans, it was nice knowing you). An outer section of the earpads and the entirety of the outside of the headband are covered in hard-wearing textile. 

The headband adjustment mechanism is mostly concealed inside the headband itself, and it moves with nicely judged resistance. At 325g the IO-8 are far from the heaviest wireless over-ears around, and both the hanger arrangement and clamping force are so judicious that they remain comfortable for hours at a time. And unlike quite a lot of rival products, the Dali are not so big that they exclude the smaller-headed among us.

• Design score: 4.5/5

(Image credit: Future / Simon Lucas) Dali IO-8 review: Value

• High-quality sound at a crowded price point
• Comfortable, look good, excellent battery life
• No control app, plus non-vegan 

You buy expensive headphones in order to enjoy high-quality sound, right? If so, then there’s no arguing with the value on offer here – the Dali IO-8 are by no means your only choice at the price, but they have nothing to apologize for when it comes to the way they sound.

And if you’re able to overlook the lack of a vegan option, the standard of build and finish is well up to standard, too. The IO-8 look and feel good and they’re comfortable for hours on end, with the battery life to prove it.

If you think this sort of money should buy a control app, you’ll certainly get no argument from me. But I have to wonder what it would be for – after all, the way Dali has voiced these headphones is unlikely to be improved by my fiddling with EQ settings, and the company has already indicated that the ANC is implemented to the maximum level it’s happy with. It would be nice to be able to integrate all my favorite music streaming services into one hub, of course, but I’ve seen enough ropey control apps to know that ‘no app’ is better than ‘annoying app’.

• Value score: 4.5/5

Should I buy Dali IO-8? Buy them if... Don't buy them if...

(Image credit: Future / Simon Lucas) Dali IO-8 review: Also consider

Apple AirPods Max
I’m contractually obliged to mention the Apple AirPods Max here. They’re a great option for iPhone and iPad users, to be fair, with a nicely realized sensation of spatial audio when connected to a sibling device, but I’ve yet to see anyone good-looking enough to wear them without looking like a bit of a ‘nana.
See our in-depth Apple AirPods Max review for more info.

How I tested the Dali IO-8

• Connected wirelessly, via USB-C and via 3.5mm analogue
• Powered and passively
• Indoors and out

They’re adaptable by the standards of wireless headphones, the Dali IO-8, and so I listened to them when wireless connected to an iPhone 14 Pro and a FiiO M15S digital audio player. I also listened to them via a USB-C connection to an Apple MacBook Pro (loaded with Colibri software in order to play authentically high-resolution content). 

I also listened to them with the battery switched off and a hard analogue connection made to both the FiiO and the MacBook Pro, too. I listened to them at my desk and on public transport, I listened to lots of different styles of music, delivered via lots of different digital audio file types and sizes. And I did all of this, on and off, for well over a week. 

• First reviewed: October 2024
• Read more about how we test

Review info

Platform reviewed: PC
Available on: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S
Release date: October 1, 2024

Throne and Liberty is a new free-to-play massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) from Korean developer NCSoft, a dev team that’s been well-known previously for such classics as the Lineage series. To date, the game has already been out - and relatively well received - in the Korean domestic market but the developer has teamed up with Amazon Games Studio to bring the game to the West.

Throne and Liberty is the publishers' third attempt to crack the Western MMO market after Lost Ark and New World - two games that have looked to refresh the genre’s stagnant popularity in recent years. Throne and Liberty is a decidedly classic take on the genre, however, with a massive focus on group player-versus-player (PvP) conflict, world content, and a relatively basic tab-target combat system. It’s the spiritual successor to the Lineage games of old and one that looks to induct itself within the ranks of the best MMORPGs by harkening back to the genre’s glory days.

(Image credit: NCSOFT / Amazon Games) Having a whale of a time 

I’ve played my fair share of MMOs over the years, and I’ll say it right off the bat - Throne of Liberty is hands-down one of the most beautifully presented MMORPGs yet. Graphically, the game pushes the genre forward with thoughtfully crafted environments that emphasize both scale and verticality across sweeping vistas. As soon as you load in you’ll be impressed at the ambitious scale and beauty of this game, and there’s rarely a zone that disappoints in this regard.

There’s nothing radical about Throne and Liberty’s world - it’s a fairly standard high-fantasy fare. But, it executes it exceptionally well on a relatively grounded aesthetic that plays well with the brutality present in the world of Solisium. You’re going to be scrambling across vast deserts, descending into dimly-lit vampire crypts, and soaring high across the map on a massive flying whale called Gigantrite - easily the coolest thing in the entire game world.

Adding to the coolness factor is the game's excellent mount system. I don’t usually get excited about MMORPG mount systems but in Throne, all players have access to druid-style shapeshifting powers from the offset. Alongside a ground-based wolf/cat travel form, players can also transform into a bird-in-flight mode and an aquatic swim mode, which makes traversing the world engaging and enjoyable. 

The story, for the most part, is standard RPG fare. You’re part of a chosen few blessed with celestial powers trying to stop an evil king from exploiting said powers and dominating the world. It’s a mostly forgettable string of RPG tropes but the main quest does ground you in the world nicely, offer decent set-piece events, and serve as a good introduction to the various systems in the game - of which there are many.  

(Image credit: NCSOFT / Amazon Games) Mix and match

One such system that may throw MMO veterans in Throne of Liberty is the game's class system - or rather, lack thereof. Throne does away with the usual ‘pick your class’ at character creation for a more flexible system based on weapons. Every player picks two of seven weapons to carry; which include a flexible range of melee, ranged, and spell-casting options.

It’s not uncommon to see myriad ‘hybrid’ roles in Throne since the system encourages players to experiment and synergize between the various combinations. Not only can you pick and choose between weapon combinations, but the deep skill specialization system means that every weapon can tweaked toward specific build goals like elemental damage, increased threat, or greater area of effect. 

(Image credit: NCSOFT / Amazon Games)

During my playthrough I gravitated toward a dagger and wand combo; an awkward mix of an archetypal rogue who also happens to heal like a priest. It wasn’t the most elegant combo but I like how Throne’s non-traditional class system encourages players to think creatively about which weapons to pair up with each other. The game's upgrade system favors that you choose a role and stick to it, however, so be prepared to do your homework and plan out your build accordingly.

Best bit

(Image credit: NCSOFT / Amazon Games)

Riding the giant flying whale Gigantrite above the skies of Solisium, taking in the sweeping vistas. I also loved how ‘alive’ Throne and Liberty’s game world felt, with hundreds of players engaging directly with world quests. 

Combat for the most part is handled with a mix of a tab-target system and a more 'active' action combat style that includes elements like parrying, blocking, and an emphasis on ground effect spells. The tab targeting system is more reminiscent of classic MMORPGs like World of Warcraft but lacks the latter’s refinement, depth, and overall weight. The active elements for the most part do add something, however, as both player-versus-player and player-versus-elite encounters utilize parry windows and defensive abilities to mix up the gameplay.

Overall, Throne’s combat isn’t bad - the game feels fine to play, but it does suffer from being a compromise between two distinct types of systems. You’re essentially left with combat that doesn’t quite feel as engaging as the gorgeous graphics, world design, and interesting class system warrant. There’s room for a high-skill ceiling, sure, but you’ll never quite find yourself wanting to grind through hundreds of monsters like with Black Desert Online.

