SUMMER ESSENTIALS KIT FOR FUN IN THE SUN

HTC VIVE
VERDICT
The best VR headset OBOS
T
R R
money can buy?
EAL TLE

H T 1OO
OO
R BU

TRAILBLAZING TECH TO GET EXCITED ABOUT

PLUS WIN OUR TOP 5 PICKS WORTH £2,000
ECH
-T
IGH OYS
H T

KINDLE
KILLER?
’S E-READERS GO
TICES GLE HEAD-TO-HEAD
IS O E N
TUR-HAV GOHOMSIO
OLYMPIC FUUST
M IN
VA

UPGRADES BUILD A PRO SANDCASTLE GIVE YOUR CAR A HUD

Medal-winning fitness gear FIT A SOLAR PANEL EMOTION
SENSING SMARTWATCH ISSUE 010
to turn you into a champion

14” ENIGMA VI
• Intel® Core™ M CPUs
• Intel Integrated Graphics
• Ultra thin: Just 15.6mm!
• Full HD IPS Screen
• Up to 7.5 Hours Battery
• Wireless as standard
• Windows 10
from £409.99
15.6” OCTANE
• 6th Gen Intel® Core™ CPUs
• NVIDIA® GeForce™ Graphics
• NVIDIA® G-SYNC™ Option
• Full HD IPS Screen
• Thunderbolt™ 3
• Wireless as standard
• Windows 10
from £1,119.99
pcspecialist.co.uk
/pcspecialist @pcspecialist 0333 011 7000
PC Specialist recommends Windows
UNLEASH THE
GAMER WITHIN
YOU...
SPECTRE LITE VITRUM
• AMD FX-4300 • OC Intel® Core™ i5-6600k
• ASUS® M5A97 R2.0 • ASUS® Z170-E
• 8GB Hyper-X Fury RAM • 16GB Hyper-X Fury RAM
• 2GB NVIDIA® GTX 950 • 4GB NVIDIA® GTX 970
• 1TB Hard Drive • 400GB Intel® 750 PCIe SSD
• Corsair 350W PSU • 1TB Hard Drive
• Windows 10 • Windows 10
from £499.99 from £1,199.99
II LS-M02 LS-M01
• OC Intel® Core™ i7-6700k • OC Intel® Core™ i7-6700k
• Liquid Series Mid Kit • Liquid Series Mid Kit
• 16GB Hyper-X Fury RAM • 16GB Hyper-X Fury RAM
• 4GB EVGA NVIDIA® GTX 980 • 6GB EVGA NVIDIA® GTX 980Ti
• 480GB Hyper-X SAVAGE SSD • 512GB Samsung SM951 M.2
• 2TB Hard Drive • 2TB Hard Drive
• Windows 10 • Windows 10
from £1,999.99 from £2299.99
Get £15 OFF your order using
this code when you order online: GA15D
 Welcome
003
Heating up issue 10 MEET
THE TEAM...
This month’s Gadget celebrates Would you buy a VR
headset this year?
the innovators igniting tech with
exciting new ideas. In our first- Dan Hutchinson
Editor In Chief
ever Hot 100 list, we compile I already have a
the cutting-edge companies, Samsung Gear VR. It
offers Oculus tech and
Do these trailblazing trends and most content for about a
headphones give amazing gear of the year. Featuring everything fifth of the price!

away the iPhone 7’s from phones to drones, coffee makers to

Drew Sleep
big secret? Find out 3D printers, leading tech giants and upstart Production Editor
on page 70 start-ups, find out where your favourite gadgets The only feasible one
for me is PS VR but,
rank and discover new ones. Disagree with our
while I’m a VR zealot,
ranking? Think we’ve forgotten something or – I’m trying before
better still – completely agree with us? Tell us I’m buying.

what you would list at number one on Facebook

Andy Downes
or Twitter, our details are below. Senior Art Editor
After staring into the coalface of new tech, It’s early days for VR
games, but I loved
you might need to cool down. I’d recommend piloting a starship and
checking out Dyson’s new fan (page 72). As well fighting off other players
as offering a bladeless breath of fresh air, it filters in Elite: Dangerous.

out 99.5 per cent of allergens and pollutants – Harriet Knight

ideal for hay fever sufferers at this time of year! Designer
I would love one,
For more summer tech hacks like this, discover
but I think I would
our must-have kit picks to take to the beach, use it far too casually
survive a long flight and get the most out of a to spend that kind
of money.
garden party from page 84. If you head over to
our workshop section, you’ll also find out how
to fit a solar panel to harness the sun’s power
for yourself (page 104) and build a sandcastle
like a pro (page 108).
This summer will also see the return of the
Olympics. If you’re inspired by the likes of Steph
Curry’s shooting form or Usian Bolt’s last dash
for the finishing line, discover fitness gear for
every Olympic sport from page 52.
Jack Parsons
Editor

EDITOR’S PICKS

PAGE PAGE PAGE PAGE

052 084 096 104
GET AN OLYMPIC UPGRADE SUPERCHARGE CALLING TIME ON FIT A SOLAR PANEL TO TAKE
WITH FITNESS TECH YOUR SUMMER SMARTWATCHES YOUR SHED OFF THE GRID

Seen something you like? Let us know online with the hashtag #GetThisGadget
TWITTER FACEBOOK INSTAGRAM VINE PINTEREST
@GADGET_MAGAZINE /GADGETMAGDAILY /GADGET_MAGAZINE /GADGET.MAGAZINE /GADGETDAILY
 WIN
OUR HOT 100’S TOP 5
PICKS WORTH

006 Google’s home

invasion 010 tRNTBL’s BRINGING
VINYL INTO THE
FUTURE
£2,000
PAGE 42
Google’s plans to take on
New record player shares what
Amazon’s Echo
you’re listening to on Spotify

008 KNOCKI TURNS ANY

SURFACE INTO A
TOUCHSCREEN
Don’t knock this controller
until you’ve tried it

009 Enjoy The Journey With

EasyJet’s Sneakerairs
012 KICKSTARTER 10
Budget airline is testing out
smart shoe tour guides The best 3D printers to back

FEATURES
072 Get Google Glass
For Your Car
New Hudway Glass adds a
HUD to your dashboard

074 Turn your Pet Into a

Social MEdia Star
New spy camera allows world
to remotely play with your pet

076 King of the Kebab For a

tasty night in
Enjoy a late night kebab without
bothering with the big night out
GO FOR GOLD WITH
044 VIVE verdict
What to expect from the most
expensive VR headset out there 078 This Egg Is The
Only Remote OLYMPIC FIT KIT
You’ll Ever Need PAGE
get Beach Body Ready
062 Without the Exercise
Electrocute your way to rock
A universal remote worth
shelling out for 054
hard abs with this wearable
080 Crime Can’t Hide From
THis all-seeing 360°
064 HOW ARE YOU FEELING?
New smartwatch claims it can
monitor your emotions
SEcurity Camera
New camera even allows you to
view your home in VR

066 Tech We Love

The most exciting new releases
on our radar this month
082 pocket Projectors
Watch movies anywhere
with these mobile
projectors
068 THE SOUND OF PROGRESS
New lightning cable headphones
hints at iPhone 7 secrets

070 dyson’s New Fan

Measures and Cleans
the air around you 096 Calling Time Smartwatches have
Fan will trap allergens and dirt had their chances, did they
and send reports to your phone live up to it?
 PAGE
014 PROJECTS

104 Take Your Shed Off

THe grid
Install a solar panel to

H T
sup up your tool shed

106 Never see a Pop-up

Ad aGain
Set up ad-blocker to declutter
your web browser

108 BUILD A sandcastle

like A Pro
Top tools to perfect the art of

1OO
sand sculpting

110 THe Simple Way to

Change a Tyre
Tips and tech to get you back
on the road in no time

112 Boost Your Wi-Fi Signal

Combine your Wi-Fi and
phone signal for faster internet

SUPERCHARGE
YOUR SUMMER
TRY 5
ISSUES
FOR £5
Never miss an issue with our special
subscription offer on page 102

What ever
114 happened to…
PalmPilot

PAGE
084
KICKASS KICKSTARTERS • NEAR FUTURE TECH
LATEST LAUNCHES

GOOGLE’S
HOME
Elegant design
There’s only one button on Google
Home, which switches it on and
off. Everything else is controlled
INVASION
ETA WINTER ’16
via voice, which means the device
itself has a simple and clean design

Smart home hub

Google Home will be able to
control your lights, start the oven,
play your music and more – if
Google can get the deals signed
with third-party services, that is

Assistant inside “You have

Google unveiled Assistant at the Gmail”
same time as Home – the Of course, the
powerful software will help with device is going to
responding to your queries and work with other
pulling info from the web Google services,
so expect seamless
integration with Gmail,
Integrated YouTube, Google
microphone Calendar and so on
According to Google, a decade
of voice recognition and natural
language processing has gone into
Home, so it should pick up your
words flawlessly

Customisable case Single speaker Compact size

Google says you’ll be able to customise A single speaker isn’t ideal for pumping Google Home is small enough to hold
the base of the Home device when it out your tunes, but nevertheless Google comfortably in one hand and runs off
goes on sale: a choice of materials and says it’s going to be more than adequate mains power. The idea is that Google fans
colours will be on offer as a music system will have one installed in each room

LEDs on the top of Google
Home dance around to let
you know its working
GOOGLE: CAN
WE ASSIST YOU?
Just like Amazon Echo has Alexa, Home will have Google
Assistant. More than just an etheral voice, Assistant is the
next stage of Google, drawing on the search giant’s vast
databases to be even more personal than Google Now. It will
also follow you around across platforms and devices, from
Google Home to the new Allo messaging app.
Allo is launching on iPhone and Android later this
summer. It handles a lot of what Google already does,
from booking movie tickets to finding travel directions,
but it’s going to do it all more intelligently and with a more
conversational, ‘human’ interface than ever before.
Google Home
007
Google is jumping out of your phone (and
your computer) into a new device designed
to sit in your living room. You can talk to
this device and ask it questions – and if you
think that sounds a lot like Amazon’s Echo,
you’re absolutely right. Google boss Sundar
Pichai even gave Amazon a shoutout while
launching the new hardware.
It’s called Google Home, and it brings
all of Google’s smarts into a chunky, web-
connected, speaker-and-microphone combo.
You can play songs, activate smart home
devices, get answers to queries and tap into
everything that Google knows about you
and the world, all controlled through spoken
voice commands.
A lot of Google Home’s functionality is
going to rely on partnerships with other
hardware and software companies (to control
your home’s smart lights for example), which
may be one of the reasons why it hasn’t yet
launched. One of the impressive things about
the Echo is how quickly Amazon has added
to its capabilities, even if it hasn’t yet gone on
sale outside of the US.
It’s also a hint of a post-smartphone
future: speaking out loud to devices that are
all around us rather than jabbing at a small
screen. Behind the scenes it’s going to be
powered by the newly-launched Google
Assistant, which is essentially Google Now but
with some extra chattiness and ease-of-use
improvements on top.
Sundar Pachai avoided telling us when,
exactly, we’d be able to get our hands on
Home only saying it would be out “later this
year”. No price has been announced.
Inside its oversized air freshener case, Google
Home is essentially a microphone and speaker
 KNOCKI TURNS
SURFACES
INTO A Wi-Fi enabled
The Knocki team says it chose Wi-Fi for the
device’s wireless capabilities because of its

TOUCHSCREEN
greater reliability and greater range when
compared with Bluetooth technology

ETA DEC ’16

In its maker’s own words, Knocki can “make
any surface smart.” It’s a central controller
for the growing proliferation of smart home
devices out there, and it wants to make
interacting with them simpler and more
intuitive. And it does it by making your walls,
tables and other surfaces touch-sensitive.
Imagine tapping twice on the wall to turn
your lights on, or dragging your finger across
your kitchen table to lower the temperature:
Knocki says its capable of controlling
everything from televisions to smart blinds.
You can even configure smart alarms to alert
you when someone leaves or arrives home.
The puck-shaped device hooks up to your
home’s internal Wi-Fi and can be configured
using its companion app for Android and iOS.
It can be screwed or stuck to the wall (you
get some custom-made 3M tape included) or
placed on a table or other surface.
There’s no doubting the impressiveness
of the demo that Knocki has put together
– we are hoping that it matches the reality
when the device ships at the end of 2016.
Knocki’s developer, Knocki, raised more
than ten times its goal on Kickstarter, so it’s
obviously going to be in demand.

Simple operation
The beauty of knocking on surfaces is
that you don’t have to look at displays
or find buttons, and you can even
control your gadgets in the dark
Put it anywhere
You can stick Knocki to any kind of hard
surface around the home – it uses an
accelerometer to detect knock patterns
and the vibrations they cause

Simple setup
Once you’ve picked a place for your
Knocki, you run the Android or iOS app
to decide what types of knock activate
which types of actions in your other

Third-party integrations
Knocki relies heavily on third-party
integrations: WeMo, Nest, Spotify,
Facebook, Philips Hue, Samsung
SmartThings, IFTTT and others are already

Gently does it
Knocki can respond to gentle taps or a
series of knocks, and is tuned to ignore
random vibrations that are naturally
caused by the environment around it
 Sneakairs
009
ENJOY THE JOURNEY SNEAKAIR
GUIDED TOUR
WITH EASYJET’S
SMART SHOES
ETA TBC
If you want a demonstration of how smart your nose stuck in a map, whether a paper
clothing can actually be useful as well one or one on your smartphone – in fact,

01 Connect the app

as innovative, look no further than the
Sneakairs. Developed by budget airline
EasyJet for what it’s calling “The Barcelona
Street Project”. The smart sneakers in
question hook up to your phone and give
you directions around the city with subtle
vibrations underneath your feet telling you
where to go.
The obvious benefit of the trainers is you
can tour around a location without having
you need never look like a tourist again as
you walk around from landmark to landmark. The first step is to connect
Each shoe uses a miniaturised Arduino-type the app to the Sneakairs themselves.
device, a Bluetooth chip and a vibration The app is based on Google Maps and
its integrated turn-by-turn direction
motor similar to the one packed into most feature for navigation.
modern smartphones.
The Sneakairs aren’t the first set of smart
footwear to use buzzes to help people
navigate naturally, but previous efforts have
only reached the prototype stage – which

Bluetooth Vibration motor Sneakairs smarts

connectivity The vibration motor is The Sneakairs use a custom-
Bluetooth Low Energy (LE) is used designed to spread the made circuit board similar to

02 One vibration: turn

to connect up the Sneakairs with
your smartphone, so once you’ve
set your destination, directions can
be sent to the shoes
buzzing out across the soles
of your feet, letting you know
when you need to take a turn
or retrace your steps
an Arduino, with one of these
smart panels fitted inside each
shoe (bright orange EasyJet
branding optional)
While wandering around the
city of your choice you get a single
buzz in your left or right shoe to tell
you which turn to take, based on your
phone’s current GPS information.

GPS signals
The accompanying app
calculates a route and then
uses the GPS capabilities
of your phone to work out
exactly where you are and
where you need to go next

03 Two vibrations:
go back
Missed your turning because you’re so
distracted by the surrounding beauty?
Two vibrations in both shoes mean
you need to retrace your steps.

04 Three vibrations:
destination reached
Assuming your phone’s GPS is
working, you’ll get three vibrations
in both Sneakairs when you’ve finally
reached your destination.
TRNTBL REINVENTS
THE RECORD PLAYER
ETA SUMMER ’16
Trntbl jumps on the recent vinyl resurgence
bandwagon but the device also adds some
distinctly modern touches to the classic record
player. It allows you to stream your music
to compatible speakers (like Sonos) and the
integrated ‘scrobbling’ function identifies what LPs
you’re listening to and builds up matching Spotify
playlists for you.
Bluetooth and AirPlay support is on the way,
the makers of Trntbl claim, so it’s going to appeal
to those with one foot in the digital music camp
and the other in the traditional days of physical
vinyl records. The turntable has been developed
by the VNYL subscription service, like Netflix for
LPs: you pay $39 (about £25) a month for any
three new albums.
As the device recognises what you’re playing,
Shazam-style, you can pick up where you left off
on Spotify, or maybe encourage your friends to
listen along even if they don’t have a slick, stylish
Trntbl of their own. Two colours are available,
‘creme’ and black, and you can preorder one now
for about $350 (£245) – after it launches later this
summer, that jumps up to $420 (roughly £290).
Whether you’re already a vinyl fanatic or if
you’re thinking about becoming one ( you won’t
be alone – vinyl sales jumped 30 percent in 2015),
Trntbl is worth a long contemplation – especially
if you already have AirPlay or Sonos kit set up
in your home. You don’t have to sign up for the
VNYL service as well, though that is an option if
your local record store closed down years ago.

Wireless audio
There are no physical ports on the
Trntbl – everything is streamed
wirelessly, via Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or
AirPlay, at a quality up to 1,411 Mbps as
uncompressed 16-bit/44.1 khz audio
Trntbl forearm
The gold-coloured, s-shaped
tonearm ends in either an AT95E
or OM5e cartridge, and it’s here
that the Trntbl hides its clever
song recognition tech as well
Trntbl
011
Trntbl switches
The two buttons on the unit HIGH-TECH
are used to power it on and
off and to switch between the
two available playback speeds:
TURNTABLES
namely 33 1/3 and 45 RPM

Sony PS-HX500 Turntable With

High-Resolution Audio
The big party trick the PS-HX500 has is the ability to
rip vinyl records to high-resolution digital audio, via
a cable attached to your laptop.
£450 | $600 | sony.com

Trntbl plinth Trntbl player Audio quality

The turntable plinth, available
in ‘creme’ (or white) and black,
is made from MDF, aluminium
and plastic, and comes with
feet that are designed to
dampen vibrations
The belt-driven platter for
holding your records is made
from acrylic. Playback is cued-
up manually though there is
integrated support for auto-
return when the music finishes
There’s a built-in DAC and,
according to VNYL, the the
Trntbl can generate audio
that’s significantly better
than MP3s and very close to
being CD-quality
Panasonic Technics SL-1200
The audio veteran has revived a classic turntable for
the modern era with the Technics SL-1200 player,
adding state-of-the-art components to a legendary
and iconic design. Pricing is yet to be confirmed.
TBC | TBC | panasonic.com

Gramovox Floating Record

Your LPs are held vertically in this kickstarted
device – now on sale – and there are two powerful
stereo speakers integrated into the design, so there
are no extras necessary.
£275 | $400 | gramovox.com

WHAT’S THAT SONG? Teac TN-570

The makers of Trntbl haven’t revealed too much about the technology the device uses to recognise One of the most well-specced and high-quality
tunes, only that it’s detected directly from the needle and is Shazam-like in its operation. While you turntables money can buy, and it also comes with
may well know what you’re listening to, the feature lets you build up Spotify playlists of your LPs and a USB digital audio output for ripping your music to
also enables your friends and followers to listen along via a ‘Tune In’ feature. It’s the beauty of vinyl your computer.
records with some add-ons from the modern era included. £760 | $1,100 | teac.com
04 06

KICKSTARTER

10
3D PRINTING
MUST-HAVES

01

05

10 08 03
 Kickstarter 10
013
01 OLO As the first 3D printer for smartphones, this
portable, battery-powered device uses the white
light of the screen to harden what it calls ‘Daylight
Resins’. It’s ideal for small-form projects.
£55 | $80 | olo3d.net

02 TrinusMade entirely from aluminium and steel,

this robust 3D printer should last for years. Able to
produce quality print at speeds of 70mm a second,
you can also use it for laser engraving.
£210 | $300 | trinus3d.com

03 Retouch3D
Not all 3D printing projects go perfectly well
– trust us, we’ve had our share of mishaps. But if
your object needs a little bit of retouching, then you
can use this device to heat any imperfections out.
£105 | $150 | retouch3d.com

02 04 Slash Designed to work as quickly and precisely

as a large, industrial machine, this home 3D printer
uses cutting-edge LCD technology and comes with
07 its own online software.
£900 | $1,300 | uniz3d.com

05 CowTech Ciclop
This 3D-printed 3D scanner will cast its
lasers over an object to produce a mesh of points
that can be used to produce a printed replica. It’s a
fully open-source project.
£80 | $120 | cowtechengineering.com

06 NEA 3D While you may need a small loan for

the top-end iteration of the machine, these
powerhouses have been built to last. They use
Fused Filament Fabrication technology to print the
plastic layer by layer at 150mm a second.
£1,660 | $2,400 | nea3d.com

07 eroa3D
Fit your iOS or Android device to this 3D
scanner and download the free app and within five
minutes, you’ll have an eight-million-point scan of
an object that can be exported and printed.
£200 | $290 | eora3d.com

08 Skriware 3D Printer
Skriware combines a WiFi-connected 3D
printer with an online platform packed with 3D
models. As well as a 6x6x5-inch print area, it has a
touchscreen and single-click printing.
£555 | $800 | skriware.com

09 3Dsimo mini
The Swiss Army knife of 3D printing, this
combines a solder, burner and cutter with a 3D
printing pen which not only expands your creative
possibilities, but lets you carry out repairs too.
£96 | $140 | 3dsimo.com

10 TIKO Able to print as fine as 50 microns, TIKO

is a gorgeous machine which fully encloses your
creations and keeps all the hot stuff out of reach.
09 Browser-based software completes the package.
£125 | $180 | tiko3d.com
014 H T 1OO

H T 1OO
OO
CUTTING-EDGE COMPANIES, TRAILBLAZING TECH
AND THE MOST AMAZING GEAR OF THE YEAR
 Thermal imaging
015
THERMAL IMAGING 100
IT’S SO HOT RIGHT NOW
Both the military and big businesses have
used thermal imaging for years, but soon £6,000 | $8,510
dji.com
we’ll all be feeling the heat. You might
think wanting to see a thermal signature DJI Zenmuse XT
sounds a bit of a niche interest, but so was
GPS before it tumbled in price. Now it’s
in our cars, smartphones, cameras and so
many other devices. Thermography, as it’s
more properly known, is on the brink of doing
the same thing as sensors have dropped in
price from $3,000 (£2,080) to around $300
per chip. The number of gadgets equipped
with heat-seeking sensors is now expected
to grow from about 500,000 to three million
units in the coming years.
In the here and now, low-cost
thermography tech is being marketed towards
emergency services and professional plumbers £510 | $600
and electricians, but there’s no reason you catphones.com
can’t add a thermal imaging camera to your £200 | $250
CAT S60
toolbox. As well as spotting overheating thermal.com
electricals, leaks and checking your home Seek Thermal
insulation, it’s also a fun way to spot animals Compact
when camping in the woods overnight.

97 96 96

99
THE SUPER-
SUBTLE HEALTH
TRACKER
The ‘smart ring’ is a wearable
idea that has been bounded
around a few times. Apple
patented its own idea for a ring
device with a built-in touchpad
last year, while Visa will be giving
Olympians a prototype payment
ring to test in Rio – however,
the health-tracking Oura Ring
might be a better fit for athletes.
Available to buy now, the Oura
Ring pairs with your smartphone
and tracks stats such as your
heart-rate, body temperature,
sleep patterns and more.
Oura Ring
£260 | $370
ouraring.com
98
TURN YOUR SOFA
INTO A BUCKING
BRONCO
You can forget about 3D TVs,
the next big thing in home
entertainment is the ‘4D’ sofa.
Immersit is, essentially, a series
of pads that will work with any
existing chair or settee (you
can even use it with your bed,
if that’s your kind of thing)
and pump them up in down in
sync with the action on your
screen, whether it’s a movie
or videogame. So next time
you’re watching The Fast And
The Furious, make sure you’re
hanging on to your seat!
Immersit
£160 | $230
immersit.com
GET CUSTOM-
MADE, 3D-KNIT
SHOES
Don’t you hate it when you buy
a nifty pair of shoes to find out
that someone in the office has
bought the exact same pair as
you? Well, forget about that
now. You can now get loafers
woven to your specific design by
automated knitting machines for
about the same price. JS Shoes
are 3D printed, so they can be
customised online before you
enter your payment details and
the end result is ultra light as the
machines make them in one go –
there aren’t even any stitches.
JS Shoe
£60 | $90
jsshoe.com
A REAL LIFE
HOVERBOARD…
NO, REALLY
Don’t worry Gadget readers, this
is not one of those exploding
two-wheeled scooters or some
bizarre media stunt done with
magnets – the Arca Board is an
honest-to-goodness hoverboard
– it’s actually like the ones you
have seen in Marty McFly use in
Back To The Future. Built by an
aerospace company and powered
by 36 fans, it can hover up to a
foot in the air. Unfortunately, it
costs just short of $15,000, so it
is only going to be enjoyed by the
super rich elite.
Arcaboard
arcaspace.com
£10,500 | $14,900
016 H T 1OO

95
TOMTOM IS
TAKING ON
GOPRO
There’s a lot of action
cameras vying for
attention out there,
but one of the most
innovative devices is the
TomTom Bandit. It’s the
only one that removes
the pain of editing with
its ‘shake to edit’ feature.
The company also
continues to update the
Bandit: a recent update
means it now adjusts
colour balance when
underwater.
TomTom Bandit
£240 | $400
tomtom.com
94
CAST
NETFLIX
ANYWHERE
Cast is a new way
to share what you’re
watching. Made of a set-
top box – or ‘community
viewing hub’ – and a
companion app, anything
you watch through
the hub can be viewed
remotely through the
app. You can then chat
about what your watching
through the app, with
your friends’ comments
appearing on your screen.
Cast: Community
Viewing Hub
TBA
castbygenii.com
93
THE MOST
ACCURATE
TEMPERATURE TBA
There’s nothing new
92
Lenovo.com
about a digital
Lenovo CPlus
thermometer. But the
Withings Thermos is
different: it contains
16 infrared sensors
that take about 4,000
FLEXIBLE PHONES
measurements every IT’S TIME FOR THE
few seconds to give you
an accurate reading. It ULTIMATE BEND TEST
couldn’t be easier to use, Samsung’s first foldable phone is “right around the corner”
you don’t even have to according to Gregory Lee, CEO of Samsung in America. Rumours
stick it inside your body: last year suggested the flexi-phone, codenamed Project Valley,
just hold the green tip would arrive in 2016, but its looking likely it will appear in 2017
against your forehead. as an alternative to the Galaxy S8 – similar to how Samsung
Withings Thermo currently has the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge. Samsung isn’t the only
£80 | $100 manufacturer working on bendable devices, though. Lenovo has
withings.com shown off a prototype phone that wraps around your wrist like a
smartwatch and LG have been toying with similar tech for years.

88

90
ANSWER THE
FRONT DOOR
TBA ANYWHERE
Next time someone rings
91
comma.ai
your doorbell, you’ll know
Comma.ai
who they are instantly.
The Ring Video Doorbell
sends a live feed to your
COMMA.AI phone, even if you’re
THE TESLA KILLER? not home. Though the
doorbell can’t unlock
the door, it does have a
Do you like the idea of a self-driving car, but you think Tesla’s
offerings are out of your price range? Then Comma.ai might speaker and microphone
be for you. This start up is developing an autonomous driving so you can talk to the
kit that you fit to your existing motor, and it only costs $1,000 person at your door. It
(around £700). YouTube videos of prototypes ‘ghost riding’ also has motion detection
in busy traffic proves the tech works (most of the time), but and night vision.
the cars look more like Doc Brown’s ragtag time-travelling Ring Video
DeLorean than Tesla’s sleek and futuristic Model S. However, Doorbell
Comma.ai has only been around for 11 months and has grand £140 | $200
plans, including gathering a billion miles of data by 2018, so it’s ring.com
certainly a manufacturer to watch.
89
NEVER RUN
OUT OF
STORAGE
The Nextbit Robin is a
revolutionary smartphone
that solves one of life’s
biggest problems: a lack
of storage. Combining
32GB of onboard memory
with a 100GB in the cloud,
the Robin backs up all
your apps and photos to
an external server and
deletes them off your
phone if you haven’t used
them in a while, and they
can be instantly restored
in seconds.
Nextbit Robin
£275 | $400
nextbit.com
RULE THE
FISHING
SCENE
Every fisherman
famously has a tall tale
about ‘The One That Got
Away’, but that might
be able to change. The
Deeper Smart Fishfinder
uses sonar to detect
fish depth and location
info, reporting it back to
your phone or tablet via
Bluetooth. The Fishfinder
works with any rod and
switches on as soon as it
hits the water.
Deeper Smart
Fishfinder
£160 | $200
buydeeper.com
 Project Ara
017
PROJECT ARA BRINGING 87
NEW MEANING TO
‘UPGRADING’ YOUR PHONE
The smartphone is arguably the ultimate
gadget: we all have one and we all use it Core components
in dozens of different ways every day. But Ara was supposed to modular right down
whether it’s surfing the web, taking photos, to a swappable screen and replaceable
tracking our fitness or, you know, actually RAM, but the latest prototype appears to
making a phone call, our phones are not really have gone back on this
the best at what they do.
For instance, for a really great photo you’re
better off with a dedicated camera. For
accurate work out readings, there are more
on-point fitness bands. But what if you could
customise your phone for a specific purpose,
upping the quality of the camera when you’re
about to go on holiday or adding extra health-
tracking sensors when you’re off to the gym?
This is the aim of Project Ara. TBA
One of Google’s so-called ‘moonshot’ projectara.com
projects, the aim is to produce a modular
phone that you can physically upgrade by
Project Ara
mixing and matching sensors as and when you
need to do so.
Originally announced back in 2014, Google
has been beaten to the finish line by the LG G5
this year, which also has modular components.
However, Project Ara’s customisation is
much wider in its scope. Google has recently
confirmed that the first Project Ara phone will Plug and play
You don’t need to waste time fiddling with
arrive next year, with a developer kit arriving
downloads for modules, you just to slot
to third parties this autumn. If its successful,
them in and they will work thanks to new
this could be the biggest thing to happen to Greybus software built into Ara’s OS
phones since apps came along.

