Tag: reviews

I tried the Currentbody LED face mask and it controlled my hormonal breakouts like nothing else

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Many other masks come in at more than £300. Case in point: The Light Salon’s Advanced Light Therapy mask or the £1,680 (!) Déesse Professional LED Mask. Both great, but both expensive. The Currentbody mask costs £295, making it one of the most affordable on the market – yet one of the most powerful.

Granted, this is the first time I have used an LED face mask – but my skin has never looked better. My complexion feels clearer, brighter and plumper, and my hormonal breakouts have been minimised. It feels like a great complimentary step to everything else in my skincare routine, and it’s inability to stay put on my head won’t stop me from reaping the benefits.

More of the best CurrentBody LED light therapy devices:

Why GLAMOUR loves it: The skin on your neck is much thinner than the skin elsewhere on your body. Why? There’s not much of a support structure to keep it looking plump, gravity is not working in our favour, accumulative sun exposure can cause crepiness, and years of spraying perfume on your chest can lead to the discolouration of neck skin. Also, according to Dermalogica’s Education Manager Lesley Corridan, “it endures from facial muscle movements and expressions and from our head movements.” With that in mind, it’s no surprise that the accumulative sun exposure can cause crepiness, years of spraying perfume on your chest can lead to the discolouration of neck skin.

Ageing is beautiful, but it can be empowering to help yourself feel more confident with an extra step in your beauty routine. One of the best neck creams can help you target the effects of premature ageing, but so can CurrentBody’s LED neck mask. Here, the CurrentBody LED face mask comes with a neck mask, to use in tandem or alone, which harnesses the exact same technology.

CurrentBody Skin Anti-Blemish LED Face Mask

Why GLAMOUR loves it: This is a new release from CurrentBody, and the first CurrentBody LED face mask specifically designed to help with mild acne. It uses blue light to eliminate bacteria and breakouts, and red light to calm redness and soothe irritation.

Blue light is emitted at 415nm, and red LED light at 633nm, which is a combination clinically proven to be more effective than blue light alone. 132 LED lights are spread evenly across the face (almost 50% less than the facial mapping mask mentioned below, it’s worth noting) diffused with the same patented pillow technology as CurrentBody’s other devices to ensure even distribution.

CurrentBody Skin LED 4-in-1 Zone Facial Mapping Mask

Why GLAMOUR loves it: This new release is, essentially, the OG CurrentBody LED face mask, but supercharged. It does have a slightly less-accessible price point than the original, but it’s a very comprehensive and impressive piece of kit, so probably worth the investment for some. According to CurrentBody, it’s clinically proven to increase skin clarity, luminosity and brightness, using five precise wavelengths within four targeted treatment modes.

You can choose from the zone facial mapping treatment mode, anti-ageing, brightening or restoring, but the complete zone facial mapping treatment mode is the one that really makes this mask stand out. Different mask zones target different areas of your face, through different wavelengths of light. Red, deep red and near-infrared light are emitted around the forehead, jowls and around the mouth to plump and press fine lines. Elsewhere, green and near-infrared targets the eye area to fade hyperpigmentation, dark circles and eye bags, and yellow focuses on the most spot-prone areas of the face to help reduce facial redness. Your cheeks, nose and chin, for instance.

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Sophie Cockett

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July 7, 2024
The Beats Solo Buds Have Great Battery Life but Lack Key Features

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That’s not to say the Solo Buds sound bad. They certainly lean toward the brighter side in the treble and midrange, but their sound is accessible and never got excessively sharp in my testing. The dynamics feel rather flat, but there’s some decent detail here, and they wholly avoid the kind of muddled lower register common in so many budget options. You’ll find clear delineation of each register across a wide range of tracks and genres.

They also support Spatial Audio with supported videos and music on services like Apple Music and Amazon Music Unlimited, though they don’t offer the same head-tracking common with such features, designed to virtually anchor the listening position around you.

I took several calls with the Solo Buds with no complaints on either end. Beats says the buds employ a noise learning algorithm with “advanced logic” that targets your voice and suppresses “external unwanted noises.” While I wasn’t able to test them in especially windy conditions, I tried a call under the bathroom fan. The caller said my voice sounded a bit like a speakerphone call, but the fan noise wasn’t audible.

Minimal Extras

Finding the Solo Buds to be somewhere around the “just fine” level for sound quality isn’t uncommon at their price, but it does make their distinct lack of other features tougher to square. Unlike so many new options at this price (and even well below), you won’t get any noise canceling to buffer annoyances or even transparency mode to keep you aware of your surroundings.