(Image credit: NCSOFT / Amazon Games) World up

The world of Solisium is, however, chock-full of stuff to do. As previously mentioned, the main quest will effectively take you on a full world tour of this game’s breadth of content and encourage you to spread your wings as you go.

When you’re leveling up, you’ll be introduced to world exploration quests, contract quests, group dungeons, and open-world dungeons. For the most part, your quests outside of the main storyline will consist of killing boars, goblins, and gathering resources - you know, MMO stuff. Where this game really shines is with the sheer variety of content on offer and how this content is placed within the greater world.

For example, world quests are sometimes cooperative, sometimes competitive, and sometimes complete and utter open warfare. Often, these game modes depend on the day-night cycle or specific timing, which can make the world feel alive and unpredictable if you’re not paying attention. It’s not uncommon for your quest objectives to intersect with an area that’s currently being battled over by dozens of guilds jostling to contend a local world quest, for example. 

I, for one, particularly loved the open-world dungeons that are scattered across the world. These dungeons aren’t instanced in the traditional sense so everyone is welcome to rock up and stake their claim to the loot. 

In the daytime, these dungeons can operate like traditional questing hubs. In the night-time, however, the doors close behind you, and suddenly the whole area turns into one giant player-versus-player arena. Since players are effectively locked out on death, the dungeons turn into one giant Battle Royale game with increasingly higher stakes. It’s a superb concept and one that’s not commonly found among other modern MMOs.

(Image credit: NCSOFT / Amazon Games) Guild wars

I think you’re already sensing a theme here - Throne and Liberty is a player-versus-player MMO through and through. In this game, PvP is everywhere if you’re willing to look for it. This is a game designed from the ground up with PvP - and particularly group PvP - in mind. 

At around level 30 the world quickly opens up into areas where, depending on various criteria like world time or weather, open PvP is in session. While it’s entirely possible to wait it out on the sidelines until peace is declared once again, you always need to be on your guard for prowling enemies. 

If you’re a fan of the true wild-west element of old-school MMORPGs you’ll be at home here. It’s a kill-or-be-killed world that’s often enjoyable but potentially frustrating. During my initial leveling, for example, there were several instances of high-level players camping world quest hand-in zones. While power discrepancies are smoothed by Throne and Liberty’s stat squishing system, you’ll frequently encounter experienced players looking to rack up kills. 

Solisium is a harsh world, and to survive, you’re going to have to join a guild. Unlike more casual-friendly titles on the market, this game emphasizes guilds above nearly all else. This is a super old-school MMO approach and one that actively encourages players to band together into massive 70-person guilds.

While it’s possible to progress outside of a guild, to properly get the most out of this game you must at least join some kind of guild. Doing so, for example, unlocks a new vendor, currency, and various exclusive quests. You’ll also be able to tag along with your guild to the massive one-thousand-player-plus castle siege events that are the mainstay of Throne and Liberty’s end-game content. 

(Image credit: NCSOFT / Amazon Games)

While it’s refreshing to see such an emphasis on group content in a modern MMO, I’m struggling to recommend Throne and Liberty for a casual player here; the kind of player who likes to jump on for an hour or two, use the group finder tool, and generally go with the flow. If you’re looking for a pick-up-and-play MMO, then you’ll likely find the game too punishing unless you find a guild that fits your playstyle.

I haven’t even mentioned the cash shop either, which enables players to essentially trade real money for in-game currency. Yes - currency that can be used in the auction house to buy high-end gear. In theory, players can skip out on the grind by simply pulling out the credit card; something which will no doubt set off alarm bells for seasoned MMO veterans. 

In my time with the game, I wasn’t able to fully grasp whether this will in effect descend into a ‘pay to win’ model, but I’m absolutely sure this setup will prove divisive for a Western audience. It’s entirely possible to earn all gear without paying a penny, but it sure seems that the game is catering to players with deep pockets.

It's a shame this potential 'pay to win' stigma surrounds Throne of Liberty as the game genuinely has a lot going for it in terms of world-building and content. The question is, will it appeal to a wider audience than a select few hard-core individuals?

Accessibility

I’m pleased to note that Throne and Liberty features an extensive suite of accessibility features. These include multiple colorblind modes, settings for photosensitivity, and multiple text and UI scaling options. All these options are easy to find in the 'Accessibility' menu within the games settings menu. 

Should I play Throne and Liberty? Play it if... Don't play it if... How I reviewed Throne and Liberty

I played Throne and Liberty for 30 hours before writing this review, which was enough in-game time to finish the main story quest and comfortably get up to the maximum level. I made sure to sample most of the game's content, including both daily and world quests as well as the instanced and open dungeons.

I've played many MMORPGs over the years including World of Warcraft, Guild Wars 2, Black Desert Online, Lost Ark, Eve Online, ESO, and many others. During this review, I drew upon over two decades of experience playing these games to get a feel of how Throne and Liberty stacks up and how I think it'll be received. 

The peripherals I used during this review include the Logitech G Pro wireless gaming mouse, the Logitech Pro Tenkeyless gaming keyboard, and the Logitech G735 wireless gaming headset. My monitor is the 27-inch LG 27GP850-B, which runs at 1440p/185Hz. 

First reviewed September/October 2024.

Ricoh GR IIIx HDF: two-minute review

With its large APS-C sensor and fixed 40mm f/2.8 lens, we already rated the Ricoh GR IIIx as one of the best premium compact cameras for travel and street photography. This version features a niche tweak that gives it a specific appeal: where the original had a built-in ND filter, the GR IIIx HDF instead has a highlight diffusion filter.

There’s no software trickery at work here. This is a physical filter that's built into the shutter unit and is enabled with a push of the Fn button, and it reduces contrast and blurs bright whites, producing soft, dreamy stills with an ethereal glow that harks back to the days of analog.

Based on our time with both the GR IIIx and the HDF version, the latter is the more creative tool. Whether you're capturing reflections shimmering off water or sunlight through leaves, it allows you to experiment with unique, film-like lighting effects.

(Image credit: Future)

The GR IIIx HDF also benefits from a couple of new firmware features: there’s support for up to three custom white balances, while zone-select AF gives you more flexibility to target automatic focusing within the center area. These are minor tweaks which will also be introduced to the GR III / IIIx down the line.

Otherwise, the GR IIIx HDF is identical to the existing version. That includes everything from the pocket-friendly dimensions and direct access controls to the APS-C sensor and 40mm lens combination we praised in our original review. It also retains the same drawbacks, though, including average battery life and a fixed screen.

The GR IIIx HDF isn’t the major update that many Ricoh fans were hoping for, and it’s certainly not worth buying if you already own the GR IIIx. But if you’re choosing between the two versions, we think the highlight diffusion filter makes it the more artful and unique option, especially if you’re a fan of the vintage aesthetic. It costs marginally more, but it’s the one we’d pick.

(Image credit: Future) Ricoh GR IIIx HDF: price and availability

• Launched on 28 March 2024, alongside the GR III HDF
• Priced at $1,146 / £1,099 / AU$1,899

The Ricoh GR IIIx HDF was announced in March 2024 with a launch price of $1,146 / £1,099 / AU$1,899. That makes it $147 / £100 / AU$120 more expensive than the standard Ricoh GR IIIx, which already commanded a pretty premium ask. At that price, the GR IIIx HDF is close to mid-range mirrorless money, with cameras like the Sony A7 III available for a similar amount.

