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Here are hints and the answer for today's Wordle for July 25, No. 1,497.

• 44-liter backpack inspired by Apple's earbuds
• Two giant pods and a laptop sleeve inside
• On sale 25 July 2025

The design studio and clothing brand that brought you Foot Clogs (clogs that look like feet) Toe Slides (sliders that look like giant toes) and the Rock Shoe (which, of course, is a shoe that looks like a rock) has done it again: the AIRPACK is an AirPods-inspired backpack that looks like a giant AirPods case.

The inspiration doesn't stop on the outside. Open up the clamshell-style zipper and there are two pods inside – but instead of giant earbuds, they're pouches for flexible storage. There's also a dedicated laptop sleeve to keep your MacBook safe. (I assume you have a MacBook if you're buying this.)

The AIRPACK "reimagines tech minimalism as streetwear utility," Hypebeast says, and it's part of Bravest Studios' tradition "of transforming everyday objects into wearable art".

And you can use it to pretend you've been zapped by a shrink ray, which is definitely a bonus.

A post shared by Bravest Studios New York (@bravest)

A photo posted by on

Bravest Studios AIRPACK: price and release date

I have to admit, I love the irreverence that Bravest brings to some of its designs: while most of its products are pretty sensible, it's the more out-there stuff that gets the headlines and gets people talking. And to go with the AIRPACK there's an equally irreverent collection of imagery that deliberately apes the iconic iPod ads.

I don't like it enough to actually buy an AIRPACK, mind you: 44 liters is absolutely massive for a daily backpack, and the AirPods case-styled shape looks overly wide.

I very much doubt I'd be able to have it as carry-on luggage on a budget airline, and wearing one on the subway's likely to make me extremely unpopular. But I like that it exists, and at a reported price of $130 (about £96 / AU$197), I suspect the limited run will sell out very quickly when online sales go live on 25 July.

Maybe I'll treat myself to a pair of Toe Slides instead.

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It's just the start of a summer recess for Congress, but already House Republicans are being asked questions back home about the push to release records related to the late Jeffrey Epstein.

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The game's lower price is here to stay, for now.

The public beta is here and it's probably worth checking out more than ever if you care about turning your iPad into an almost-Mac.

Those participating in the PS5 beta program will get access to the new feature on Friday.

The Wisdom of Sea and Sky expansion set introduces the original shiny hunt from the mainline games to Pokemon TCG Pocket.

The Supreme Court has extended a pause, for now, on a lower court ruling that struck down a key tool for protecting minority voters under the Voting Rights Act in seven states.

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DOGE cuts to the National Park Service spawned fears of widespread problems for park visitors during peak summer season, as parks continue to see record visit numbers. The cuts are real, but mostly invisible.

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We'll be keeping up with the latest on TV shows like Avatar: Seven Havens, movies and games.

• Microsoft pays billions to inject manure underground to cancel out AI carbon emissions
• Vaulted Deep turns sewage and manure into a climate fix buried 5,000 feet down
• Carbon offset prices may drop, but right now, each ton costs around $350

Microsoft is once again spending heavily on carbon removal - but this time, the strategy is not based on futuristic machinery or carbon-scrubbing forests, but instead involves waste, specifically human and animal excrement, manure, and agricultural byproducts.

The company has entered into a multi-year agreement with Vaulted Deep to dispose of this organic material by injecting it underground.

The method is designed to prevent decomposition from releasing carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere.

An underground solution to an atmospheric problem

According to Inc., Vaulted Deep will handle the burial of 4.9 million metric tons of waste over the next 12 years.

While the company reportedly charges $350 per ton for carbon removal, CEO Julia Reichelstein clarified, “the mentioned price isn’t the actual sum that the tech giant paid” and added that costs are expected to drop over time.

Still, if the listed price were accurate, the deal could exceed $1.7 billion in value, but at the moment, no exact figure has been disclosed by either side.

The rationale behind this method is rooted in preventing the harmful effects of current waste disposal practices.

“Generally, what happens to these wastes today is they go to a landfill, they get dumped in a waterway, or they’re just spread on land for the purpose of disposal. In all of those cases, they’re decomposing into CO2 and methane,” said Reichelstein.

“That’s contributing to climate change. And then oftentimes, especially when it’s spread on land, all those pathogens are going directly into people’s groundwater.”