New kids on the block

01Samsung
Modular TV 02 Acer Revo
Build PC
In January, Samsung
showed off a working
concept that is made up of
screens that can be used
separately or seamlessly
combined into a massive
170-inch screen. Ideal for a
movie night!
TBA
youtu.be/id-DvZjBSBI
Intended to be simpler
to upgrade than a
conventional PC, you
simply stack magnetic
blocks onto Acer’s Revo
Build to boost your
graphics card or add extra
terabytes of memory.
£200 | $180
acer.com
03 AiAiAi TMA-2
headphones 04 Blocks
smartwatch
Danish audio company
05Fairphone 2
AiAiAi allows you to
customise your headphones
before you buy them and
replace any parts when they
wear out. With 18 modules
to choose from, they offer
360 different combinations.
£115 | $165
aiaiai.dk
Coming this September,
Blocks is doing for
smartwatches what Ara is
doing for phones. Mix-and-
match modules, including
a heart-rate monitor, a
battery, payment sensor, by
swapping out watch links.
£230 | $330
chooseblocks.com
The phone with
a conscious, this modular
smartphone emphasises
how its upgradable parts
make it more sustainable
and therefore eco-friendly.
Fairphone also ensures
all components are also
ethically sourced.
£415 | $600
fairphone.com
018 H T 1OO
TANGO GOOGLE’S AR
TECH IS NOW A REALITY
No, we don’t mean the ballroom dance or fizzy Quad HD Display
orange drink, but Google’s augmented reality £350 | $500 The device has a 6.4-inch screen
platform. Three years in development, the first projectara.com with pin-sharp quad HD
resolution that adjusts for
Tango-enabled phone will be available to buy Lenovo lighting conditions so you
this September. Phab 2 Pro can appreciate the
If you’re not sure what ‘augmented reality’ AR graphics
is, Tango has the same premise as Microsoft’s
HoloLens: it intelligently overlays graphics
onto real-world views using depth-sensing
and motion-tracking cameras. At the launch
of the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro, Tango was used to
measure furniture and play a game of dominos,
where the virtual pieces sat on a real desk.
In the future, Google hopes that Tango’s
3D-mapping will help you navigate on-screen
directions. More than a novelty, this could
make a huge difference for the visually
impaired. NASA has also been testing Tango on
the International Space Station to see if it can
incorporate it into robots.
Lenovo also plans to incorporate Tango into Complex camera array
more devices, possibly including headsets.

But we’re not quite there yet, the demos at
the Lenovo launch repeatedly failed to work,
suggesting there’s a few bugs still to work out.
86
As well as a 16-megapixel shooter, the Phab 2
Pro has a wide-angle camera and depth-
sensing unit as part of its Tango tech, which
captures 250,000 measurements a second

ARROW SMART KART LIKE

REAL-LIFE MARIO KART
It’s not just cars that are getting smarter –
go-karts are too. The electric Arrow Smart Kart Customisable kit Electric motors
from Actev Motors has built-in Wi-Fi so you As well as adding a Formula 1-style The Arrow is powered by
bodywork to your kart, you can also buy two 250W motors and
can control its settings with an app, use GPS
drift rings that reduce friction so you can also includes electronic
to track its location and proximity sensors to
perform donuts and bigger battery packs regenerative braking to help
automatically avoid crashes. The long-term keep the kart fully charged
goal is to use all this connectivity to gamify the
karting experience, so you can play something
like real-life Mario Kart.
If you can’t wait to start throwing shells at
your friends while racing, note that the Arrow
is aimed at pre-teens. Actev Motors is betting
that parents will be won over by the smart
features, which includes being able to lower
the kart’s maximum speed and setting a virtual
boundary that if kids cross, the engines will
automatically cut out.
If this sounds like a novelty product that £810 | $1,150
won’t amount to much, think again. Actev actevmotors.com
Motors is backed by Silicon Valley power player
Tony Fadell, who previously worked on the
iPod and cofounded smart thermostat maker
85 Arrow
Smart Kart
Nest before selling it to Google.
 tag heuer
connected
019

£1,110 | $1,500
tagheuerconnected.com

84
TAG HEUER CONNECTED
THE SMARTEST WATCH
When the Apple Watch was first
announced, it was suggested that
traditional watchmakers should be
worried. Instead the 156-year-old
Alpine brand TAG Heuer partnered
up with Google to make the best of
both worlds. The Connected is finely
crafted out of titanium, with IP67
water resistance and a rubber strap,
but it also displays notifications
Tag Heuer
Connected
from your phone and tracks your
health. In short, it’s the best-looking
Android watch, but it costs more
than £500 more than other models.
It’s a surprise, then, that
Connected is in demand. TAG Heuer
had to up production from 1,500
watches a week to 2,000 and it has
confirmed it is developing a wider
range of watches for 2017.
83
USB TYPE-C SUPER-FAST
FILE TRANSFER
While a cable might seem a bit
niche, this accessory has been
one of the biggest tech stories of
the year. When Apple launched
the new MacBook last year it only
included one port, one for a USB
Type-C. Google and other tech
giants have also got behind the
cable because it can deliver huge
amounts of data and power very
quickly. It’s also interchangeable:
you only have to use the one cable
to charge your phone, connect to
your HDMI screen and back-up
your files to an external drive. Its
not all good news, cheap cables
have been known to draw too
much power and fry devices.

82 81
TH
KIN E
HE GS
AD

NO CLUMSY 16 SENSORS
CABLES WITHTHIS ARE BETTER HEA
D

VR BACKPACK THAN ONE THE

KIN
GS
Drinks

Martini
Food

Sausage
& Mash
Pies
Chips

Both the Oculus Rift and HTC DSLR, it’s time to move over:
Margharita
Ale
Gin

Vive VR headsets have to be

tethered directly to your PC by
a thick cable that has a notable
habit of getting under your
feet and making you stumble
around. HP’s solution to this
trip hazard is the VR backpack,
which is essentially a laptop
with straps and a belt containing
batteries. HP has only shown
off a working prototype so far,
but MSI and Zotac already have
similar devices on sale.
HP Omen X VR
Backpack PC
TBA
hp.com
there is a new type camera on
the block that’s going to win
over pro photographers. The
Light L16 is as compact and
portable as a smartphone,
but it’s covered in 16 different
sensors with varying focal
lengths. Every picture you take
stitches together photos from
ten of these sensors, which
Light’s creator claims reduces
low-light noise and increases
dynamic range, making for
some truly superior results.
Light L16
£1,100 | $1,700
light.co
80
5G IT’LL BE HERE SOONER
THAN YOU EXPECT
While many of us find ourselves
waving our phones in the air just
trying to get signal let alone 4G,
the next generation of connectivity
is already in the works.
Researchers at the University
Of Surrey’s 5G Innovation Centre
achieved staggering speeds of one
terabyte per second earlier this
year, and Ofcom says it’s likely the
standard outside of the lab will
be 10 to 50 gigabytes per second.
This is much faster than 4G, which
offers 15 megabytes per second.
5G connectivity is expected to roll
out across the UK in 2020, but
public tests could begin as early
as next year.
020 H T 1OO
SMART IN-CAR INFOTAINMENT
MAKING A DASH FOR
YOUR ATTENTION 79
If there’s one thing that has driven us mad
over the years, it’s being stuck in the slow lane
when it comes to in-car gizmos. The industry
isn’t as bad today, but it took a long time for it
to replace cassettes with CDs, CDs with digital
and FM with DAB. Thankfully, things may have
taken a turn for the better with the in-car
infotainment systems by Apple and Android.
It’s a two horse race with Apple Car Play and
Android Auto both making a promising start
and are upgradable. Car Play replicates the iOS
experience, to some degree, displaying eight
of its icons per page and allowing you to prod
them to call up voice-guided maps, Apple
Music, Spotify, Audible, Tune In and Siri. You can
also make calls and dictate messages.
Auto is similar, although its maps contain Wireless support OK Google
traffic information and you can make calls via Up to now, Auto needed you No need to mess about with the
Skype. Android’s system also hooks into Google to have your phone plugged in screen – Android Auto is getting
Now which lets it predict your movements but Google announced that it is support for OK Google which will
based on the information that it gathers. introducing wireless connections work through your phone

75

78
DON’T LET THAT
STRAY SOCK GO
UNWASHED
With this innovative clean
machine claiming to your other
half or mother that you were
unable to clean your favourite
T-shirt because the laundry
was mid-cycle just won’t wash
anymore. The Samsung Add
Wash has an extra opening in the
upper part of the main door so
that you can chuck in any missed
pieces of clothing, and you can
even add in some more detergent
without fear the water is going
to spill out and drown you in a
swamp of boiling-hot suds.
Samsung Add Wash
£500 | $1,100
samsung.com
77
THE CAMERA
THAT YOU
THROW
We may live in a throwaway
society but when you toss this
ball-shaped snapper, you’ll
definitely want it back. It’s fitted
with 36 individual cameras that
simultaneously take a picture
after you throw it into the air,
the resulting image comes in
at a whopping 108 megapixels.
The 36 individual images are
stitched together into shareable
panoramic shots that sync to
your iOS or Android phone.
There’s an anti-theft mode too, in
case someone tries to nick it.
Panono
£1,150 | $1,650
panono.com
76
FORGET GUARD
DOGS, USE A
CANARY CAM
Eagles are supposed to have
the best vision of all the birds,
but you can make do with this
amazing Canary instead. This
security camera keeps a watch
out for burglars. If they do end
up raiding your home, the Canary
will be recording high-definition
video, so it’ll catch the cads
in action before piercing their
ears with a 90-decibel siren and
sending an alert to your mobile.
It even monitors air quality,
temperature and humidity.
Canary security
camera
$160 | $200
canary.is
ENCAPSULATING
DAILY LIFE IN 140
CHARACTERS
Remember the dark days
before Twitter when you had to,
like, talk to people? Yeah, we
thought not. It’s hard to believe
that the social media giant is
ten years old this year, and it
has flown into 332 million lives
to such an extent that many of
us rely on it for breaking news,
cutting opinion, ridiculous tech
rumours and a good old giggle.
The 140-character shackles are
coming off, Twitter Q&As and
polls are hot and even GCHQ is
tuning in.
Twitter
Free
twitter.com
 Oneplus 3
021

74
MAKE YOUR
GOLF SWING
EASY AS 123
Michael Jackson made
a white glove famous
but he didn’t have the
foresight to turn it into a
sports training wearable.
But then the Zepp Golf 2
sensor wasn’t around
back then. Fixed to the
back of your glove, the
gadget syncs with an
app and measures your
swing, speed and hip
rotation in the hope of
improving your game.
The verdict? It ain’t bad.
Zepp Golf 2
£30 | $150
zepp.com
73
THE NEXT
RASPBERRY
PI?
It may be 52mm x
42mm but the Micro Bit
controller proves size
isn’t everything. Packing
a 32-bit ARM Cortex MO
microprocessor running
at 16MHz with 16KB of
RAM, it’s designed to
be part of the Internet
Of Things. But key is its
ability to be programmed,
with the Beeb giving a
million of them to kids in
order to help familiarise
them with tech.
Micro Bit
£15 | $20
microbit.co.uk
72
CREATE A
NETWORK
OF MUSIC £210 | $300
When Yamaha decided
71
oneplus.net
to create a network of
products that could work
One Plus 3
together wirelessly,
it was music to an
audiophile’s ears. Music
Cast can network more
ONEPLUS 3 A CHINESE
than 30 of its products SMARTPHONE WITH
and allow them to be
combined and controlled FEW EQUALS
via an iOS or Android app. You could count on one hand the number of people you know
It means you can stream who own a OnePlus 2 phone given that it was unveiled on an
the same tune in multiple invite-only basis. But although the handsets are now on sale, the
rooms and enjoy high- start-up behind them has already moved on to the next model.
quality sound formats. The 5.5-inch 1080p HD-screened One Plus 3 comes with a
Music Cast Snapdragon 830 processor, a 16MP rear camera, up to 6GB of
Free RAM and 64GB storage. As before, it doesn’t skimp on features,
such as a fingerprint reader, yet it continues to ship at prices that
yamaha.com
undercut the top cells by half and come carrier-unlocked.

67

69
THE ROBOT
THAT CUTS
YOUR LAWN
This robotic mower will
70 make your neighbours
green with envy. Easily
adjustable to 15 levels,
the iMow robot is able
3D PRINTING WHY IT’S to cut an average lawn
THE HOT END OF TECH to between 20 and
60mm in two hours and
20 minutes using both
With 3D printing having long shifted from the hobby market
to the mainstream, the maker tech scene has boomed. Today sensors under its hood
you can buy 3D printers relatively cheaply, so while the Maker to avoid any obstacles in
Bot Replicator 5 costs a couple of grand, you could head to its path and a perimeter
Kickstarter to see a raft of inexpensive alternatives ranging from wire to prevent it from
the Mini Toy 3D printer for kids to the smart unibody Tiki device. wondering about outside
The future possibilities are wide open. Scientists are already of your garden.
printing human cells, chefs are layerig delicious food and an iMow
entire building was in Dubai was 3D printed over 17 days. You £1,000 | $N/A
can start by heading to thingiverse.com, though: the designs viking-imow.co.uk
being shared by the 3D printing community are truly inspiring.
68
SHOOT YOUR
WAY TO
HEALTHINESS
Sales of the Nutri Bullet
soared over the past
couple of years due to its
promise of healthy living
and it’s become a staple
ingredient of many a
kitchen. Instead of juicing
or blending fruit, veg and
nuts, it ‘extracts’ them,
which essentially means
it breaks down their cell
walls to an absorbable
state to release copious
body-enhancing vitamins
and minerals.
Nutri Bullet
£70 | $60
nutribullet.com
E INK MAKES
READING
BETTER
Although bookworms
still prefer hard copies,
the introduction of E Ink
screens, which work by
applying an electric field
to particles, was pivotal
in moving people towards
e-readers. The low-power
experience on offer by
the likes of the Kindle
not only made the screen
easy on the eye, allowed
readers to engage with
the most absorbing page-
turner without worrying
the battery would die
before reaching the end.
E Ink screens
022 H T 1OO
66
BEOPLAY A6 MAKE YOUR
MUSIC FEEL AT HOME
The Beoplay A6’s stitched fabric
exterior looks so good, it not only
fits seamlessly into any living space,
you’ll want to stroke it day after
day. But, luckily, this is exactly what
B&O intends you to do. While there
is an accompanying app, to turn
the volume up and down on this
eye-wateringly expensive wireless
speaker you can swipe right or left,
64
THE MOUSE
WITH SWAPPABLE
SENSORS
Like a virtual lab mouse, this
high-end PC gaming controller
from Mad Catz invites user
experimentation, allowing players
to swap out its sensors, adjust
the click force of the wheel and
make use of analog control
movement. Optimised to work
with Windows 10 and coming
with built-in memory, it’s also
surprisingly comfortable with a
variety of positions for your palm
and pinkies, and it comes with a
phenomenal build quality.
Mad Catz RAT Pro X
gaming mouse
£170 | $180
madcatz.com
£800 | $1,000
beoplay.com
Beoplay A6
tapping to mute and touching to
change tracks.
With a couple of 60-watt woofers,
two 30-watt tweeters and a 60-watt
full range driver, you’ll want it up
loud, though. The A6 will play any
major file format and stream over
Air Play, Bluetooth or DLNA. It’s
also compatible with Spotify, filling
any room with your favourite tunes.
63
SEND CYCLING
STATS TO YOUR
PEEPERS
Designed for hardcore cyclists,
the lightweight Varia Vision
from Garmin provides you with
a high-tech HUD simply by
attaching it to your sunglasses.
It displays performance data and
navigation prompts in your line
of sight. Helping to keep your
focussed as you ride along, it
works with a compatible mobile
device and it can also be hooked
up with the Varia Rearview radar
system, so you’ll be fully aware
of vehicles that are approaching
you from behind.
Garmin Varia Vision
£320 | $400
garmin.com
65
MACBOOK TEN YEARS OF
APPLE’S PREMIER LAPTOP
Originally released in May 2006,
the MacBook has virtually
disappeared before our very
eyes thanks to the release of
ever lighter, thinner models. Yet
at the same time, the laptops
have been getting ever more
powerful: the top-end MacBook
Pro has a 2.5GHz quad Intel Core
62
IT’S THE
COMPANY THAT
MAKES BB-8
You’re most likely to know
Sphero from the insanely-
popular BB-8 drone which
rolled off the shelves just before
Christmas – just in time for
The Force Awakens. But the
original spherical robot toy from
2010 – also called Sphero – is
what drove the revolution. Fully
programmable and controlled
via a smartphone or tablet, it’s
a tough polycarbonate cookie
which can roll at up to 4.5mph.
It has inspired a strong love of
robotics and coding in many.
Sphero
£100 | $130
sphero.com
£1,050 | $1,300
apple.com
MacBook
i7 processor, 16GB of memory, a
force touch trackpad, 512GB flash
storage and a eyeball-splitting
15-inch Retina display.
While there are cheaper Apple
alternatives each is connected
by two things: an incredible build
quality and the refined and easy-
to-use operating system, OS X.
61
THIS DRONE
IS ALSO YOUR
CAMERAMAN
There have been many firsts in
flight technology, especially with
drones in recent years, but the
innovation that has excited us the
most has been the Solo 3DR’s
ability to directly tap into a GoPro
12MP camera’s settings while
it’s up in the air, allowing for
stunning, on-the-fly shots. Best
of all, it can stream recordable
720 HD images straight to a
mobile. You can choose for its
computer to take control of the
camera or flight, turning it into
the ultimate wingman.
Solo 3DR drone
£785 | $920
3dr.com
 Smart home
023
THE SMART HOME 60
AND WE’RE NOT
TALKING DÉCOR HERE
Technology is taking over every room of your
house and we’re betting you’re more than
willing to open your door to it. You’ve probably
lay in bed dreaming about this moment for
years but the ironic thing is, your smart home
has the potential to be so advanced that it could
even gently help you back to sleep.
Although a survey of 2,006 UK households
by PwC found that 72 per cent are not
interested in buying any smart home
technologies, 81 per cent admitted
they could see the benefit of them. But
whatever the findings, there is clamour
from companies wanting to be involved –
such as the classic videogame giant, Atari.
To futureproof your home, you certainly
have to do some research. Nest is one of the
biggest ecosystems in the world right now
and alternatives, such as Hive, are proving
strong in the UK market, but we’ve seen
a fair few companies coming and going.
Let’s see what’s out there.

SOFA SO GOOD
When it’s time to chill, ask Amazon Echo’s Alexa
to dim the lights and play you some top tunes. Use
Nest to adjust the temperature without getting off
the sofa and put your feet up to watch some TV. If
you have Sky Q installed, you’ll be able to watch
record multiple programmes at once and view
your favourite shows on your tablet.

SKY’S THE LIMIT CONNECT SUPERCHARGE

If you’re worried about your plants, use some
flower power from Parrot. It measures sunlight
and temperature as well as soil moisture, sending
alerts to your phone. During the dry summer,
you can get Blossom to sprinkle the garden
with water no matter where you are. Indeed, if
you’re infatuated by the weather, you ought to get
yourself a Netatmo weather station with real time
information about air quality and temperature too.
YOUR COOKING
Kitchen cupboards have long been filled with
discarded ‘time-saving’ tech. But with a Quooker
boiling water tap, you can get the pasta going
without waiting for the kettle to finish, and with
the built-in temperature sensor of a Pantelligent
frying pan, you can cook to perfection. Make the
Samsung Hub Fridge a centre point and know
what’s in your fridge by looking on your phone.
YOUR SLEEP
Sleepless nights can be banished with smarthome
tech. The Eight sensored mattress sleep tracker
analyses your snooze patterns and bedroom
environment to help you nod off. To stir you again,
Beddi is a cool clock with Spotify integration, a
wake-up light and app-controlled alarm. Once
awake, you can use an app to get the Nespresso
Prodigio coffee maker to start your brew.
024 H T 1OO
59
£230 | £300
impossible-project.com
Impossible
Project I-1
IMPOSSIBLE
PROJECT I-1
BRINGING
BACK
POLAROID
Adored by seaside photographers
and partygoers for being able to
spew out freshly-developed images
within seconds, Polaroid cameras
reached their peak in the late
Seventies. They had been invented
by Polaroid’s cofounder Edwin Land
who unveiled the first model, the 95
Land Camera, in 1948 but the rise
of digital led to Polaroid ceasing film
production exactly 60 years later.
At that time, the newly-founded
Impossible Project snapped up the
machines used to make the film. It
then begun its own run of film and
this year, it has started to make
its own camera too. The I-1 is the
first new ‘authentic’ instant cam to
be produced in two decades and
replicates the feel of using a Polaroid.
But while it shoots on true
Polaroid-style film and has all of
the quirks of the original right down
to shaking the printout in the hope
of getting it to develop faster, there
are some modern twists. It now
works with a smartphone app that
lends manual controls and a remote
shutter feature. But you can’t snap
digital shots, and that’s where things
get a little expensive – the film costs
£15/$20 for eight shots.
58
ROOMBA 980 THE ROBOT
THAT CLEANS AFTER YOU
Taking us a step closer to the
Jetsons’ futuristic robot-led
lifestyle is the 980, Roomba’s
latest autonomous robotic vacuum
cleaner. Set it down in a room
and it’ll use its sensors to map
its surroundings before scuttling
around your floor sucking up all
the dirt and dust it comes across.
£45 | $40
nerf.hasbro.com
Nerf N-Strike
Modulus ECS-10
NERF PACK SOME SERIOUS
FOAM FIREPOWER
We know there is a crazy amount
of Nerf blaster models to select
from, but when you’re looking to
pop some spongy cellular material
at your friend in cold-blooded
foam warfare, you don’t really
have much time to waste.
Ever since the toy guns
emerged in the late Eighties, they
£800 | $900
irobot.com
Roomba 980
It’s possible to get the Roomba
980 to vacuum an entire level
of your home and it doesn’t
particularly matter how large a
floor space it has to cover. After
a couple of hours, it’ll head off
to recharge and then resume its
monotonous task, even getting
under the edges of rugs.
57
have provided safe, but crazy, fun
for millions, allowing for battles
to take place just about anywhere,
even indoors and spawning lots
of different types of ammunition
to mix things up a bit. Nerf wars
are so popular that there are
organised battles taking place in
all four corners of the globe.
 Phillips hue
025
PHILIPS HUE SEE THINGS
IN A DIFFERENT LIGHT It was Thomas Edison who patented the first
commercially successful incandescent lightbulb
£60 | $80
in 1879 but it was more than 120 years later
meethue.com
before we began to see solid-state LEDs as a
Philips Hue viable alternative. Better than the ugly energy-
saving bulbs that were extremely slow to light,
LEDs are known for their long life, low power
consumption and instant brightness.
Philips Hue has taken LED technology further,
with a range of lights that can change colour,
be dimmed and, crucially, be scheduled via an
app. As well as working with the likes of Apple’s
Home Kit, Nest, Amazon Echo and Philips
Ambilux televisions, you can turn these lights on
an off manually no matter where you are and
you can create whatever ambience you wish.
But you’re not restricted to familiar-looking
bulbs. The range includes the portable Hue Go,
the flexible Hue Lightstrip Plus and the space-
age-like Hue Phoenix lamp. There are also some

56
sizeable for recessed ceiling spots. For all of
these, you’ll need a Hue ‘bridge’ that plugs into
your Wi-Fi (it can be bought on its own or part of
a starter kit) then, from that point on, you’ll see
bulbs in a whole new light.

STREAMING
WHO NEEDS PHYSICAL
MEDIA ANYWAY? 55
With more than enough broadband bandwidth
at our disposal these days, we can gobble up WHAT CAN YOU STREAM?
streaming media like a panda eats bamboo.
It has already changed the way we watch TV
and listen to music, not only leading to falling
audiences for traditional channels but even
causing a slump in digital song purchases.
The tide has turned to such a degree that
the BBC is considering it’s own Netflix rival and
there has even been speculation that Apple will
Music Television Movies Live Events
Spotify is still a music Despite the furore While it, like Netflix, YouTube carried the
close its music download business in as little as streaming giant with over region-locked has lots of TV shows Champions League
two years. That’s despite some artists including more than 75 million content, Netflix – The Grand Tour final and it is going
Taylor Swift, Prince and Radiohead having at customers and 20 still has more high- and Mr. Robot springs into live streaming
voiced anger at the small royalties on offer. million songs. Listen quality original to mind – Amazon in a big way. It even
But it’s not just TV and music. The trend to tunes on ad-free shows than its rivals Prime is just as strong has a continuous live
hasn’t escaped gaming. In the early days of streams via smart – notably House Of on movies from the Sky News feed and
game streaming – which allows high-end devices, computers Cards and Orange Is likes of Interstellar to launched a game
gaming to be fed to low-end devices – Gaikai and games consoles The New Black. Paddington. streaming service.
competed against OnLive. In the end, Sony Spotify Netflix Amazon Prime YouTube
snapped up the patents and launched PS Now. £10/$10 a month £6/$8 a month £6/$9 a month Free
026 H T 1OO
SONY RX100 IV SHOOT
SUPER SLOW-MO PHOTOS
You could easily make a snap judgement when Handy buttons Capture action images
viewing this camera. It’s a compact with no
touchscreen – what fresh hell is this? But slow
down a second. This is the latest, fourth version
54 The camera puts everything you need to
hand with a flash that pops out, slow motion
accessible through the mode dial and more
The 1/32000-second super-high-speed
anti-distortion shutter allows you to take
advantage of super-slow-motion shooting

of one of Sony’s top-of-the-range cameras,

and there are very few which can beat it.
At 20.1MP with a large one-inch sensor,
2.9x optical zoom and up to 40x super slow
motion, it’s up there with the most professional
cameras. It produces clear images and takes
up to five minutes of 4K video, benefiting from
immense processing power that also allows for Great lens
16fps burst shooting. You’ll get great images
The resulting images are of an incredibly thanks to the 20.1MP,
stacked 1.0 type CMOS
fine quality, bursting with vibrant, true-to-life
image sensor with DRAM
colours. The shots also benefit from lens-based chip and the Zeiss Vario-
image stabilisation that enables you to shoot in Sonnar T*24-70mm lens
the lowest of lights. with f1.8-2.9 aperture
Each picture can be backed up to Sony’s
Play Memories Online cloud – Sony’s answer
to Apple’s iCloud and Photo Stream. Even £850 | $950
better, you don’t even have to worry about the sony.com
battery – the RX100 IV’s battery is good for Sony RX100 IV
approximately 280 shots.

51

53
FOUR EARS
ARE BETTER
THAN TWO
While sounding like a gadget that
the Dark Knight himself would
be proud to use, the Batband
is one of many headphones
that bypass your lugholes and
instead let you listen to music
through the vibration of your jaw
and cheek bones. By sending
vibrations straight to your inner
ear, it leaves your outer ear free
to listen to whatever is going on
around you, essentially letting
you hear twice as much as
normal, which is handy for when
you cross the road.
Batband
£130 | $200
studiobananathings.com
52
GETTING A LIFT
HAS NEVER BEEN
THIS EASY
The world ‘disrupt’ was pretty
much made for Uber given
the way it’s driven many of its
competitors off the road. What
started off as a luxury brand has
become ubiquitous with so many
of us hailing Uber drivers today –
the six-year-old company is now
worth a staggering $60bn. Using
an app on your phone to book,
track and pay for a ride seems
simple enough and, despite
a furious backlash from rival
taxi services, Uber has become
virtually unstoppable.
Uber
Free
uber.com
£540 | $650
apple.com
iPhone 6S
IPHONE 6S THE BEST
IPHONE EVER MADE
If Apple wants to keep taking a bite out of the ever-growing Android market,
it has to make sure that its highest-end handset is at the cutting edge. Right
now – until the iPhone 7 is released – the 6S is as good as it gets. It’s good
news, then, that there’s plenty to text home about.
Available in gold, silver, ‘Space Grey’ and ‘Rose Gold’, the 6S has a strong
aluminium body, the fastest A9 chip, a 4.7-inch 326ppi screen (5.5-inch at
401ppi on the 6S Plus) and the benefits of ‘3D Touch’ – which lets you press
harder on the screen to bring up extra options and menus.
It also beats the iPhone 6’s 8MP camera with a 12MP version that’s capable
of filming in 4K. But it is iOS and the quality of App Store which helps the 6S
shine the most – but can Apple rely on this for much longer?
 Dyson 360 Eye
027

50 TBA
dyson.co.uk

Dyson 360 Eye

DYSON DISCOVER
THE DIFFERENCE
When James Dyson was frustrated by the poor
£500 | $720
dyson.co.uk

Dyson V8
performance of his Hoover Junior, he designed
his own vacuum cleaner using the kind of
cyclonic suction system he’d seen working
in a sawmill. After countless prototypes, the
world’s first Dyson bagless vacuum cleaner was
launched in 1991. Since then, the company has
grown exponentially, branching out into other
electrical products such as fans and hand-
dryers, using the same innovative approach to
revolutionise its designs.
Most recently, Dyson launched the
Supersonic hair dryer, which measures air
temperature 20 times a second to prevent
extreme heat damage. With the motor housed
in the handle, a high-velocity air flow is £300 | $400
accelerated through its body to dry hair faster. dyson.co.uk
The Dyson Pure Cool Link monitors and
purifies the air, using an incredibly fine 0.9
Dyson Supersonic
micron glass HEPA filter to remove even the
tiniest particles, eliminating 99.95% of allergens.
It can also be remotely controlled via the Dyson
Link phone app.
Back in the realm of vacuum cleaners, the
V8 is the most powerful cordless model yet and
can transform into a handheld. Finally, due to
launch this summer, the 360 Eye is a powerful
robot cleaner that finally does the job properly,
equipped with a camera to find its way around.
028 H T 1OO

49
A WATCH
WORTH
WEARING
Unlike most Android
Wear devices, Huawei’s
own smartwatch is
targeting the high-end
consumer – its circular
face gives it a classic
look. Naturally, it pairs
with an Android phone,
but it’s also one of the
first Android Wear
watches to work with
iOS. It’s an obvious rival
to the Apple Watch and
it offers a wide range of
cases and strap options.
Huawei Watch
£290 | $350
huawei.com
48
WINDOWS
WONDER
TABLET
While previous Surface
Pro models have been
billed as ‘the tablet than
can replace your laptop’,
this could finally be the
one to actually live up to
that claim. Faster and
thinner than the Pro 3, it
has Windows 10 as its OS
and can run all standard
PC applications. An
optional cover keyboard
makes it a true hybrid
device, suitable for work
and leisure.
Surface Pro 4
£750 | $900
microsoft.com
47
THE SMART
STICKY
BUTTON £490 | $700
A Bluetooth-enabled
46
avegant.com
button you can stick to
any surface, Flic can be
Avegant Glyph
programmed to trigger
actions in wirelessly-
connected devices.
You can turn the lights
AVEGANT GLYPH
on or off, start music YOUR PERSONAL
and alter the heating
thermostat, for instance. MOVIE THEATRE
It works as with the IFTTT While it may look like a VR headset, the Avegant Glyph is instead
service, too and, for billed as the world’s first personal cinema. Enabling you to watch
extra versatility, the Flic movies anywhere, it provides the illusion of a giant screen.
has three triggers: click, Amazingly, however, there is no screen: instead, the Glyph uses
double-click and hold. a combination of advanced optics and microscopic mirrors to
Flic beam images directly into the user’s eyes. The fit is adjustable –
£25 | $35 there are magnetic, interchangeable nose pads in four sizes. As
flic.io well as delivering an immersive movie-viewing experience, the
Glyph doubles as a pair of audio headphones.