While that might seem hard to justify for a compact with a fixed lens, the point here is that Ricoh is making a niche version of an already niche camera. You’ll buy the GR IIIx HDF not because you want the best possible performance for the money, but because you want a sharp-shooting compact with a relatively large sensor, with the added value of a unique built-in filter.

If you’re in the market for one of the best travel cameras, the GR IIIx offers better value objectively. Whether the highlight diffusion filter is worth the extra expenditure will come down to how you plan to use the camera and whether you’ll appreciate the creative aesthetic it’s capable of. But for our money, it’s the more compelling proposition, even with the increase in cost.

Ricoh GR IIIx HDF: design

• Physically identical to the GR IIIx
• Truly pocketable dimensions
• 3-inch, 1.03 million-dot touchscreen

Other than its silver shutter button, the GR IIIx HDF is identical to the GR IIIx. That means it’s a genuinely pocket-friendly compact, measuring a tidy 109.4 x 61.9 x 35.2mm and weighing an impressively light 262g, including the battery and an SD card. It’s pretty much as small as a camera with an APS-C sensor inside can be, making it a portable yet powerful shooting tool.

Not only do those dimensions mean the GR IIIx HDF is a convenient camera to travel with, but it’s also one you can comfortably use with one hand, making it ideal for discreet street photography. Ergonomically, there’s enough of a front grip to get your fingers around, with a moulded thumb rest on the rear.

Direct-access controls are plentiful, including a mode dial and scroll lever for adjusting exposure, and are neatly set out within easy reach of your thumb. Most prominent among them is the function button, which by default is used to activate the highlight diffusion filter. The control layout doesn’t clutter the body, but the camera’s proportions mean some of the rear inputs do require a bit of nimble finger-work to avoid accidentally hitting other buttons.

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Like the GR IIIx, the HDF version has a fixed 3-inch LCD touchscreen. It’s sharp enough at 1.03 million dots, although it’s not the brightest, which can make framing in direct sunlight slightly tricky. That’s not helped by the absence of an electronic viewfinder and, while there is a hot-shoe mount on top of the body, the only optional viewfinders available from Ricoh are analog ones.

All that being said, the GR IIIx HDF is just as fun to use as the standard GR IIIx. The touchscreen is responsive, and touch-focus support makes it as easy to shoot with as any smartphone. Its point-and-shoot design also strikes a good balance between accessibility for beginners and creative control for more experienced users.

Ricoh GR IIIx HDF: features and performance

• Highlight diffusion filter
• Fixed-focal-length f/2.8 lens
• New zone-select AF functionality

The headline feature of the GR IIIx is its highlight diffusion filter, which replaces the neutral density filter found in the GR IIIx. The HDF is a physical filter that’s part of the shutter unit, and it has the effect of reducing contrast and softening bright whites when enabled. The net effect of this is dreamy stills with a blurry glow that mimics the look of film photography.

Based on our tests, it’s more than a gimmick. The effect’s strength depends on what and where you’re shooting, but it can be surprisingly potent. In backlit or overcast scenes we found that it could lead to unwanted halo effects; but in the right conditions, such as warm sunlight filtering through trees or lights reflecting off water at night, the filter makes the GR IIIx HDF capable of producing some genuinely unique, creative images.

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On paper, it’s a niche feature. But at a time when analog is all the rage again we can see it appealing to a lot of people. Not only does the GR IIIx HDF produce images with a film-like aesthetic, it does so by way of a genuine physical filter, which lends the results a feeling of authenticity which can’t be achieved with post-processing. It also makes the GR IIIx HDF feel like a fun tool to experiment with creatively, with none of the associated costs of film.

Otherwise, the Ricoh GR IIIx HDF shares most of the rest of its features and spec sheet with the standard version. That’s true of the effective sensor-shift shake reduction system, useful Snap Focus tool and decent macro mode. Unfortunately, it’s also true of the modest 200-shot battery life, lazy burst speeds, and maximum Full HD video resolution.

Also inherited is the 40mm f/2.8 lens, which offers a focal length that’s more versatile for portrait work than the 28mm lens of the GR III. The depth of field is lovely and shallow, although you do need to be careful when using Snap Focus as it’s easy to miss your focus point. Rather than repeat the same observations here, we recommend reading our GR IIIx review for a full insight into how these features stack up in real-world use.

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Operation of the HDF version is just as quick as with the GR IIIx, with rapid start-up and shutter response times. Less impressive is the autofocus performance, which suffers from the same laggy tracking as before. One thing that is new for the GR IIIx is zone-select AF. This essentially allows you to zone the AF in on a specific region within the auto-area AF coverage. We could see this being useful for street portraits, but it’s a relatively minor addition, and one that’s also due to be added to existing models in a later firmware update.

More useful is the introduction of three programmable white balance settings, which means you can easily shift between different custom presets without having to dive into the manual settings. We think many users of the GR IIIx HDF are likely to use auto white balance, but it’s nevertheless a welcome addition.

Should I buy the Ricoh GR IIIx HDF?

(Image credit: Future) Buy it if...

You like the idea of an analog-style filter
Enabling the highlight diffusion filter gives images a soft, dreamy glow that, in the right lighting, can produce properly creative images with a film-like look.

You want a sharp-shooting street compact
Sharing most of its features with the GR IIIx, the HDF edition stacks up just as well for discreet street photography, with a travel-friendly body that captures sharp stills.

You want first access to the latest features
The GR IIIx benefits from three pre-programmable white balance settings and zone-select autofocus, which will only be added to existing models with down the line.

Don't buy it if...

You don’t need the highlight diffusion filter
The added cost of the GR IIIx HDF can only be justified if you’re excited by the idea of shooting with a unique physical filter; otherwise, the standard version is better value.

You want the best possible value
The GR IIIx HDF is priced in mid-range mirrorless territory, and it’s possible to get better performance and features from other APS-C cameras with interchangeable lenses.

You shoot a lot of video
With a video resolution that maxes out at Full HD, the Ricoh GR IIIx HDF is very much a camera for stills photographers first and foremost.

How I tested the Ricoh GR IIIx HDF

(Image credit: Future)

• I used the camera for two weeks
• I shot more than 150 stills
• I took pictures in a range of conditions

Testing the Ricoh GR IIIx HDF involved taking it out into the world and using it as I would use any camera day to day. I took more than 150 photos over the course of a fortnight, in a whole range of shooting scenarios and lighting conditions, from day to night, and from portraits to street details.

As the highlight diffusion filter is the key point of difference between this camera and the standard GR IIIx, I focused in particular on capturing images with the HDF enabled. I also shot a range of reference images across different shooting modes, to assess the actual effect of the filter.

First reviewed October 2024

LiftSync is a lesser-known furniture company. They make standing desks, mobile laptops, monitor arms and desks. Their newest release is the LiftSync Quad Pro electric standing desk.