Vaulted Deep’s process involves converting waste into a dense slurry and then pumping it more than 5,000 feet below the surface.

This approach not only locks the material away from the atmosphere but also bypasses the ecological risks associated with surface-level disposal.

The idea may seem unconventional, but it fits into a broader pattern of tech companies scrambling for scalable carbon offset strategies.

Microsoft, along with other cloud giants like Google and Amazon, is confronting the environmental cost of data centers, facilities that require massive energy input, often from fossil-fuel sources.

With AI workloads intensifying this demand, the need to find creative mitigation solutions has grown urgent.

Earlier in 2025, Microsoft also partnered with AtmosClear to sequester 6.75 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, showing its willingness to explore different strategies.

That said, it is unclear how scalable or sustainable the waste-to-carbon-offset method will be in the long term, especially if costs remain high and public perception turns critical.

Via TomsHardware

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It looks like both AOL and Yahoo are suffering from an outage affecting their email services, as users have flocked online to report to Downdetector that they can't send, receive or indeed access their emails.

"We understand some users are currently experiencing difficulties accessing their accounts. We are actively investigating this issue and will provide updates as soon as more information becomes available. We appreciate your patience and apologize for any inconvenience this may," AOL's customer service has posted on X.

Let's dig into this as it develops...

AOL took to X to post that it's experiencing outage problems with it email service.

We understand some users are currently experiencing difficulties accessing their accounts. We are actively investigating this issue and will provide updates as soon as more information becomes available. We appreciate your patience and apologize for any inconvenience this may…July 24, 2025

Yahoo has basically said the same as AOL on X: "We understand some users are currently experiencing difficulties accessing their accounts. We are actively investigating this issue and will provide updates as soon as more information becomes available. We appreciate your patience and apologize for any inconvenience this may cause."

It's seems to be a day for outages as over in the UK, network provider EE is also suffering an outage, which also appears to be ongoing.

Looking at the Downdetector report for AOL, it seems to be specifically affecting the email side of its services.

"I'm in Alabama. I can log in and it show's I have email but the messages says there was an error fetching the items in the list. I used MS Outlook and am getting a sync error for my AOL account. This SUCKS! I sell Real Estate and this is one of the WORST things that could happen!!!" said one user on Donwdetector.

It seems to me that this outage has been going on for AOL from around 10am ET.

And there have been growing reports on Downdetector, which would indicate this issue is becoming widespread in the US.

In the UK there was a spike of AOL outage reports, again pertaining to emails but the outage seems a lot smaller; that could be down to fewer UK users than in the US.

The same could be said for Yahoo Mail in the UK, though it seems to me that on the Downdetector page, reports of problems could be abating.

As one might expect, there's not a lot of friendly sentiment for Yahoo on X, with one user noting: "Yahoo email is so unreliable. Time to find something better, and that shouldn't be too hard."

Yahoo email is so unreliable. Time to find something better, and that shouldn't be too hard.July 24, 2025

Equally, and a little like me, some people have expressed wry bemusement that people are still using Yahoo email...

TIL people are still using Yahoo for thingsJuly 24, 2025

There's a little bit of inconsistency in how the outage seems to be affecting Yahoo Mail users, with some saying they can log into their email but aren't getting any messages, while others are noting they can't aces any of their emails, with error messages being thrown up.

Things aren't exactly rosy for AOL either, with responses to the company's X account noting the outage is somewhat widespread in the States and affecting different devices.

This user isn't happy...

I guess this what we get for keeping aol as our email. I've had it since 1998. RidiculousJuly 24, 2025

So why are AOL and Yahoo both suffering an outage? Well they merged into one company so are almost certainly sharing infrastructure, meaning an outage for one brand is likely to affect the other.

With so many email clients and services one might think an AOL/Yahoo outage could be glossed over a little but as one Downdetector poster notes: "RIP. Can't retrieve MFA codes."

So if you're using such an email service to handle multi-factor authentication then you might be a little stuck.

Still nothing new from Yahoo or AOL on how long this outage will last or what's caused it.

I can't see any outages for cloud platform providers that could be affecting email service servers and supporting infrastructure, so I'm a little limited on how much I can speculate as to the cause of this email outage.

Interestingly, the sign-up page for AOL email still appears to be active...