42

44
WAKE UP TO
A FRESHLY-
£60 | $100 MADE BREW
Remember the classic
45
littlebits.cc
Goblin Teasmade? Well,
Little Bits
this is somewhat higher-
tech: a smart coffee
machine that cooks up
LITTLE BITS ELECTRONIC a morning brew while
BUILDING BLOCKS you’re still sleeping.
It’s a full bean-to-cup
machine that you can
This Lego-like kit offers an easy way to learn about electronics,
while making it more fun for youngsters. The plastic components operate remotely via
snap together with magnets to create instant circuits with no a smartphone app. Of
bare wires. The bits are all colour-coded, too – blue for power course, you can adjust
sources, pink for inputs (buttons, sensors etc), green for outputs the strength and it can
(lights, motors), and orange for connectors – so you can focus make 12 cups in one go,
on being inventive, creating anything from a simple lamp to a poured into its carafe.
self-driving vehicle. It’s not just for kids, either, as the range of Smarter Coffee
kits includes one to create a smart home. Individual extra bits £180 | $255
can also be bought and there seems no limit to what you can smarter.am
make, even hooking creations up to the internet.
43
IS IT A
TABLET OR
A LAPTOP?
Samsung’s rival to the
Surface Pro 4 features a
sleek, portable design and
a stunning 12-inch Super
AMOLED touchscreen
protected by Gorilla
Glass. Based around
a Windows 10 OS, the
TabPro S can run standard
PC applications – and
stream Xbox Ones games.
Unlike most rivals, it even
comes bundled with a
keyboard dock, making it
a nifty mobile office.
Galaxy TabPro S
£850 | $900
samsung.com
ULTRA-LIGHT
FIXED-WING
DRONE
With the drone
market dominated by
quadcopters, it’s nice to
see something different.
The world’s first fixed-
wing drone, the Disco
is designed to be ultra-
manoeuvrable. It’s also
smart, offering take-off,
landing and return home
modes. A 2700mAh
battery bestows it over
45 minutes of flight, while
a 1080HD camera gives
you a great view.
Parrot Disco
TBA
parrot.com
 Xiaomi Mi Drone
029
£265 | $380
mi.com

Xiaomi Mi
Drone

£170 | $TBA

41 40 motorola.co.uk

Moto G4

XIAOMI MI DRONE MOTO G4 A BRILLIANT

AFFORDABLE QUADCOPTER
Best known for its smartphones, Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi is set to cause
a stir in the drone market by launching this smart quadcopter at a reasonable
and affordable price: around £265/$380 for the 1080p camera version, and
£315/$455 for the 4K model. Sitting underneath the chassis, the Mi Drone’s
camera can move a full 360° and features a 12-megapixel Sony sensor. A live
video feed is beamed to your smartphone, which is, in turn, connected to the
drone’s remote controller. Smart piloting features include the ability to fly to a
certain point, circle an object and follow a road. A 5100mAh battery provides
a flight time of up to 27 minutes. Both models of the Mi Drone are due to be
launched later on this year.
BUDGET SMARTPHONE
Previous Moto G models have offered excellent value for money and this
is no different. It comes in two main flavours: the standard Moto G4 and
the G4 Plus, which adds a fingerprint sensor, 16MP rear camera (rather
than 13MP), while offering extra memory and storage options. Other than
that, they’re similar in design and spec. Protected by Gorilla Glass, the
5.5-inch 1080p LED screen is the series’ biggest and sharpest. There’s
also a faster Snapdragon 617 processor to run everything using Android
Marshmallow, with no bloatware. Another key addition is Turbo Charging,
giving up to six hours of usage from a 15-minute charge.

37

39
THIS IS THE CAR
OF THE FUTURE
A US-based venture, Faraday
Future is focused on the
development of intelligent electric
vehicles. The firm doesn’t yet
have a production-ready car,
but it showed off a concept car
at January’s CES. It has already
built a $1 billion megafactory in
Nevada and is planning a second
in California. FF’s innovative,
modular approach to vehicle
design involves using strings
of battery blocks in various
arrangements, added to a chassis
that can be modified to create
different body shapes.
Faraday Future
TBA
ff.com
38
SMALL SPEAKER,
BIG SOUND
This diminutive Bluetooth
speaker’s innovative design
enables it to deliver the sort of
audio quality you might expect
from a unit twice its size. It
produces a wide stereo sound
field with enough power to fill
the room. This is made possible
by an innovative design featuring
five custom drivers, assembled
in three arrays. While the bass
response is surprisingly good, an
optional separate subwoofer can
be added. The Core can be used in
a multi-room setup, too, creating
its own wireless network.
Mass Fidelity Core
£415 | $600
massfidelity.com
APPLE WATCH
MAKEOVER
Apple’s smartwatch was touted
as the smartwatch to beat when
it launched just over a year
ago. As well as sending iPhone
notifications to your wrist, the
touchscreen even features Force
Touch tech, so a harder press
triggers a different action. But
while sales have outstriped
Google’s Android Wear, the Apple
Watch hasn’t been the success
the company was hoping for.
However, this might change with
the WatchOS 3 update, which
overhauls the device’s interface
and adds lots of new features.
Apple Watch
£260 | $300
apple.com
36
NEVER HAVE AN
EMPTY FRIDGE
Ever opened your fridge to
find that you’ve got nothing
to cook dinner with? Don’t
worry: we’ve all been there,
and now Samsung can lend a
hand. The Family Hub takes a
photograph of its contents every
time you shut the door, and you
can use your smartphone to
check what you have in stock
no matter where you are. The
Family Hub also has a 21.5-inch
touchscreen built into the front
of it, so you can get weather
updates, view your calendar and
even shop online.
Samsung Family Hub
£4,235 | $ 6,000
samsung.com
 030 H T 1OO
ROBOT BUTLERS
Touchscreen face
When not showing Zenbo’s animated face,
the touchscreen can display information

YOU RANG
or the live view from a remote wireless
camera; Zenbo has its own camera, too
Two-way conversation
Like a standard digital assistant, you

M’LORD?
can give Zenbo voice instructions
and it’ll respond in kind, his mouth
moving with the words

Smart tech
According to most Fifties sci-fi movies, by now Zenbo’s body contains its motor
and other circuitry that enables
we should all have robots to do our housework.
Well, this prediction is starting to become a
reality with the arrival of several robot butlers.
35 him to communicate with smart
devices, plus built-in speakers

They won’t do the ironing, but they can help

us interact with our smart homes, offering a
human-like interface to control devices.
Asus’ Zenbo features a touchscreen head
with a face that shows emotions. When
connected to your wireless network, it can
control all sorts of devices and even let you
unlock the door to visitors shown on its screen.
Blue Frog Robotics’ Buddy is similarly cute
and loves to play with children. As well as
controlling smart devices, it acts as a personal
assistant to remind you of appointments. It can
even work as a security guard when you’re out. TBA
Even Segway is getting in on the act, £515 | $730 segway.com £415 | $600
launching a two-wheeled scooter robot that bluefrogrobotics.com asus.com
can take you for a ride, or just follow you
Segway
Buddy The Robot Robot Asus Zenbo
around and take pictures.
CMYK / .eps Facebook “f ” Logo CMYK / .eps

31

34 33 32

TO VIRTUAL THE MOST ULTRA-THIN THE MODULAR

REALITY AND
BEYOND
Facebook has a huge global
audience. More than 1.6 billion
people use it at least once a
month. That’s half of all internet
users – and that doesn’t even
include Facebook-owned services
such as WhatsApp. Facebook
is also branching out into new
areas, most notably virtual
reality. As well as Oculus VR,
maker of the Rift headset, it has
also acquired Pebbles Interfaces
and Surreal Vision. Facebook
also has interests in 360° video,
customer service chatbots and
payment systems.
Facebook
facebook.com
EXPRESSIVE MIDI
CONTROLLER
It may look like a keyboard,
but the Rise is a revolutionary
MIDI controller. Its 5D Touch
system offers five dimensions
of touch as you play it: strike,
press (continuous pressure),
glide (portamento), slide (sound
modulation via vertical movement
on keys) and lift (speed of finger
lift-off). Available in two-octave
and four-octave versions, the
RISE comes bundled with the
Equator software synthesizer,
Bitwig 8-Track digital audio
workstation and a storage case.
Roli Seaboard Rise
£600 | $800
roli.com
CONVERTIBLE
LAPTOP
Measuring a slimline 10.4mm
when closed, and weighing just
1.1kg, the Spectre is the MacBook
Air of the Windows laptop world.
It’s glamorous, too: crafted from
carbon fibre and aluminium,
it features a stylish two-tone
finish. Powered by an Intel i5 or
i7 processor, with 8GB RAM, the
2016 model is even faster than
before. There’s Glass protection
for the 13.3-inch or 15-inch Full
HD touchscreen, which can be
bent over backwards to turn the
Spectre into a tablet.
HP Spectre x360
£900 | $900
hp.com
FLAGSHIP
PHONE
As well as offering a plethora
of high-end features, LG’s new
flagship smartphone features a
modular design. This means that
you can slot in accessories, called
‘Friends’, to enhance the phone’s
functionality. So far there’s the
Cam Plus module with physical
camera controls, including a
zoom wheel, and the B&O Hi-Fi
Plus for high-quality audio. Two
upcoming accessories are the
360 VR visor and 360 camera.
The battery also slots out without
the need to remove the backplate.
LG G5
£530 | $750
lg.com
ONE FOR ALL,
WWW.ESET.CO.UK/HOME

ALL FOR ONE!

Protect all family devices for less with

ESET®
Multi-Device
Security Pack
Now with Parental Control
for Android
032 H T 1OO
30

£10/pm | $10/pm £330 | $420

tidal.com aaxatech.com

Tidal 29 AAXA P300

TIDAL MUSIC STREAMING PICO PROJECTORS A

FOR AUDIOPHILES
Owned by a coalition of high-profile artists including the likes of Jay Z,
Beyoncé and Madonna, Tidal is a music streaming service with a difference.
Its unique selling point is the delivery of high-fidelity sound via the lossless,
uncompressed FLAC audio format – so you get CD-quality music, as it was
meant to be heard. Offering a catalogue of 40 million tracks, along with
130,000 HD videos, the service is available in 46 countries. Tidal also features
expertly-curated content and editorial. There are regular big album exclusives,
too, from the likes of Kanye West and Rihanna. The main downside is that
Tidal’s lossless HiFi subscription is pricey (£20 a month), although a cheaper
standard sound quality version is also available at half the price.
POCKET PROJECTOR
Remember the days when a projector was a heavy, unwieldy device
plonked onto a desktop during presentations? Well, nowadays you can
purchase pocket-sized equivalents, known as Pico projectors. So, if you
ever need to show something to a group of people, you can just plug your
LED-powered pocket projector into a device and shine it at a wall for a
big-screen image. You can even use it for an impromptu movie night with
friends! While a host of manufacturers are now producing Pico projectors,
our recommended buy is the AAXA P300. Although not quite as portable
as some rivals, it boasts more inputs and superior contrast ratios.

26

28 27
VOICE CONTROL
Formerly the stuff of science
fiction, the concept of humans
EXPANDING
talking to their devices is now ITS GALAXY £120 | $170
a reality. Apple’s Siri digital OF STARS lumobodytech.com

assistant for the iPhone helped
popularise the idea of voice-
controlled devices, but since
its inception in October 2011
things have moved on at a
rapid pace. These days we’re
voicing commands to all sorts of
technology, from smartwatches
to home hub devices, like the
popular Amazon Echo speaker.
Google has also taken note of
the burgeoning market and has
launched its own smart speaker,
Google Home. While the AI
side of things hasn’t yet been
perfected, the future will surely
be voice-activated.
The multinational tech giant
has its finger on the pulse of
new tech in so many sectors it’s
almost impossible to keep track
of everything that it is putting
out. Among this year’s launches
are a new range of sleek smart
SUHD TVs that feature amazing
contrast levels, in sizes up to 89
inches. There’s also a 4K/UHD
Blu-ray player, the Samsung
Galaxy S7 smartphone, the Gear
VR headset, Notebook 9 laptops,
TabPro S tablet/computer hybrid
and Internet-Of-Things-enabled
Family Hub Refrigerator.
samsung.com
Lumo Run
smart shorts
WEARABLES GET
YOURSELF CONNECTED
There’s a lot more to wearable technology than fitness bands and
smartwatches: the sector is set to explode with an array of new ideas.
For starters, there’s smart clothing, with numerous firms developing new
products. Levi’s and Google are collaborating on Project Jacquard to weave
tech into clothes. Having acquired Runtastic, Adidas is working on new smart
sports gear containing even more sensors. Also helping you to track your
runs are Lumo Run shorts, Sensoria socks and the OM Bra. It’s not all about
fitness, either: mind-reading wearables include Thync and Muse. Then there
are ‘invisibles’ such as tech tattoos, wearable toys and even a GPS dog collar!

RASPBERRY PI ZERO
THE TINY $5
COMPUTER
As if the bestselling, credit card-sized Raspberry
Pi computer wasn’t already small enough,
the Zero is its little brother, measuring a mere
65 × 30mm. While featuring a slightly lower
spec, it still packs a 900MHz CPU and is plenty
powerful enough for most uses. Since the Zero
runs the same system software as a standard
Pi, you could plug in a mouse, keyboard and
monitor – via port adaptors – and use it as a
fully-functioning computer. However, its main
intended use is as an embedded computer for
all sorts of electronics projects. Its miniature
form factor makes the Zero easy to fit into
“The Zero sold
out within hours
of its launch”
Connect a camera
An extra port on the latest version of
25
the Pi Zero enables the connection
of the official Pi Camera Module
using a special adaptor cable
System storage
As with other models, the Zero’s
system software, applications
Unpopulated
GPIO header
You’ll need to solder some
and data are all stored on a GPIO pins to the Zero to
standard microSD memory card connect Pi add-ons
tight spaces – even inside an old videogames
controller to create an integrated retro console.
With so many potential uses, and at an
incredibly low price, it’s no wonder the
Zero sold out within hours of its launch last
November, and has been difficult to get hold
of since. Fortunately, production has recently
been ramped up, while an extra port on the
latest version enables the connection of the
Pi Camera Module. This opens up even more
possibilities for user-created projects using the
Zero. So, instead of simply buying gadgets, why
not have a go at making one of your own?
£4 | $5
raspberrypi.org
Raspberry Pi
Tiny form factor
The Pi Zero is about half the
size of a standard Raspberry Pi,
making it even easier to fit into
tight spaces for projects
Raspberry Pi
033
What will you
make with yours?
01 Desktop message scroller
Create a mini desktop display to scroll
text messages such as tweets. A Scroll pHAT
LED matrix add-on (£18) is used, along with
GPIO headers and various adaptors and cables.
02 Wireless audio station
Using a pHAT DAC add-on (£30) and
a Wi-Fi dongle, you can build a wireless audio
station that can be controlled from your phone
to stream music through a pair of speakers.
03 Retro games console
While turning a Raspberry Pi into a retro
games console has always been popular, using
the RetroPie emulation system, the Zero is small
enough to be crammed inside the controller!
04 Miniature wheeled robot
Making Pi-powered robots is another
popular pastime – and with the Zero, it’s
possible to make them much smaller. Mark
Cantrill’s Matchbot has a matchbox for its body!
05 Homemade flying drone
Weighing just 9g, the Pi Zero is ideal
for powering smart DIY drones. The pictured
costs $200 and is built using a mini quadcopter
kit and PXFmini autopilot shield.
034 H T 1OO
HOLOLENS TRANSFORMS
YOUR WORLD WITH
HOLOGRAMS 24
While many rivals are jumping on the VR Integrated computer
Fitted for comfort
The inner, cushioned band wraps around the
user’s head and can be adjusted via a roller
Since the HoloLens has a computer built at the rear for a secure and comfortable fit
bandwagon, Microsoft is taking a different track
in to its outer band, there’s no need for
with its HoloLens headset. Rather than giving
any connecting cables; it also features a
the wearer a view of a completely artificial head motion sensor
scene, it superimposes 3D graphics onto
their real-life surroundings, viewed through
transparent lenses. The concept of augmented
reality has been around for a while, layering
helpful information onto a camera view, but the
HoloLens takes it to a whole new dimension.
You can walk around the ‘holograms’, and
interact with them using gesture control.
Although several games are in development
TBA
for HoloLens, it may ultimately prove more
microsoft.com
useful in the workplace. Product designers
can envisage their creations in 3D, and explore HoloLens
and discuss them with HoloLens-wearing
colleagues. We may to wait a while yet, though: Spatial sound speakers Transparent lenses
although a Development Edition is already As well as viewing virtual objects, you Wraparound, transparent glasses enable
can hear them in 3D thanks to a spatial the wearer to still see the real world,
shipping – for £2,000! – the consumer unit
sound system – an item’s noise gets while two inner lenses display the
could be months or even years away. louder as you approach it superimposed graphics

22 21 20
23

THE GET BACK LOOK AS

ULTIMATE TV
£350 | $500 SOLUTION
actonglobal.com Making digital recordings
Blink Board of broadcasted TV shows
is great and convenient,
but what if you’re heading
out and want to take
RIDEABLES FINDING them with you on your
NEW WAYS TO TRAVEL mobile device? In effect,
Sky Q lets you do just
that by enabling you play
When most people think of rideables, the first thing that pops
into their head is a hoverboard. While hoverboards are all the them in its app on your
rage in the toy market, however, other rideables are leading the tablet – a phone version
way for the practical purpose of transport. These small, electric- is coming soon. When at
powered vehicles are useful for carrying riders short distances home, you can also beam
to a railway station or bus stop, where they are then portable recordings to Sky boxes
enough to be carried on board. Options include fold-up scooters in different rooms.
and self-balancing unicycles, but the electric skateboard is Sky Q
probably the best choice as they’re so lightweight and portable. £45 pm | $N/A
A wireless remote is used for controlling speed, while the riders sky.com
leans to steer as per usual.
INTO THE
GROOVE
Vinyl is experiencing a
mainstream revival. Many
audiophiles say it offers
a warmer, more natural
sound than CDs and other
forms of digital music
reproduction. In most
record stores, you’ll now
see a section full of old-
fashioned LPs, whether
reissues or new releases.
And there’s a wide variety
of stylish new turntables
to play them on.
Pro-Ject
Elemental
£160 | $230
project-audio.com
GOOD AS
THEY SOUND
If you want to shell
out for some better
headphones, the
Momentum 2.0s are an
excellent choice. As well
as stylish looks and a
padded fit, they deliver
impressive audio quality.
Bass is powerful without
dominating the rest of
the music, which features
wide stereo imaging for
expansive sound. Noise
isolation is good, too.
Sennheiser
Momentum 2.0
£270 | $350
sennheiser.com
 iPad pro
035
19

18
THE BEST
SMART
£500 | $600 SPEAKER
apple.com The redesigned Play 5
speaker features six
iPad Pro speaker drivers powered
by six separate digital
amps. This helps it to
iPAD PRO THE DADDY deliver a big sound with
OF ALL IPADS impressive detail and
deep bass. Using the app
on your phone or tablet,
Making the biggest splash at last September’s Apple event –
partly due to a controversial smile-straightening demo – was it’s easy to play music
the announcement of the iPad Pro. The biggest, fastest iPad yet, from streaming services
it’s a dream machine for creatives. The 12.9-inch screen of the or local network storage,
original Pro – a 9.7-inch version is also now available – offers and compile multi-source
a resolution of 2732 × 2048 for stunning detail, while a brand- playlists. It’s also ideal for
new A9X 2.26GHz dual-core processor packs plenty of power a multi-room setup.
for multitasking with apps. An optional smart stylus, the Pencil Sonos Play 5
offers unmatched sensitivity and is ideal for using the Pro as a £430 | $500
graphic tablet. You can also add a smart cover with full a qwerty sonos.com
keyboard, making the Pro a potential laptop replacement.
17
THE LITTLE
DRONE THAT
COULD
As you might of guessed
from its name, the Micro
Drone 3 is tiny – it stands
at 5cm tall and has a
14cm diameter. Don’t let
its size fool you, though:
it has a hell of a lot of
functionality – you can
livestream video from
its camera straight to a
smartphone and view it in
VR. This drone smashed
its crowdfunding
campaign last year raising
over $3 million.
Micro Drone 3.0
£150 | £215
microdrone.co.uk
16
THE ONLY
AFFORDABLE
4K UHD TV
Following HD, the next
step up for television
technology is 4K,
aka Ultra HD – with a
resolution of 3840 ×
2160 pixels, scenes are
rendered in stunning
detail. The downside is
that up to now it’s been
expensive. So it’s exciting
to see HiSense launching
such an affordable model,
the M3000, for £300.
It’s also a smart TV with
built-in Wi-Fi.
HiSense M3000
From £300 | $430
hisense.co.uk

15
CAPTURE
360° HD
VIDEO
With a growing section on
YouTube, 360° videos are
all the rage, immersing
the headset wearer so
they feel like they’re
actually there. If you want
to shoot your own, the
Ricoh Theta S makes
it easy and affordable.
Capturing hi-res spherical
stills or videos in Full
HD, it can be triggered
remotely from a
smartphone and even
offers HD live streaming.
Ricoh Theta S
£300 | $350
theta360.com
14
IS THIS THE
YEAR APPLE
RETURNS?
While recent iPhone sales
figures haven’t been quite
so stellar, and the phone
itself is playing feature
catch-up with some
Android rivals, the world’s
biggest company is still
on the rise. The iPhone 7
is rumoured for later this
year, along with updated
versions of other devices.
Along with various OS
updates, there will be an
overhaul of Apple Music
streaming service.
Apple Music
£10/pm | $10/pm
apple.com
13
THE MOST-
WANTED
SPEAKER
12
The Amazon Echo
features a smart Siri-like
digital assistant, called
Alexa. You can ask her
to play music from your
Amazon Music library
or Spotify. Other options
KICKSTARTER THE
include checking your
calendar, searching for
CROWDFUNDING KING
While the concept of crowdfunding has been around for
businesses and ordering centuries, the modern web-based version has skyrocketed its
stuff from Amazon. The popularity. And there’s no bigger crowdfunding platform than
Echo also works as part Kickstarter, which has raised more than $2 billion for over
of a home hub, to control 106,000 campaigns. Every week, tens of thousands of backers
devices such as the Nest pledge money to help kickstart projects in 15 categories. While
thermostat. the music, film/video and publishing genres are the most
Amazon Echo popular, it’s the games and technology categories that tend to
£TBA | $180 raise the largest sums. You’ll see all manner of ingenious, and
amazon.com wacky, ideas on Kickstarter, so it’s a great place to look for
exciting new products and, if they’re funded, receive them first.
036 H T 1OO

10
AMAZON’S
£560 | $695 ANSWER TO
samsung.com CHROMECAST
11 Samsung
Galaxy S7
This tiny USB device lets
you stream content to
a TV. Sound familiar?
While clearly inspired by
Google’s Chromecast,
SAMSUNG GALAXY S7 the Fire TV Stick comes
THE SUPERIOR PHONE with a remote control (or
optional voice remote).
Easy to set up and use,
How on earth could Samsung top last year’s superb Galaxy S6?
Well, while the S7 doesn’t look all that different, a host of minor the Stick works with a
improvements add up to make it the best flagship phone around. good range of services
As before, it comes in standard and super-sized – with curved including Netflix,
screen – Edge varieties, both featuring a quad HD AMOLED YouTube, Spotify and
display for stunning visuals. Great overall performance is iPlayer. It also offers a
assured with an octa-core Exynos processor and 4GB RAM, so few games.
there’s no lag whatsoever, while built-in liquid cooling prevents Fire TV Stick
it overheating. The S7’s superb camera is equipped with a Dual £30 | $40
Pixel sensor, which lets you take sharp pictures in low light; it amazon.com
can do 4K video recording, too.
9 8
PLAY THE
BIGGEST
GAMES
While it’s been out for
a while now, Sony’s
PlayStation 4 recently
benefited from a price
drop and it’s the home
for an ever expanding
line-up of top games.
Exclusive titles include
Uncharted 4, Bloodborne
and Driveclub. Most
exciting of all, however,
is the prospect of the PS
VR headset, providing an
even more immersive
gaming experience.
PS4
£300 | $350
playstation.com
YOUR
TICKET TO
THE FUTURE
The search engine giant is
pushing new boundaries
in a way that Apple
hasn’t done for years.
Its self-driving car and
Daydream VR headset are
just two of many exciting
Google projects in the
pipeline. These include
the Google Home smart
hub, Project Ara modular
smartphones and a
new, smarter personal
assistant for Android.
Google self-
driving car
TBA
google.com

7 6
THE MOST
AFFORDABLE
TESLA YET
Tesla has forever changed
public perception of
electric cars as boring,
by building vehicles with
a winning combination of
style, innovation and top
performance. The only
major downside is the
price. That could change
with the Model 3, an
affordable five-seater that
goes from 0-60 in under
six seconds. It also offers
a realistic 215-mile range
and Autopilot option.
Tesla Model 3
£25,000 | $35,000
teslamotors.com
HD AUDIO
FOR YOUR
EARS
With its 24-bit depth and
96kHz or 192kHz sample
rate, Hi-Res Audio
completely outclasses
CD quality, with a sound
that’s 256 times as fine.
Both Sony and Panasonic
have embraced 24-bit
sound, launching a range
of hi-fi systems and
headphones, while Chord
Electronics’ DACs take
the concept of Hi-Res
Audio even further: up to
64-bit/768kHz.
Chord Mojo
£400 | $600
chordelectronics.co.uk
5
THE BEST
ACTION
CAMERA
GoPro pioneered the
wearable camera for
action/sports shooting.
While many other firms
have launched similar
projects, GoPro is still
the leader. The Hero 4
is its most advanced
camera yet. It captures
pro-quality video at up
to 4K/30fps, slow-mo at
240fps and 12MP photos
with a 30fps burst mode
– and it’s also waterproof.
GoPro Hero 4
Black
£410 | $500
gopro.com
£190 | $250
nest.com
Nest 3.0
NEST 3.0 THE EVEN
SMARTER THERMOSTAT
Debuting in 2011, the Nest is a smart, self-learning thermostat
that can help reduce heating bills. Subsequent models have
added extra features and the Nest 3.0 is the smartest yet. With a
sleeker design, it looks great on your wall and the new ‘Farsight’
motion-sensing system displays the set temperature or digital/
analogue clock whenever someone walks into the room. Extra
temperature sensors make the Nest 3.0 more accurate, enabling
it to better adjust the heating of your home, although you’ll need
extra Nests to control multiple zones. Unlike previous models,
it can also control the hot water. As ever, you can monitor and
adjust the system remotely via a smartphone app.

Push-and-release
propellers
A secure mechanism means
that the propellers can
withstand drastic changes of
motor speed, allowing the
aircraft to be more agile and
more responsive
Magnesium core
Embedded into the aircraft, a
revolutionary magnesium core
greatly increases rigidity to
minimise unwanted vibrations,
while also helping to keep its
weight down to 1380g (3lbs)
DJI PHANTOM 4
AN INCREDIBLY
SMART DRONE
The latest smart drone from DJI has the ability
to sense and avoid obstacles, making it much
harder – though not impossible – to crash.
Linking its remote controller to a smartphone
adds some very smart features. The intuitive
TapFly mode lets you fly with the tap of a
finger. Just press anywhere on the live camera
view within the DJI Go app and the drone will
make a beeline for that point, only deviating to
navigate around any obstacles in its path.
Most impressive of all is the new ActiveTrack
feature: just tap a subject – such as a person
or vehicle – on the camera view and the
3
Phantom 4 will follow it around and even
automate tracking shots to create professional-
looking video footage. Mounted on an
integrated gimbal, the 4K Ultra HD camera
offers enhanced image quality due to lens
improvements, plus the ability to capture
1080p video at 120fps for smooth slow motion.
The Phantom 4 can hit speeds of up to
44mph in the new Sport mode, letting you fly
faster than ever! Whichever you choose to fly
it, this is one impressive drone that should also
prove easier for beginners to pilot, potentially
any avoiding costly crashes.
DJI Phantom 4
037
Camera gimbal
Made from strong composite
material, the gimbal is closer
to the quadcopter’s centre of
gravity. It features three-axis
stabilisation
4K UHD camera
The Ultra High Definition
camera boasts enhanced
image quality compared to the
Phantom 3 Pro
£1,230 | $1,400
dji.com
DJI Phantom 4
HOW DRONES ARE
CHANGING THE WORLD
01 Automated agriculture
Drones are being used to monitor
and spray farmland to help improve yields.
DJI has launched the Agras, a dustproof
drone designed for crop-spraying, which can
cover up to ten acres per hour.
02 Making movies
Professional movie-makers are
using high-end drones – such as the DJI
Matrice 600 with Ronin MX camera gimbal
– to film action scenes from any angle and
achieve dramatic aerial tracking shots.
03 Search and rescue
Drones are ideal for searching
for missing persons in challenging terrain,
particularly if equipped with thermal sensors.
They can also deliver essential supplies to
stranded victims before they’re rescued.
04 Protecting wildlife
Sadly, poaching is a major problem.
With the ability to get close to animals
without spooking them, drones can be used
to deter poachers.
038 H T 1OO
FITBIT BLAZE THE 2 Smartwatch
functions

ULTIMATE SMART
Basic smartwatch
functionality includes
a variety of analogue/
digital clock face options,

FITNESS WATCH
along with connected
smartphone push
notifications, calendar
alerts and music control
Fitbit has been making fitness tracking devices
since 2008, and the Blaze is by far the smartest Heart-rate
one available today. Fitting onto the wrist, it monitor
combines the functionality of a fitness band An optical sensor on
with that of a smartwatch – including call or the rear of the device
text notifications and calendar alerts from measures the wearer’s
pulse and, therefore,
a paired smartphone. There’s also a range
heart-rate – the Blaze logs
of stylish straps available to buy and, since the resting rate and the
the 31.75mm (1.2-inch) colour OLED display rate during exercise, so
is detachable, it can be slotted into a range you can compare them
different frames.
The small touchscreen is used for navigating Detachable
the watch and fitness features. There are display
stats galore, as the Blaze logs steps, distance, The Fitbit Blaze’s
calories burnt, floors climbed and active 31.75mm touchscreen
minutes. It’ll even measure your heart-rate can be slotted out of
from the wrist – no need for a chest strap. the metal frame and
The Blaze can be used to record various into another if you want
sporting activities– including running, cycling to change your style
throughout the day.
and weightlifting – and, if you fail to select an
activity, its SmartTrack feature will automatically
recognise and log it. Alternatively, start one of Pick your style
the FitStar workouts and you’ll get step-by-step As with most
smartwatches, there’s
instructions and coaching. After exercising, you
a wide array of strap
can see a summary of your workout and how styles to choose from,
you’re progressing towards your fitness goals. including leather and
The only real downside of the Blaze is its metal links, which
lack of built-in GPS, but the device can connect £180 | $200 come in three different
to your smartphone’s to record your running/ fitbit.com sizes to fit wrists from
cycling route, meaning that its not too bad. Fitbit Blaze 14cm to 24cm

The Fitbit Blaze is

designed to both
boost fitness and be
a fashion accessory
DroneGuard
Backpack

DroneGuard BP 450 AW – Now you can go the

distance with your drone and all the extra gear you NEW
need to capture amazing footage. This comfortable
and protective backpack was built to give you all-day
comfort, make it easy to customise your kit, let you
deploy an All Weather AW Cover™ when needed, plus
provide space for your tablet, sunglasses, jacket...
and just about everything you need.