I've reviewed many of the best standing desks out there. And this desk is not your average standing desk, but it is built for those who seek a combination of soft luxury, feeling wood, and functionality. It's crafted from burlywood for the tabletop and has four independent legs and motors to offer high stability no matter the desk's height. No matter your profession, if you are looking for a generously sized standing desk and are willing to spend some money on it, you should check out the LiftSync Quad Pro as a genuine option. I was impressed by just how lovely this desk is.

(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future) LiftSync Quad Pro: Pricing & availability

The LiftSync Quad Pro is the Flagship standing desk offering from LiftSync. It's priced at $1,199.00 but is currently seeing a deal that drops the price to $999.00. The Quad Pro is available on LiftSync’s official website with fast, free shipping in the U.S. Orders exceeding $150 are eligible for complimentary delivery, and assembly services are available in select areas like Los Angeles, California, United States.

(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future) LiftSync Quad Pro: Unboxing & first impressions

The Quad Pro showed up in two packages, one with the desktop, one with the frame, and the other with miscellaneous pieces. I will say that this is a hefty desk, but it wasn't wrong to assemble at all. I built this desk with the help of my electric screwdriver and my five-year-old son. In complete honesty, I've built more standing desks than anyone else, and this one has been one of the easiest to assemble by far.

The frame went together super quickly, in a simple way that even my son could understand and be genuinely helpful in helping with. Then the desktop sits on top and gets screwed in from the underside or by flipping the desktop over to drill down into the desk. I built this desk in my home office space and wanted to move it to the school classroom, where my team would test it further. Usually, I leave the desks assembled and move them that way with a truck or in the back of my Jeep. However, for this one, I could easily take the frame apart to throw in the back of my wife's Kia Carnival, with our whole family loaded in, to drop off the desk. Assembly is just that easy.

Right from the start, I love how smooth and soft the burlywood desktop is and how clean and sleek the frame looks. The integrated control panel is a nice touch, too, especially with the included ports.

The desk quickly lifted my son up and down and, hesitantly, lifted me (210lb). In all those tests, I was thrilled to see how smooth the desk lifted and how quiet it was.

(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future) LiftSync Quad Pro: Design & build quality Specs

Dimensions: Desktop – 63” x 31.5”, Frame – adjustable height from 29.5” to 47.2”
Weight: 120 lbs (product weight), 143 lbs (package weight)
Load Capacity: 264 lbs
Material: Solid wood desktop with eco-friendly coatings
Motors: 4 motors for height adjustment

The LiftSync Quad Pro's design is a testament to the brand's focus on clean and minimal design with high functionality and craftsmanship. The genuine solid wood top is a beautiful design choice and highlights the emphasis on durability and aesthetics. The beautiful burlywood finish gives the desk a distinct and high-end look, while the legs make it blend in and feel lightweight and minimal. The quad leg design, rather than the T-shape or C-shape that most desks opt for these days, is a nice change of pace and helps give the desk a higher stability.

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(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future) LiftSync Quad Pro: In use

One of my favorite things I get to do with desks is swap them out and use them in many different environments to ensure that these desks don't just work in a warehouse, testing space, or a perfect environment but also your potential environment. I placed this desk in the school where some of my team members work, making it the ideal testing environment for its durability due to heavy daily use. 

Using the LiftSync Quad Pro is a seamless experience. The four motors operate silently, adjusting the desk height with minimal effort. Whether you’re sitting or standing, the desk adjusts smoothly, allowing for an ergonomic setup tailored to your needs. The load capacity of 264 lbs ensures that the desk can handle even the heaviest of equipment without wobbling. The desk’s spacious surface can comfortably accommodate multiple monitors, a keyboard, and additional accessories, making it perfect for productivity. 

Additionally, if you need more than one monitor, it makes for a fantastic large workspace, big enough for two or more people to work simultaneously if you so choose.

(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future) LiftSync Quad Pro: Final verdict

The LiftSync Quad Pro is an excellent choice for anyone investing in a high-quality, aesthetically pleasing standing desk. Granted, it only has one design, but that design and colorway are timeless and will look great in most environments. The solid wood makes for a premium feel, and the price matches that feel. But if you want a quality desk that will last, check out the LiftSync Quad Pro.

For more workspace essentials, our office furniture experts have tested the best office chairs.

Aqara Video Doorbell G4: one-minute review

The Aqara Smart Video Doorbell G4 is a smart doorbell that allows you to remotely monitor and talk to visitors outside your property via your phone or desktop using Wi-Fi.

The main selling point for those of us who predominately use the Apple ecosystem is its HomeKit compatibility, in addition to the more common Alexa and Google Assistant compatibility. It’s a viable option, given its competitive price, and doesn’t try and sell you a subscription service by ringfencing features as is the case with other video doorbells.

It offers the standard array of features found in some of the best video doorbells such as customizable zones for refining motion detection and facial recognition, which you wouldn’t typically expect for a video doorbell at this price point. It can distinguish between a car, a person, or an animal as opposed to the usual generic “movement was detected” type of message.

In addition to the doorbell, the G4 comes with a chime repeater, a real boon if you’re not always next to your phone - though I was a little incredulous at the inclusion to begin with. Added to that, it can house a microSD card for locally storing video footage which needs to be safe inside your home as opposed to on-device as with some video doorbells. It’s also a logical way to improve battery life, providing a separate mains-powered unit with Wi-Fi access and other services. I stand corrected.

Having a variety of options is good, and the Aqara G4 provides a subscription-free alternative to the ubiquitous Ring Doorbells. There is room for improvement, though; its paltry IPX3 rating means it’s best kept under cover from the elements, and the field of view was much too high for my liking. Read on for the full picture.

Aqara Video Doorbell G4: price and availability

• List price: $119.99 / £119.99 (about AU$180)

The Aqara Smart Video Doorbell G4 was launched in the US in February 2023 and UK in December 2023, and is available from the Aqara website as well as Amazon for $119.99 / £199.99 (about AU$180). At the time of writing the price was reduced by 20% to $95.99/£95.99 (about AU$140) in a limited time deal, which seems to be a bi-monthly occurrence that might be worth holding out for.

There are three accessories available for the G4 if you do not have the desire to shop around for what is pretty standard stuff. The power supply boasts of a 1.5 metre cable which is not long enough given that it is recommended that the Doorbell be mounted between 1.4 metres and 1.5 metres from the ground.

At its sale price, the Aqara G4 compares favorably with something like the Ring Battery Video Doorbell Pro and its associated subscription fee, even when the extra purchases of a power adapter and MicroSD card are taken into account. At full price, less so.

Aqara Video Doorbell G4: specs Aqara Video Doorbell G4: design

• It’s big, it’s dark - it’s a mini monolith
• It is easy to spot which circular feature is the button and which is the camera
• The location of the case-securing screw is strange

The G4 has an appealing design, clad in slate grey with glossy black accents. On the front are two large circles; one is the button, and the other is the camera mount. It’s a little quirky, and upon unboxing, it chimed with me but I could not put my finger on why (both puns intended).

It wasn’t until I had to measure the Aqara G4 after discovering that the dimensions on the website were wrong that I began to think about ratios, noticing that it’s sides measure not too far from 1:4:9. That’s when it hit my nerdy sci-fi-riddled brain; those are the proportions of the sides of the monolith in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, and the camera on the doorbell even resembles HAL 9000. If you have no idea what I am blathering on about, please go and watch the film - it’s a classic.