I kind of feel sorry for small businesses when these forms of email outages occur, as they probably lack the resources and backup systems to mitigate for such outages.

Down on desktop, app and iPhone in Massachusetts. Please keep us updatedJuly 24, 2025

So if you look at this image, you can see it's not a good look for AOL's email in Downdetector, but perhaps the number of outage reports have peaked...

(Image credit: Downdetector)

It's understandably a similar situation for Yahoo on Downdetector, as you can see below...

(Image credit: Downdetector)

No hint of when a fix will be made for Yahoo. And I feel this X user's frustration...

What is the time frame to have this issue fixed? I really need to access my EmailJuly 24, 2025

AOL is being equally quiet...

But oddly it seems like AOL email is working on iPhone for some users.

AOL mail is down online but available on an iPhone.July 24, 2025

Totally get this could be a big ol' issue for Yahoo email users too:

When an important website (like a bank) sent a code to your email to sign in but your email is unavailable....What happens to the code or other info that was sent to this email? @YahooCare @yahoomail pic.twitter.com/YPlCJ3z2pgJuly 24, 2025

(Image credit: Google; Shutterstock)

I'm a Microsoft and Gmail email user so tend to have backups for certain important authentication services. But it's not a fool proof method, especially if you can't use a backup or secondary email.

If I couldn't get a bank code due to an email outage, I'd be rather upset... I'm not the most patient of people.

AOL's main website, including its search and news functions are all operating fine, so this does appear to be an outage exclusively linked to email services.

Hmmm I'm seeing some murmurings that AOL email could slowly be coming back with Downdetector user MelissaW noting "It looks like it works, but will not delete email or let you look in folders. Gives an error message."

Certainly doesn't look look like the email issue is fixed, but sporadic returns of service may be an indicator that AOL is trying out fixes.

A scathing comment about AOL by one Stephen Jackson on Downdetector: "AOL too busy bombarding us with their ever switching non-stop spam, instead of focusing on making sure their email works."

On the Yahoo Downdetector page it looks like some of the service is coming back with one RL Ross noting: "It seems to be coming back up - just got my emails from this morning, finally."

"Mine just came back," said Downdetector user Pamela. So things are looking up.

This message still remains at the top of AOL's Help page: "We are aware some users are experiencing issues accessing their AOL Mail, or displaying their mailbox. We are working to resolve this as quickly as possible. Thank you for your patience as our engineers work to remedy this concern."

(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff)

Looks like AOL email could be back up in South Florida, New York City, Langhorne, Washington, Los Angeles and North Carolina, according to a clutch of Downdetector users.

We got an email from a reader called Barbara Callahan who said the following: "I have been following you about AOL outage. Thank you for ALL the updates am on Long Island NY and mine seems to be up and working now."

So it looks like all is slowly getting well with Yahoo and AOL's email services. Expect a few hiccups or perhaps some lost emails or ones stuck in drafts.

"The outage today ate some emails. I have a gap of about 3-4 hours of emails that I never received that I know were sent. Yikes." said a Downdetector user on the Yahoo page.

With AOL some users are suggesting a restart of the app, and that's something I'd recommend after an outage, so consider it a good tip.

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Samsung QN80F: Two-minute review

The Samsung QN80F is the mid-range model in the company’s 2025 4K Neo QLED mini-LED TV lineup. It is available in 50-100-inch sizes (with the 50-inch only available in the UK and the 100-inch only available in the US and Australia) and carries a stacked feature set.

The QN80F uses the same NQ4 AI Gen2 processor as its predecessor, the Samsung QN85D. While not as effective as the step-up Gen3 processor, it still delivers useful picture and audio enhancements.

Picture quality is mixed on the QN80F. Its vibrant yet natural colors are up there with the best TVs, and it also delivers refined details and solid contrast. While brightness is lacking compared to cheaper rivals such as the TCL QM7K (and even the TCL C7K in the UK), it can still give pictures a nice boost. Black levels, while raised at times, are also generally respectable. Where the QN80F struggles is with its highly reflective screen and inconsistent motion handling, particularly with sports – something its more premium counterpart, the Samsung QN90F, has no issue with.

Sound quality is average on the QN80F. Speech is clear and sound placement is accurate, with a good sense of direction, but bass is lacking, and the narrow soundstage never extends beyond the screen’s threshold. Movie fans will definitely want to invest in one of the best soundbars for this TV.