Find out more at www.lowepro.co.uk/drones

or call 0845 250 0792

@loweproUK ©2015 DayMen Canada Acquisition ULC.

040 H T 1OO

VIRTUAL REALITY
ENTERING A BRAVE
NEW WORLD
By strapping on a VR headset and viewing
the 3D graphics displayed on tiny screens in
front of your eyes, you can be immersed in
an artificial world. Built-in sensors track your
head movements and adjust the virtual view
accordingly, along with the sounds played via
headphones. For interaction, some VR systems
also feature Kinect-style motion tracking.
While the first commercial VR gaming
systems were launched in the early Nineties,
the bulky headsets were uncomfortable and
the 3D visuals primitive. And, while a passable
illusion was produced, some users experienced
headaches. Cue the Oculus Rift, which raised
$2.5 million in a Kickstarter campaign and
got everyone excited again. Further headlines
were made when the company was bought by
Facebook for an astonishing $2 billion.
Following a series of prototypes, the first
consumer Rift headset was launched in March
1
– compatible with PC – but with so many rivals
close behind, and more emerging, it’s hard to
pick a headset right now. HTC’s Vive works with
high-end PCs, but also employs motion tracking
as you walk around the room. For console
gamers, the more affordable PlayStation VR is
due out in October for £350. For those on a
budget, Samsung’s Gear VR costs just £80, but
requires a compatible phone, while Google
Cardboard headsets can be bought for as little
as £5. So, virtual reality is for everyone.
“Built-in sensors track your
head movements and
adjust the virtual view”
 VR
041

A Ever since Google

ENTERS THE GAME
launched its low-tech
Cardboard platform a
couple of years ago – to
stimulate interest in, and
the development of, VR
apps on Android – it’s been suspected that
a superior version would follow. Due out
this autumn, the Google Daydream platform
could be a game-changer, set to popularise
VR in the mobile market – although it seems
you’ll need one of a brand-new range of
compatible flagship phones to use it. The
headset itself will feature a high-quality
system-on-chip for rendering visuals
at 60fps on a low-persistence display,
Google’s new
eliminating any ghosting. It will also come Daydream VR will
with a mini handheld controller. debut this autumn
042 Win our top five
hottest gadgets

WIN OUR TOP FIVE

HOTTEST GADGETS
Get your hands on a Samsung Gear VR, Fitbit Blaze,
DJI Phantom 4, Nest Thermostat and GoPro Hero 4!

So you’ve seen our picks of the most exciting tech in the
world right now, but what good is that if you can’t get
your hands on any of it? That’s why we’re giving our five
hottest gadgets to one lucky reader.
Yes, that’s right: we’ll kit you out with the latest DJI
drone, a Fitbit Blaze fitness tracker, a GoPro Hero 4
action camera, a Nest Thermostat to manage your
smart home and a Samsung Galaxy Gear VR headset.
This fantastic prize bundle is worth a whooping
£2,000, so you’re going to have to work for it. Read
back through our Hot 100 feature and then tell us the
answer to the following question.

HOW MANY CAMERAS DOES THE PANONO HAVE?

A. 360
B. 36
C. 13
Enter today at www.gadgetdaily.xyz
TERMS AND CONDITIONS The closing date for entries is 29 July 2016. Please be aware that answers must be submitted to the above website only. This competition is open
to residents of the United Kingdom and Ireland only. Imagine Publishing has the right to substitute the prize for a similar item of equal or higher value. Employees of Imagine
Publishing (including freelancers), their relatives, or any agents are not eligible to enter. The Editor’s decision is final, and no correspondence will be entered into. Prizes cannot be
exchanged for cash. Full terms and conditions are available upon request. From time to time, Imagine Publishing or its agents may send you related material or special offers. If you
do not want to receive this, please state it clearly on your competition entry.
 FEED YOUR MIND
www.howitworksdaily.com

Available
from all good
newsagents and
supermarkets
TM

ON SALE NOW
> Dyson hair dryer > JUNO mission > Star Trek tech > Figs & wasps
SCIENCE UP CLOSE INSIDE GADGETS COOLEST TECH ILLUSTRATIONS AMAZING FACTS

BUY YOUR ISSUE TODAY

Print edition available at www.imagineshop.co.uk
Digital edition available at www.greatdigitalmags.com
facebook.com/howitworks twitter.com/@howitworksmag
044 VIVE VERDICT

We spent a week fighting space
pilots and swimming with whales
to test out Oculus’ biggest VR rival
You’re a space pirate firing lasers at robots.
You’re under the sea with a whale swimming
by. You’re playing mini golf on a mountaintop.
You’re rocketing through space at super
speed. Shooting zombies. Fighting skeletons.
Throwing balls. Catching balloons. Hitting
stuff. You’re having the time of your life.
This is the true reality of VR. Yes, you’ve
probably done all of these things hundreds of
times in other videogames, but have you ever
actually been the one in the game, doing them
for ‘real’? With the HTC Vive, you are Player
One. Not an avatar on the screen, or a camera
behind a gun – you turn your head and you
can look around. You poke something and it
HTC Vive
045
moves away from your hand. You bend over
to pick something up and you actually move
down to grab it.
It sounds simple, but the technology needed
to pull off this feat is a lot more complex than
it sounds. With the HTC Vive you’ve got a hell
of a lot of computing power funnelled through
a few wires and pumped into your eyeholes in
glorious higher-than-1080p. And you’ve got
two controllers that, when you look down in
the game (or lift your hands) can be anything,
from a bow and arrow to a tennis racquet.
We’ve had some serious hands and eyes-on
time with the Vive, and now we’re here to tell
you whether it’s worth buying.
046 VIVE VERDICT

HOW MUCH ROOM DO YOU NEED?

For starters, the Vive has got stricter
requirements than any videogame, tech demo
or games machine that you’ve ever owned.
You’ll need a really bloody powerful PC to run
the headset (we’ll go into more detail on that
later), but you’ll also need a good amount of
space. This isn’t going to be something you
put in front of your TV and expect it to be fine,
especially if you have bone china or breakable
family heirlooms sitting on shelves. You will
swing, and sometimes you will have absolutely
no idea that you’re about to punch a wall, a
chair, or a beloved family member.
We unpacked the Vive in an empty area
within Gadget Towers, with a square playing
space of around 2.5m x 2.5m. Suspending the
two ‘base stations’ on lighting rigs (stolen from
our photography department – shh, don’t tell
them). This meant we had a good area to work
with, although you only officially need 2m x
1.5m if you want to get set up at home. Our
advice, however, is to use the biggest space
possible – while the Vive will warn you if you’re
close to the edge of the play area, it’s easy to
accidentally swing that little bit beyond the
invisible walls and hit real-life ones. The Vive’s
controllers aren’t cheap, and while they’re built
of sturdy stuff, you don’t want to be knocking
them around too much – there are a lot of
important sensors hidden inside them.
You may also struggle with placement of
the base stations. They need to be up high, in
opposite corners of your playing area – and its
fair to say that not everyone has lighting rigs
from a photography studio just hanging around
at home… and you can’t steal ours. Fixing them
to walls will work, but it’s something you need
to think about before you buy.
Once you have your physical space ready
to go, however, the software set-up process
is simple enough. All you need to do is follow
some straightforward instructions as they are
beamed through the headset, walk around
your playing area and you’re good to go –
that’s it. If it weren’t for the base stations and
the room requirements, this would be a dream
to get started. As it is, there’s a lot of planning
involved, so make sure to think about this
before anything else.
While the Vive offers a larger movement
area than its main competitor, the Oculus
Rift, you physically need a large play area
if you want to use it properly. The headset
works in conjunction with two mandatory
‘base stations’ that will need to be fixed high
in the corners of your playing area. They
point down into the area and, combined
with the cameras and sensors on the
headset itself, create a 3D image of the
environment around you.
Your gaming PC
You’ll need to have your powerful
PC close by as the cable from the
headset will need to remain plugged
into this while you play
2
Playing space
During the set-up process, the Vive
app will have you walk around your
playing space so it knows exactly
where your boundaries are
over the top of the headband is kept neatly in
place with strapping. Thick padding surrounds
the lenses, ensuring that no outside light will
get in while providing a soft surface for your
face. It’s just as well, because the Vive headset
is actually fairly heavy, weighing in at a hefty
555g. Yes, you’re effectively strapping half a bag
of sugar to your face and then flailing around.
For short periods of play, it’s really not a
problem – the padding does it’s job really
well, the nose pad is comfortable, and once
As you might expect, this won’t suit
everyone, but the required space is actually
smaller than you might think. You’ll only
need an area of 2m x 1.5m to create a
playing space, with a maximum distance
of 5m between the two base stations. The
toughest part for many will be physically
attaching the base stations up high on walls
(or on poles), because setting up the Vive
headset itself is as simple as following some
quick and easy instructions.
Base Stations
You’ll need to place these no more
than 5m apart, but your playing
area can be as small as 2m x 1.5m
if necessary
1.5
Get them high
For many, the biggest challenge
will be fixing the base stations
high up. You can attach them to
walls with brackets, or use poles
you’ve got the sizing right for the head straps
it’s very secure. But if you’re playing for more
than 40 minutes or so, you may start to really
notice the weight the headset. You’ll get the
best results from the lenses inside when the
headset is secure on your face, so we ended up
tightening the straps a great deal, and the result
was a pretty embarrassing red mark when we
finished our round of 18 holes in Cloudlands:
VR Minigolf. We looked like a superhero that
had a bit of a cry.

Okay, so you’ve got the space, you’ve strapped

your base stations to a pile of boxes and a
confused sibling, and you’re ready to play. The
next thing to think about is the headset itself,
because you’re probably going to be wearing
it for a while. Adjustable straps on the left, right
and top of the head make it easy enough to The Vive’s library isn’t limited to videogames, there are
fit it to anyone’s noggin, and the cable trailing also plenty of ‘VR experiences’ like The Blu: Encounter

At the moment, this isn’t really too much
of an issue. Many of the games offered by the
Vive are short-term experiences or minigames,
which are over in 20 minutes or less. Even
if you do play for a long time, taking a short
break is usually a good idea just to reacquaint
yourself with the real world and let your eyes
rest for a while. As games become more
involved, and longer, it may be that the Vive’s
weight becomes more of a talking point, but
in reality, during our playtests we didn’t notice
any major discomfort.
What surprised us, in fact, was that we didn’t
experience more discomfort from the games
themselves. We genuinely expected a degree
motion sickness to affect us as we played,
even if most of the games saw us standing
still. Thankfully, the team behind the Vive did
its research, and the result is a smooth, slick
experience that runs consistently at 90Hz
– which basically means there are 90 frames
every second. This is considerably faster than
the 30fps or 60fps that many modern games
consoles manage, and the smooth images help
the eye keep focus and avoid sickness.
HTC Vive
047
In fact, the only time we really experienced
any nausea was when other people wondered
inside our playing area, between the base THE KIT YOU’LL
stations and the headset. This sometimes
resulted in the Vive losing our own position,
NEED FOR VIVE
and the viewpoint moving up and down just
a fraction of an inch. When you’re stood still
and your view starts shaking, you’re bound to
feel a little sick. That was the point where we
raised the headset off of our head, revealing
our sobby superhero face, and politely told
the people around us to back the hell up, and
carried right on playing.
This was also the only point during our
extensive playtests when the Vive showed
any signs of inaccuracy; we were absolutely
blown away by how spot-on the hardware was. HTC Vive
One of the oddest – and most quietly brilliant The Vive package doesn’t just include the VR
– moments of our entire time with the Vive headset, which has a front-facing camera and
32 sensors to provide full-360° motion tracking.
was early on in our experiment. We lowered
You also get two Lighthouse base station
the headset over and adjusted the straps, and
sensors for greater accuracy and a pair of
rather than feeling blindly for the controllers, motion-sensing controllers.
we simply looked around for them in the virtual £690 | $800 | htcvive.com
world. There they were, floating two feet off
the floor in our digital view (in reality, they were
sitting on the desk on the edge of our playing
area). We simply walked over to them and
picked them up. We didn’t miss. We didn’t have
to feel around for them. We just reached down
and picked them up.

The little divots, located on the

front of the headset, are used as
reference points so that the base
stations can track your position
Chillblast Tristar Gaming PC
This is where the Vive gets expensive. You can
upgrade your existing gaming PC for around
£800 to make it VR-ready, but if you have to
buy one from scratch, try the Chillblast Tristar
with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980T graphics card
and Intel Core i7-6700K processor.
£2,000 | $2,900 | chillblast.com

SENNHEISER HD 558
The Vive comes with headphones, but they are
basic earbuds, so you might want to upgrade.
3D headphones for VR, like the Ossic X, are
in the works, but in the meantime try these
cans. The offer great sound and are padded for
comfort – ideal for hours spent in the Matrix.
£160 | $180 | sennheiser.com

TOTAL
£2,850/$3,880
048 VIVE VERDICT
Grip it
These two small buttons on
the side of the controller may
escape your attention entirely,
but they offer more control for
grabbing items in the game by
simply tightening your grip
CONTROLLER
HANDS-ON
Gaming has never been so intuitive
– look down at your hands and the
controllers can literally become
whatever the game requires. And,
thanks to some slick design, they
offer plenty of options, whether
you’re using it as a racquet or a gun.
It sounds stupid, but you have to
remember that we were basically wearing a
blindfold as we did this. All we could see what
a 3D recreation of the controllers, but it was
all we needed. Whenever we looked down, or
raised our hands, the controllers were exactly
where we expected. After years of playing with
inaccurate Nintendo Wii and PlayStation Move
controllers, it was a revelation.
The two controllers feature 24 individual
sensors – many of which are on the ‘hoop’
at the top of the controller. The base stations
in the corners of the room fire invisible rays
around the play area, and these sensors can
send information back to the base stations to
give an accurate reading of exactly where they
are in 3D space. The result is a controller that,
no matter how much you twist or swing, is
always exactly where you expect it to be.
This isn’t the only unique quality of the
controllers, however. Unlike most modern
gamepads, which feature analogue sticks for
3D movement and control, a Vive’s controller
“As we peered over the
edge of a mountain we
felt real vertigo”
instead features a touch-sensitive disc that is
located where your thumb naturally rests. This
can act like a computer trackpad for scrolling
or movement, but it also clicks, allowing games
to divide up the pad into whatever ‘buttons’
are required. In one rudementary demo the
four directions blew up four different coloured
balloons. In another, it let you choose between
six ammunition types for your gun. In another,
pointing at the ground in front of you and
pressing anywhere on the pad transported you
to that point. The possibilities are endless.
We still haven’t tested these pads in any
serious gaming encounters – we’re not sure,
for example, how good they would be in a
Call Of Duty-style game, where accurate
movement is vital. But they are so adaptable
that it feels like a natural extension for a
controller that can literally become anything
that a game needs it to be.
Touchpad
This touchpad can act like a
computer trackpad if you need to
scroll, or it can serve as a button if
the game requires it to
Pull the trigger
Probably the most-used
button on the controller,
this is usually used to select
things in the game (point
and pull), or as method
for ‘grabbing’ with your
in-game hands
It’s at this point in an article like this that we’d
start talking about the physical design of the
product, and how it looks. The Vive enjoys a
rather uncommon status as a device you rarely
see from the outside, but that doesn’t mean
the design hasn’t been thought through. The
headset packs in 32 sensors, so, just like with
the controllers, the base stations always know
where it is in 3D space.
On the front of the headset you’ll also find
a forward-facing camera. This captures data
from the room around you, theoretically
ensuring that you don’t hit anything during a
particularly intense game of Job Simulator. And,
like the controllers, it’s astonishingly accurate
– we always knew exactly where we were in
 HTC Vive
049

OCULUS
RIFT HEADSET DESIGN
The Rift’s biggest benefit is
not only in its comfortable
(and removable) built-in
headphones, but also in its all-
round design, which is much
sleeker than the Vive’s.
HTC
The Vive headset is larger and
heavier than the Rift, but features
a forward-facing camera to help
VIVE
map the world around you, and
adjustable lenses which are great
for players with glasses.

STAY IN CONTROL
While Oculus will be Two controllers come bundled
releasing similarly-tooled with the HTC Vive, and offer
motion controls to the great accuracy. They include
Vive in the next few rumble motors for feedback,
months, right now the triggers, grip buttons and touch-
only controller option is sensitive pads under each
that of an Xbox One. thumb for scrolling.

‹STEM REQIREMENTS
You’ll need a little more power if
you want to meet the minimum
requirements for the Rift – with
a minimum of 8GB of RAM
compared to the Vive’s 4GB.
The Vive needs a fair bit of
power, as it requires a minimum
of an Intel i5-4590 processor,
or an AMD FX 8350, as well as a
HDMI 1.4 port.

PLAY THE GAME

The Oculus has a small library
of exclusive games, including
the fun Lucky’s Tale, whilst
also enjoys all of the games
on Vive, making it the best
option on game choice alone.
Most of the Vive’s game lineup
isn’t exclusive, meaning you’ll
be able to enjoy it on Oculus
as well. However, it does have
plenty of options thanks to its
Steam integration.

the game; with the headset on, the real world
faded away from our mind.
In fact, this was what blew us away the most
with the Vive (and VR in general). Videogames,
movies and books can transport your mind to
different worlds, different realities. But nothing
– nothing – can do it like VR. With the headset
on and the headphones in, we were gone.
As we peered over the edge of a mountain
we felt real vertigo. As bullets flew at us we
flinched and turned away. The Vive creates
a reality that, while obviously fake – yes, we
know we’re not really a space pirate – feels
so real that it’s easy for the real world to melt
away. You won’t care that people are laughing
at your ridiculous flailing as they watch you
play, because you’re firing a shotgun at flying
plates, balloons and UFOs. When the headset
is on, what you see feels real. And that is
why VR, and the HTC Vive, is something that
everyone should try.

Unfortunately, it’s not something that many

people will get the chance to experience
– at least not yet. To get started with the
Vive, which on its own is a cool £690/$800,
you’ll also need a ‘VR Ready’ PC, with a
powerful graphics card and processor.
For a computer with the minimum system
requirements for headset, you’ll probably
spend at least £800/$1000, making the
whole system cost close to £1500/$1800. If
you already have a compatible PC you’re in
a much better position, but those running
the kind of specs you need for a Vive are the
minority. The reality is that you will have to
prepare yourself for few months without food
Job Simulator sounds stupid, but it’s actually a fun sandbox which shows off the Vive’s motion controls if you want a Vive.
050 VIVe VERDICT

Anthony
Godsell, 28
“I thought VR was
very immersive
and intuitive in
the game, the
headset was
rather comfortable
but the wire
completely breaks
Here is the Gadget team’s and friends’ first immersion and is
super annoying.”
reactions to the HTC Vive and its games

Steve Holmes, 25
“As far as responsiveness and
precision go, this is better than
what I’ve seen from Oculus.
However, the price really needs
to come down.”

Poppy-Jay
Palmer, 23
“The rhythm game
was brilliant! I’d
love to try out the
others. But I can’t
really see myself
buying one unless
it costs about £30.”

Clare l’Anson, 33
“The controllers responded
instantly to any movements
I made. I can’t wait for this to
become more affordable and
for multiplayer modes.”
 HTC Vive
051
Harrison Harman, 22
Rebekka “I found the HTC Vive headest to be light
Hearl, 26 and undisturbing during play time. £700
“AudioShield, for such a new-to-the-market device is
the Vive’s virtual inviting, in my opinion.”
reality rhythm
game, is great
fun and a tough
workout! The
rhythm is easier
to follow at higher
difficulties.”

To see
more on this,
head to our
YouTube channel
youtube.com/
gadgetdailyxyz

Jack Parsons, 28
“Right now, the games
remind me of Wii
Sports. They are fun
and family-friendly, but
very short and don’t
justify the Vive’s hefty
price tag.”

Alicea Francis, 26 Harriet Knight, 25

“Loved it! It was strange having “It’s so responsive and intuitive to
to readjust to reality afterwards. use that it felt very strange to rejoin
Can’t wait for an affordable the real world! Considering how
model to become available, or to new it is, the range of games is
try it with a treadmill.” fantastic and will only get better. ”

Kym Winters, 27 Stephen Williams, 38

“Incredibly immersive. The quality
of the controls varied from game to
game but at its peak it completely
surpassed my expectations, a truly
surreal experience.”
“The headset was a bit unwieldy
and stopped me feeling truly
immersed but the controls were
good and a lot more responsive
than I expected.”
052 VIVE VERDICT
The visuals
The Vive packs in two 1080 x 1200
OLED panels that combine for a
2160 x 1200 resolution, and the
screen refreshes at 90Hz for a
smooth visual experience
Headphone socket
In-ear headphones come as standard, and
offer good immersion into the VR world, but
if you have surround-sound headphones the
experience will be even better
INSIDE THE VIVE
There’s no getting around it – the Vive is
pretty hefty. The head straps do a good job
of holding the headset securely, and the
padding is fantastic, but after a long play time
it can start to become uncomfortable.
This is, of course, not counting games. The
Vive comes with three games that are bundled
with the headset – Job Simulator, Fantastic
Contraption and Tilt Brush. These are all
fantastic in their own ways, and each does
a great job of demonstrating just what the
Vive can do, but you’ll definitely want to start
expanding your library when you’ve tried each
game at least once. Check out our ‘Best Of
The HTC Vive’ boxout overleaf to get a few
recommendations of what to consider, but
remember to factor in game costs when you’re
thinking about the overall price of the Vive
Right now, there aren’t really all that many
VR games and in many cases they’re either
tech demos or just short minigames that you’ll
try a few times before putting down. A few
are deeper, offering a few hours of gameplay
compared to a few minutes on a loop.
Games studio Bethesda recently confirmed
it is adapting one of its most popular games,
Fallout 4, for the Vive. This will be the first big
open-world game for virtual reality (Vive or
otherwise), but isn’t slated to arrive until 2017.
Bethesda also said it is working on a version of
a first-person demon shooter, Doom, but it was
vague about whether this would be a game or
just another ‘experience’.
Sensors
everywhere
There are 37 sensors inside
the Vive’s headset, along with
the forward-facing camera,
and, combined with the
base stations, these produce
seamless a VR experience
Ultimately, however, it’s thin pickings at the
moment, and there is no truly ‘triple-A’ title
that defines the hardware. That is bound to
change as VR becomes more commonplace,
but as with many devices, early adopters might
be waiting a while for the blockbusters to start
landing, and by that point a slim and cheaper
version of the Vive will likely be available.
Another reason for this lack of triple-A titles
is the ridiculous amount of graphical power
that is required to push the graphics over to
Setting up the Vive’s hardware may be a chore, but
the end result is more than worth it
the headset, and power the two 1920 x 1200
displays inside at 90 fps. When you consider
that a gaming PC is considered good if it
can run a game at 1080p and 60fps with the
graphical settings pushed up to the maximum,
you’ll understand why getting similar graphical
fidelity in the HTC Vive’s headset is a challenge.
Right now this is the sort of hardware you
buy for an experience, rather than a specific
hardcore game. That’s by no means a bad
thing, as long as you know it going in. Just
don’t expect a dedicated version of Grand
Theft Auto for the Vive any time soon.
The HTC Vive is astonishing. We challenge you
to put it on and play without uttering the word
‘wow’ – we actually did our own test with a
bunch of normal ‘humans’ and the consensus
was that the Vive is a game-changing piece of
kit. There’s no doubt that the Vive is impressive,
but as with many great gadgets, this is only the
first generation of proper VR. What that means
is you’re looking at a very cool and futuristic
device that is also bulky, lacking in certain
features, and laden with compromises. The
games are fun, but are not anything to write
home about, compared to the blockbusters on
PC, PS4 and Xbox One. The computer you’ll
need to power it comes at a premium. The
headset itself is bulky. All of these issues will
start to fall away as the technology advances
and becomes more affordable, but for now it’s
a very expensive toy.
But you know what? We love toys like this.
Okay, so it’s not the perfect VR headset, but
what first-generation device was ever perfect?
Where the Vive succeeds is in its tech. The
sensors work, the 110° FOV feels natural, the
controllers are fantastic. It’s not perfect, but it’s
a start. A very exciting start.
Everyone should try the Vive; whether you
should buy it is a very different question, but
it needs to be seen, felt… experienced, to be
believed and appreciated.

THE BEST OF
THE HTC VIVE
SPACE PIRATE TRAINER
For many people, VR is all about shooting stuff.
With this brilliant title your controllers become
guns and you must destroy increasingly-tough
robots, or whip out your shield and defend
from their laser attacks. It looks fantastic and it
plays really well.
£11 | $15 | spacepiratetrainer.com
CLOUDLANDS: VR
MINIGOLF
Crazy golf doesn’t get much
crazier than this, with courses
that span mountain peaks, icy
blocks and more. It’s incredibly
intuitive, and the physics are
spot-on, so you’ll really get a feel
for how hard you need to swing
your club every time.
£15 | $20 | cloudlandsvr.com
THE LAB
This series of minigames,
inspired by the brilliant Portal
titles, is mostly just a bit of fun,
but as it was one of the games
used by HTC to demo the Vive,
it’s well worth downloading –
plus, it’s free!
Free |
store.steampowered.com
HTC Vive
053
JOB SIMULATOR
Set in a world where sentient
robots have undertook all human
jobs, step into the Job Simulator
to learn what work used to be
like. The game’s real strength,
aside from its sense of humour,
is its ability to surprise you as you
try new things.
Free |
jobsimulatorgame.com
THEBLU: ENCOUNTER
This underwater adventure isn’t
really a game as such. Really, it’s
just a great way of demonstrating
the kind of experience that VR
can offer. Explore a coral reef,
delve in the deeps or have a close
encounter with a whale.
£7 | $10 |
bit.ly/thebluevr
054 GOFOR GOLD

GO FOR
 Go for Gold
055
This summer sports fans are spoilt for
choice. In addition to the usual staples like
Wimbledon, the Tour De France and the US
PGA Championship golf tournament, the
Invictus Games returned bigger and better
than ever in May, Euro 2016 has prompted
its usual football frenzy, and London is set to
host another athletics spectacular with the
Anniversary Games from 22 July. However, all
of those events will be overshadowed by the
31st Olympic games in Rio, taking place this
August. Athletes from all over the world, all at
the peak of their physical performance, will
compete across 306 events to prove they are
the best at their chosen sport. Meanwhile, the
best the rest of us can do is cheer them on
from the sidelines, or more likely, from in front
of our televisions.
If you’re fed up with being an armchair
athlete, read onto discover the best fitness kit
to give yourself an Olympic upgrade. While
we’ve focused on strength training, agility,
endurance and water sports, whether you’re
into fencing or the canoe slalom, artistic
gymnastics or Greco-Roman wrestling, you’ll
find something here as we’ve picked the best
gear for all 42 Olympic sports.

GOLD
MEDAL-WINNING FITNESS KIT
TO MAKE YOU A CHAMPION
056 GOFORGOLD
COMBINE DIET, TECH
AND
TO GET GAINS!
£70 | $100 Gain a better insight
into your workout!
skulpt.me

Skulpt Chisel
A handheld deep tissue
scanner that can tell you 01 Install
the app
To get started, you will
your body’s muscle quality
need to make sure that
and body fat percentage, so
your app and Chisel are
you can figure out which linked, so download the
muscule groups you need app and sync. Once this
to work out. is complete, you may find
that you will have to update
the firmware on the Chisel
before you begin scanning.

Finding and joining a gym can be intimidating.
Also there’s the risk of ‘doing it wrong’,
meaning you can damage muscle tissue and
bone if you’re going into fitness blind. Of
course, nothing beats a head-start with a
qualified personal trainer to get your form and
routine right, but what comes after that?
First of all, form and positioning is the most
important thing you will need to pay attention
to, so you’ll need to make sure your footwear
and clothing is suitable for lifting weights.
Secondly, training for strength is different than
training for massive muscles, so if you are
02 Orientate
your stats
Get an understanding
of how the Chisel works
by letting it complete its
assessment of your body,
this will be a measurement
of your stomach legs and
arms, more to get you used
to the device rather than an
looking for lean muscles or bulk, your workout all-round scan.
and diet will need to reflect this as your body
will be needing nutrients for muscle growth
and recovery. To inspire growth, though,
you will need exercise-specific weights such 03 Complete
assessment
Once all three main groups
as rubber-based kettlebells or radial weight
are scanned, it’s time to get
plates to offer you excellent grip for individual
all of your data scanned
lifting. As well weights, routine and diet, a and logged, including your
fitness tracker which is designed specifically back and glutes! This is
for weight training, such as the Push Assist, when you will need to have
is useful for monitoring your progress and your water sprayer as the
routine, and it offer suggestions based on Chisel won’t get a reading
the data generated. off of dry skin.

Be on point!
Accuracy
and
timing
are
crucial in fencing,
so what better way
to train then using
Put the competition Put the mint into your the customisable
in your sights Badminton game Favero EFT, a
Why not beat the competition with, The Victor Jetspeed S10’s frame and shaft target board that
arguably, the most accurate bow sight are comprised of high modulus graphite, spurs you on with
on the market: the Field Logic IQ 5? with the frame fused with Nano Fortify and up to nine different
Featuring adjustments for windage and the shaft spliced with Pyrofil, making it the training modes.
elevation for accuracy as well as a retina lock! lightest racket on the market right now. £325 | $540
£140 | $210 | iqbowsights.com £140 | $215 | victorsport.com favero.com
 Corner
057

WITH YOUR
Keep your footing
With wrestling, the best gadget you could
£50 | $70 have would be one that glues your feet to
athletec.io the floor, and in the grip of Adidas’s Adizero
Corner Varner Wrestling Shoe, you get the next best thing.
£65 | $95 | adidas.com
These lightweight, wireless
trackers designed to record
your punches and monitor
your progress over time will
be available to preorder
this month, on sale in
December.