It had to be done (Image credit: Les Watson)

Installing the doorbell can be as simple as affixing the baseplate, connecting the chime unit to the mains (you’ll need to use your own USB power supply), pairing it in the app and completing the necessary updates, and lastly inserting the doorbell’s batteries before slotting and securing it to the baseplate.

I added my review unit to HomeKit, and through doing so I was able to make use of my Apple One subscription and save HomeKit Secure Video output to the cloud - a pleasant surprise. However, the video quality was not great; anything that moved was painfully pixelated. Now, I like 8-bit video games, but I need to be able to distinguish between the postman and Super Mario.

Be warned, when you install the batteries, both the doorbell and chime repeater’s alarms will trigger, and both devices will begin to howl like a banshee. The doorbell will stop when it is slotted into the baseplate, but the chime repeater will keep on howling away until it is power cycled. It’s a good anti-tampering feature but an off switch in the app that snoozes the tripped alarm would suffice to stop this slightly annoying quirk. Another poor design decision is the case-fastening screw on the side of the unit, which I found difficult to tighten when it’s in situ.

It has been designed to facilitate hard-wired mains electricity either from an existing doorbell circuit or via a power supply transformer that plugs into a standard UK electrical socket. Another design flaw is that there’s no slot on the sides of the baseplate to run the cable through; Aqara seems to have assumed that the power cable will come straight through the wall and directly into the device, which for me was impossible. It is easy enough to create an opening in the bracket, but an unnecessary hoop to jump through.

Aqara Video Doorbell G4: performance

Having used Ring doorbells for two years, it was immediately apparent that the video quality and field of view of the Aqara G4 are inferior. In fairness, Aqara is cheaper, and you do get what pay for. The stored video does seem to be less pixelated when using the local MicroSD as opposed to iCloud storage.

I installed a Ring Battery Pro alongside the Aqara to compare them and you can see what you are paying for with the Ring. As far as I am concerned the Aqara is good enough for my home, but your needs may differ depending on your entryway.

Footage from Aqara G4 on the left, Ring Battery Pro on the right (Image credit: Les Watson)

Its object recognition is consistent, although it has yet to detect an animal for me to review. The feature would be even more useful if it were possible to filter the videos based on object type in the app.

Speaking of which, the app is pretty good. It’s uncluttered and offers automation facilities if you don’t want to connect it to one of your smart home hubs. As is the theme of this review, it does have its quirks; for instance, I’m a bit puzzled as to why it’s necessary to create an automation to play a sound on the external doorbell when the button is pressed rather than it being a built-in feature. Even more puzzling is that it is not possible to use the stock ring tones; you need to import a sound file.

For some reason, I’ve frequently received an error stating that “The network connectivity is poor. Please set to auto”. Set what to auto, you may ask? I have looked through the settings and the only thing with an auto setting that I have found so far is “Infrared Night Vision”, which is on already; the mystery continues.

The facial recognition is surprisingly good given that I have only supplied it with one photograph of me. Heck, I get up in the morning and look in the mirror and sometimes I don’t recognize myself. This opens up all sorts of automation possibilities. Why would you not want your house to say “Hello Les” when you walk up to your front door?

In saying that, maybe we’re getting a little too close to HAL with that one.

• Performance score: 3.5/5

Should you buy the Aqara Video Doorbell G4? Buy it if

You want a different look from other video doorbells.

It is a refreshing change from the standard Ring doorbell and other video doorbell devices, and I think it looks better than similarly priced products from Aqara’s competitors.View Deal

You are invested in the Apple ecosystem

If you are a HomeKit user and already have an Apple iCloud subscription, it’s an absolute no-brainer. View Deal

You want to store video footage without a subscription

It needs to be powered by a transformer to enable local storage, which does mean you will need to spend some more money to make it work - but you won’t be forking out every month.View Deal

Don't buy it if

You need to see your doorstep for package deliveries

It is unlikely that the camera will cover your doorstep due to its limited field of view. Wouldn’t it be nice if it were possible to turn the camera to portrait mode…View Deal

You need a weatherproof doorbell

If you do not have “a porch or other shaded area” this device might not survive the winter or regular heavy rain, given its low IP rating. View Deal

You need higher-quality video

The video quality of the Aqara G4 is good enough, but you may need more.
View Deal

Aqara Video Doorbell G4: also consider

Not completely sold on the Aqara Video Doorbell G4? Here are two more options for you to consider. We've also got lots of tips on how to buy a video doorbell.

Arlo Video Doorbell

Arlo's doorbell currently ranks top in our roundup of the best video doorbells, with impressive picture quality compared to similarly priced rival devices.

Read our full Arlo Video Doorbell reviewView Deal

Eufy Video Doorbell Dual

If you want to see packages when they're delivered to your doorstep, this doorbell has a secondary camera that's aimed at the floor to give you a better view.

Read our full Eufy Video Doorbell Dual reviewView Deal

How I tested the Aqara Video Doorbell G4

• I tested both battery-powered and mains-powered configurations
• I tested storing captured video in iCloud and locally
• I reviewed all video footage to assess accuracy
• I compared video output with a rival manufacturer

There is no existing doorbell circuit in my house or an electrical outlet in the hall, so the transformer was plugged into a socket in the lounge. Luckily (for you, not me) I am renovating my house and can easily get under the floor to run the cable.

I investigated the phone application automation options and tried out the various in-app features and functionalities.

I’ve been using smart home devices for several years now, and have a whopping 30+ years (gulp) of tech enthusiasm and experience under my belt.

First reviewed September 2024

Keeping your pearly whites both pearly and white is far easier than it used to be – but it remains a messy and time-consuming affair. Between the build-up of toothpaste and the need to deep clean your dental tools to ensure they remain hygienic, dental care can be a time-consuming affair. 

While I don’t use dentures, retainers or the like, I do use an electric toothbrush, and maintaining my toothbrush head alone is a real pain. As such, I was excited to hear about the Sonic Spa Pro with Steribrite, an ultrasonic and UV-C dental appliance cleaner. And, having tried it for a few weeks, I can definitely say it didn’t disappoint.  

(Image credit: Future)

Using UV-C light in tandem with 43,000Hz ultrasonic cleaning, the Sonic Spa Pro can destroy 99.9% of bacteria, viruses and pathogens in just three minutes, according to the manufacturer, Sonic Dental; but there’s also a five-minute cycle for deep cleaning.

It’s priced at $99.95 / £89.95 / AU$179, which covers the device itself and six cleaning tablets, but you can opt for a bundle with 36 cleaning tablets for $119.95 / £99.95 / AU$199; and there’s also an Onyx Black color option. That does make it a pretty pricey purchase, with similar devices listed on Amazon for roughly $50 / £ 45 / AU$90. However, the Sonic Spa Pro is made using premium materials and genuinely feels solid enough to last a long time – although note that a few customers across Reddit and Trustpilot seemed to have issues with units when the device first launched, as well as customer service delays for both delivery and replacement.

(Image credit: Future)

(Image credit: Future)

Neat and compact at 4.8 x 4.8 x 3.94 inches / 122mm × 122mm × 100mm (L x D x H), the simple pod-shaped Sonic Spa Pro device teeters on clinical with its basic design and matte coating; but it feels premium. 