Gaming is a strong area for the QN80F, which has a near-full list of gaming features, including 4K 120Hz, FreeSync Premium Pro and ALLM across four HDMI 2.1 ports. Plus, Samsung's Gaming Hub is an excellent portal for cloud-based gaming apps. Pair all this with an ultra-low 9.9ms input lag time, and the QN80F competes with the best gaming TVs.

Samsung’s own Tizen 9.0 smart TV platform serves as the QN80F’s smart interface. With smooth performance, tons of picture settings, a customizable home page, several ‘hubs’, and a useful quick menu, Tizen 9.0 is the best iteration of Samsung’s smart TV platform to date. Some settings are buried deep in menus, but this is one of my only gripes.

While the QN80F does have a strong feature list and generally solid performance, its value is a tough category to score. At $1,299 / £1,399 for the 55-inch model I tested, there are cheaper mini-LEDs from Hisense and TCL that deliver very similar features and performance for a lower price. The QN80F is still a good option, but one that you should look for during major sales events.

Samsung QN80F review: Price and release date

The Samsung QN80F demonstrates decent contrast but minor backlight blooming (Image credit: Future)

• Release date: May 2025
• 50-inch: $N/A / £1,099
• 55-inch: $1,299.99 / £1,399 (roughly AU$1,991)
• 65-inch: $1,799.99 / £1,699 (roughly AU$2,757)
• 75-inch: $2,299.99 / £2,599 (roughly AU$3,524)
• 85-inch: $3,499.99 / £3,699 (roughly AU$5,363)
• 100-inch: $5,999.99 / £N/A (roughly AU$9,196)

The Samsung QN80F is the mid-range model in Samsung’s 2025 4K Neo QLED (mini-LED) lineup, sitting above the Samsung QN70F and below the Samsung QN85F and the flagship Samsung QN90F. The QN80F is not available in Australia. For the 55-inch model I tested, its May 2025 launch prices were $1,299.99 / £1,399 (roughly AU$1,990).

Since its launch, there have been discounts across the entire lineup. The 55-inch price remains unchanged in the US, but in the UK, its price has dropped to £1,199.

Samsung QN80F review: Specs

Screen type:

QLED with mini-LED

Refresh rate:

120Hz

HDR support:

HDR10+, HDR10, HLG

Audio support:

Dolby Atmos

Smart TV:

Tizen

HDMI ports:

4 x HDMI 2.1

Built-in tuner:

ATSC 3.0 (USA)

Samsung QN80F review: Benchmark resultsSamsung QN80F review: Features

The QN80F has four HDMI 2.1 ports with 4K 120Hz support (Image credit: Future)

• NQ4 AI Gen 2 Processor
• HDR10+ HDR support
• Four HDMI 2.1 ports with 4K 120Hz for gaming

The Samsung QN80F uses a mini-LED backlight and has a standard gloss screen rather than the Glare Free screen used in the step-up Samsung QN90F mini-LED TV. It features Samsung’s QN4 AI Gen2 Processor, a step-down from the Gen3 processor used in the QN90F, that supports 4K AI upscaling and Real Depth Enhancer.

Like all Samsung TVs, the QN80F supports the HDR10+ High Dynamic Range format, but not Dolby Vision.

The QN80F’s four-channel, 30W sound system supports Dolby Atmos. There are also AI-based tools such as Active Voice Amplifier and Adaptive Sound, both of which analyze the content on screen and adapt the sound accordingly.

Gaming features include 4K 120Hz, VRR (AMD FreeSync Premium Pro included) and ALLM, with all supported on four HDMI 2.1 ports. There is also Samsung’s Gaming Hub, which provides access to cloud-based gaming apps including Xbox and Luna.

The QN80F uses Samsung’s Tizen 9.0 as its smart TV platform. Along with the AI-based picture and sound enhancement tools mentioned above, the TV provides AI content recommendations based on viewing history. It has access to all major streaming apps such as Netflix and Prime Video, and there is built-in voice assistant support from Alexa and Bixby. The QN80F also supports the Samsung Art Store feature previously exclusive to Samsung’s The Frame TVs, which lets you display artworks when the TV is in standby mode.