Get your swing on!

Analyse your swing with the Zepp golf
tracking system; a wearable device that
simply clips onto your glove. It works with
an app that can replay your stroke or putt.
£130 | $150 | zepp.com

Hit your target whatever

Gathering data
from all axis’
Within each of the Corner units,
there are three accelerometers that
are responsible for recording and
gathering the data necessary to
provide you with your stats
Bluetooth
connectivity
The units maintain a Bluetooth
connection to your phone,
meaning that your data
generated from your workout will
be transferred in real time.
Lightweight
by design
The Corner trackers allows for use on
your gloves or hand wraps, and their
light weight construction means they
wont hinder your speed, you won’t
notice that they’re there
the distance
Using infrared lasers for gauging distances
between you and your target, the Bushnell
Elite 1 Mile Conx has a range of five yards to
over 1,750 yards, helping you hit your mark.
£585 | $700 | bushnell.com

We’ve all seen the movies with the fitness
montages featuring shadow boxing with wrist
weights to the tune of Survivor or Kenny
Loggins. It all looks glamorous enough, but
boxing isn’t a picnic. It’s one of the most
visceral sports around. You have to be
prepared to take a hit, but by using specially
designed training aides, such as Corner, you
can learn how to throw better punches and
reduce your foe’s hit count.
In a sport that is all about split-second
choices, agility and speed, your training regime
will be the difference between standing tall or
eating the floor, this is where Corner comes
in to its own. Simple and lightweight, Corner’s
design allows it to slip into your hand wraps,
leaving you to focus on your technique while
Corner generates a breakdown of your stats,
in real time, to your smartphone. Your trainer
will be able see what you are doing, but so
will the Corner app, building up a picture of
App-based feedback
your punch’s speed, last thrown punch style, Rhythmic or trampoline, the Dartfish app
punch-rate as well as total punches, giving you will allow you to slow footage of your
more than enough information to know if you gymnastic routine for immediate review
need to train to hit harder, faster, or if its time and annotation as well as sharing for analysis.
to take pity on the competition. £5 a month | $5 a month | dartfish.com
058 GOFOR GOLD
The art of hitting a ball
Improve your Spike technique with the Spike
Mate, a ball-holding structure designed to
rest on a basketball hoop and let you train
individually or as a team.
£350 | $500 | spikemate.com
Shoot hoops and nail stats
By wearing a tracker on your wrist and
installing a sensor on the hoop, Shot
Tracker builds up a comprehensive training
pattern to help you improve.
£N/A | $100 | shottracker.com
Kickstarter with horsepower
The idea of a device to monitor your
horse’s wellbeing and track your
stats is a great way to build a deeper
understanding or your riding partner’s abilities.
£80 | $110 | equisense.com
Meet your high-tech opponent
The Joola Buddy Pro will take on the role
of opponent and blast balls at you from
across the table with varying speed and
movement, just be ready!
£200 | £285 | thorntonstabletennis.co.uk
KEEP
WITH A TRACKER
Training for agility is broad arena, and one that
has been occupied with obstacles designed
specifically to train agility for centuries.
Obstacles, such as the ladder, are used to
help build tendon strength and a quickness of
the feet, and simple cones on the floor to be
slalomed in and around help focus balance,
strength and coordination. So with many
devices geared up to help you become faster,
what can be used to train agility?
The real game-changer, in terms of tech,
has been the introduction of more sensors.
The Moov Now, for example, incorporates its
own Omni Motion sensor which generates
data from a gyroscope, accelerometer and
a magnetometer. It combines this data to
generate a 3D landscape of how your impact
and speed are affecting your progress, and
it relays this via a voice coach. This kind of
advancement means that your goals can be £200 | $300
jabra.co.uk
tracked and you can be coached in a way that
is unique to you and your movement rather Jabra Sport Pulse
than just tracking your speed and footsteps.
Use the Polar M400 to track your runs
01 Get in sync
After syncing the
M400 to your phone via
Bluetooth, all you have to is
get outside, wait for a GPS
signal, then cycle through the
list for the relevant activity
and begin.
02Connect
to
your PC
The Polar M400 relies on
a desktop app to sync its
results, maps and program
data. To upload your info
attach your device via the
USB port and allow it to sync
data.
03 Look back
at stats
Instant isn’t always best; it’s
£120 | $180 wise to sit back and review
polar.com
data. In the Polar Flow app,
you can review your work
Polar M400 with a breakdown of your
speed, distance and cadence.
 Zepp Tennis
Swing Kit
059
ONE LOVE FOR
Tennis, as a sport, has often seemed to be
the definition of duality. On the one hand
you have the very pleasant aspect of summer Adidas Mi Coach
sports; on the other, you have cutting-edge The tracker is designed to fit
competitiveness, sweat and sheer force in your shoe and map out your
where your ball skill, form, racket handling movement by relaying data to
and aim are what makes you succeed. So in your smartphone.
the information age, how does tennis fare? £55 | $60 | Adidas.com
Very well, it would seem.
With sensors such as the Zepp Tennis Kit
or the Sony Smart Tennis Sensor attached
to your racket, the sheer enormity of data
generated from a single serve will be enough
to help you understand how hard you are
hitting the ball, what your angle or slice is
– and that’s simply the racket talking. With £85 | $100
gadgets like the Adidas Mi Coach you can get zepp.com
an idea of how you are moving on the court, Zepp Tennis
allowing you and your instructor the chance Swing Kit Babolat Pop
to review where you are versus where you A wrist strap-based sensor,
should be. dedicated to tennis which
gauges your swing, power
and backhand, among other serves.
£75 | $90 | en.babolatplay.com

MAKE SURE YOU’RE

ROAD-READY
WHEN HEADING OUT
Cycling is one of the most
Zipp 404 NSW Carbon
Clincher rear wheel
commonplace hobbies and it is a A lightweight, high-end wheel
£450 | $650
favoured means of transport for most set designed for competitive
nordictrack.co.uk
commutes. It’s also a high-speed and very speed. Featuring opposing magnets
competitive sport, whether on the slicked Nordic Track to help you go faster.
race track, or off-road in a forest. So, how do GX5.2 £1,400 | $2,000 | Zipp.com
you gain that competitive edge in a cycling
duel, and is there a shortcut to improvement?
With cycling, it’s a tough blend between
the bike itself and your own physical
attributes as to whether you are going to be
hitting the goals you desire. There are many
factors at play, ranging from maintenance oils
for specific weather, tyre treads for terrain,
right down to the wind drag of your clothes
or helmet. Many people forget that training
your muscles can make all the difference.
Making the most of the cycling machine at
Recon Jet
GPS tracking sunglasses with
the gym or the weighted leg presses can glance detection to bring up
give you the strength you require. So when your speed and distance on an built-
you next set that cycling goal, remember: it’s in HUD. It can takes pictures and
down to you as much as your bike to get that video of your journey, too.
speed down. £370 | $500 | bit.ly/reconinstrmnts
060 GOFOR GOLD

TRAIN TO
£70 | $80
trainingmask.com

Rocking up to a marathon with a week of Training

training and a killer playlist on your phone mask 2.0
is admirable, but destined to fail. Endurance
training is gruelling. Conditioning your body to
overcome continuous strain and exertion isn’t
just about the physical acts involved, but also
your mindset. Simply taking into account the
nutritional element that your body will require
alone will require patience, understanding and
a lot of willpower, so set gradual goals to get
into shape. Coach assistance from a tracker
such as the Moov Now or the Jabra Pulse can
help you get motivated as well as help you
improve with every step simply by informing
you of your heart-rate or, in the instance of the
Moov, provide advice relevant to your progress
based off of the data being sent to your phone.
In terms of clothing and footwear, wear
something lightweight and moisture absorbent:
the last thing you’ll want is to break focus over
a wet T-shirt. Finding the right shoes can be an
absolute minefield, but dedicated long distance Soft on the skin Look badass Adjust your breathing
running shoes are a must. Regardless of brand, Constructed from neoprene, You’re going to look weird in this, so The Training Mask comes with a
it’s a wise idea to get your feet tested to know the Training Mask is designed why not customise it. You could choose selection of air-resistant valves to give
to be as soft and lightweight to be a Star Wars Stormtrooper one day you full customisation of your training
what size arch you have, as this will greatly
as possible, and it won’t slow or the Joker the next. It’s your workout, routine, allowing as little, or as much air
affect your shoe choice. you down or irritate your skin so you make the choices in as you see fit

Trionz Body Fit Garmin

A remarkably ForeRunner 235
lightweight, An all-in-one
antibacterial GPS and
compression top, made heart-rate
from a light copper nylon tracking watch that will
fabric that fits the body allow you to monitor
neatly to give support to your progress on
your muscles, reducing long-distance runs or
fatigue as well as treadmill workouts.
absorbing moisture. £280 | $250
£45 | $80 | trionz.co.uk garmin.com

Take your ball skill further
The Mi Coach smartball is a football
with a difference. Featuring an
integrated sensor and a companion
app, you will fast learn the power of your kick and
learn ball mastery tricks like a pro.
£150 | $200 | adidas.co.uk
Know what’s below you
and where you’re going
The new 12-inch eSeries Raymarine
navigation tablet gives you touchscreen
navigation of your maps and access to
sonar, all in a durable tablet.
£3,500 | $4,950 | raymarine.eu
Cut through water
by practicing on land
Using the Concept 2 Dynamic rowing
machine is the best way to build accurate
form and strength, as well as burn
calories while perfecting your rowing skill.
£1,190 | $1,720 | concept2.com

TRAIN LIKE AN
Going underwater with your tracker was a
great divider when it came to gadgets to help
you train. With some instances where the
owner would be forced to modify their beloved
device via a third party for underwater use
(hello, Fitbit) or own more than one tracker,
one for land and one specifically for water use.
Today, it’s no surprise that the advancements
with underwater trackers is several leagues
ahead of what it used to be, with devices
designed to give feedback from your every
movement in real time – and not just in an app
after you sync the device, but also devices that
will tell you if you are off-course via HUD-like
LED’s attached to your goggles.
Devices to help you train for marathon
swimming, or just swimming in general,
needn’t be down to which tracker you wear on
your wrist, more and more devices are taking
the route of using your head as basecamp,
freeing your attention away from your wrist,
and keeping your eyes focussed on your goal.
WHITE-KNUCKLE
£89 | $175
RIDES AHEAD
myinflatables.co.uk
Intex K2
Challenger
Getting yourself ready and in shape to even
get close to competing in a canoe sprint is one
thing, but you’re also going to require a canoe,
or at the very least a kayak. So it’s good to
know that to get started in canoeing, you don’t
need to be spending a fortune… just yet.
Before you even start looking at trailers or
roofing mounts for your vehicle, you should
consider your skill level first. A canoe sprint
is something you can compete in individually
or as a team, therefore your choice of canoe
should reflect this.
£160 | $200
Xmetrics.it
Xmetrics Fit
With basic lightweight inflatable kayaks, such
as the Intex K2 Challenger, to get you started,
you and a friend can have fun practicing
steering down a river. Alternatively you can opt
for some something a bit more practical such
as the Riber One Man Kayak Deluxe – which
has prices starting at just under £300. This
would certainly get you cutting the water, and,
at 20kg, it’s a formidable weight in the water,
which will help you gain speed, but, at the
same time, it’s not so heavy that its going to
cause you grief getting it to and from dry land.
Xmetrics Pro
061
Take the hits
and keep moving
An intelligent body armour
giving high degrees of motion
able to stop a kill strike, as well
as generate data for later review? This
is what the folks at UWM are offering
in the form of the Lorica MKII.
£TBC | $TBC | uwm.tv
Waterproof balls
are a must
The Molten IWR Rubber
ball consists of an 18-panel
construction and utilises a
Maxigrip surface for better grip.
£20 | $60 | moltenusa.com
Stick it to the competition
The Kabo CC90 is an
innovation in itself, made
of 90 per cent carbon, it’s
designed to be lightweight and has a
concave profile to aid ball control.
£60 | $85 | kabohockey.co.uk
Tag, you’re it!
The Optimeye X4 Athlete
Monitoring system uses
accelerometers and GPS to
track and calculate your acceleration,
heart-rate as well as analyse impact.
£TBC | $TBC | performbetter.co.uk
062 Get beach body ready
without exercising

£150 | $455
sixpad.uk

Six Pad Abs Fit

Ideally used in conjunction
with exercise, this wearable
shocks your stomach muscles
with a painless electrical
charge to make them flex
and help you achieve the
elusive six-pack.

GET BEACH BODY READY

WITHOUT EXERCISING
Electrocute yourself for rock-hard abs and muscles
While there’s no substitute for good old-
fashioned exercise to keep you fit and
healthy, MTG’s Six Pad – endorsed by
Cristiano Ronaldo – offers a way to keep your
muscles moving even when you’re sat at your
desk or lounging in front of the TV. It works
by delivering electrical impulses through pads
affixed to the skin, to repeatedly contract and
relax the muscles beneath. Used regularly,
this can help you to develop a toned body,
including that elusive six-pack.
Now, you may well have seen similar
products before, based on the concept of
EMS (electrical muscle stimulation). Most
of them comprise either physical boxes of
electronics hooked up to wires and electrode
pads, or bulky belts to wear around the waist.
So the ability to simply affix a slender Six Pad
to the skin, via reusable adhesive gel sheets,
is a real boon. Whether using the Ab Fit or
Body Fit model, its lightweight, soft silicone
design enables it to fit to the contours of your
body and be worn comfortably under most
items of clothing. Powered by a lithium-ion
battery, the Six Pad delivers a 23-minute
training programme with an adjustable level of
stimulation. So it seems it might just disprove
the old adage of ‘no pain, no gain’.
 Six Pad
063
£110 | $360
HOW DOES EMS WORK? sixpad.uk
Since your muscles react naturally to Six Pad Body Fit
electrical impulses sent from the brain telling
them whether to contract or relax, they can
be stimulated to do so artificially by applying
a small electrical current directly through
the skin. EMS (electrical muscle stimulation)
technology was first employed in the Sixties
to aid the training of elite athletes in the
then Soviet Union. With the potential for
substantial performance gains, it’s no wonder
that the concept soon became popular
worldwide. EMS also found additional uses in
the field of medicine, ranging from physical
therapy to pain reduction.
Complicating matters slightly is the fact
that muscles comprise thin fibres of two
types: slow-twitch and fast-twitch. It’s the
latter type which need to be developed to
create a well-toned body, although this
normally requires intense physical training.
WORK YOUR ARMS
Fixing to your stomach, the main Abs Fit Six Pad features
Fortunately, EMS can be made to selectively six EMS pads to stimulate your abs to aid development of a
stimulate these fast-twitch fibres. While the well-defined six pack. The smaller Body Fit model, featuring
many EMS systems on the market employ two EMS pads, is more versatile and can be attached to
a variety of frequencies, the Six Pad devices various parts of the body to tone your arms (biceps), legs
focus on 20Hz, found – by leading EMS (thigh muscles) and waist. Note that you’ll need two Body
expert Professor Toshio Moritani – to be Fits if you want to work on both arms or legs simultaneously.
the optimum frequency for higher oxygen Potentially, the Body Fit could stimulate other muscles,
consumption and effective results. although – for safety reasons – you’re advised not to use it
above the neck or anywhere near the heart.
064 How are you
feeling?

HOW ARE YOU

FEELING?
£70 | $100
gowatch.alcatelonetouch.com

Alcatel OneTouch
Go Watch
It’s a smartwatch that claims
it can ‘hack’ your emotions.
The Alcatel One Touch Go
Watch is a customisable
smartwatch at a smart and
affordable price.

This mood ring smartwatch claims it

can monitor your emotions
Designed to be ultra-durable, waterproof,
shockproof and dustproof, this new
smartwatch from Alcatel OneTouch is
intended to withstand all the bumps on the
road that your adventures might take it on.
With the Go Watch you can monitor your
health and fitness progress without having
to worry about your gadget picking up any
knocks and bruises. Three features can track
your activity in a simple and fun way: there’s
the Heart Rate monitor, Daily Activity monitor
and a Workout Mode. And you can share
everything to social media with a few quick
taps. Syncing with your iPhone or Android
device via Bluetooth, you can also get the
weather forecast, control your music, your
phone’s camera shutter and more.
However, what really sets the Go Watch
apart from the rest is the ability to ‘hack’ your
emotions. That’s right, your smartwatch is also
monitoring how you feel. A long press of the
Go button under the watch’s screen triggers
the ‘emotion pulse’ feature which analyses
your heart-rate and data from other sensors
for ten seconds. It then gives you a read out,
such as ‘Go Chill’ or ‘Go Scream.’ Surprise,
surprise, these readings (complete with emoji-
like icons) can also be shared on social media.

WHAT YOUR GO WATCH READING SAYS ABOUT YOU

GO CRAZY GO DIVE GO JUMP GO SCREAM

Has your life been much too sedate Go for a swim, go snorkelling or heck, You spend too much time with your All those pent up feelings need some
lately? Let loose and allow yourself to even take yourself skydiving. We can feet on the ground. Jump on the spot release. Scream your head off - you’ll
get a little crazy. only guess what this result means. because the Go Watch says so.. feel much better.
 Alcatel OneTouch
Go Watch
065
4 OF THE BEST
Heart-rate monitor
The Go Watch’s heart-rate monitor, which it uses
as part of its fitness tracking and emotion sensing,
works by shining a green LEDs onto your capillary
veins. Built-in optical sensors then detect the
FEATURES
amount of blood flowing through your wrist at
any given moment. When your heart beats, the
blood flow in your wrist — and the green light Forecast the
absorption — is greater weather
With a press and a tap
Green LED
you can get a handy
little weather forecast
Light reflected into on your wrist. You can
photodiodes swipe through a –
surprisingly accurate
– five-day forecast for
your location.

Capillary vein

Control
your music
Tapping on the music
icon lets you see what’s
playing and play, pause
and skip through your
tracks. In our testing
WHAT MAKES THE session it worked very
well with the Google
GO WATCH TICK Play Music app.

How are you feeling? Hungry? Crazy? Like

screaming a the top of your lungs? Chances are
that your Go Watch already knows this.
Press the Go button on the Go Watch to Take a photo
take your emotional pulse. Using a combination The Go Watch can
of three instruments – an accelerometer, a remotely control your
gyroscope and that all-important heart-rate smartphone’s camera.
monitor – Alcatel claims that the Go Watch With a quick tap to your
can tell how you’re feeling. Once the watch has watch, a three-second
collected all this data it present its findings with countdown begins
one of eight colourful graphics that aims to sum before your snap is
up your emotional state and then provides you taken and saved.
with some suggestions, such as ‘Go Love’, ‘Go
Chill’, ‘Go Taste’ and more. You can then select
the related theme and show your friends how
you’re feeling by (over)sharing the little graphic
on social media.
But we’re not convinced that there’s any Bring up

@
‘hacking’ of your emotions going on here. The notifications
Go Watch feels more like a mood ring and Notifications from your
it seems just as vague and inaccurate. Is ‘Go smartphone appear on
Taste’ even an emotion? Do your feelings only the Go Watch almost
ever fall into one of eight ‘types’? This feature instantaneously, from
feels like it’s meant to be a bit of lighthearted, texts to tweets, so it’s
meaningless fun, rather than offering any quick and easy to make
serious analysis of your emotional state. All in all up your mind whether
it’s a fun, but rather trivial, way to share tidbits of to dig out your phone.
yourself online.

GO LOVE GO JAM GO CHILL GO TASTE

Turn off the lights. Light some Put on your favourite dance tune and You’ve obviously been stressed and Even the sensors on your Go Watch
candles. Put on some Barry White. turn it up loud! It’s time for you to get overworked recently. It’s time for you can feel your stomach rumbling. Treat
You know the deal. in to the jam, come on and slam. to relax and get your groove back. yourself to a hearty meal.
066 tech we love
Shoot and share
The TG-Tracker has its own Wi-Fi
connection that works with your

TECH
phone so that you can post your
exploits online faster

WE £280 | $350

LOVE
getolympus.com
Olympus
TG-Tracker
❤
Sense of adventure
The camera has built-in field sensors,
including GPS, a compass, thermometer,
The best gadgets on our accelerometer and barometer to track

radar this month every aspect of your adventure

THIS SWISS ARMY 4K ACTION

CAM IS EVERYTHING-PROOF
If Batman wore a body cam, it would be the TG-Tracker. As well as shooting 4K video,
this camera is packed with helpful tech, including Wi-Fi, a 60-lumen flashlight and a
host of sensors to track your adventure. You might reasonably expect the TG-Tracker to
be quite delicate, then, but Olympus says its pretty much unbreakable: its waterpoof up
to 100 feet, crushproof up to 220 pounds of force, and freezeproof to -10°C.

TURN YOUR iPAD PRO

INTO A MACBOOK
Supercharge your iPad Pro’s productivity with
this Brydge Pro keyboard add-on. Typing
feels as natural as using a proper laptop,
while time-saving shortcut keys make it easy
to exit any app and search files.
Brydge Pro
£130 | $190 | brydgekeyboards.com

£40 | $50
leefco.com

Leef iBridge

BUDGET FITNESS BAND

GOES THE DISTANCE
If you don’t want to drop £100+ on a
Fitbit, try the Withings Go. It’s not much
to look at, but it can track running,
walking, swimming and sleep patterns.
Its low-power E Ink screen means it can
last for eight months on a single charge.
Withings Go
£50 | $80 | withings.com
PHONE USB STICK BOOSTS
YOUR MEMORY BY UP TO 256GB
There’s an alert that every selfie snapper dreads seeing on their phone, but inevitably
does: ‘Cannot Take Photo’. This happens whenever your phone is running out of storage,
so you spend ages staring at your phone deciding which pictures to delete, missing the
thing you actually wanted to take a photo of. Help is available, though: Leef iBridge is a
simple plug-in for iPhone or Android that allows you to expand your memory. Offering
from 16GB to 256GB extra storage, the iBridge is USB stick-sized for added portability.
 TECH
WE
LOVE ❤
067

VR GOGGLES FOLD UP
FLATTER THAN A PHONE
Google’s Cardboard and Samsung’s Gear VR
headsets both call themselves ‘mobile VR’ as
they work using your phone, but neither are
particularly portable. Speck’s new Pocket-VR
£15 | $N/A headset works with Cardboard VR tech, but it
microbit.co.uk folds up, so you can carry it around with you.
Speck Pocket-VR
Micro Bit £50 | $70 | speckproducts.com

LEARN TO CODE WITH THE

BBC’S POCKET COMPUTER
The first Micro Bit computers were sent out to schools in March, but now they are on
sale to everyone. Each pocket-sized computer has 25 LEDs, two programmable buttons,
two motion detectors, a compass, Bluetooth and five input/output connections.
Through coding simple applications and games, the Micro Bit can teach kids the basics
of programming languages such as Javascript, Python, Microsoft Block Editor and more.

THIS MODEL DEATH

Best of both worlds £500 | $720
STAR ACTUALLY FLOATS
The speaker array is powered by a orbitsound.com
mix of digital amplifiers with hi-fi
Orbitsound Air There has been a raft of floating maglev
analogue crossover, combining the speakers recently and we unashamedly love
best of old and new audio tech Sound Bar A70 them all. But this glowing Death Star is a
particular treat with a six-hour battery.
Hellosy Star Wars Death Star
Levitating Speaker
Touch and glow £160 | $230 | amazon.com
Stroke the front of the A70 and its Lossless sound
buttons will light up softly, so you As well as supporting wired
can quickly control the audio source, inputs, you can enjoy high-
Bluetooth, power and volume quality, quick streaming using
apt-X Bluteooth and NFC

COMPLETE YOUR HOME CINEMA QUIRKY VAX MAKES

CLEANING QUICKER
WITH A SIDE-FIRING SOUNDBAR This 750W-power vacuum cleaner’s cylindrical
The problem with soundbars is that you often have to be facing them head-on to feel shape isn’t just a funky design choice, it also
makes cleaning less of a chore. It offers more
their benefit properly. This is great if you get first pick of where to sit, but rubbish if
manoeuvrability and rather than tugging it
you’re stuck in the corner, out of range of the sonic sweet spot. The Orbitsound A70 around, you can always just flip it and carry on
fixes this by delivering immersive 300W sound wherever you are in the room, thanks hoovering. It also comes with a range of tools.
to extra neodymium drivers fitted on either side. The A70 also includes a wireless Vax Air Revolve Pet
subwoofer for added bass. £150 | $215 | vax.co.uk
068 Have These Headphones
Given Away iPhone 7’s
Big Secret?
HAVE THESE
HEADPHONES GIVEN AWAY
iPHONE 7’S
BIG SECRET?
Meet the first on-ear headphones
without a headphone jack
While the Audeze Sine headphones don’t
boast either a Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connection,
they lay claim to being the world’s first fully
integrated Lightning port headphones. With
it being heavily touted that the iPhone 7 will
be saying bye-bye to the traditional 3.5mm
audio jack, the Lightning port is likely to be
the primary way for users to connect their
headphones to their iDevice.
This new form of connection opens itself
up to some pretty remarkable technology
and in the case of the Audeze Sine, it comes
in the form of the Cipher cable. Not only can
this cable boast support for the pass-through
of 24-bit audio, there’s an integrated DAC for
£450 | $500
audeze.com
Audeze Sine
These headphones are the
world’s first on-ear planar
magnetic headphones,
equipped with a detachable
24-bit high-resolution
Lightning cable instead of
a 3.5mm jack.
audio reconstruction as well. Audiophiles can
also be pleased with the embedded amplifier
for great bass delivery.
But perhaps even more impressive is the
Sine’s claim at being the world’s smallest
planar magnetic set of headphones on
the market. Usually left to overly large
headphones, this technology uses flat,
micron-thin magnetic drivers to produce
low-distortion sound considerably better than
your standard driver.
When the world’s biggest tech company
releases the next must-have smartphone,
will the Audeze Sine be the ultimate audio
partner? At £450/$500, we reckon it could be.
 03 Planar technology
The reconstructed 24-bit audio goes
through Audeze’s own planar technology,
Audeze Sine
069
capable of providing punchy and dynamic
sound. The size of the headphones allows for
improved air movement, which means better
bass and treble control for listeners.

Air circulation
To keep music distortion to the absolute
minimum and to improve audio playback, air is
captured within the magnetic space either side
of the headphone and spread out evenly

WHAT ELSE
SHOULD WE
EXPECT FROM
THE iPHONE 7?
As well as the 3.5mm audio jack being
dropped, it’s also likely we’ll see a host
of new changes to be implemented
with the iPhone 7. Leaked photos
have suggested that a dual-camera
system is likely to be added, akin to
what we’ve seen from the Huawei P8
and LG G5. The actual specifications
of these cameras are not yet known,
but improved performance in low-light
conditions is a near certainty.
It’s also likely that Apple will once
again take the lead with producing two
variants of the iPhone 7, with a smaller
Patented Fazor technology 4.7-inch device and enormous 5.5-inch
Audeze’s Fazors are small acoustical elements
positioned within each side of the headphones.
offering the most likely sizes. There’s
Planar magnetic drivers They allow for greater transparency of tracks also some notion that we may see
Each set of planar magnetic drivers are and extended frequency response Apple’s A10 processors, currently being
built from thin modules that offer enough manufactured by TSMC, but there’s no
scope to regulate sound much easier than concrete information on this as yet. But
standard audio drivers just how likely is all of this new tech?
Phil Morris, editor of iCreate, feels like
the iPhone 7 could be a game-changer:
“Everything points to a dual-lens
Lightweight camera setup. Expect a pretty similar
design and a super-powerful A10 chip,
neodymium circuits but no headphone jack or antenna
The Sine headphones boast reduced weight
and thanks to the magnetic flux density of the band on the back.”
high-spec neodymium circuits used within

02 DAC reconstruction
As the music flows through the
Cipher’s DAC, it’s not only converted between
analog and digital, it’s also reconstructed to
help improve audio playback. As it converts,
it’s sent to the over-ear drivers.

01 Enjoy 24-bit beats

While you’re listening to Apple
Music, the Cipher cable bypasses the
iPhone’s internal DAC and instead directly
streams 24-bit audio through the cable’s
own integrated converter. The chip
architecture allows for better pass-through
of music through the Lighting connector.
070 Dyson Pure Cool
Link Purifier

YOUR
SURPRISINGLY
DIRTY HOME
We get fans-on with Dyson’s
new smart air purifier
It may look like another of Dyson’s famous
bladeless fans, but the Cool Link removes
99.95 per cent of indoor allergens and
pollutants. These irritants are too small to
see with the naked eye and include gases
from cooking and central heating, mould, pet
dander and pollen. Essentially, it’s a vacuum
for the air in your home that everyone, from
asthma and hay fever sufferers, to just plain
clean freaks, will benefit from.
While most purifiers capture particles that
are 30 times smaller than a human hair and
can enter the lungs, Dyson has gone one
better. “What we have focused on with the
Dyson Pure Cool Link is the next particle size
down,” says engineer Matt Kelly, “which are
small enough to pass into your bloodstream.”
These physical pollutants get trapped inside
the mesh of the purifier’s dense glass filter,
but behind that sits a second filter designed
£450 | $630
to absorb the harmful and strong-smelling
Dyson.co.uk
chemicals released by cleaning solvents,
deodorants and scented candles. The price Dyson Pure
tag is pretty high, but its running costs are low Cool Link Tower
as it has the same power consumption as a Standing tall at just over 40
fluorescent light bulb. It purifies all year round, inches, the Cool Link Tower
and it also doubles up as a fan to cool you has been engineered to purify
down in the summer. larger spaces, like an entire
room. It’s also suitable for
placing on the floor.

£350 | $500
Dyson.co.uk

Dyson Pure
Cool Link Desk
This air purifier has been
designed for use on desks
and worktops, tackling smaller
spaces than the Cool Link
Tower. It can be tilted for
more targeted airflow.
 071
purify your
surprisingly
dirty home

MONITORING
AIR QUALITY
The ‘Link’ part of the name refers to the fact you Amplifier loop
can hook up the purifier to your smart device to The two airflow paths travel
control and monitor it remotely. Two sensors, around the hollow insides of
located in the base of the Dyson Pure Cool Link, the loop and out through the
constantly monitor the surrounding air. If they Aperture aperture, providing you with
a smooth stream of air, no
detect a particularly high level of contaminants – After passing through
blades required
when you’ve burnt the toast again or the flowers this slot, which runs
are in full force and hay fever is raging – the around the back of the
machine will ramp up its operation. The information loop, the air travels along
the inside wall and exits
recorded by the sensors is also sent to the app on
out the front
your smart device, allowing you to track the air
quality in real time, as well as keep a record.