Photograph: Ryan Waniata

Also missing here are plenty of now-standard Apple offerings, like sensors to pause the sound when you pull a bud out, “Hey Siri” voice assistant summoning, or auto-switching to seamlessly swap between iCloud devices. They offer a few handy Apple exclusives, including Find My support to keep track of them, audio sharing, and one-touch pairing, popping up on your iPhone automatically when you first open them.

Like other Beats buds, the Solo can switch hit for Android gear, with some handy tricks like auto-swapping between Google-connected cloud devices, as well as the same one-touch pairing and Find My Device features you’ll get on iOS. The Beats Android app provides some basic settings adjustments and firmware updates.

It’s not nothing, but it’s a rather short list when you look at the litany of extras Soundcore offers in the A40 or the even better outfitted Liberty 4 NC (8/10, WIRED Recommends), with everything from noise canceling and transparency mode to multi-band EQ control and multipoint Bluetooth pairing. Even granting the possibility of a sound upgrade for those who can find a better fit than I did, the Solo Buds are a tough sell with so many loaded budget options out there, and countless more on the way.

If you’re after ecosystem-agnostic buds nestled in the cutest little case in the galaxy, the Solo Buds fit the bill at a modest price that’s sure to see a swift drop. Otherwise, you’ll get more for your money elsewhere.

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Ryan Waniata

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July 7, 2024
The Arctis Nova 5X Is the Affordable Universal Gaming Headset I’ve Been Waiting For

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Eons ago, I worked a retail job selling gaming headsets (among other things) during the PS3 era. Even back then, I was annoyed that most headphone manufacturers had virtually identical versions of the same headset, distinguished solely by whether they were compatible with the Xbox or PlayStation. The SteelSeries Arctis Nova 5X Wireless may not be the first headset to put this particular nuisance to bed, but it’s my favorite.

The core of this particular problem comes down to how the different console manufacturers handle wireless audio. Bluetooth is the default system for wireless audio on most devices, but there’s just enough of a latency issue that gamers would notice. Especially if you play online competitive games, where split-second timing matters.

Both Microsoft and Sony have their own proprietary wireless audio systems to deal with this problem, but, surprise, they’re not interoperable. Worse yet, it’s usually too expensive to bother adding support for both into a single headset, since most gamers tend to have either one console or the other. Fortunately, the Arctis Nova 5X Wireless has a handy solution to this problem.

Enter the Dongle

The Arctis Nova 5X headset is designed for the Xbox Series X/S (as denoted by the “X” in its name), but the USB-C 2.4-GHz dongle has a small switch that lets it swap between Xbox compatibility and … everything else. You can use this headset with your PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, PC, heck even your phone just by plugging this little guy in.

Photograph: Eric Ravenscraft

This isn’t the first SteelSeries headset with this feature—my previous top gaming headset recommendation for Xbox, the Arctis Nova 7X, included the same dongle. However, it’s still uncommon for most wireless gaming headsets to support such a wide array of devices. Most often, the Xbox is the odd one on the compatibility list.

On top of this, the Arctis Nova 5X Wireless has a separate Bluetooth connection, so you can pair it with your phone or other devices to answer calls, listen to music, or put on your favorite podcast. While the 7X can play audio from both Bluetooth and 2.4 GHz at the same time, the 5X only lets you listen to one or the other, though there’s a handy button on the right ear cup to swap between them. In my experience, the handoff was nearly instant. While it won’t help you listen to music while you game, it’s incredibly useful for swapping tasks.

More Power

The Arctis Nova 7X Wireless was a solid contender for a while, but the battery life on the 5X puts it to shame. SteelSeries advertises about 60 hours of battery life on a single charge (compared to less than 40 on the 7X), though that can be cut quite short if you swap to Bluetooth mode. In my testing, I was able to get close to 40 hours of life from mixed use, which is still longer than most (though not all) gaming headsets on the market.

The headset also supports quick charging via USB-C, and it gets an impressive amount of mileage from just 15 minutes of charging. SteelSeries claims that you’ll get six hours of gameplay from such a short charging session. I put my unit on the charger and walked away long enough to make a sandwich and watch a quick episode of a show. By the time I came back, it was close to 50 percent, more than enough to get me through the rest of the day and then some.

The Arctis Nova 5X is also the first SteelSeries headset to support its new mobile companion app. I say “first” not because SteelSeries has promised to support other headsets, but because I badly hope it does. The SteelSeries GG app for PC may be a powerful tool to customize your game’s audio, but I found the companion app simpler and more enjoyable to use.