• Features Score: 5/5

Samsung QN80F review: Picture quality

The QN80F's strength lies in its color reproduction, which is punchy and accurate (Image credit: Future)

• Bold, vibrant colors
• Generally good contrast
• Screen reflections

I measured the QN80F in its Standard and Movie picture modes. I did find that Filmmaker Mode was the more accurate picture preset overall, but Movie provided a brightness boost (in default settings) that allowed the QN80F to better show off its picture quality strengths.

Peak brightness (measured on a 10% HDR white window pattern) hit 1,106 nits in Movie mode and 975 nits in Standard. That is a big drop from its step-up sibling, the QN90F, which registered 2,086 nits in Movie and 1,987 nits in Standard. It’s even less than the cheaper mid-range TCL QM7K, which hit 1,733 nits in Filmmaker mode (the UK equivalent TCL C7K hit 1,706 nits). This is quite a disappointing result for the QN80F.

Fullscreen HDR brightness, however, was significantly higher, with the QN80F hitting 754 nits in Movie mode and a mammoth 869 nits in Standard, which should make Samsung’s mid-range mini-LED TV great for daytime viewing in brighter rooms.

This does, however, bring me to the elephant in the room: the QN80F’s reflective screen. I found that I could see objects reflected on the TV’s screen when watching dark scenes, even in dim room lighting conditions.

The QN80F does an effective job upscaling non-4K movies and TV shows. An HD stream of Fight Club viewed on Disney Plus benefited from an uplift in sharpness, giving textures a cleaner look, and contrast was also stronger. But upscaling wasn’t as effective with lower-resolution content. The TV’s Auto Remastering HDR setting is an option here, but I found it gave pictures a too-sharp look.

Color reproduction is the QN80F’s main strength. A scene from Elemental (on Disney Plus) where Ember makes a red and orange glass vase showcased the TV’s vibrant, punchy color display. Watching a 4K Blu-ray of Wicked, a scene where Elphaba sings under pink flowers showcased the QN80F’s ability to deliver more natural hues, giving the flowers and Elphaba’s green skin a realistic yet dynamic look.

When I measured the QN80F’s HDR color gamut coverage, it yielded results of 70.3% for BT.2020 and 93.05% for UHDA-P3. These are surprisingly low results for a mini-LED in this range, but also not far off the QN90F’s numbers, which hit 76.3% and 93.6%, respectively, for the same color gamuts.

Black levels are surprisingly deep on the QN80F, but can also sometimes take on a raised gray tone (Image credit: Future)

The QN80F’s black levels were generally quite good. As Hutler made his way to Orlock’s castle in Nosferatu, blacks looked pretty deep, although they did take on a slightly raised gray tone at times. Contrast was solid, with light sources such as torch and lamplight contrasting well with the dark surroundings in both Nosferatu and The Batman. The QN80F also showcased good local dimming with very few instances of backlight blooming.

Viewed from an angle, the QN80F’s screen took on a gray wash in darker areas, but its contrast wasn’t as bad as what I’ve seen on some older or cheaper mini-LED TVs.

Watching the black and white scenes in Oppenheimer, the QN80F had a good range of gray tones, and while screen uniformity wasn’t as good as what you’d find on more premium mini-LED and OLED TVs, it was still solid.

Textures and details throughout my viewing were rich and lifelike, with the right level of sharpness. Faces looked detailed, and the QN80F’s solid contrast helped to give objects and textures definition and depth.

Motion handling was an area the QN80F struggled with. Setting motion and judder reduction to between 3 and 5 seemed to be the sweet spot for movies, depending on how ‘smooth’ a picture you’re looking for. With these settings active, a scene in No Time To Die where a camera pans across a cliff face was smooth without any of the dreaded soap opera effects.

Using the same settings, sports never looked quite right, however. There always seemed to be motion artifacts, regardless of the settings I used. While football games on both YouTube and Prime Video were watchable, the action wasn’t as smooth as on other TVs I’ve tested, such as the Amazon Fire TV Omni Mini-LED.

• Picture quality score: 4/5

Samsung QN80F review: Sound quality

The QN80F delivers clear speech and accurate sound placement, but struggles in every other aspect with its sound quality (Image credit: Future)

• Four-channel, 30W speaker system
• Direct sound
• Narrow soundstage and limited bass

The QN80F has a four-channel, 30W speaker system that supports Dolby Atmos. It has two preset sound modes, Standard and Amplify, as well as AI sound enhancement tools such as Active Voice Amplifier Pro (to enhance speech volume) and Adaptive Sound Pro (analyzes the content on screen to optimize the sound).