Mixed flow air impeller

An internal fan draws air in at the bottom
and forces it up through a diffuser that
separates the airflow into two paths

Filter shroud
A perforated shroud surrounding the
base protects the filters and helps to
channel airflow into the machine. In
auto mode, the purifier will adjust
airflow accordingly

Glass filter
Dense mats of glass
fibres prevent particles
from escaping. There’s
more than a square Brushless motor
metre inside, but it’s The motor driving the air impeller is inside a
pleated to fit into a casing that reduces vibration and therefore
small space noise, providing smooth oscillation as the
Cool Link Purifier sweeps the room

Carbon filter
Carbon granules have a huge
surface area that absorbs
smells and harmful toxins, such
as paint fumes. This layer soaks
them up like a sponge

Heating element
The surrounding air is heated to keep
it circulating past the sensors using
convection so that a small sensor chip
can detect odours and toxins

Optical sensor
This sensor detects ultrafine
pollutant particles – such as pet
dander – when they block light
between an emitter and a receiver
072 Add Google Glass To
Your Windscreen

£35 | $50
hudwayglass.com

Hudway Glass
A power-free satnav display
that sits on your dashboard
and reflects the map from its
companion app, directly onto The Hudway Glass works
your viewpoint. with a variety of apps so you
can try different displays

ADD
TO YOUR WINDSCREEN
This budget-friendly HUD displays
augmented reality satnav and more
A satnav map, displayed right in front of your
windscreen? Sign us up! The Hudway glass is
intended to be just that. By cleverly bridging
the gap between map app and an actual
satnav, and initially designed to help rally
drivers keep focused on the road while driving
at high speeds, it’s a well-crafted cradle for
your phone to lay in with a translucent screen
that reflects the phone’s display. As phones
can turn from useful machines to death-
causing distractions very quickly, if used when
driving, the Hudway Glass eliminates the user’s
need to interact with the phone at all, and
reduces confusion with directions by having
them right in front of you.
The UK has a ban on phone driving as, in
short, it’s a distraction that causes dangerous
driving, and in some cases, death. A survey
from Brake.org.uk listed that of a broad
selection of in-car crash footage, 22 per cent
was a result of distraction. Further research
showed drivers handling their mobiles on the
road had a 35 per cent drop in awareness and
reduced lane control. All of these facts indicate
that this hands-free phone cradle could
help pave the way for safety on the roads by
keeping your eyes on the road.

IT’S ALL AN OPTICAL ILLUSION
Flip the lid
The Hudway Glass’ screen is
manoeuvrable and coated with
an reflective coating to give you
optimum visibility of the HUD
as well as the road. Angle it so
that you can get the best view
of the app while seated, making
sure that your view is as close
to the windscreen as possible
FIRST APPS FOR HUDWAY GLASS
Hudway – GPS
Navigation HUD
The official app for the
Hudway Glass device, this
free download has some
of the most striking HUD
displays available, in particular its
snaking 3D road view.
Free | iPhone/Android
Navmii GPS World
Navmii includes offline
maps and spoken
directions. HUD features
cost extra, but this does
include a sci-fi speedometer that
looks like the sort of thing Tony Stark
would use in an Iron Man suit.
Freemium | iPhone/Android
Hudway Glass
073
Suckers for NFC
The Hudway Glass comes with an
NFC sticker which is programmable
to switch the Hudway app into HUD
mode upon contact with the cradle
when the phone is placed on it,
saving you time, but, again,
reducing any phone contact while
using the device
Which way up
With the HUD app installed on your
phone, you can preset a destination
to use later with or without internet
connection. For use with the cradle, you
have to select HUD mode from the app,
which will show an inverse image on the
screen, allowing the glass to reflect a
‘correct’ view of the map
Speedometer
As well as displaying
your current speed and
alerting you when
you’re over the limit,
this other official app from Hudway
will warn you about nearby speed
cameras and radar.
Free | iPhone only
Sygic Navigation
And Map
Like Navmii, you’ll have
to pay for HUD support,
but what you get for your
money is a strong all-
rounder, displaying your speed, travel
directions and camera alerts.
Freemium | iPhone/Android
074 Tease Your Pet With A
Laser And Make Them
Internet Famous

TEASE YOUR PET WITH A

LASER AND MAKE THEM
INTERNET FAMOUS
This camera lets you play with your pet remotely and livestream it
Our pets are valued family members and we
all like to make sure they’re well looked after
at all times, even when we can’t be there
ourselves. The Petcube essentially fills the void
left when you’re not there, adding a virtual
presence that can potentially help reassure
your cat or dog that they are not alone.
Basically a Wi-Fi-connected camera, users
can watch a live feed of their pet on the go
through a free companion app for iPhone,
Android and Apple Watch. The Petcube has
a 138° wide-angle lens to make sure you can
always see your pet.
Thanks to the built-in microphone and
speaker, owners can actually talk to their pet
– if that’s your sort of thing, and if your pet
is smart enough to hold a conversation. Live
audio is transmitted and kept in sync with the
video feed, so you can see when your pet
wants to make contact. And there’s also a
built-in laser that can be used to remotely play
with your pet and keep it entertained.
Too busy to keep an eye on your pet
because you’re at work? You can also ‘share’
your Labrador and livestream to the world so
other animal-loving app users can watch and
play with your pooch remotely.

£200 | $200
petcube.com

Petcube
A wireless camera that
enables you to remotely
watch, play and even talk with
your pets as well as share
them with other animal
lovers online.
Wireless set-up
The Petcube connects to
your home Wi-Fi network,
enabling you to remotely connect
to it in seconds. Use the app to
confirm the connection
Laser pointer
A 5mW 3R-class laser emits from
the top of the cube, enabling users
to remotely play and tease their
pet. Of course, the laser is certified
and completely safe

Two-way audio
If you’re the type of person who likes talking
to their pet, the Petcube’s two-way audio
stream, through its built-in microphone and
speaker, will be perfect for you

Slobber-proof case Secure connection

Its aluminium casing holds
up well to everyday life, but
it also uses an easy-wipe
coating to remove hair and
slobber left by your pet
Each Petcube unit has
128-bit encryption, which uses
an authentication process to stop
unscrupulous people gaining access
to your Wi-Fi network

CROWDSOURCE CARING FOR YOUR PET

There are people who out there who absolutely
adore pets – even other peoples’ pets. So the
fact that Petcube makes it easy to tune in to a live
feed of other people’s pets all over the world is
going to be a big plus. Through the companion
app, you can choose to tune in to any live
Petcube feed, or even open up your own secure
connection for others to view your animal. As
well as watching a livestream, users can use the
laser feature to play with other pets and even
take a photo of them with its camera.
The app also has a plethora of social media
features, where you can follow your favourite
celebrity pets, share your own photos and curate
a library of the cutest pets around. What really
warmed our hearts is the connection with certain
dog and cat shelters, where you interact with and
show some love to the pets that currently don’t
have a home. Just don’t blame us if you fall in
love with one and decide to adopt it!
076 King of Kebabs for
a lads night In
£70 | $97
prezzybox.com
FOR A TASTY NIGHT IN
Kebab Rotisserie Grill
A versatile machine that
allows you to cook an array
of meats in a healthy rotisserie
style, filling them with flavour.
Make your own DIY doner kebab and more
Say goodbye to long queues at the
takeaway on a Saturday night. The
21-litre Kebab Rotisserie tabletop grill has
a multitude of cooking attachments so
that you can make your own deliciously
rich meat treat at home. From kebab
skewers, to succulent rotisserie chicken
to shawarma kebabs or even fish and
vegetables, it does it all. It’s a well-known
fact that we all love to be king of the
barbecue, well now that can include
the rotisserie as well. The device’s
timer ensures that your meat is cooked
perfectly without you having to worry
about cooking temperatures, simply
set the dial to the time recommended
in the instructions provided and you’re
ready to go. Like a slow cooker, you can
walk away, entertain your guests and
check in on the food a short while later.
It’s important to keep in mind, though,
that the meat may take a while to cook,
so unless you prep ahead of time you
might find it quicker and easier to just go
down the local takeaway. The only major
downfall of this device is the recipes. The
booklet only provides a simple selection,
leaving you short of flavourful and unique
ideas for your party. The device is easy to
clean and easy to operate and the sight
of your carefully-crafted skewers will
definitely have that wow factor.

01 Get ready
Once you’ve prepared
all your ingredients, attach
one rotisserie fork to the spit,
with the fork facing the centre,
and tighten the screws. For a
doner kebab, slide the meat
through the centre of spit or
hang skewers off of the fork.
02 Attach the spit 03 Set the timer
Place the ‘solid’ end
of the spit in the drive socket
located in the centre of the
drip pan which should be
slotted into the base of the
interior. Place the grooved end
on the spit support located at
the top interior of the grill.
Kebab Rotisserie Grill
077
BIG NIGHT IN
STARTER PACK
Beer Pump
This tap turns your canned beer,
both 440ml and 500ml, into a tasty
draught-style beer in the comfort of
your own home – perfect for a night
in when you want to avoid the pub.
£35 | $50 | funfoodproducts.co.uk
Italian Stonebake Pizza
Oven – Deep Pan
If kebabs weren’t enough, crack out
the pizza maker for thin, medium,
thick and deep dish crusts, maybe
even top it with some kebab meat.
£50 | $70 | funfoodproducts.co.uk
Smart Stirring Popcorn
Maker And Nut Toaster
Producing approximately 24 batches
of popcorn per serving, this gadget
also has a device that prevents your
popcorn from burning.
£40 | $60 | iwantoneofthose.com
Onion Goggles
In case anyone wants onions with
their kebab and the thought of
chopping them makes you cry before
you even begin slicing, these onion
goggles will alleviate that stress.
£15 | $20 | bit.ly/onionframes
Smartphone Projector
With this projector you can turn any
wall into a big screen and stream epic
fails, cute cat clips, Netflix or music
videos from your smartphone.
£20 | $30 | luckies.co.uk
Close the glass door
and set the timer, a leg of
lamb for a doner kebab will
take about an hour, shish
kebabs a little less. Once the
door is closed the inner light
will turn off, the element will
turn on and the spit will rotate.
078 This Egg Is The
Only Remote
You’ll Ever Need

IR learning
The Smart Egg can learn the IR code from any
infrared signal that emits from your electrical
devices, automatically uploading the code to
its cloud database for later use
£60 | $90
aico.tech

Smart Egg
An all-in-one remote control
hub system that also boasts
device-learning capabilities to
give you extra control over
your devices. You can even
use it to automate all of
your home gadgets.

THISEGG IS
YOU’LL EVER NEED
Combine the remotes of your electricals
in to one EGGcellent product
As gadget lovers, we’ve got an extortionate
amount of remote controls littered all over
the place. Not knowing which remote does
what is a real pain, so an all-in-one remote hub
system can be particularly handy.
The Smart Egg looks to integrate all your
remote controls into one secure cloud-based
database, with its accompanying app enabling
users to enter special functions for each
remote. Although each remote’s bindings are
stored in the cloud, it’s the Smart Egg’s built-in
IR sensor that enables it to wirelessly connect
to any electrical item you may own. It goes
far past just your TV and audio systems, with
certain lighting systems, air-conditioning units
and smart appliances also compatible.
But, as well as being a remote control
vault, Smart Egg is remarkably clever. It
uses Bluetooth to track the position of your
smartphone, enabling users to control any
appliances in the close vicinity, while those out
of reach are disconnected. Perhaps even more
impressive is its learning behaviour, which will
look to toggle features of your appliances; for
example Smart Egg can set timers on your TV,
or even regulate the temperature of your air
conditioning unit. We’re not yolking around
with you here, this really is one smart egg.
Smart cloud hub
The Smart Egg’s cloud server contains over
Save money on bills
By enabling Eco mode, the Smart Egg
Smart Egg
079
5,000 remote controllers and just under
can automatically adjust the temperature
120,000 IR codes already available for users to
from your heating systems and set them
download and use on their electricals
to a more eco-friendly temperature

Tracking movements
with beacons
The built-in Bluetooth beacon
continuously tracks your paired
smartphone for its location. It then
sends the controls for the electricals
that are close by

MAKE YOUR ELECTRICALS

Intelligent timer
The Smart Egg can add a timer to any
appliance, even if it doesn’t come with one
as standard. It’s a handy tool to have when
it comes to powering off devices
Control from anywhere
Chances are you’ll have electricals dotted
around your home, but thanks to the
Smart Egg’s 20-metre indoor wireless
range, you can stay in control at all times
WORK AUTOMATICALLY
The smartest thing about the Smart Egg is its ‘indoor positioning
technology’. For this, it uses Bluetooth to track your smartphone’s
position, with devices being activated when your location is tracked in
its vicinity. At its limit, Smart Egg can track up to 50 metres away. This
enables you to use all the pre-existing controls for these appliances, but
without ever needing to download the controls on to your smartphone.

MORE THAN GET SMARTER

JUST AN APP
The Smart Egg app acts as a hub for the egg. While usually used for
adding, removing and editing the key bindings of electrical devices, it’s
also useful for automating features on these machines as well.
There’s also a series of premade modes to help explore other areas
of your electricals’ capabilities. Its Temperature Monitor mode enables
you to track your home temperature change, while the Auto Mute
option will automatically mute the TV when you receive a call. We’re
only scratching the service with what this app can really do!
WITH IR LEARNING
The Smart Egg uses IR Learning, a handy tool that enables devices
to ‘learn’ the code from an infrared signal emitted from a compatible
electrical device. In terms of the Smart Egg, the built-in IR sensor
can ‘clone’ the remotes that you own – bindings and all – if you’re
unable to find and download the remote from the Smart Egg’s
library of 125,000 different IR codes. The learning side of things will
then look to automatically put the bindings in a logical order for
owners to use on their device in the future.
080 Crime Can’t Hide
With This 360-Degree
Security Cam

CRIME CAN’T HIDE WITH THIS

All-seeing 4K camera offers

peace of mind on the go
Okay, so the Allie Camera may look like an
large webcam, but it’s, in fact, one of the most £475 | £500
allie.camera
sophisticated 360° cameras we’ve ever seen.
While its primary use will be to monitor your Allie Camera
home, it can also be used for recording events,
A 360° camera that combines
livestreaming to YouTube.
the abilities to monitor your
The camera consists of two 8-megapixel
home via a livestream, record
sensors that are positioned back-to-back, with
high-quality videos and even
both containing its own fisheye lens and a 188°
produce VR-quality
field of vision. Essentially what this means is
footage thanks to its giant
that the Allie Camera is able to capture a full
field of view.
360° view without any blind spots.
Recording can be done at 4096 x 2048
resolution and at 22fps, which is remarkable
for a security camera of its size. There’s a
built-in microphone as well, and all of this kit
can be controlled via the comfort of a paired
smartphone. But to top it all off, Allie is the
company behind Allie VR headsets and it
capitalises on the camera’s 360° view. Users
can immerse themselves in their recordings, or
live security feeds for that matter, using VR.
The Allie Camera offers a package that
few rival camera systems can offer and
at £500/$500, can you afford not to
invest in one?

Image signal
processing
There’s an array of handy shooting
tools to improve the quality of
your recordings and livestreams,
including auto white balance,
noise reduction and auto gain

Control with
gyroscopic sensors
By pairing your smartphone to
the Allie Camera, it’s possible to
control the feed with your device’s
gyroscopic sensors. Its 360° view
can help pull off some cool shots

Dual-fisheye lens
The Allie Camera features two fisheye lenses,
which each camera having a 188° field of
KEEP YOUR HOME SECURE
view. It means that the camera boasts to have The main use of the Allie Camera
no blind spots in its recordings will be to keep a close eye on your
home, whether you’re there or
want to connect remotely. Users
can tune in to a direct live feed of
Connect to Wi-Fi their camera via their phone, and
The Allie Camera connects to your Wi-Fi
use either manual or gyroscopic
network, enabling you to monitor live
feeds and record video from your home, or
controls to view a full 360° – so
remotely on your smartphone or tablet it remains easy to keep an eye
on your kids, or even your pets.
The app has a range of tools to
help customises your view, which
is useful if you want to keep a
recording of the feed as a backup.
Allie Camera
081
There’s also all the necessary
procedures to follow to prevent
people from accessing your feed.
While many cameras falter in
the dark, the Allie Camera proves
to be a hit. Ten infrared LED bulbs
sit around the circumference of
the camera, producing a crystal-
clear video feed in the dark. In
total, the camera can record up
to 30 feet in front of it and its
surroundings in the dark, which
is comparable to many high-end
security systems on the market.

MAKE YOURSELF
YOUTUBE FAMOUS
Livestreaming to YouTube is one of the most prominent features of the
Allie Camera, and it provides an easy way to showcase your footage
to the world. While people may not be interested in watching your
home, it could be used for recording things like concerts, sporting
events, or even a spot of vlogging. Live recordings are sent straight to
the cloud before being uploaded, but users can also choose to save
the recordings locally. This is particularly useful if you wish to perform
some edits to it before sharing with the masses.

Record in the dark

Around the circumference of the Allie
Camera sits ten infrared LED bulbs. These
offer enough power to make recording in
the dark possible and at a decent quality

Stream to YouTube
A built-in direct upload feature enables
users to log in to their YouTube
account and start livestreaming the
video feed from the camera
VIEW 360-DEGREES IN VR
If people choose to use a VR headset, especially if it’s one of Allie’s own
VR headsets, to watch your footage, they’ll be able to experience it in
full 360° glory. The smartphone sits snugly in the front of the Allie VR
headset, with the VR app and built-in optics working together to create
immersive streaming that all stems from your camera. They’ll be as close
to attending your event, but from the comfort of their sofa.
082 Pocketsized projectors

12cm
m
12c
m 21cm 10cm
13c c m
10

AAXA M4 iCODIS CB300 Dell M115HD

£420 | $600 | aaxatech.com £400 | $490 | amazon.com £370 | $390 | dell.com

HD HD HD
800 90 300 90 450 AC
lumens 150 inches 1080p minutes lumens 300 inches 720p minutes lumens 80 inches 720p Power

POCKET-SIZED
PROJECTORS
WATCH MOVIES ANYWHERE WITH THESE MOBILE PROJECTORS

Brightness Max Display Battery Standard

definition HD HD ready 3D 3D
enabled

14cm
10cm 8cm
11cm 15c
m

14xcm

ASUS S1 Sony MPCL1 NEO JDX Vista V2 3D

£280 | $305 | asus.com £245 | $350 | sony.com £225 | $320 | neojdx.com

HD 3D
200 32 lumens/ 1,000 70
lumens 41 inches 480p 3 hours Laser light 120 inches 720p 2 hours lumens 100 inches 720p minutes
 Pocketsized projectors
083
cm 16
11 cm

10cm 15cm 30cm

23
cm

Odin AAXA P300 Epson EBS31

£370 | $525 | dosowls.com £330 | $420 | aaxatech.com £325 | $460 | epson.com

HD
115 2hrs 400 3,200 DC
lumens 25 inches 480p 10 mins lumens 120 inches 1080p 1 hour lumens 300 inches 480p Power

11cm 10c
9cm m
m
11c 19cm 19cm

LG PH300 AAXA P5 Philips Picopix PP3414

£320 | $450 | lg.com £300 | $340 | aaxatech.com £280 | $450 | philips.com

HD HD
300 2hrs 300 140 AC
lumens 100 inches 720p 30 mins lumens 100 inches 720p 2 hours lumens 120 inches 480p Power

m 5c
5c m
10cm 10c 15c
m 19cm
m

Odys Picto II RIF6 Cube Tronfy Full Color 130”

£215 | £305 | odys.de £210 | $300 | rif6.com £58 | $68 | tronfy.com

80 2hrs 50 90 800 AC
lumens 60 inches 480p 30 mins lumens 120 inches 480p minutes lumens 130 inches 480p Power
084 Supercharge your
summer

SUPERCHARGE
YOUR

SUMMER TECH CAN MAKE YOUR SUMMER

BETTER THAN EVER BEFORE

Historically, we have tended not to carry
much technology with us during the summer
months for a variety of reasons. Gadgets can
easily get damaged in water or even when
left under the hot sun for a few minutes, for
example, but we have now reached the stage
where the materials and knowledge available
lets manufacturers make products that are
able to withstand whatever is thrown at them.
On top of this, they have taken things much
further and created a selection of devices
that can multitask. No longer do you need
a singular device for each activity because
you can pay a little extra and cover multiple
tasks in one purchase, and at no stage has
the quality been lost through miniaturisation
or flexible components. We will highlight the
best accessories to take with you for the most
popular summer activities and also how to
make more of each event. Whether you are
watching the Olympics or taking a trip to the
beach, there are many products available to
minimise hassle and help you concentrate on
what is important: enjoying yourself. Whether
the weather holds up or not, you will have a
much better summer if it is supercharged.

“No longer do you need

a singular device for
each activity”
Supercharge your
summer
085
086 Supercharge
your summer

Keep it steady
Clever touches, like the ability to
keep the Soft Shell steady when
serving, are extremely useful. These
handles don’t affect its movement,
but they steady it well when needed

BEACH
TOYS
The beach was always a dangerous place for any
personal possession, and for obvious reasons.
A fun look
The Soft Shell’s exterior
works with its colour scheme
and materials to create a
Salt water and sand have never worked well with product that will look good
electronics, but you can now rest easy in the in any situation, even in the
knowledge that there are products which will take kitchen when it’s not in use
a trip to the beach in their stride. You can make ice
cream while having fun, some wireless speakers
are fully waterproof and are able to offer musical
accompaniment when you are swimming, and
cooking food and cooling drinks are no longer off £30 | $35
limits when with friends near the sea. With superb industrialrev.com

portability, lightweight components and toughness YayLabs! Soft Shell

that we have not seen before, a trip to the beach Ice Cream Ball
no longer needs to consist of a quick swim and A fun way to make ice cream.
sunbathing. You can now party with friends, cook Ingredients go inside the
a meal and do all of the social networking you like ball and after a few minutes Two easy chambers
without fearing for your expensive toys, and with of throwing it around, you There are two chambers that are
all this comes the potential for a much more social can serve homemade Mr used to make the ice cream. Insert
experience in a setting that is perfectly created for ingredients, such as cream and
Whippys all round. sugar, in one end and ice and rock
enjoyment and relaxation. The beach has always
salt in the other end
been a wonderful place, but it just became more
fun than ever before.

£200 | $230
lotusgrilluk.com

Lotus Grill XL

THE LOTUS GRILL

IS PERFECTLY
PORTABLE
If you can find a friendly beach that
allows barbecues, the Lotus Grill
is be the ideal tool to quickly cook
some piping-hot food on a summer’s
day. It’s light, easy to carry, and
with battery-powered fans and a
reasonable combustion time, you
will be the star of the beach party
whenever you want to be.

01 Freezing at
below zero
Rock salt is added to
reduce the freezing point
of the ice. This stops it
melting too early and
causes the ingredients to
freeze more evenly, and,
in turn, offers the classic
ice cream texture we
know and love.
03 Stir
shake
and
You need to stop after
ten minutes to stir
the mixture to ensure
consistency. At this point
you roll it for another ten
minutes to complete the
mixing process which
will ultimately create a
familiar treat.
CARRY THE COOLEST
COOLER WITH YOU
The Coolest Cooler is perfect for keeping drinks
and food chilled on the hottest of days, but it is
the extra features that make it stand out above
the rest. There is an integrated high-quality
blender, Bluetooth speaker, USB charger, cutting
board and too many other features to mention.
It’s one hell of a versatile beach gadget.
£310 | $450 | coolest.com
02 Mix the two
parts
When you move the
ball around, the ice and
salt naturally move in a
random motion and mix
with your ingredients. It
is airtight, so the ice will
capture the ingredients
and form a clean,
sandless mixture.
SHARE MUSIC WITH
THE MIGHTY SPEAKER
The Mighty Speaker is perfect for the beach. It
works with most mobile devices and it is also
completely waterproof. One charge gives you
six hours of use and the dustproofing will add
protection against sand, but perhaps the best
feature of all is that it floats! It’s the perfect toy to
keep you and your friends entertained by the sea.
£25 | $35 | morrisoninnovations.com
Beach toys
087
AN EXTREMELY TOUGH
AND ACCURATE WATCH
The Casio G Shock GW-3000M-4AER offers
every possible feature you will need for a day on
the beach. It’s waterproof, shock resistant and
solar-powered, so you can roll in the sand, take
a swim in salt water and do anything else and
it will still offer satellite-powered accuracy and
infinite battery performance.
£200 | $290 | casio-europe.com
FILM EVERY SECOND
OF YOUR DIVES
Dive masks are a required item for many beach
dwellers, but the Liquid Image Model 305 takes
things further by incorporating a five-megapixel
CMOS camera which can film every moment
and also snap 12-megapixel images. Even better,
it is light enough to feel just like a normal dive
mask when underwater.
£85 | $120 | liquidimageco.com
USE THE SAMSUNG
GALAXY S7 ANYWHERE
The Samsung Galaxy S7 can be immersed in 1.5
metres of water for 30 minutes and still work
perfectly. With included dust resistance and a
sturdy design throughout, the S7 is the perfect
communications tool for any beach visit. Indeed,
these tough features will be beneficial in every
aspect of your life, whether on the beach or not.
£570 | $830 | samsung.com
088 Supercharge
your summer

TRAVEL
ESSENTIALS
Few people like travelling, especially long flights,
but there are devices available today that will makes
things a bit easier to manage. You no longer need
to accept the ‘comfort’ that an airline or hotel
offers you because you now have the ability to give
yourself some relaxing moments whenever you
feel the need, and most of what can help is not
expensive at all. There are clothes that can carry a
variety of personal and important objects, cameras
that will keep a memorable trip alive forever and
even luggage that you can track wherever it is in
the world. Jet lag can be countered by a sleep mask
and all of the rest of your tech can be carefully and
securely stored in cleverly-designed kits that ensure
you will never lose anything. Travelling is either
about getting to a destination of your choice or
being an integral part of a trip, so it makes sense to
cut out all of the menial tasks and make the most
of every second. With these products your next trip
could be a whole lot easier.

THE CANON EOS 1300D

CAPTURES EVERYTHING
The 1300D is fast gaining a reputation for
photographic prowess and it’s not just the relatively
low cost that makes it stand out. It can capture full
HD movies, 18-megapixel images and these can be
shared instantly using its Wi-Fi and NFC hardware.
In a time when phones are dominating the world
of photography, products like this highlight that
sometimes a ‘real’ camera is just as flexible while
producing superior photos every single time.

£305 | $500
canon.com

Canon EOS 1300D

SAFEGUARD YOUR CHARGE EVERY DEVICE KEEP YOUR TECH

PERSONAL SPACE
The Knee Defender promises to protect your
precious legroom on long flights, but is likely
to prove controversial with other passengers.
Placed at the top of either arm of the tray table,
the miniature device, about the same height as a
house key, keeps the seat in front of you locked
in place, so they can’t recline backwards.
£15 | $20 | gadgetduck.com
YOU OWN
Travelling usually requires the use of a phone,
a tablet and potentially a laptop if you need to
get work done, but keeping all of these powered
is tricky. With the Anker PowerCore 20100 you
can charge a phone seven times over and it is
portable enough to keep with you all of the time.
It saves lots of unnecessary hassle.
£25 | $45 | anker.com
ORGANISED
When you carry tech with you, there will be
an inevitable collection of cables and other
accessories that you need to keep safe. The Grid
It Organizer Pack is the ultimate solution for
keeping everything in one place and with four
different cases in the pack, you will have the right
solution available for every trip.
£40 | $60 | cocooninnovations.com
Enjoy the flight
The integrated neck pillow will prove
to be a life-saver on flights and saves
you having to purchase accessories
that you will likely lose anyway
A disguised surprise
The zipper also works as a bottle-
opener which perhaps, more than
any other feature, highlights how
much thought has gone into the
Koala Hoodie
Look after
your glasses
You can keep your sunglasses or
reading glasses safe in a specially-
designed pocket. The pen pocket
and secret pocket only add to the
flexibility available here
A passport holder
Every travel detail has been
catered for including a crucial
passport holder. Lose your
passport and the entire trip
could be ruined in an instant
Handy thumb
holes
Thumb holes are built in
which effectively turn the
ends of the sleeves into
gloves. This is useful if you
find yourself in unexpectedly
chilly situations
THE SMARTEST
LUGGAGE EVER MADE
It’s likely that the contents of your suitcase when
travelling total much more than you expect,
and most of us secure our possessions with a
simple lock. The Bluesmart, however, comes
with location tracking, a digital lock, a scale, USB
battery chargers and more. When used with its
app, this becomes a brilliant and secure solution.
£420 | $450 | bluesmart.com
THE BEST PERSONAL
SOUND QUALITY
The Sennheiser MM 100 headphones are
practical because there are no wires to get
in the way on a long flight, thanks to their
Bluetooth connectivity. They include a concealed
microphone, effectively making the headphones
a high-quality headset, and open ear cups to give
you the best possible sound quality.
£130 | $150 | sennheiser.com
In-hood cushioning
This padding ensures a comfortable
feeling when relaxing in a taxi, in a
chair or anywhere else. It also helps
to keep you warm
Keep the air flowing
Air vents ensure that air is circulated,
as it needs to be in order to keep you
cool. The Koala Hoodie caters for
almost all weather conditions
Secure your phone
A phone pocket is integrated into
the jacket and you can also purchase
an optional charger to make sure
your digital assistant is secure and
powered at all times
£95 | $140
koalahoodie.com
Koala Hoodie
This crowdfunded hoodie
is tailor-made for travel
with a built-in neck pillow
and eye mask along with
13 other features to make
your trip easier and more
comfortable.
TAKE CONTROL
OF JET LAG
Don’t waste the first few days of your trip adjust
to the time difference. Re=Timer’s goggles use a
soft green light to stimulate the part of the brain
responsible for regulating the body clock and can
be used at certain times of the day to reprogram
your brain into sleeping when you actually need
to and beat jet lag.
£150 | $310 | re-timer.com
090 Supercharge
your summer
FESTIVAL FUN
Festivals are unforgettable experiences,
there is no doubt about it, but you are
also spending time with a very large
group of strangers and it can be easy
to get lost in the moment and indeed
become invisible. We will show you
how to stand out with a very clever pair
of shades and how to best share your
music with friends when the bands have
stopped playing. We’ll also demonstrate
how to ensure that all of your tech is
powered throughout the entire event
without having to carry bulky chargers
14 hours of battery life is
cleverly incorporated into each
pair of Drop Shades
NEVER LET THE
MUSIC STOP
There will be times when you and your
friends want to party while no bands or
artists are entertaining the crowds, and
the UE Boom 2 speaker is the perfect
tool for this. It is a small Bluetooth
speaker that will blow your mind when
you hear the sound that it can produce.
It packs quite the punch for a 7 x 2.5
x 2.5-inch speaker and 15 hours of
battery between charges makes it
highly practical as well.
£110 | $200
ultimateears.com
UE Boom 2
around. Security is also of great
importance, but it is quite easy to keep
your devices safe, as we will show you,
and you can even negate the need to
spend hours struggling to put up a
tent. A lot of preparation is usually
required to fully enjoy a festival and
at times even more work is needed
when you get there, but with some
useful tech the experience can be
smoother than ever. Take the right
gear, spend time with the right group of
people and simply enjoy the music.
£35 | $50
getdropshades.com
Drop Shades
A fabulous pair of shutter
shades that light up in time
with the music. If you are out
partying, they are a surefire
way to get yourself noticed
and maybe even and make
some festival friends.
A SOLAR-POWERED
BACKPACK? YES REALLY
The BirkSun Boost Classic is a super-cool
backpack that will suit any look and any festival,
but it has a trick up its sleeve which makes it
truly stand out. You can keep all of your devices
charged using the backpack’s solar technology,
which makes it incredibly useful during long
festivals and camping trips.
£70 | $100 | birksun.com

The effect when wearing
DropShades is sure to make
you stand out from the crowd
MAKE YOUR OWN
CAVE IN SECONDS
There are few things in life more annoying that
putting up a tent, but if you buy The Cave you will
be able to inflate your temporary home in just
under a minute! The quality of the materials is
superb and the design makes it more stable than
much of the competition. You can now easily
build a makeshift cave anywhere.
£515 | $750 | heimplanet.com
KEEP YOUR
POSSESSIONS SECURE
The Original SPI Belt is designed to let you store
a phone, headphones, cards and cash in the
smallest space possible. This is important at
festivals, and the fact that it can be worn under
clothing means that others will not know what
you have with you. It’s a simple, but essential
festival accessory that can work everywhere.
£20 | $30 | spibelt.com
Festival fun
091
From wood to food
The Camp Stove creates a smokeless
campfire by only burning wood
which can be used to cook meals See what’s
and to keep warm. happening
A free LED light is included to
keep an eye on the stove or to
read while camping. Much care
has gone into the practicalities of
the design
£110 | $130
WeSellElectrical.co.uk
BioLite Wood Burning
Camp Stove With USB
The BioLite Camp Stove
can generate electricity for
Charge your gadgets phones and is powered by
You can charge a phone or tablet by
plugging it in to the port on the front. burning wood. It can also
No direct electricity is needed to cook meals and boil water
keep your stuff powered in a few minutes.
CAMPING KIT
THIS KIT COULD
SAVE YOUR LIFE
The Bear Grylls Basic Kit contains a set of
useful tools that could make a camping or
backpacking trips much easier and potentially
save your in an emergency. The kit includes
waterproof matches, a cotton ball to use as
tinder, a fold-up knife, snare wire, a pocket
guide full of survival tips and much more.
£20 | $30 | gerber-store.co.uk
KEEP CLEAN
WHEREVER YOU ARE
We’ve all been there after a few days camping –
sweaty, grubby and just generally unclean. Well,
the Helio Pressure Shower can solve all of that.
You pump it with your foot and you can clean
dishes, your muddy dog and, most importantly,
your own filthy body when you need to. It will
greatly improve any camping trip.
£105 | $100 | nemoequipment.com
THE ESSENTIAL
FLASHLIGHT
A powerful flashlight is a must-have tool for
any camping trip, but with the Eton Scorpion
you also get a USB charger and AM/FM/NOAA
weather band digital radio. There’s no need for
batteries, thanks to its solar panel. All in all,
this is a very impressive and flexible piece of
kit – it even has a bottle opener.
£50 | $45 | etoncorp.com
092 Supercharge
your summer
£400 | $565
campingaz.com

Campingaz 3 Series
LS Plus Barbecue
Perfect for preparing a family
feast, this gas-powered
barbecue has 2,800 square
centimetre cooking area
with cast iron top and a
fold-out side burner.