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Eric Ravenscraft

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July 6, 2024
T3’s Aire 360 Air Styler Has High-End Ceramic Attachments for a Killer Blowout

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You might be done after this step, but I prefer to add curls—whether I’m flat-ironing or doing it this way, my hair looks a little better with some wave as to not draw attention to the crispy ends. Like the wands you might be used to from Dyson or with the similarly impressive Shark Flexstyle, T3 auto-wraps your hair around the curler and keeps it in place with airflow, no clamps needed. One thing to note, though, is Dyson went from needing two curling wands to go in each direction to just one, with a switch at the top to change direction. So far, Shark and T3 still need two.

Photograph: Medea Giordano

The first thing I noticed upon unboxing the Aire 360 was how much nicer the wands are in construction than the others I’ve tried. They’re ceramic rather than plastic, so they’re sturdier but also distribute heat evenly. There are three heat settings (and three speeds), and it gets hotter than others, reaching 237 degrees Fahrenheit. You can’t touch these barrels straight away, but there are cool tips on top so you can still take them off and switch between the attachments. I like that there’s not a separate cold-shot button cluttering up the handle. Instead, you just long-press the heat button, though I did think it didn’t get as cool as hair tools typically do.

Even being hotter, it’s significantly lower than the temperature I’d need from a traditional curling iron, which I usually crank up to 400 degrees or more. It’s hot air, but it’s not a scalding hot plate, which means you’re not singeing your hair. Though I wasn’t willing to confirm this with my own hair, I can’t imagine you’d accidentally burn a piece of hair off if you left it too long.

High-End Finishes

Photograph: Medea Giordano

For about the same price as the Shark Flexstyle, you get fewer attachments. There, you can choose between different types of brushes, a wide-tooth comb, a diffuser and concentrator for drying, a frizz smoother, and two different thicknesses of wands. That one is a total tool, in my opinion, because I can own just that and diffuse curls on the days I wear them natural or blow them out other days. However, depending on your hair type and needs, all those attachments could be overkill. If that’s the case, I’d go with the T3 that looks and feels higher-end.

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Medea Giordano

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July 6, 2024
The REI CTY e2.1 Is an Affordable, Dependable City Commuter

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I fell in love with the REI CTY e2.1 the minute I saw its hot lava frame come out of the box in my garage. The racy red color and an easy-to-step-through frame screamed, “Ride me now!” There were no barriers to entry, like an app that I had to download. All I needed to do was turn the bike on and ride. (Note: If you are uncomfortable assembling the bike and live near an REI, the store will build it and also offer one year of free adjustments.)

So I did. I pedaled across the city on a scenic drive, through busy intersections, down a few steep residential streets to a cycling path that led to a rocky beach on the shoreline of Lake Superior. The bike’s upright geometry, which had me less hunched over than other e-bikes I’ve tested, made the world pop. I noticed the smell of lilacs on the breeze and the brilliant hues of green after a soggy spring, details I don’t always catch when I’m crouched over handlebars.

At the beach, I met my partner who was nice and brought a picnic. We ate cheese and crackers and sipped rosé until the sun dipped low over the hills of the city. I purposely stayed out until the mosquitoes started buzzing so I could race the sun and my boyfriend in his car back to our house. It may have partially been the glass of rosé, or the beauty of an early summer evening, but the 22-mile round trip ride on the CTY e2.1 made a Friday night especially fun.

About Town

The CTY e2.1 is the upgrade to the entry-level CTY e1.1 ($1,299). I think it’s worth the extra money, especially considering that it’s still well below $2,000 and also goes on sale quite often. The battery capacity of the CTY e2.1 is more than adequate. On that day, after a mile-long, 1,000-foot climb back up the steep hill to my house, I had 39 percent of battery power left to spare, after toggling through all four levels of assistance throughout an ambling, four-hour tour of the city.

As an urban commuter, the CTY e2.1 is a nicely packaged machine for the price. It is a class 1 ebike with a 250-watt Shimano E5000 motor, accompanied by a 36-volt, 418 watt-hour, lithium-ion battery that boosts up to 20 miles per hour, and a range of roughly 60 miles in Eco Mode. The battery runs down the entire length of the sloping downtube and, per my scale, is roughly the same weight as a sack of potatoes. But it’s still easy enough to take out with the turn of a key to charge it independent of the bike.