The QN80F’s built-in speakers delivered direct, clear sound throughout my viewing, with speech coming through with good clarity in most movies. Active Voice Amplifier Pro and Adaptive Sound Pro, found in the TV’s AI Mode in Advanced Settings, worked very well for sports by amplifying the commentary. Sound was also accurately connected to the action on screen, as demonstrated by the swerving traffic in The Batman’s Batmobile chase scene.

Unfortunately, the QN80F falls short elsewhere. In the same Batmobile scene, the soundstage was very narrow, and there was no sense of Dolby Atmos height or surround effects. Bass was also lacking, making the rumble of the Batmobile’s engine feel limited and flat. The balance between the vocals and score in Wicked was effective, but it didn’t have the same weight or dynamic quality I’d experienced with other TVs I've recently tested, such as the TCL C7K.

Bottom line: QN80F’s sound is fine for day-to-day viewing, but I’d recommend using it with a soundbar.

• Sound quality score: 3.5/5

Samsung QN80F review: Design

The QN80F's plain, but sturdy pedestal stand (Image credit: Future)

• Central pedestal stand
• Sturdy build quality
• Bulkier and plainer design than other Samsung TVs

The QN80F’s design plays it safe. It has a slightly bulkier depth than more premium mini-LED TVs and a plain-looking rear panel, though its glossy, silver metal frame does give it a more premium look than other mid-range TVs from Hisense and TCL.

The TV features a central pedestal stand, and due to its placement, it will make it difficult to place a soundbar underneath easily. The stand itself is made of a similar plastic to that used on the TCL C7K, but it still suits the QN80F’s design.

The QN80F uses Samsung’s SolarCell remote, a slim, compact remote control with minimal buttons. It can be charged using USB-C or the solar panel on the rear, eliminating the need for any batteries. In the UK, a second remote with numbered buttons is also included in the box.

• Design score: 4/5

Samsung QN80F review: Smart TV and menus

The QN80F uses Tizen 9.0, the best iteration to date of Samsung's smart TV platform (Image credit: Future)

• Samsung Tizen 9.0 interface
• Home, Game, Daily+ and Art hubs
• Some settings difficult to find

The QN80F uses Samsung’s Tizen smart TV platform, now in version 9.0. The Home screen’s default layout is the For You page, which presents recommendations based on your viewing history, along with a row of customizable apps. There is a large sponsored ad at the top of the screen, but this is not as invasive as the one found on Google TV.

Tizen 9.0 is the most advanced version of Samsung’s smart TV platform to date. A useful Quick Menu provides easy access to major settings categories, and it even remembers your most visited settings for quick navigation. There are four major hubs: Home, Game (a portal for all things gaming), Daily+ (for health and office-based apps) and the Art Store (where artworks can be purchased to display as a screensaver).

There are plenty of picture settings in the menus for those who like to tweak, but this is also one area where Tizen 9.0 falls short. Some settings are buried in several submenus and can be very difficult to find. Still, performance is snappy enough that navigation is easy, though I did find the QN80F to be a bit slower than its more premium counterparts.

• Smart TV & menus score: 4.5/5

Samsung QN80F review: GamingImage 1 of 2

The QN80F with Battlefield V and game menu (1) and Samsung's Gaming Hub (2) displayed (Image credit: Future)Image 2 of 2

(Image credit: Future)

• Four HDMI 2.1 ports
• 4K 120Hz, AMD Freesync Premium Pro support
• 9.9ms input lag time

The QN80F has a stacked feature list for gaming. It supports 4K 120Hz, AMD FreeSync Premium Pro, ALLM and HDR10+ gaming, all featured on four HDMI 2.1 ports. Samsung’s Gaming Hub continues as an excellent portal for everything gaming-related, including access to cloud-based apps from Xbox, Luna and more.

Performance is responsive and snappy, even during fast-paced gameplay. In Battlefield V, the most chaotic of battles felt smooth, and targeting enemies was easy. This is helped by the QN80F’s ultra-low 9.9ms input lag time, which is up there with the best 120Hz TVs.