GARDEN Dishwasher
friendly

PARTY
After a long day of partying
cooking burgers, the last
thing you want to do is clean.
Fortunately, the grill disassembles
into pieces fit into a standard sized
dishwasher

Garden parties are often a gamble because a outside and people can be kept warm when
lot can go wrong. The food must be cooked the sun goes down, and the end result should
well, the drinks need to be cold and the be an event that your guests will remember for
atmosphere is a crucial factor, which can be some time to come. Your preparation time can
difficult to achieve in a garden. There are, be minimised and by being able to take the Cooks more
however, a variety of tools that can make the stress out of making sure everything goes well than burgers Side burner
experience much more pleasurable for your should let you to enjoy the party too. Burnt Part of the cast iron Cause a stir by
guests. Lights that can be programmed to sausages, a poor quality music player and a grill is modular, so you preparing your own
can easily swap it out barbecue sauce. The
pulse in any colour are available, as is a top- cold evening are not the best ingredients for a
for a wok, pizza stone 3 series side burner
of-the-range barbecue that cooks all of your good garden party, but you can now resolve all or even a non-stick is great for preparing
food to perfection. Drinks can be kept cool of these problems before they even occur. paella pan sauces or other sides

ADD SOME
COLOUR TO A
Light when you need it
GARDEN PARTY
The Play Bulb solar lights are
The Playbulbs will automatically light
up when it gets dark and will power
designed to work like normal
themselves for up to 20 hours using garden lights in that they
solar energy from the sun automatically turn on when it gets
dark, but they can do so much
more than that. As well as being
weather-resistant, these solar lights
A very clever app are intelligent and, when paired with
Each Playbulb can be customised their free companion app, you can
using a free app. This gives you customise the colour of the lights,
multiple colour and behaviour add pulsing or rainbow effects and
options plus the ability to make easily add any atmosphere you
changes in an instant
want to a party with a couple of
taps of your device. You can now
create a chic disco feel outside.

Perfect for the garden £30 | $40

They are water resistant and so can be
playbulb.com
placed outside for extended periods.
Installation is very easy and the entire Play Bulb
set-up process only takes minutes
Solar Lights
 Garden party
093
An immersive experience
An extra-wide glow is emitted from all four £1,500 | $2,185
sides of the TV onto the wall behind. The philips.co.uk
end result is an experience that makes the
TV feel much bigger Philips 4K UHD Razor
Slim TV
Light up your room with an
Ambilight TV from Philips. It
comes with every possible
feature you will need to
catch all of the action of
any sporting event.

MAKE THE
LAWN PERFECT

© Paparazzofamily | Dreamstime.com
Pixel-perfect
You will want your lawn to look smart in pictures
preparation for a garden party, but with so much More than 8 million
to organise it can be difficult to find the time pixels and ultra HD
to do everything. Enter the Husqvarna Robotic upscaling technology
Lawn Mower which is silent, can work over most ensure that the picture
terrains and which will ultimately save you a lot you see is as close
to the real thing as
of time and effort.
possible
£1,000 | $1,450 | husqvarna.com

Apps and extra

The Google Play store is available and the TV
comes with 16GB of expandable memory to
ensure that you can work and play as well as watch

CELEBRATE A
SUMMER OF SPORT
KEEP THE DRINKS CATCH THE
FLOWING BIG EVENTS
A garden party shouldn’t be interrupted by A projector has the advantage of offering a
constant visits indoors to get drinks and so the much bigger display space, in the case of the
My Fridge MF-6W will help to keep the drinks BenQ 1080ST+, up to 100 inches, and also
flowing. With space for up to six large bottles being more portable than a TV. With the
and continuously variable temperature cooling 1080ST+ you also get 1080p quality and 3D
to 16°C below ambient, you can be sure that the capabilities so you will be able to see all of the
drinks will be more than cool enough to enjoy. action as if you were really in the crowd.
£110 | $160 | dometic.co.uk £750 | $1,100 | benq.com

HEAR EVERY GOAL

AND EVERY SCREAM
When you are watching sporting events you will
also want to hear every important moment as
realistically as possible. The Sony 2.1-channel
Soundbar lets you immerse yourself in the roar
from the crowd and the satisfying sounds of
when a javelin meets the ground or a ball meets
goal. It will greatly enhance your sport viewing.
£240 | $350 | sony.com

KEEP THE ATMOSPHERE RECORD 3,000

WARM AND FRIENDLY
If your guests start to get cold, the atmosphere
could quickly turn cool as well, but the whole
idea of a garden party is to be outside. With
a Cronus III table heater your can help select
people grab some much needed warmth and
you can even control the output remotely. This
could extend the party time substantially.
£335 | $490 | chillchaser.co.uk
HOURS OF SPORT
The TiVo Roamio Pro DVR is the ideal
accessory for your summer sporting event
binge because it can record up to 3,000
hours of TV and also record six channels at
a time. With unified search, built-in wireless
and mobile streaming, there really is nothing
missing here.
£310 | $450 | tivo.com
094 Don’t turn the
page just yet

DON’T
JUST YET
See which travel e-reader will bookworm its way to your heart

£145 | $210 £110 | $120

bookeen.com amazon.com

Cybook Ocean Kindle Paperwhite

AN E-READER WITH THE AMAZON’S SHARP-

LARGEST OF SCREENS
Oasis, H2O, Ocean – there’s definitely something in the water
when it comes to these latest e-readers. With the Ocean, though,
you get text flowing beyond the normal screen size, giving 79 per
cent more reading space on its eight-inch edge-to-edge display.
SCREEN READER
While the Kindle Oasis is Amazon’s flagship device, this budget
beauty undercuts all of its rivals. The third-gen model is still without
audio features but it uses low-power Carta E Ink technology and
comes with a built-in light. But at 205g, it’s heavier than the Oasis.

Design Performance Design which lays everything out in the

We would like to say the Ocean
hasn’t cut any corners in terms
of design but it has, right there
on the bottom left. But it’s
missing more than that tiny
piece: while it’s solidly built,
Ocean is uncomfortable to hold
due to its sharp edges.
Features
One of the nicest things about
the Ocean is that the screen
is flush with the bezel and this
makes going page-to-page in
a book pleasurable. It also uses
a font called Caecilia which is
designed to make reading easier.
The Ocean’s 800MHz chip
makes it the slowest of the
e-readers featured here and it is
prominent when compared to
the other devices. The Ocean
has a 160ppi paper-like, anti-
glare display, a month’s battery
life with Wi-Fi disabled and it
weighs 300 grams. You can
expand the 4GB storage space
to 32GB via microSD.
Verdict
Spec-for-spec, Ocean is a few
years behind in the reading
class and it is in danger of
drowning very fast.
The Paperwhite takes the familiar
Kindle form of a six-inch screen
surrounded by a reasonably
wide black plastic frame but
it’s symmetry really is nothing
to write home about. Still, it’s
function over form: you simply
tap the screen to turn the pages
or view the menu.
Features
The latest Paperwhite introduced
an eye-pleasing 300ppi screen
and a crisp, readable Bookerly
typeface. You almost feel like
you’re reading a proper book
thanks to the typesetting engine
same way as you’d expect on a
printed page.
Performance
This is no slow finger reader. It’s
got a 1GHz processor and 512MB
of RAM together with 4GB of
storage and access to the Kindle
cloud. It zips through page turns
like World Record-holding page-
turner Howard Berg.
Verdict
Paperwhite versus Oasis may
sound like a new Britpop battle
but this is no cheap imitation:
Paperwhite is top value.
 e-readers
095
“The Oasis comes with a
book-like case that doubles
as a battery booster”
£270 | $310
£140 | $175
amazon.com
kobo.com

Kobo Aura H20 Kindle Oasis

THE E-READER YOU IT’S THIN, LIGHT

CAN DROP IN THE POOL
Kobo has made a splash in the e-reader market with the dustproof
and waterproof H20 proving to be the perfect beach-bound summer
blockbuster. Since it is IP-certified, it can be plunged in up to a metre
of water for 30 minutes – as long as the port cover is closed, anyway.
AND VERY EXPENSIVE
With Oasis, Amazon has given the Kindle an overhaul to produce
an e-reader pitched at the luxury end of the market. It comes with
a book-like case that doubles as a battery booster, enabling it to be
powered for months on a single charge. It ain’t cheap, though.

Design books although it can be more Design also a lightweight: it comes in

Even though, at 6.8 inches, the
265ppi touchscreen is only a tad
larger than the six-inch Kindles,
it looks much bigger. But it feels
heavier and heftier too. The
angular back is more stylish than
the front, making it nice to hold.
Features
Aside from the built-in front
light, there are 24 font sizes
and 11 different font types. The
H20 works with the Pocket
app and lots of file types
including ePub, PDF and MOBI.
The Kobo e-reader store has
access to more than 4 million
expensive than Kindle.
Performance
You can expand the memory up
to 32GB with a microSD card
and you’ll have no problems
familiarising yourself with its
interface: the SimpleTurn feature
makes flicking through pages as
easy as tapping left or right. But,
despite having a 1GHz processor,
PDFs prove painfully slow.
Verdict
Go elsewhere if you want 3G
(this is Wi-Fi-only) but dive in for
a supportive, well-built reader.
You’ll instantly notice how thin
the Kindle Oasis is. Although
the side you comfortably grip is
8.5mm thick, it tapers down to
just 3.4mm. A couple of well-
placed buttons let you flick
through the pages or you can
tap the 300ppi six-inch glass-
covered screen instead.
Features
Since it has 60 per cent more
LEDs, the Oasis is brighter than
the average Kindle. The light is
shone from the side so it doesn’t
sear your eyes and you can
adjust it to suit your needs. It’s
at just 131g.
Performance
What it lacks in not having any
kind of audio facility, it makes up
for in speed. The text flies on to
the page and its performance
will help you zip through the
thousands of books you can fit
into its 4GB of storage.
Verdict
Undoubtedly the most advanced
e-reader. It’s not waterproof but
with crisp text and access to the
vast Kindle store, it’s not wet
behind the ears either.
096 Calling time

CALLING
TIME THE SMARTWATCH HAD ITS CHANCE,
DID IT LIVE UP TO IT?

How far we’ve come: Pebble was the first smartwatch,
crowdfunded through Kickstarter in 2012
T
here have been key moments in
recent years when it was easy to
believe the smartwatch was the
‘Next Big Thing’. Take the time the
Pebble attracted over $10 million
from Kickstarter backers in May 2012, for
example; or the event in San Francisco in
September 2014 where Apple CEO Tim Cook
finally unveiled the long-awaited Apple Watch.
The biggest names in the industry –
Google, Apple, Microsoft, Samsung, LG, Sony
et al – have jumped on board the bandwagon,
but it seems increasingly likely that this
bandwagon has now ground to a halt (or is
slowly going around in circles). These gadgets
“It’s possible to make a powerful
computer small enough to wear”
haven’t swamped the market as much as their
makers might have hoped. Is the smartwatch
fad over already, or is there life in it yet?
With smartphones now reaching something
of a plateau in terms of specs, features and
sales, and virtual reality still too expensive
for the casual consumer for the time being,
there’s a gadget power vacuum ready to be
filled. The question is whether smartwatches
have already lost their chance to fill it.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF
SMARTWATCHES
Like VR, the smartwatch era was launched
by a plucky independent company looking
for funding on Kickstarter, in this case it was
Pebble. The campaign broke Kickstarter
records, raking in a total of $10,266,845 from
68,929 backers wowed by the technology.
By today’s standards the Pebble isn’t
a game-changing gadget, but in 2012 it
promised the future – a customisable
watch that linked-up with your phone to
keep you more connected than ever. Smart
notifications! Call screening! Running and
cycling stats! It quickly caught the imagination
of the early adopters in the tech community
and looked destined for mainstream success.
Then the big names got involved: Google
announced Android Wear in March 2014
with Motorola, Samsung, LG, HTC and Asus
listed as partners. That summer, the Samsung
Gear Live and LG G Watch debuted, closely
followed by the circular Moto 360. Again, the
excitement was palpable, and Android Wear
had the advantage of a huge ecosystem of
apps behind it right from the off.
“We’re right at the beginning in a new
phase in the miniaturisation of technology,
which means that it’s finally possible to make
a powerful computer small enough to wear
comfortably on your body all day long,” said
David Singleton, director of engineering
at Android, on stage at Google I/O 2014.
“There’s a huge opportunity to bring rich user
experiences to these devices.”
Sensors gathering data around the clock;
voice control for when your hands are busy;
digital identification protocols to pay for items
or breeze through hotel doors with a wave
of your wrist; smartwatches promised all this
and more, and because everyone already had
a smartphone with them, wouldn’t everyone
also want a smartwatch too?
Calling time
097
SMART-
WATCHES –
THE GLOSSARY
While smartwatches aren’t the
most complicated gadgets
around, you might come across
certain terms that you’re not
100 per cent sure about. Let us
guide you through the jargon
by summarising all the key
terminology that you’re likely to
come across:
ANDROID WEAR – the
smartwatch operating system
based on Android, developed
by Google and compatible
with Android and iOS phones,
if you have an Android Wear
app installed. Supports smart
notifications, Google Now,
voice control and more.
ATM – short for ‘atmospheres’,
you’ll see an ATM specification
if your smartwatch is
waterproof. The number in
front of the ATM indicates how
many metres underwater you
can go before the watch is
going to start to get damaged.
PEBBLE OS – a customised
smartwatch OS developed by
Pebble for its own range of
smartwatches, which works
with connected Android and
iOS devices. Its features include
notification support, activity
tracking and customisable
watch ‘faces’.
STANDALONE – essentially,
able to work without a
phone tethered to it. Most
smartwatches offer some level
of standalone functionality,
such as GPS tracking, Wi-Fi
connectivity or the option to
cache music tracks on the
device and listen on the go.
TIZEN – the operating system
you get on your smartwatch
if you buy a recent Samsung
model. It’s fully compatible
with Android devices and (to
a limited extent) iOS devices,
offering notifications, custom
faces, watch apps and more.
WATCHOS – The operating
system for the Apple Watch,
based on iOS and compatible
only with the iPhone. It
supports voice control, smart
notifications, Apple Pay and
one-to-one messaging apps.
098 Calling time

ANDROID WEAR
PEBBLE OS WATCHOS
WATCHOS ANDROID WEAR PEBBLE OS

COUNTING STEPS

HEART-RATE MONITORING

SLEEP TRACKING

BUILT-IN GPS

MOBILE NFC PAYMENTS

DIRECT WI-FI CONNECTIVITY

OFFLINE MUSIC PLAYBACK

VOICE CONTROL

MAKE AND TAKE CALLS

CUSTOMISED WATCH FACES

*Note that this chart lists the capabilities of Android Wear, but in some cases (e.g. heart-rate monitoring, GPS)
you also need an Android Wear watch with the right components.

Samsung was one of the first
companies out of the door with an Android
Wear smartwatch, but it soon struck out on
its own with new models based around its
proprietary Tizen software. The South Korean
firm got into smartwatches faster and harder
than anyone else, and already has seven
different models to its name in two years.
But the warning signs started to show.
Sales estimates drawn up by analysts pegged
smartwatch sales at anywhere between 4.8
and 6.8 million for 2014, some way short of
the one billion smartphones shifted over the
same 12-month period. Was it possible that
despite the hype, there were just not that
many people who wanted a smartwatch?
Even trailblazer Samsung was pausing
for thought, putting a hold on smartwatch
production. “We’ve been introducing more
devices than anybody else,” Samsung’s
Young-Hee Lee told the Wall Street Journal
in March 2015. “It’s time for us to pause. We
want a more perfect product.”
The scene was set for Apple to ride in and
save the market, doing for the smartwatch
what it had done for the MP3 player and the
smartphone, bringing clarity to a struggling,
fledgling product – or at least, that was the
theory. The Apple Watch was unveiled in
September 2014 and eventually went on sale
in April the following year.
“Apple is poised to captivate the world
with a revolutionary product that can enrich
people’s lives,” Apple chief Tim Cook said
at the time. “It’s the most personal product
we’ve ever made.” Apple’s design guru Jony
Ive weighed in to speak about blurring
boundaries between physical object and UI,
and creating “unparalleled personalisation”
for users. So what went wrong?

WHAT IS A
SMARTWATCH FOR,
ANYWAY?
The cascade of reviews of the Apple Watch –
Like Android for smartphones, Google’s Android Wear OS works
many of which went into eye-watering detail
on lots of smartwatches made by different manufacturers
– are a helpful litmus test for the state of

Fitness tracking has proven to be one of the
most popular features of the Apple Watch
“Smartwatches want to usher
in a change in our behaviour
that we just aren’t ready for”
the smartwatch market in the spring of 2015.
Journalists and users alike struggled to work
out exactly what the purpose of the Apple
Watch or indeed any smartwatch actually is.
To tell the time, obviously. But a regular
watch can do that, and so far smartwatches
haven’t been compelling enough to get all
that many seasoned watch-wearers to make
the switch, or to tempt masses of non-
watch-wearers to begin slapping a gadget on
their wrists. It’s not yet a must-have bit of kit.
The Apple Watch reviews praised its build
quality and design but none of the reviewers
sounded like they would be using one in the
long term. CNET’s Scott Stein described it
as a “phone accessory”, calling it “beautiful
and promising” before concluding that: “You
don’t need an Apple Watch.”
“In the end the Apple Watch is, above all,
a satisfying indulgence,” wrote Yahoo Tech’s
David Pogue. “It’s a luxury.” Over at the New
York Times, meanwhile, Farhad Manjoo
offered up one of the most positive takes on
the new wearable, saying it ultimately felt like
an extension of his body. Even Manjoo had
his reservations, though, particularly around
the intuitiveness of the interface and the hit-
and-miss voice control.
“The Apple Watch is the most capable
smartwatch available today,” mused The
Verge’s Nilay Patel. “It wants to do and
change so much about how we interact
with technology. But that ambition robs it
of focus: it can do tiny bits of everything,
instead of a few things extraordinarily well.
For all of its technological marvel, the Apple
Watch is still a smartwatch, and it’s not
clear that anyone’s yet figured out what
smartwatches are actually for.”
In other words, where’s the ‘killer app’ for
this device? Where’s the app or feature that
makes the majority of the general public
think, ‘I absolutely need one of those?’ The
truth is that almost everything a smartwatch
does can be done more easily and more
conveniently on a smartphone, and that’s a
Calling time
099
problem if you’re trying to shift millions of
high-tech wearables out of your factory.
It seems smartwatches want to usher in a
change in our behaviour that we just aren’t
ready for: checking updates from our wrists
instead of unlocking our phones. Rather
than freeing us from the addiction of the
smartphone screen, these watches make
matters worse – the screen might be smaller,
but it’s there all the time, so notifications and
distraction are just a flick of the wrist away.
Many Apple Watch owners have reported
ditching their wrist-based computers after
the novelty wears off, in the same way
that someone might strap on a FitBit for
three months and then rather quickly lose
interest in it. “It doesn’t really do anything
that anyone needs, and even when it does,
it doesn’t always work like it’s supposed to,”
wrote one such user, Gizmodo’s Casey Chan,
in April 2016 (a year after the watch’s debut).
We’re focusing on the Apple Watch
because it’s the highest-profile and
bestselling smartwatch out there, but the
reservations people have about Apple’s
wearable can be applied to the rest of the
market as well. In real life, these devices have
few advantages over a smartphone (“Most
Watch apps just end up being a shell of the
iPhone app” wrote Casey Chan), and the
tasks they do excel at often take too long to
complete due to memory issues.
100 Calling time

THE WEARABLE FUTURE
Perhaps the smartwatch is destined to always
be a niche product. But even if that’s the case,
and even if the reaction to smartwatches has
been lukewarm so far, there is hope for its
future. We’ve said that smartwatch sales don’t
compare favourably to smartphone sales, but
they’re not a disaster – one market research
firm puts smartwatch sales at 4.2 million for
January to March 2016, obviously a big jump
on the 2014 figures.
Apple hasn’t reveal sales figures for the
Apple Watch, but Tim Cook has confirmed
that it has sold more units in its first year
than the original iPhone did back in 2007. Of
course the landscape was a lot different back
then, but it’s still an interesting perspective,
and suggests at least 6 million of us have
forked out for an Apple Watch.
George Jijiashvili of industry analyst CCS
Insight thinks smartwatches still have a bright
future. “Now that we’ve gone past the phase
of experimentation, dominant form factors,
features and operating systems are emerging,”
he tells us. “There are now clear use cases
beyond notifications, including emphasis
on wellness and contactless payments.”
The growing choice of styles and increasing
number of apps are signs that the smartwatch
ecosystem is healthy, he concludes.
“Smartwatches certainly haven’t changed
the technology landscape, but they are not
in terminal decline,” says Juniper Research’s
SMARTWATCH APPS YOU SHOULD TRY
James Moar. “What the devices now need is
a price drop to be seen as more accessible,
and to be less ‘additional’... Smartwatch-
specific or smartwatch-optimised features,
such as payments, authentication and more
standalone capability, will make them seem
less like an [add-on] for a smartphone.”
Recent announcements suggest Google
and Apple may have come to similar
conclusions. Last month Apple unveiled
WatchOS 3, the next software update for its
wearable. Launching in the autumn, this will Kevin Lynch, Apple’s VP of Technology, unveils
completely overhaul the interface, ditching the simplifed WatchOS 3 at WWDC 2016
the idea of app ‘glances’ in favour of a more
familiar app dock and a mini control centre syncing. Crucially, the ability to install apps
for toggling key functions on and off. Smart directly onto your smartwatch will also
replies will make messaging easier and there make Android Wear more friendly to iPhone
will be a greater emphasis on fitness tracking. users as it will no longer matter that their
Google has announced its doing much smartphone uses a different app store.
the same for Android Wear 2.0, but will Time will tell if these new features plus
also be making its smartwatches more the improved hardware that’s in the pipeline,
autonomous. You won’t need your phone will be enough to get a smartwatch on
nearby to use apps on your Android Wear every wrist. Certainly as the smartphones
device. Rather, it will be able to communicate innovation tap starts to run dry, wearables
through Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or cellular instead of some form or another are still in the best
of depending on a tethered phone or cloud position to fill the gap.
“Smartwatches certainly
haven’t changed the
technology landscape”

EVERNOTE GOOGLE MAPS RUNTASTIC SHAZAM UBER

This organisation
app is probably
already familiar
to you, but it comes into
its own on a smartwatch,
where you can set up
reminders, tick off items
on a to do list, and search
through your notes.
Free | Works on both Apple
Watch and Android Wear
No one does
street mapping
quite as accurately
or as intuitively as Google
does, and it has apps for
Android Wear (of course)
and the Apple Watch,
though the latter one is a
little more limited.
Free | Works on both Apple
Watch and Android Wear
One of the
best uses for a
smartwatch is
giving you running stats
and info on the move,
and Runtastic leads the
pack as far as this type of
app goes. It’s packed with
features and options.
Free | Works on both Apple
Watch and Android Wear
Identify a song
without having to
yank your phone
out of your pocket thanks
to the magic of Shazam
for smartwatches. Oh, and
you can get the lyrics to
the tune up as well so you
can sing along.
Free | Works on both Apple
Watch and Android Wear
One of the best
and biggest
apps on all three
smartwatch platforms,
Uber lets you hail a taxi
from your wrist in a
growing number of
cities in the world, quickly
and easily.
Free | Works on Apple Watch,
Android Wear and Pebble OS

DEVICES TO MAKE YOU GIVE
SMARTWATCHES A SECOND CHANCE
APPLE WATCH
Perhaps not the smash hit Apple was hoping
for, but it’s selling equally as good or even
better than the first iPhone did. It is the obvious
choice if you own an iPhone and want a smart
wearable to go with it.
£260 | $300 | apple.com
PEBBLE TIME STEEL
The plucky independent company has some
great smartwatches on the market, but which is
the best? The Time Steel for our money, both
in terms of looks and functionality, though a
Time Steel 2 is also on Kickstarter right now.
£200 | $250 | pebble.com
6
HUAWEI WATCH
The Huawei Watch is functional, stylish and
one of the first Android Wear watches that has
the ability work with iOS too. The price is a bit
steep but you’re unlikely to be disappointed
with your purchase.
£290 | $350 | huawei.com
WITHINGS ACTIVITÉ
If you prefer a more traditional, normal-looking
watch with just a dash of smartness, the
Activité has you covered – the small dial on
the front shows you how close you are to your
daily steps goal.
£320 | $450 | withings.com
Calling time
101
MOTO 360 V2
This is the second-generation of the Moto
360 and one of the best Android Wear devices
around – it looks the part, can be customised
in a variety of ways and it makes the most of
the improving Google watch OS.
£230 | $300 | motorola.com
SAMSUNG GEAR S2
If you can overlook the fact this runs Tizen
rather than watchOS or Android Wear, it’s
actually a very competent, useful smartwatch,
and Samsung has nailed the design style along
the way as well.
£240 | $300 | samsung.com
 ENJOY MORE OF YOUR FAVOURITE GADG

SUBSCRIBE
& SAVE
UP TO 36%
r to upgra
de
The gearkout routine GET FIT NEW FROM THE MAKERS OF Cutting-edge
kitchen gear COOK LIKE
OF
THE MAKERS your wo
HESTON
NEW FR
OM

ES
DRO N
50
LEVEL UP
YOUR
GAMING KIT

1 6
Accessories for the

0
ultimate games lair

2 BUILD A HOLO
PROJECTOR GRAM
Hack your phone
display 3D imagesto

WIN
R
0 SPEAKE
WIN NEW FROM THE MAKERS
70
7,0
7
7, 00
00 US
THIS £2IS RIDICULO t
’s 8500 wat
WORTH Can B&O price tag?
DRONES

£880
NEXT BIG
justify the RAZER KRAKEN OF
colossus Und
Apple’s er the hood of
RBOWL
iP
PAD
MOBILE + MORE biggest
20 SUPEENTIALS
tablet
ESS the ultimate
PRO
THINGS
KIT Tech for e blowout
COOL VE big gam
TO SA Y
NE
YOU MO
RONE 3.0 MORE

200
WHY
MICRO D E •A NEED YO
R
PREP FO MBER THE MOST AMA CHOOSE THE U DON
•M N AND
’T
BEBOP 2 INNOVATIONS ARR ZING TECH
THE PLU s for whe
n PERFECT TELE A NEW
AV add-
SCOPE TV
PARROT 3 •3DR SOLO DRO
ons to
Top toolng a leak Advice for astrono
improve
your
you spri
IVING IN 2016 mers
how to shoot star and
boxset
binging
NEVE
CLEA R
trails
M
PHANTO
N AGAI
Robot bu
tlers tes N!
DJI ted
ISSUE 003

KILLER
S ROOMnBA
reinvent
the robo
-vac?