Photograph: Stephanie Pearson

A front fork dampens the road chatter and hydraulic disc brakes make stopping more precise. The Schwalbe Big Ben 2-inch-wide tires have a hefty tread pattern for an urban bike, offering nice traction. The tire’s reinforced sidewalls are also reflective to make you more visible at night.

Added amenities include comfy gel grips and a padded foam saddle, a cockpit with riser bars and a bright headlight, and a hefty kickstand for when you eventually need to park. No fenders, though, which is shocking as it got quite sloppy on a ride after a storm. Nevertheless, the bike is no doubt fun and navigates all manner of city streets well—from smooth, paved paths to bumpy, potholed roads. It’s not a bike to take on gravel roads or singletrack.

Affordable and Adequate

At this price point, you can’t expect to have it all. There still are some areas that could use some improvement. First, at 54 pounds 8 ounces (size large), it’s not light—a factor that doesn’t necessarily bog you down while tooling around a flat city, but it does make maneuvering it around the garage or hauling it up steps hard to manage.

Photograph: Stephanie Pearson

Also, the 250-watt hub motor is pretty standard-issue on many e-bikes, but this one only has 60 newton meters of torque as opposed to at least 80 on other e-bike motors. The lack of torque, which is the acceleration that keeps your bike moving forward especially up hills, makes the CTY e2.1 a wimpy climber. So, this may not be the best option in a city like San Francisco (or Duluth, where I live).

Finally, I love that the bike is minimalist in its e-ness, meaning it doesn’t require an accompanying app to ride. But the screen is about the size of a wristwatch face. And while it provides plenty of basic data, like mileage, miles per hour, and power mode, the push buttons are so close together and the screen is so hard to read that it’s almost impossible to see while riding—a factor that is not only frustrating, but can also be dangerous. Still, if all you need is an extra push on your multi-mile work commute, the CTY e2.1 is a good option—especially in the red color.

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Stephanie Pearson

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July 4, 2024
Audi Q6 E-tron Review: AI-Enabled, Serious Comfort

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The operating system has been developed well, and is largely easy to use, but there is a lot going on. And that’s not all. The Edition 1 model comes with an additional 10.9-inch display for the passenger, which can stream YouTube, show the navigation, or change the music. We found this to be novel but a bit limited. The navigation, for example, works well but is pointless when it shows on the main screen next to it.

Photograph: Audi

Photograph: Audi

Then there’s the HUD, which now comes with augmented reality. Part of the “Sound and Vision pack,” an expensive option, it overlays directions onto the road you see in front of you, moving as you do, all the while showing your regular HUD features including speed, speed limit, and turn-by-turn signals.

With the driving assistance systems turned on, it also displays in “danger red” when you’re getting too close to the side of the road, when you need to brake for upcoming speed limits, as well as brake warnings to ensure you don’t drive into the car in front.

With use we’re sure this all becomes less distracting, but the overall feeling was more overwhelming than helpful. The Chat GPT-integrated Audi voice assistant might be able to teach you how to use it, but this reviewer would rather turn it all off and enjoy the sweet ride comfort.

The interior is an otherwise pleasant place to be, although there is too much cheap-feeling plastic. The doors in particular feature a large plastic inlay where you control the windows, as well as a plastic storage section, which feels very out of place. The SQ6’s as-standard nappa leather, diamond-stitched seats are very attractive. But the cost is less so.

Speaking of which, prices start at £64,200 ($81,200) for the Q6 e-tron and jump sharply upwards to £92,950 ($117,500) for the top-of-the-range SQ6.

Photograph: Audi

The Q6 and SQ6 e-tron don’t reinvent the wheel, and while quick in a straight line, they aren’t as sporty as they make out. Where they shine is with the effortless ride comfort and class-leading range, which if we’re being honest is perhaps more important, shifting the goalposts slightly but assuredly.

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Charlie Thomas

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July 1, 2024
Searching for a rustic resort in the Maldives? We’ve got just the spot

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If you have had the delight of visiting the Maldives, then you know that most resorts have a similar vibe. Picture: all white everything. White crisp bed linen awaiting a peaceful night’s sleep, white sheer curtains looking out to the crystal clear ocean and even the whitest of powder-soft sand, which stretches the entire island. Paradise, for some. Absolutely. But, what about those who want to add a ‘little spice’ as TikTok would have us saying?