The QN80F’s Game picture mode delivers superb color and contrast with a nice hit of brightness. Textures are sharp, and motion is smooth and well-handled.

• Gaming score: 5/5

Samsung QN80F review: Value

The QN80F's compact SolarCell remote control (Image credit: Future)

• Good feature set for the price
• Cheaper rivals available
• Price drops help value

Value is a difficult area to score for Samsung’s Neo QLED TVs. That was something we discovered in our Samsung QN90F review, and the same holds true for the Samsung QN80F.

The 55-inch model I tested is available for $1,299 / £1,199 at the time of writing. In the US, you can get the Hisense U8Q (the company’s flagship mini-LED TV) for $848, and the TCL QM7K mini-LED TV for $749, a $4-500 price difference from the QN80F. Yes, the QN80F has more features, but both those TVs are significantly brighter.

In the UK, the QN80F is a more tempting option. Priced at £1,199, it's cheaper than the Hisense U7Q Pro (the U75Q equivalent for the UK), which is priced at £1,499. But the rival TCL C7K 55-inch is priced at £849, so again cheaper rivals exist.

The QN80F’s stacked feature list and generally solid performance make it a more premium option than its rivals, but ultimately, the Hisense and TCL alternatives deliver nearly the same performance at a lower price.

• Value score: 3.5/5

Should I buy the Samsung QN90F?

(Image credit: Future)Samsung QN98F

Attributes

Notes

Rating

Features

A full suite of gaming features and AI-based enhancement settings

5/5

Picture quality

Punchy colors and contrast and refined textures but motion is hit-and-miss and the reflective screen can be very distracting in bright rooms

4/5

Sound quality

Clear speech and accurate placement but lacking bass and narrow soundstage

3.5/5

Design

Plain design with slightly bulky depth but solid and sturdy with central stand

4/5

Smart TV and menus

Snappier navigation and a 'hub' design make this the best version of Tizen yet, but some settings still buried in menus

4.5/5

Gaming

An strong list of gaming features, with a responsive performance to match

5/5

Value

More expensive than much of the competition and best sought out at a discounted price

3.5/5

Buy it if...

You want a punchy, colorful picture
The QN80F's main strength lies in its colors, which are bold, yet natural-looking.

You want a great TV for gaming
The QN80F carries a near-full suite of gaming features, including 4K 120Hz, AMD FreeSync Premium Pro, ALLM, HDR10+ gaming, across four HDMI 2.1 ports, and it also delivers smooth, responsive performance.

You want a smooth user experience
Tizen 9.0 is the best version of Samsung's smart TV software to date, with a useful quick menu, mostly smooth navigation and an intuitive hub layout.

Don't buy it if…

You want Dolby Vision HDR:
As with all Samsung TVs, the QN80F doesn't support the Dolby Vision HDR format used for 4K Blu-ray and by streaming services. It does support HDR10+, however.

You want the best value mini-LED TV
The QN80F faces stiff competition from cheaper rivals that deliver equally strong performance and features for a lower price.

You have a very bright room
The QN80F's reflective screen resulted in mirror-like reflections during my testing in brighter conditions. View Deal

Samsung QN90F: Also consider...

Samsung QN80F

Samsung QN90F

Hisense U8QG

TCL QM7K/TCL C7K

Price (55-inch)

$1,299.99 / £1,399 (roughly AU$1,991)

 $2,499.99 / £2,499 (roughly AU$3,786)

 $999 / £1,799 (roughly AU$1,513)

$749 / £849 / AU$1,395

Screen type

QLED w/ mini-LED

QLED w/ mini-LED

QLED w/ mini-LED

QLED w/ mini-LED

Refresh rate

120Hz

165Hz

165Hz

144Hz

HDR support

HDR10+, HDR10, HLG

HDR10+/HDR10/HLG

DolbyVision/HDR10+/HDR10/HLG

DolbyVision/HDR10+/HDR10/HLG

Smart TV

Tizen

Tizen

Google TV / VIDAA

Google TV

HDMI ports

4 x HDMI 2.1

4 x HDMI 2.1

3x HDMI 2.1

4 (2x HDMI 2.1)

Hisense U8QG

The U8QQ is Hisense’s top mini-LED for 2025, and its picture quality is brilliant for the price. Although it struggles in similar areas to the QN80F (such as sound quality) it's arguably overall better value for money (in the US at least).