On top of the hinged lid you’ll find an “S” logo, serving as the primary touch control for the Sonic Spa Pro, with the lid opening to reveal the 3.1 x 1.77in / 80mm x 45mm basin. You fill this with cold water (up to 165ml) before submerging your dental appliance of choice. The basin is perfectly sized for dentures, but fits a variety of dental tools – plus, it’s also suitable to clean items such as nail clippers, tweezers, and even jewellery.

(Image credit: Future)

I’ve been using the Sonic Spa Pro for a couple of weeks now, and I must say I’ve been impressed. Having watched countless TikToks of dubious-looking “purifying” cleaners, I was excited to try something that came with clinical backing and sported a more premium feel – and the Sonic Spa Pro delivered.

Simply fill the tank to the Max water line, with your dental appliance inside, close the lid and hold down the touch-sensitive button to start the cleaning cycle; press again to begin the five-minute cycle. When it’s done, open the lid, drain and remove the contents and rinse off the item you’ve just cleaned – voilà!

The first time I cleaned my toothbrush head in the basin, I was surprised by just how much muck came off my fairly new toothbrush head, turning the water into a milky, chalky soup in just one three-minute cycle. To see how effective it had been, I repeated the cleaning cycle again straight away, and the water in the basin at the end of that cycle was almost clear – that’s using simply the power of water, UV-C light and ultrasonic cleaning. When you’re tackling retainers or other dental items that require more maintenance, you can pop in one of the included cleaning tabs.

(Image credit: Future)

I didn’t often find the need to stretch to the 5-minute cycle, although I did attempt it for cleaning some older jewellery, which Sonic Dental claims the Sonic Spa Pro can also handle. I didn't notice much of a difference, barring a few flecks of black grub that were disturbed from the medallion, so I wouldn't reach to buy the Sonic Spa Pro exclusively for its jewellery cleaning chops.

The Sonic Spa Pro isn’t perfect; the power supply situation, in particular, leaves room for improvement. In the UK at least, it comes with a UK 13-amp socket, which most bathroom’s don’t include for safety reasons. You can, of course, opt for a two-pin shaver adapter to three-pin UK 13-amp arrangement, but do so at your own risk.

However, this plug issue isn’t just problematic when it comes to placing and using your Sonic Spa Pro; it’s annoying because the basin in the device isn’t removable, meaning every time you need to refill or empty the water, you have to take the entire unit to the sink. The scratchy, high-pitched sound it emits is also a bit irritating – although it isn’t too loud, meaning you can survive the few minutes it needs to run its cleaning cycle.

There’s bad news, too, for those who are unsure about the Sonic Spa Pro’s UV-C technology – you can’t opt to use the device exclusively as a supersonic bath.

Nevertheless, even taking all of the negatives into account, overall I was impressed with the Sonic Spa Pro – and my teeth have never felt cleaner. Not only this, but it’s also helping to make my toothbrush heads last longer, removing as much of the residual toothpaste and calcification as possible before it can build up to damage the toothbrush.

(Image credit: Future) Should I buy the Sonic Spa Pro? Buy it if...

You and/or your household have a number of dental appliances

For households with multiple electric toothbrushes, retainers and the like, the Sonic Spa Pro is a great investment.

You're sick and tired of cleaning retainers and mouthguards

The Sonic Spa Pro does a great job at quickly cleaning your dental appliances, and seems to be effective at doing so - though it's hard to measure

Don't buy it if...

You're on a budget

If you aren't in dire need, the Sonic Spa Pro is likely to be a little too much of an investment.

You want to clean jewellery

I tried cleaning a medallion and a few necklaces in the Sonic Spa Pro, and they came out looking basically the same

You're nervous about UV technology

The Sonic Spa Pro's UV lighting is non-negotiable, so not something well-suited to those avoiding it.

The Flexispot E7L is an electric standing desk by the popular Flexispot Standing Desk and accessories company. As standing desks are becoming increasingly more popular among professionals due to their ergonomic benefits, Flexispot has made a stamp in the field as one of the more prominent and high-quality offerings available.

The Flexispot E7L Pro L-Shaped Standing Desk is designed to make the most of the available space, offering impressive workspace and forming an L-shape with two desktops merged to create one desk. Having tested the best standing desks, this large workspace feels perfect for those looking to make the most of a corner or those who need a lot of desk space. With its three powerful motors, the desk provides smooth and quiet height adjustments, giving users the flexibility to switch between sitting and standing effortlessly. It also boasts a high weight capacity of 330.7lb/150kg, making it suitable for multiple monitors, gaming peripherals, or heavy desktop setups. All around, this desk is impressive. And if you require an L-shaped standing desk, there isn't much better than this.

(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future) Flexispot E7L: Pricing & availability

Flexispot positions the FlexiSpot E7L Standing Desk as a premium offering in the standing desk market. It is a modified version of their flagship E7L desk to make the L-shape. Priced around $640/£570, it offers excellent value considering its spacious design, advanced features, and high build quality. Those who prefer a custom desktop can opt to purchase the frame alone for $550/£370.

The desk is available directly from FlexiSpot’s official website, as well as through select online retailers. FlexiSpot frequently runs promotional discounts, with prices often reduced during seasonal sales. So, if you can hold off and don't need to buy a desk today, it will be well worth waiting for a deal or promotional discount.

(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future) Flexispot E7L: Unboxing & first impressions

Unboxing the Flexispot E7L is nearly identical to unboxing the Flexispot E7 and E7 Pro, with just an extra box for the extra desktop. There are three boxes in total, one with the frame and legs and then one box for each desktop piece. The assembly was super straightforward, and it only took my team and me about 40 minutes. As I do with all desks, I used my Hoto Tools Electric screwdriver to assemble the desk, though you can use a drill or manual screwdriver if that's what you already have.

I immediately recognized the premium quality I was familiar with from Flexispot. Their frame and legs are incredibly sturdy, and since there is a 90-degree desk, this desk is even more stable than my E7 Pro; it is just about as stable as my E7 Plus.

(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future) Flexispot E7L: Design and Build Quality Specs

Dimensions: 58.7 - 82.7 inches / 25.8 - 40.1 inches
Height Range: 25 - 50.8 inches
Weight Capacity: 330lb
Adjustment Mechanism: Triple-motor lift system

The Flexispot E7L L-shaped desk is designed with space and durability in mind. It has excellent build materials, high-quality desktops, and solid lifting capacity, especially for this size desk. The frame is constructed from carbon steel, ensuring long-term durability and fantastic stability thanks partially to the frame materials and partially to the frame shape. Because of the height adjustability, this desk is perfect for nearly any size person, and the size makes it great for holding any volume of gear.

(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future) Flexispot E7L: In use

Once we got this desk set up, the Flexispot E7L impressed us with the smooth height adjustment, especially with the three-motor system. Everything was synced up nicely, with no studders or uneven lifting. The dual-desktop system offers more space than we expected when preparing for the desk, which was a welcomed surprise. The ample space allows for multiple monitors or plenty of flexible workspace.

As always, with the Flexispot desks, four height presets can be assigned for ease of use, and a USB-A port can be built into the controller. It's a little thing, but having a button, you can press and know that the desk will go to the perfect custom height every time is marvelous. I have some desks that need the presets, and while it's also super easy to press and hold a button, there's something about pressing a button and forgetting about it that takes the whole experience to the next level.