M MAole CHINE Can Dyso

STEA explaine
d
S
JUICER
L games cons
MIND CONTRO re? New

TESTED
the futu

HIG
R
MUSIC kenetic tech
Is tele S THE SPEAKE
NEXT -GENweir d instrume
nt
DPHONE T COCKTAIL 10:14

TECH
Howto play this S POSH HEA
KE A PER
FEC 04/12/2015

TS CRASHE ES MA RASPBERRY PI ZERO

T PREDIC ERA MUST HAV

ONLY YOU
CAM THA
THE DASH CAN HEAR CAM FOR BEGINNER
Hack the computer S
costs pocket changethat
PIONEER
XDP-100R CARDBOARD
KILLER?
WIN
Proof you need a dedicate
£800

H TOY
music player again d Google Cardboard
r Digital.indd
1 GearVR vs Homidovs WINE COO
LER
03 Cove
001 GDT0 001 GDT004 Cover
50 grid final digital.indd ISSUE 004

S
1
THE MU
ST-HAV
ES TO MA
23/12/2015 11:44 KE YOUR
THE ONL INNER
JIBO CHILD
KITCHE Y
YOU’LL N GADGET
The all-in EVER
takes the -one devicNEED
SQUEAL
IF PIX HOW
MADEAR
heat out e that
of cook
ing UP A TO PUT
SHELF
ROBOT A BUILD AN
ARCADE
ISSUE 002
STRAIG
EVERY NER MACHINE
F BLASTER
DIY gadg HT
you on ets to keep
001 GDT00
2 Cover.i
ndd 2
SUP
REAL LIF ERCHARGED
E JET PACK SKIING TECH
the level DRINK
BIGGEST CRAZY CAR LIKE
AND BEST
RC CARST A PRO
Best gad
for win gets
e lovers

09/11/2
015 13:07

See more at: www.greatdigitalmags.com

GET MAGAZINE FOR LESS WHEN YOU SUBSCRIBE!

Every issue
packed with…
The latest tech! Everything from hoverboards, drones, wearables, sports tech,
smart homes and more

Buying advice - new, cool kit and where to get it

Tech teardowns - under the skin of the latest gadgets and more...

Why you should

subscribe...
Save up to 36% off the cover price

Immediate delivery to your device

Never miss an issue

Available across a wide range

of digital devices

Subscribe today and take advantage

of this great offer!

Download to your device now

 The humble shed, once just a small shed, which is fine until you run over
repository for garden tools, broken the lead with a lawnmower or the kids
PROJECT furniture and spiders, has now become trip over it and bring the whole lighting

01
a worthwhile addition to your home. system crashing to the ground, but just
People turn them into pubs, meeting think how much cooler it would be to
rooms cinemas or even retro gaming have your own electricity rig set up in

HOW TO
caves, but if you’re thinking of bringing your shed and have it solar-powered?
your shed kicking and screaming into This workshop will guide you through

TAKE YOUR
the 21st century then we’ve got just the the equipment to buy and the (relatively)
project for you. simple set-up needed to have solar-
Sure, you can run an extension cable powered lights, plugs and, in fact,

SHED OFF
out from the house for electricity in your anything you like in your shed.

Solar panels are easier to

THE GRID install than you’d think

Install a solar panel to

power up your tool shed

12-volt battery
Picking the right battery for the job
shouldn’t be that tricky, but one that
was recommended to us was the
Genesis NP 100. Obviously it’s a 12V
battery and, therefore, perfect for our
needs, and its 100Ah (amp-hour)
capacity means that you’ll be able
to store up plenty of juice for those Charge controller
darker days. You’ll also need a charge controller, which takes the
£40 | $57 | enersys-emea.com electricity from the solar panel and transfers it to the
battery. There’s a wide variety of shapes and sizes to
choose from, but EP’s Solar View Star range is perfect
for the job, as the LCD display lets you monitor the
SPS lighting kit state of the whole system with ease – and it also
One of the main purposes of a solar comes with a range of safety features, too.
panel linked to your shed would be to £60 | $70 | epsolarpv.com
provide light, and this all-in-one kit is
just what you’ll need. It comes with
two bulbs and holders, ten metres of
cable, a switch and a fuse. Because
the bulbs are energy-saving ones,
they manage to kick out 60 watts and
not too use much power.
£40 | $57 | maplin.co.uk

PLAY IT SAFE
There are no restrictions when it comes
to installing a solar panel system on
your shed, but common sense has
to play an important part, though.
Research everything thoroughly, speak
to a professional technician to make
sure your doing everything correctly and
include the right circuit breakers to cut
the power in the event of an accident
or power surge. Finally, if the shed is
going to be accessible to youngsters,
ensure that everything is tucked away in
a safe place, away from the kids. As with
everything electrical, it’s much better to
be safe than sorry.
Solar panel
Obviously, the main piece of kit you’ll need
is the solar panel itself. To keep things nice
and simple, we recommend you get a
small panel to start with – which will
be easily enough to run lights and a
few sockets in your shed. For this
example, we’re plumping for a
10w model, but feel free to go a
little higher if you’d prefer.
£20 | $50 | sunstore.co.uk

01 Catching those rays
The first thing to do is attach your solar panel to the roof of your shed.
Some panels, like the one pictured above, come with their own brackets to help
with attaching them. Make sure that you attach the panel to a south-facing roof
if possible, and ensure that the panel isn’t ever in the shade – trim any trees or
overhanging bushes if needs be. The solar panel isn’t going to be useful if direct
sunlight is being blocked.
03 Wiring it all up
The wires coming in from the solar panel will be standard cables with
positive and negative wires, so you can use a standard 13-amp cable to connect
everything up. The next connection is from the charge controller to the battery,
so (using the 13 amp cable) run the positive from the controller to the positive on
the battery and vice versa with the negatives. As it’s a 12-volt system, you need to
make sure that the batteries match the same voltage as the panel.
05 Connecting everything up
Run the two wires (positive and negative) out to a standard wire
distribution block and then connect them to the first two points. You can run off
cable from the other side to various plugs and devices that you want to run from
the panel. Just make sure that when you add something on the top connections of
the block that you also run a short positive and negative line to the next two blocks
to continue the live connection – as shown in the image here.
How to Take Your
Shed off the Grid
105
02 Controlling that charge
The next piece of kit you’ll need is the charge controller, which will need to
be attached to the wall of your shed. The controller takes the electricity from your
panels and stores it in the batteries you have connected to it. It’s important that you
follow the controller’s instructions when connecting everything up. It’s marked on
the controller where you need to insert the positive and negative connections and
where to attach the wires out to the battery.
04 Blowing a fuse
When you are connecting up the wires for both the battery and the main
feed out, it’s important to add a small fuse into the loop for added protection
against surges and the like. You want to look out for blade fuses for this one. If you
don’t know what they look like, you likely have them installed your car connected to
the live wires using spade connectors. We would recommend a 15-amp fuse for the
battery and a 20-amp fuse for the main feed
06 Let there be light!
If you want to add any light switches, then we suggest that you run the
negative feed straight through from the distribution block through to the actual
light itself, but put the break on the live feed. Then, when you press down the light
switch it’ll turn on the light (hopefully, anyway). Just make sure that you buy a 12V
lighting kit – and make sure that you use energy efficient bulbs, which could use
just 22W per hour.

PROJECT
02
NEVER SEE A
POP-UP AD
AGAIN
Install an ad blocker to get
rid of annoying adverts
and auto-play videos
SELECTIVE ADVERTISING
The chances are that there are probably
only a handful of sites that you really
want to cut down the advertising on, and
so are happy to browse others where
the adverts are less intrusive. What you
can do for these is something called
‘whitelisting’, which is where you build up
a list of trusted websites where advertising
We should start by stating for the record system. These work by being small
that we’ve not nothing against adverts pieces of code, called extensions, that
appearing on websites. After all, why are added to the main browser software
shouldn’t the people that supply the to enhance its capabilities. They’re often
content for you get something back in very small pieces of code, so they can be
return, but we are becoming increasingly added in seconds and really add useful
less tolerant of the sites where two or
three autoplay videos load up when you
functionality to your software.
Best of all, you can tailor them to
arrive on it, which are then joined by your needs, which means you can allow
several animated banners. adverts on less-intrusive websites and
Thankfully, help is at hand through the only block the adverts from the ones that
numerous ad-blocking programs that are
available for any browser or operating
are slowing your browsing down. Here’s
how you do it in just six easy steps…
“They can
be added
in seconds
and can
add useful
functionality
to your
software”
is allowed and, therefore, not blocked
through your ad blocker.
Using AdBlock as an example, if you go
through to the options for it then, under
‘Customize’, you can either just add URLs
to the sites you want blocked, or head
through to a tutorial to help you write
scripts for whitelist filters.
 Never SEE A
Pop-Up Ad Again
107
REMOVE ADS
FROM EVERY
SCREEN
AdBlock
If you are running a
Chrome or Safari browser,
then the only choice you
really need to consider is the brilliant
AdBlock. It’s relatively easy to install and
it will speed up your Internet experience
considerably, making browsing the web

01 Not so user-friendly
Websites like this one pictured above are
becoming all too common. You click on the link
and, depending on the speed of your computer,
have to then wait until all the autoplay adverts,
animated banners and additional adverts load.
Thankfully, though, help is on the way thanks to your
friendly neighbourhood Gadget team.
02 Getting an extension
Most browsers now have extensions, which
are small pieces of software that can be downloaded
fun and easy once more.
Available for: Chrome, Safari
Free | getadblock.com
and added to the browser. For this example, we’re
using Chrome so a quick search reveals AdBlock 1Blocker
to be the most popular one – different browsers Mobile devices are just
and operating systems prefer different software, but as prone to the horrors of
we’ve made a list of them on the right for you. intrusive advertising as any
other operating system – in fact, more
so, as they can block your entire screen.
It’s arguable that with data prices what
they are, there’s even more need for an
ad blocker on your phone. iPhone and
iPad users won’t find a better one for
Safari than Salavat Khanov’s 1Blocker.
Available for: iOS
Free | 1blocker.com

Adblock Browser
Although you can limit
the amount of pop-ups on
mobile devices by going
through to the browser setting and
disabling pop-ups, nothing quite beats
a dedicated browser that’s created

03 Very easy to install

Because you’re only adding the extension to
Chrome rather than downloading a whole program,
it’s very easy to install – you don’t even have to quit
and restart the browser. Just click on the ‘Add To
Chrome’ button in the top right-hand corner of the
window, and then, on the next window that pops up,
just click on ‘Add extension’.
04 Time to pay up
You then get the honour window, which
is AdBlock’s developers way of asking you to
specifically to make mobile internet quick
simple and less intrusive on your data
package. For that purpose, Adblock is
contribute to the costs of running the software. one of the best.
If you use it and find it useful then we obviously Available for: Android
recommend that you bung a few dollars their Free | adblockbrowser.org
way, as apparently the extension has five full-time
developers working on it. Adblock Plus
Those people who prefer to
use Mozilla’s Firefox over
Chrome or Safari would do
well to download Adblock Plus for their
favourite browser. It works similar to
the other software featured on this list
and, like most of the other more popular
extensions, Adblock Plus also blocks all
known malware domains, too.
Available for: Firefox
Free | adblockplus.org

05 Tweaking the options
Now the extension has been installed. If
you look up to the top-right-hand corner of your
window then you’ll see the icon for AdBlock with a
number next to it – which is the amount of adverts
the extension has blocked on that particular page.
Click on the icon to bring up options – including the
choice to ignore ads on the page.
06 Nice and quick
Go back to the original page with the
extension activated and you’ll see a difference in
the amount of ads displayed, speeding up the time
the page takes to load and also the amount of time
taken to navigate around the site. If you’re on a site
that’s not that intrusive, though, then you might want
to stop AdBlock to help support the site’s owners.
AdGuard AdBlocker
After the problems with
Internet Explorer and
the copious amounts of
extensions that used to slow the software
down to a crawl, Microsoft has been
cautious with its new browser, Edge. You
can get this ad-blocker for it though, and
it appears to work pretty well.
Available for: Microsoft Edge
Free | edgeadblock.com
 PROJECT

03
BUILD A
SANDCASTLE
LIKE A PRO
Liven up that day on
the beach by creating
your own sand-sculpted
masterpiece

Crudely depositing a bucket of sand on the

beach and calling it a ‘castle,’ just doesn’t
cut it anymore. The bar has been raised by
professional sand architects – with names
like ‘The Sand Guys’ or ‘Archisand’ – that
create enormous and fantastical tableaus
out of sand and water. What’s more, they are
making money doing so. Competitions, such
as the U.S. Sandcastle Open in San Diego,
offer over $21,000 in prizes each summer.
While a certain degree of artistic ability is
required to make something that will get you
recognised in the world of sand sculpturing,
creating something for yourself that looks
half-decent is still within the grasp of many of
us. You will need tools, though, and the more
thought you put into the ones you get, the
easier the job will be. And while you might
not like the attention you’ll draw to yourself
by starting up a petrol-powered rammer on
the beach (or the £1,800 price tag), you can
get started with the bare necessities and just
a few pounds of investment.

01 Picking the perfect spot

The first job is to find the perfect spot
on the beach to build your sculpture. You
obviously want to do it where there’s enough
space, and close enough to the waves so that
getting up and down the beach with water isn’t
a massive pain. Also, you’ll need to make sure
that the sand is the right consistency to build
on, try and aim for a spot that’s close to where
the harder, wetter sand meets the finer stuff.
02 It’s all about the base
When you’ve built up your base you’re
then ready to start forming your structure. In
our list of tools we’ve recommended bringing
a couple of buckets with you, and if you cut
the bottom out of one of them then it makes
the perfect tool for building towers. You can fill
up the bucket (making sure the sand is damp
enough to keep the structure’s shape, and then
simply lift the bucket off of it.

03 Adding the detail
Once you’re happy with the shape then
it’s time to add detail, and that’s when your
tools will come in handy. You can use the wider
ones for shaping and smoothing the edges (and
making pathways) and then the smaller ones
are ideal for adding brickwork, patterns and
doorways. Don’t worry if you make a mistake,
you can use sand to retouch imperfections or
use the brush to sweep the error away.
Build a Sandcastle
Like a Pro
109
TOOLS OF
THE TRADE
No sand artist’s tool kit would be complete
without these essentials. Usually they paint their
tools all in bright colours, too. Why? So that
they can easily find them if you drop them in
the sand, obviously.
Aqua2Go Water Sprayer
If you want your sandcastle to last
more than a few minutes then
you’re going to have to keep it wet.
So you can use this sprayer to
lightly douse your masterpiece and
‘glue’ it together.
£110 | $160 | aqua2go.eu/en
Belle RTX Rammer
If you have oodles of money and
are determined to become a pro
then you might want to invest in a
rammer, as the more compact you
make the damp sand, the more
likely it’ll all stay in one place.
£1,800 | $2,600 | bellegroup.com
Three gallon bucket
If you invest in a sprayer, you’re
still going to need a lot of water, so
make sure you’ve got a supply of
high-quality buckets to hand. You
want heavy-duty builders’ buckets
at 14 litres (three gallons) each.
£15 | $20 | screwfix.com
Palette knives
When you want to add some detail
to your work then that’s when a
palette knife will come in handy.
m
If you’ve often pondered on how
.co
sculptors make such intricate
me
sti
designs, well, it’s by using these.
am
re
| D £5 | $10 | anself.com
er
ch
oncat
t
© Pho One-inch paintbrush
If you make a (small) mistake then
the easiest way to cover it up is with
a standard paint brush, like you do
with painting. Lightly dust the area
you want to cover up and your error
will disappear before your eyes.
£5 | $10 | farrow-ball.com
Melon baller
You can scoop out circles from
your sculpture with a small spoon,
sure, but a much neater, easier and
mess-free way of doing it is with a
humble, yet surprisingly accurate,
melon baller.
£3 | $5 | amazon.com
04 Neat and tidy
As you’re cutting into the sand you’ll
notice that a lot will be falling out, collecting at
Surgical tubing
Straws work fine too, but all the
the edges and making everything a little messy, pros use surgical tubing to gently
and that’s where the tubing comes in. The sand blow away any loose sand from
should be light enough to be blown out of the their designs. The extra length lets
way with ease. If you need anything for more you get into hard-to-reach areas.
stubborn removals, though, or just need to £6 | $8 | amazon.com
smarten up some of the edges, then the brush
is perfect for that.
 PROJECT

04
THE SIMPLE
WAY TO
CHANGE A
CAR TYRE
It’s the stuff of driving
nightmares, but our
workshop is heaven sent…

There’s nothing worse for car owners than

hearing that awful repetitive thud coming from
one of your wheels that signifies that you’ve got
a puncture. And, for some unexplainable reason,
it usually seems to happen when you’re in the
middle of nowhere, your phone battery is flat
and it’s chucking it down with rain in the middle
of the night.
The reality, though, is that changing a car tyre
isn’t quite the nightmare you might think it is.
Sure, there are definite things you need to do – as
well as a whole long list of things to avoid doing
– but if you’re careful and follow our instructions,
then you’ll be back on the road in no time at all. “Changing a car tyre isn’t
quite the nightmare you
We’ve also got a round-up of the kit that’s sure
to make it even easier for you, from a cordless
impact wrench to remove stubborn nuts to an
inflatable jack that’s powered from your car’s
exhaust. If you want to repair your puncture in
style, then you’ve come to the right place.
might think it is”

01 Get yourself level

If possible, make sure that the car is on a level part of the road
before changing the tyre. If you’re on a main road, put on your hazard
lights and make sure that the car is switched off and the handbrake is on.
Now, if possible, remove the wheel’s hubcap and use a wheel brace to
loosen the nuts on the wheel (but don’t remove them). If the wheel has a
locking nut, then make sure you know where the key for it is.
02 Jack it up
Now get the jack ready and look underneath the car to find the
jacking point for that corner of the vehicle – they’re usually close to the
corresponding wheel arch. If you can’t find one then look for the best
spot along the car’s sill for the jack to go. Lift the car slowly and carefully,
and if the jack is lifting at an angle, then lower it and position it in a better
location until you’re sure it’s lifting up straight.
 The Simple Way to
Change a Car Tyre
111
WHEELY GOOD GEAR
Westfalia Car Jack
This is genius. 60 quid buys you an
inflatable cushion that can lift over
two tons up in the air. The advantage
of this car jack over traditional ones is
that it can lift two wheels at once, it’s
perfect for uneven and soft surfaces,
and it connects straight to the car’s
exhaust to inflate it. Brilliant.
£60 | $85| westfalia.net

Ring 12V Air Compressor

An essential piece of kit, a battery-
powered air compressor can inflate
a tyre in just under three minutes.
All you have to do is set the pressure
gauge, attach the nozzle and that’s
pretty much it. You can also use
a compressor for bike tyres and
inflating camping gear, too.
£25 | $30 | bit.ly/ringauto

Holts Tyreweld
So you’ve got a puncture and you
then remember that your spare is flat.
What do you do? If you’re prepared for
anything then you’ll have a can of this
in the back of your car. Attach the can
to your tyre’s valve, fill up the tyre with
the temporary solution and it seals
the puncture – it’s easy as that.
£10 | $14 | holtsauto.com

Clarke Impact Wrench

Surely one of the most irritating and
embarrassing scenarios is that, after
a puncture, you’re unable to remove
the nuts with a brace. The solution
is costly but guaranteed to make the
job a lot easier. This impact wrench
whizzes round at up to 2000 RPM and
has a maximum torque of 200Nm.
£70 | $100 | bit.ly/clarketools

03 Swapping the wheels

When you’re sure that the wheel is completely off the ground,
remove the nuts and lift the wheel off of the axle. Now slide on the spare
tyre and securely attach it with the wheel nuts. You should tighten them
all gradually by hand and in a star pattern – so always putting the next
nut in across from the last one, doing a full clockwise turn before moving
over to the next nut.
04 Get back on the road
Using the wheel brace, continue tightening the nuts (still using
the star pattern) until you’ve tightened them as much as possible – try not
to use too much force as this can unsettle the jack if you’re not careful.
Now, lower the car to the ground and remove the jack from underneath
the car. Before you put the hub cap back on, though, go around the nuts
one last time tightening them as much as possible.

PROJECT
05
BOOST
YOUR
BROADBAND
SPEED
An iffy name but brilliant
kit, Boosty is perfect for
turbocharging your Wi-Fi
Sucks power
The power for the Boosty comes
from the device (PC, laptop or
tablet) that you’re connecting it
to for the Wi-Fi boost. Attach the
USB cable here, and then plug the
other end into the main device
Reset button
Should anything go wrong, then
you don’t need to panic. Just
press this button to reset the
Boosty box and try again
ALTERNATIVE TECH TO GET YOU ONLINE
Brck
The Brck is basically a portable Wi-Fi
device that has been designed to be
used in the most remote locations,
where it’s practically impossible to get
a phone signal.
£175 | $250 | brck.com
Despite the fact that broadband has
now been around for years, it’s still
sadly the case that many people are
struggling with a poor connection. As
the demands of the internet increase,
and more and more people use it to
stream TV, films, music and online
gaming, there’s a number of users that
are being left behind simply because the
area they live in doesn’t have a strong
enough internet signal.
One solution is to have your internet
upgraded with fibre optic broadband,
which will improve things dramatically,
but if you’ve got a smartphone in the
house that’s not using anywhere near
the amount of data given to it on your
TP-Link M5350 BT 600 USB
If you need to set up a Wi-Fi hotspot, Wireless Adapter
then the TP-Link is the device for you. Stick it in a computer without a Wi-Fi
All you have to do is insert a SIM card card and it’ll connect it up to your
into the Link and it can then be shared network. It’s also dual band, too, so
with up to nine users simultaneously. you can use it with other devices.
£40 | $90 | tp-link.dk £20 | $30 | shop.bt.com
contract, or you can’t get fibre optic
broadband in your area yet, then
there’s now a new solution that might
be able to help you.
Boosty is a small device that
plugs into your router and is able to
boost your home’s internet signal
by up to three times by pairing your
home connection with that of your
smartphone. It spots when your
connection is lagging a bit and helps it
out by stealing a bit of your phone’s data
allowance. It’s a smart idea, but how
does it work? And will it end up costing
you a fortune? Luckily for you, we have
the answers to these and many more
questions in the following workshop.
£70 | $100
boosty.com
Boosty
Crave faster broadband?
Help is at hand with Boosty,
the simple-to-use device
that uses the data from your
smartphone to boost the
strength of your home
broadband signal.
Ethernet connector
Using the Ethernet cable that
comes with your router,
connect up the Boosty by inserting
the cable into the device and then
into the back of your router
Linksys Range Extender
If you’re trying to use a single router
in a large area, then the RE6500 from
Linksys will ensure that you don’t get
any dead spots, as it’s one of the best
Wi-Fi range extenders on the market.
£80 | $80 | linksys.com
 Boost Your
Broadband Speed
113
Good 3G/4G
HOW IT WORKS coverage

As we’ve already mentioned, Boosty works by combining

the signal from your Broadband connection with that
of your smartphone. But how exactly does it do it? And
does that mean you’ll get clobbered for additional data
fees when you get your next phone bill? 01
For Boosty to work, you’ll need a ADSL connection
with a speed of up to 12 megabits per second (Mbps) and Your
an Android or an iPhone with a decent reception (at least smartphone
connects to
two bars) and 3G or 4G, too. Connect everything up and
your home
then, when you browse the Internet, you should notice a
Wi-Fi network
marked improvement on your browsing speeds.
Boosty works by ‘topping up’ your broadband
connection only at the times when it’s really needed –
UP TO
therefore saving your data allowance. For example, if you
wanted to watch a 3Mbps video stream but you’ve only 3X
got a 2Mbps connection, Boosty will only add the extra
1Mbps that’s needed. If you have a powerful enough
mobile signal, then Boosty can increase the speed of
your home Broadband by up to three times. 02 03
You do have to be careful if you have a limit on your
phone’s data, though, but the Boosty Link app is perfect Boosty combines the ...giving you
for this, as it allows you to control exactly how much connection speeds... faster internet!
data Boosty can use each month.

Slow

SET UP BOOSTY broadband

01 What’s in the box?

Setting up the Boosty really couldn’t be easier. In the box you get
the Boosty itself (which is surprisingly small), a short Ethernet cable and
a USB power supply. Make sure to carefully read through the instruction
leaflet that comes with it – it starts by giving you an overview of the
device and exactly what it can do.
02 Finding the app
Now you need to find the Boosty companion app, Boosty Link,
on your smartphone. This is the app that will allow your phone’s 3G or
4G connection to be combined with that of your home broadband’s
connection. The app is available for both Android and iOS, so go to the
relevant store and download it.

03 Setting a cap
If you’re worried that you might use too much of your data then
there’s an easy way to get around that, as the first screen you come to
when you open the Boosty Link app allows you to set both the day of the
month that you reset the data and also a cap the data you use. Obviously
you don’t need to worry about this if you’ve got unlimited data.
04 Time for a Boost!
With the app up and running, now is the time to connect the
Boosty to your device and then use the Ethernet cable to attach it to your
router. Go back to the app on your phone and test the connection to see
if its working. When everything’s running okay (which is should do without
any trouble) you’re good to go.
 114 Whatever happened to...
Built for pockets
At 12cm x 8cm x 1.7cm, the
plastic-cased PalmPilot was
small and light – it weighed
only 5.7 ounces, or 161 grams
© Rama, Cc-by-sa-2.0-fr
Touch-sensitive
screen
The PalmPilots offered a pixel LCD
screen as standard. The PalmPilot
Pro added a backlit screen, perfect
for after-hours working
Whatever happened to…
PalmPilot
High-fives for the first successful stylus-input PDA
Credited with popularising the
Personal Digital Assistant, the
PalmPilot was an upgradeable
pocket-friendly organiser which
became a natural extension to a PC
for millions of people.
The sleekly-designed device
enabled users to keep a calendar, a
to-do list and an address book while
utilising a calendar and a memo
pad. It could sync data, run third-
party apps and – crucially – interpret
single strokes made on the 3.4-inch
monochrome screen as letters.
This made inputting remarkably
easy and it helped that the interface
was refreshingly uncluttered. Even
better, early PalmPilots could keep
going for up to three months on the
same pair of batteries.
Issue 11 is on sale from 28 July
A stylish stylus
Stored in a socket moulded
into the right-hand side of
the device, the stylus could
be used to tap and make
strokes on the screen
Handwriting
recognition
By using strokes of
the stylus in this area
of the screen, it was
possible to enter text.
The strokes had to be
learned by the device
Lots of apps
Each of these reassignable buttons
took you to various apps. Third-party
apps were also available and the
PalmPilot could sync with software
from the likes of Lotus and Microsoft
Fact file…
Year of launch: 1996
• Will Smith stars in Independence Day
• Deep Blue computer beats a chess champ
• Germany won the Euro 1996 championship
“The connected organiser that keeps you in
touch with your PC”
Official advertising slogan
Buy one today
• Original Price: £250/$300 • Price Today: £5/$10
There are many used PalmPilots around on eBay and you
can pick them up very cheaply. Indeed, many auctions don’t
attract a single bid, so it’s very much a buyer’s market. You
may struggle to find a debut Pilot 1000, but, with just 128K
memory, you’re better off going for at least a PalmPilot
Professional which added a backlit screen and a megabyte of
memory. Ensure it comes with a cradle for data syncing and
don’t worry if the manual is missing – they’re available online.
Imagine Publishing Ltd
Richmond House, 33 Richmond Hill,
Bournemouth, Dorset, BH2 6EZ
☎ +44 (0) 1202 586200
Web: www.imagine-publishing.co.uk
www.greatdigitalmags.com
www.gadgetdaily.xyz
Magazine team
Editor Jack Parsons
☎ 01202 586213
Production Editor Drew Sleep
Photographer James Sheppard
Senior Art Editor Andy Downes
Designer Harriet Knight
Editor In Chief Dan Hutchinson
Publishing Director Aaron Asadi
Head of Design Ross Andrews
Contributors
Stephen Ashby, David Crookes, Ed Crooks, Nicholas Forder, Oliver Hill,
Phil King, David Nield, Tanita Matthews, Shaun McGill, Dean Mortlock,
Neo Phoenix, Jodie Tyley, Hannah Westlake
Advertising
Digital or printed media packs are available on request.
Head of Sales Hang Deretz ☎ 01202 586442
hang.deretz@imagine-publishing.co.uk
Account Manager Anthony Godsell ☎ 01202 586420
anthony.godsell@imagine-publishing.co.uk
International
Gadget is available for licensing. Contact the International
department to discuss partnership opportunities.
Head of International Licensing Cathy Blackman
☎ +44 (0) 1202 586401 licensing@imagine-publishing.co.uk
Subscriptions
For subscription enquiries email:
gadget@servicehelpline.co.uk
☎ UK 0844 249 0270
☎ Overseas +44 (0) 1795 418676
www.imaginesubs.co.uk
Head of Subscriptions Sharon Todd
Circulation
Circulation Director Darren Pearce ☎ 01202 586200
Production
Production Director Jane Hawkins ☎ 01202 586200
Finance
Finance Director Marco Peroni
Founder
Group Managing Director Damian Butt
Printing & Distribution
Printed by William Gibbons, 26 Planetary Road, Willenhall,
West Midlands, WV13 3XT
Distributed in the UK, Eire & the Rest of the World by
Marketforce, 5 Churchill Place, Canary Wharf, London, E14 5HU
☎ 0203 787 9060
www.marketforce.co.uk
Distributed in Australia by Gordon & Gotch Australia Pty Ltd.
26 Rodborough Road, Frenchs Forest NSW 2086 Australia
☎ +61 2 9972 8800
Disclaimer
The publisher cannot accept responsibility for any unsolicited material lost or damaged
in the post. All text and layout is the copyright of Imagine Publishing Ltd. Nothing in this
magazine may be reproduced in whole or part without the written permission of the
publisher. All copyrights are recognised and used specifically for the purpose of criticism
and review. Although the magazine has endeavoured to ensure all information is correct
at time of print, prices and availability may change. This magazine is fully independent
and not affiliated in any way with the companies mentioned herein. If you submit
material to Imagine Publishing via post, email, social network or any other means, you
automatically grant Imagine Publishing an irrevocable, perpetual, royalty-free license to
use the materials across its entire portfolio, in print, online and digital, and to deliver the
materials to existing and future clients, including but not limited to international licensees
for reproduction in international, licensed editions of Imagine products. Any material you
submit is sent at your risk and, although every care is taken, neither Imagine Publishing
nor its employees, agents or subcontractors shall be liable for the loss or damage.
© Imagine Publishing Ltd 2016 ISSN 2396-7315