Here’s our Hisense U8QG review

Samsung QN90F

The step-up sibling to the QN80F, the Samsung QN90F offers superior picture and sound quality, plus its Glare-Free screen makes it better for bright room viewing. It is a significant price increase over the QN80F, but the QN90F is a big quality increase as well.

Here’s our Samsung QN90F review

TCL QM7K/C7K

TCL’s mid-range mini-LED model (QM7K in the US, C7K in the UK) delivers higher brightness, better overall sound and impressive gaming performance again for cheaper than the QN80F. But, the QN80F does offer more as an overall package.

Here’s our TCL QM7K review and our TCL C7K review

How I tested the Samsung QN80FImage 1 of 2

(Image credit: Future)Image 2 of 2

(Image credit: Future)

• Subjective tests made using HDR and SDR sources
• Measurements taken using Calman calibration software
• Tested in varying lighting conditions in our testing lab

Before conducting my subjective and objective tests, I did some casual viewing of the QN80F to determine its best picture mode, deciding on Movie mode due to its added brightness. Filmmaker Mode is a good alternative as it provides a more accurate picture but it lacks the visual punch of Movie mode.

For my subjective tests, I used reference scenes from a variety of HDR (4K Blu-ray and 4K streaming) and SDR (broadcast TV and lower-resolution formats such as DVD) sources to test the QN80F's picture quality, focusing on color, contrast, detail, motion handling and upscaling. I used some of these same scenes to analyze the QN80F's built-in speakers as well.

I took several measurements of the QN80F using a colorimeter, test pattern generator and Portrait Displays Calman Color Calibration software. Brightness was measured using 1-100% white window patterns in both SDR and HDR, with results presented for peak (10%) and fullscreen (100%) brightness.

I also measured the QN80F's grayscale and color accuracy, recording its Delta-E results (the margin of error between the test pattern and what's displayed on screen).

I also measured HDR color gamut coverage for the BT.2020 and DCI-P3 color spaces.

You can check out a more in-depth guide to how we test TVs at TechRadar in the link.

• First reviewed: July 2025
• Read TechRadar's reviews guarantee

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• Radeon AI Pro R9700 confirmed for July 23 launch with 32GB GDDR6 memory
• Early partner listings show pricing between $1244 and $1277 depending on model
• The GPU is built for demanding workloads like AI, rendering, and local model inference workflows

AMD's Radeon AI Pro R9700, its fastest GPU to date, is on sale now, priced as low as $1,244.

While AMD hasn’t confirmed exact pricing at the time of writing, recent listings from board partners, spotted by Benchlife, give a good idea of what to expect.

The listings show Sapphire's models priced at $1,244 and $1,277, while ASRock's version, available to pre-order on Tech-America is listed at $1,267. That puts the probable midpoint at around $1,259.

Built for professionals

First shown at Computex 2025, the R9700 is built on the RDNA 4 architecture and uses the Navi 48 GPU. (Fun fact: Its name is a nod to the original 9700 Pro made by ATI which outperformed Nvidia products back in 2002 and helped shift the market. AMD went on to acquire ATI a few years later.)

The card comes with 32GB of GDDR6 memory, twice that of the Radeon RX 9070 XT, which shares the same core but is aimed at gamers.

That memory runs at 20000MHz over a 256-bit interface, delivering 640GB/s of bandwidth, and could make a real difference for professional users working with big datasets, training models, or juggling multiple pro apps.

By cutting down on memory swaps to RAM, the R9700 aims to keep things running smoother during demanding workflows.

The dual-slot form factor and blower-style cooling are aimed at multi-GPU setups inside professional workstations.

The card offers up to 47.8 TFLOPS in single-precision performance and up to 1531 TOPS in INT4 operations. It packs 128 AI accelerators and supports most modern media codecs, including AV1, H.264, and H.265 for encoding and decoding.

The card connects via PCIe 5.0 and features multiple output ports, including DisplayPort 2.1a and HDMI 2.1b.

Custom models from the likes of ASRock, Asus, Gigabyte, Sapphire, XFX, and Yeston will be available to buy in the coming months.

These designs will include different cooling setups or small tweaks, but the GPU core and memory will remain the same.

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