Lastly, as all of these Flexispot controllers have, a child lock button will help prevent accidental height changes, especially if you have the desktop covered in a project that can't be disturbed.

(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future)

I got this desk placed in a real-world example with some of my team. As you can see in the pictures, this desk works perfectly in a home office setting and even in a classroom setting, speaking to its shocking versatility regardless of its massive footprint. This desk has performed wonderfully over the last several weeks, making it an easy recommendation for anyone looking for a gigantic L-shaped desktop.

(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future) Flexispot E7L: Final verdict

The FlexiSpot E7L Pro L-Shaped Standing Desk is a top choice for those who need a spacious, versatile, and customizable desk. While the setup requires effort and tools, the result is a highly functional and ergonomic workspace. Its sturdy build, high load capacity, and flexible desktop options make it well worth the investment for both home offices, traditional offices, gaming setups, and even classroom or co-working setups. If you’re after a premium standing desk that grants you plenty of room for activities that won't break down, you should check out the Flexispot E7L.

For more workspace essentials, our office furniture experts have tested the best office chairs. 

FlexiSpot G7: two-minute review

The FlexiSpot G7 is another attempt for the company to corner the standing desk market, with a premium monster of a gaming desk. It comes in with a host of features that you'd expect from a mid-range desk and even a couple that I'd associate with a more premium price. The question is, do those features actually justify a $700 price tag for this US-only desk?

The version I was sent was the 55 x 28-inch (139.7 x 71cm) desktop, with a FPS finish. Slightly textured, and with a glitter look, it not only feels great under my hands but it means I don't have to use a mousepad with it. It's also curved inward and chamfered at the edge, which along with the vast adjustability of the stand I was sent, puts this particular model pretty high on the ergonomics scale.

Included in the top-end price, I was sent the most expensive stand and keypad combo which is what really pushes this model into the region of $700. There are some cheaper options, though pairing it with the cheaper stand means foregoing the ridiculous weight capacity and Premier keypad, which I'll get into later. For now, we'll concentrate on this version explicitly, and so far I've been thoroughly impressed.

(Image credit: Future/Katie Wickens)

From fantastic ergonomics to adjustable collision detection, and a ridiculous weight capacity that would seat the most monstrous of gaming rigs, there's really a lot to like about the G7. There are a couple of minor drawbacks, such as a slightly noisy motor and a minor wobble when extended to a standing position, the only real issue I have is the added price of the E7 Pro stand. 

The biggest competition for the G7 right now is the FlexiSpot E7, an impressive desk from the same company that's currently sitting atop our best standing desk guide and actually makes use of the alternative (and far cheaper) E7 stand. The E7 desk you can get for around the same price as the G7, though there are often discounts to be found on the E7 today. 

I wouldn't necessarily pay the difference for the G7 with the top-end and frankly unnecessary E7 Pro stand – unless I had a supremely heavy setup – but I would potentially stretch another $50 dollars for the fantastic ergonomics and gorgeous finish of the G7 desktop. If I had a wireless charging phone, however, the Flexispot E7 with wireless charging is still likely to win out. However, if you wanted to cheat the system, you can just configure the often discounted E7 with the E7 frame and the G7 Gaming Series desktop to get the exact same desk for less. 

FlexiSpot G7: Price and availability

• List price of $704.98
• Only available in the US
• Price difference between stands is silly

At time of writing, the FlexiSpot G7 is only available in the US, where the smaller version with the most premium legs will set you back just over $700. That's without any cable management included since the optional cable tray doesn't fit the 55-inch (139 cm) desktop unless you drill it yourself. This version is only really necessary if you've got an overly heavy setup since the major difference – other than the price – is the weight capacity.

This version of the G7 goes up against some of the top standing desks around. Even when paired with the E5-A stand, it's not going to come in as our favorite budget standing desk when the FlexiSpot E5 exists. And while it's not as impressive (nor as expensive) as something like the Beflo Tenon Premium, it sits pretty much right in the middle at that pricing sweet spot for gaming desks. I would have liked to see compatibility with all the FlexiSpot greebles for the price, though.

If your PC setup doesn't weigh in at more than 355 lbs (161 kg), I'd recommend saving a few bucks by pairing the fantastic G7 desktop with the standard E7 frame and Premium keypad instead, as there's just not enough impressive features to warrant the extra cost of the E7 Pro. 

FlexiSpot G7: Specs

The FlexiSpot G7 specifications when using the three different compatible stands:

(Image credit: Future/Katie Wickens) FlexiSpot G7: Assembly

• Super simple 50 min setup
• Easy-to-understand instructions
• Lots of non-recyclable packaging

Out of the box, I was impressed with the weight of the FlexiSpot G7. It came in two separate packages, which makes sense for a fully configurable mix-and-match desk. Thankfully I had two helpers to move it upstairs, and would recommend getting another person to help you move it for the sake of your spine.

I was able to get the desk and legs out of the box and set up in less than 50 minutes with two people unpacking and screwing. Granted I'm well versed in desk assembly and my helper is a Physicist, but it was mostly thanks to FlexiSpot's superbly laid out instructions and simple fixture solutions.

A setup time like that makes it a great option for the time-poor, though that doesn't include the time spent clearing up all the non-recyclable plastic packaging, which we had to put in the trash. The G7 was packed safely,  with easy-to-remove packaging, but I do wish companies would start using more sustainable packing materials. Just a thought.

Getting it up once the legs were on was not so bad, since I was able to position it so I could just flip it into place, though I wish the instructions told me to attach the keypad after turning it over as I had to lift one edge so it didn't snap off. It's also worth mentioning that I managed to put it together in a spare bedroom in a UK terraced house, which is a pretty small space. So although the G7 might come across as monstrous it's not so bad as long as you don't have too many breakables in the vicinity.

(Image credit: Future/Katie Wickens) FlexiSpot G7: Design and features

• Curved front with chamfered edge
• Cable cutout at the back
• Gorgeous finish on the tabletop

The surface of the FlexiSpot G7 desktop is a bit strange to the touch, but not bad, just not smooth like your standard desktop. It's textured, which isn't generally something people look for in a desk but bear with me. It's got a good sparkle to the finish and, while that won't be for everyone, there's something really satisfying to me about catching the G7 glittering out the corner of my eye as I move around it. Importantly, the textured finish doesn't seem to worsen my aim when I use it without a mousepad, although I've not noticed any improved precision or quicker reflexes in games, as the site suggests I might. There's no need to use a mousepad, but I appreciate most people will be using it with one. I would still recommend it if you're flinging your mouse around a lot as the textured surface – while beautiful – has the potential to graze soft hands.

Size-wise, you have the option of a slightly deeper desktop of 55 x 28 inches (139.7 x 71.1cm), or the wider but more shallow 60 x 27 inches (152.4 x 68.5cm) for an extra $30. I went for the smaller one and still managed to fit a standard setup PC on it, complete with a 1080p monitor, tower, standing mic, and two small speakers. There's even space left over for another monitor tacked on with a bracket if I fancied it. And with all the cables neatly tucked through a recess in the back of the desktop, and deftly run through the magnetic cable manager included it looks super neat.

The problem I encountered was that, while you can purchase the proper cable management tray to go underneath, there are no holes to accommodate it. You'd have to drill your own holes for the privilege, which is sad as the magnetic cable 'tray' has trouble with masses of heavy cables.

With a front edge that's curved inward, you get a pretty immersive feel sitting in front of the G7. More desks should be this shape, honestly, because I feel like I'm sitting at the desk as opposed to just in front of it. And with a chamfered edge on the front as opposed to a sharp edge like a lot of standing desks are still using today, I can happily rest my wrists on it without them jabbing into me.

(Image credit: Future/Katie Wickens) FlexiSpot G7: Performance

• Collision detection is welcome
• Noisy mechanism
• Wobbles when tall

The E7 Pro stand I got is made for a monster setup of a 440 lb (199.5 kg) max weight. That's far more weight capacity than your average gamer will ever need. The only real difference aesthetically from the cheaper ones is that the legs are pushed back with tapered brackets and feet. Other than that, you can only choose the Premier keypad to go with it. 

That said, the Premier keypad is nicely rounded and has both adjustable collision prevention and four memory functions for height. It took mere seconds to get everything programmed, and you can even adjust the sensitivity of the collision detection, in case you have more easily breakable stuff to worry about, such as children. The Premier keypad, like the Premium before it, also has a USB-A port on the side, which is pretty darn handy.

It's worth noting that it can be a little unstable on the carpet when tall, even after settling into it for a good couple of weeks. Granted it's a pretty thick carpet, but there's a noticeable wobble when extended to a standing position, making team meetings a bit shaky. The motor, while smooth, is also a little noisy. Not the kind of thing you could operate silently while a loved one was asleep nearby. 

Should you buy the FlexiSpot G7? Buy it if...

Your setup is super heavy
This model specifically I can only recommend for people with really heavy equipment (up to 440 lbs / 199.5 kg). For your average gamer, there's otherwise not enough difference in the stands and keypads to warrant the extra cost unless you're packing some monster hardware. 

You don't like mouse pads and wrist rests
The surface of the G7 desk means you don't need a mousepad and the chamfered edge is much nicer than your average desk with a sharp edge.

Don't buy it if...

You need lots of cable management
Sadly the smaller desktop of the G7 is incompatible with the FlexiSpot cable tray, so you'll either have to drill your own holes or make do with the magnetic one which isn't exactly robust. 

You're on a budget
There are plenty of cheaper gaming desks out there with just as many features. This is not a cheap desk when paired with the E7 Pro stand. 

Also consider

There's much to like about the FlexiSpot G7, though there are a couple of major alternatives I would recommend. Especially for those on a budget, or anyone looking for a more robust cable management solution.

Also consider the FlexiSpot E7
The FlexiSpot E7 is a great alternative as it uses one of the cheaper-but-still-good stand alternatives, and can still be configured with the gaming desktop.

For more information, check out our full FlexiSpot E7 review. 

Also consider the Secretlab Magnus Pro
The Secretlab Magnus Pro is a great alternative because of its versatility and integrated cable management solution. It's perfect for gamers if you can warrant spending a little extra cash.

For more information, check out our full Secretlab Magnus Pro review. 

(Image credit: Future/Katie Wickens) How I tested the FlexiSpot G7

• Put it together while timing myself
• Worked at the desk several hours a day for a few weeks
• Programmed the buttons, and checked the collision detection

I put the desk together myself, taking care to time the endeavor. I spent a few weeks working at the desk, first making time to familiarise myself with the controls. After programming it, and checking out the collision detection by whacking the bottom while it was in motion, I would spend some time each day working in different positions and listening to the motor intently as it moved.

Read more about how we test

First reviewed September 2024

Iniu PD 22.5W 20000mAh review

The Iniu PD 22.5w 20000mAh isn’t the most capacious power bank on the market. But for its price, it will give you a whole lot of charges for not much money.

The Iniu PD 22.5w 20000mAh doesn’t rock a ridiculous number of features, but what’s there is impressive, especially for the price. First of all it has a whopping 20,000mAh Lithium Polymer cell inside, which accounts for its bulk, which means it should keep charging your devices day after day. Additionally, with a USB-C and two standard USB ports, you’re able to charge three devices at once.

To really put the Iniu PD 22.5w 20000mAh through its paces, I took it away to a music festival and used it to charge my iPhone 12 Pro over the course of a long weekend. Charging my phone up to 100% once a day on the Saturday, Sunday, and Monday only depleted the battery down to 54%, meaning you may well get almost a week’s worth of charge out of it if you aren’t fully draining your phone every day. That’s more than many of the best power banks can deliver.

On top of this, the Iniu PD 22.5w 20000mAh offers 22.5W charging, which is fine for the max charging the best iPhones require, although falls quite a way short of the 100W that the best Android phones like the OnePlus Nord 4 are capable of drawing, and means you won’t be charging a MacBook off it. In practice though, during a separate test, this meant it took 128 minutes to charge the iPhone 13 Pro’s 3,095mAh battery, which could be much worse.

Looks-wise, the Iniu PD 22.5w 20000mAh is a nice-looking battery, while not being so stunning that you’re going to be terrified of damaging it. It comes with a pleasing matte finish in either black or white. An LCD screen on the front of the device tells you exactly how much charge is left – far more useful than the series of LEDs some power banks employ.

At an inch thick and weighing 12.8oz (323g), this power bank has got some serious chonk to it. It also doesn’t have any IP weatherproofing, meaning you really don’t want to drop it in any puddles. In spite of this, it still sat comfortably enough in my pocket as I wandered around and boogied at the festival, and it survived a full day of torrential rain in the pocket of my damp jeans without much worry.

For an affordable power bank, the Iniu PD 22.5w 20000mAh offers a serious amount of juice. While it doesn’t provide features like fast charging or wireless charging, it’s an obvious choice for anyone who wants to keep their phone topped up during a week away.

(Image credit: Future) Iniu PD 22.5w 20000mAh review: Price & specs

(Image credit: Future) Should I buy the Iniu PD 22.5w 20000mAh? Buy it if…

You need a big-capacity battery that doesn’t cost the earth
There are (slightly) bigger power banks out there, but few of them are this reasonably priced, costing a fair bit more for a modest increase in total charge.

You want to charge multiple gadgets at once
With its USB-C and dual USB ports, the Iniu PD 22.5w 20000mAh Power Bank will happily charge your phone, smartwatch, and earbuds all at once.

Don't buy it if…

You want to charge your phone, fast
The Iniu PD 22.5w 20000mAh Power Bank is only capable of 22.5W charging, which is much slower than many Android handsets are capable of these days.

You want a compact, lightweight power bank
At 12.8oz (363g), the PD 22.5w 20000mAh Power Bank is a fairly weighty battery. It can still fit in a pocket, but if you want something you can just carry around until you need it, it might be worth looking elsewhere.

Iniu PD 22.5w 20000mAh review: Also consider

Anker Prime 27,650mAh Power Bank (250W)
At $179.99 / £179.99 (roughly AU$261.35), affordable it ain’t. But if you want the perfect combo of ultra-high capacity and insanely fast charging, your best bet is the Anker Prime 27,650mAh Power Bank (250W). It can charge a MacBook Pro M2 to 50% in just 30 minutes or charge an iPhone 16 more than four times, which makes it a beast of a power bank.View Deal