Oaga Art Resort has taught me what I need in a holiday, and that is soul. From the moment I stepped from the boat, across the clearest ocean I’d ever seen in my life, to the island which had me singing Moana’s ‘Where You Are’ in my head for the entirety of my stay, I felt at home. For someone who gets a little anxious (at many things truthfully) but especially while travelling, simply being looked after by staff who treat you, almost like family, is the perfect remedy.

One thing Oaga doesn’t lack, which I think seems to be rare in the Maldives, is colour. I don’t know about you, but colour just lifts my spirits. I need it around me to feel good, even if I am in one of the most beautiful destinations in the world. Inspired by the captivating history and mesmerising folklore of the Maldives, Oaga’s walls are covered in colourful art created by local artists and craftsmen. They’ve taken the tropical oasis that everyone knows the Maldives to be, and married it with a more contemporary feel, overflowing with Maldivian culture. My idea of paradise.

What different types of accommodation do they offer?

When you say ‘The Maldives’ to most people, I guarantee you they picture the stunning villas which sit on pillars above the sea. I did, before visiting Oaga. Don’t get me wrong, they do have amazing Water Villas with brightly coloured slides aiming straight into the ocean, but I was won over by the resort’s Haruge Beach Villa, where I made a home out of for the duration of my stay. They pitch the triangular hut-like villas as the selling point for honeymooners, and I have to say, I couldn’t agree more. With its own small private circular pool and an ocean sunset view, these delightful high-ceiling houses are perfect for anyone celebrating their big day.

Romance has also been injected into their Voyoge Gallery Pool Villas, which have been inspired by a tale of two star-crossed lovers who jumped into the waters of a lake to reach each other, even though they were forbidden. Discovering the ‘Veyo Garden Stream’ which leads into each of the pools in the Voyoge Gallery Villas was just, mesmerising. It’s a little hidden away, so I’ll let you in on exactly how to find the secret haven. Head towards the water villas and you’ll find the Sobi Bar, which has an inviting swimming pool with a deceiving section which leads to the river-shaped oasis. Once you’ve found it you’ll likely be on your own and surrounded by luscious green foliage, vibrant tropical flowers and the melodious sound of the Island’s birds singing their favourite tune. Bliss.

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Emily Whitwam

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June 30, 2024
EveryPlate Meal Kits Are Great—If You Can Read Between the Lines

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EveryPlate is a good meal kit subscription service that can help you learn more in the kitchen while taking away the painful task of deciding what the heck to make for dinner. It’s one of the several services owned by HelloFresh, a company I’ve also tested and liked.

EveryPlate offers a few different plans. You can spend as little as $45 per week for three meals with two servings each ($7 per serving), or fully stock your fridge with six meals for six people per week, which costs $150 (or $5 per serving).

Like many other meal kit subscription services, EveryPlate has filters for things like “Calorie Smart,” “Quick and Easy,” and ingredient preferences for vegetarians. Each week you’ll choose your meals from a rotating menu with at least 20 different options. You can skip, pause, or cancel your plan at any time in your account settings.

What Makes EveryPlate Different?

There are some key differences that could make EveryPlate better—or worse—for you and your family.

Unlike most meal kit subscription services, there aren’t any plans for special diets like keto, vegan, or paleo. EveryPlate says that this is to keep prices low. Another difference is in what the company provides for you. Most meal kits require you to provide butter, oil, salt, and pepper. EveryPlate might also require you to have aluminum foil, baking paper, or flour—things most kitchens will still have in stock, but this is an important distinction since other meal kit services typically don’t require you to provide those types of “extras.” Again, this helps lower the cost of EveryPlate compared to other meal kits. And, unlike some other services that group recipe ingredients together ahead of time, EveryPlate sends your ingredients shipped together in one big box or bag. I separated out the dry goods and threw everything else into one big freezer bag in a refrigerator drawer. But you’ll have to corral the items yourself, which can be a little cumbersome in a shared fridge space with other ingredients. This helps keep the prices down and reduces packaging. Generally, EveryPlate is more affordable than most other meal kit services. (And like other services, usually there’s a promotion for new users to cut prices even more.)

Photograph: Louryn Strampe

But How Did It Taste?

During my testing period, I chose to make Pork Chops & Apricot Sauce, Garlicky Tuscan Tomato & Mushroom Penne, and Herb Butter Steak. When I test meal kits, I follow the instructions exactly, using only the ingredients provided (unless explicitly noted otherwise due to extenuating circumstances). I’m an experienced cook with an arsenal of All-Clad cookware, a trusty Kiwi cleaver, and a gas-powered stovetop. I test one service at a time and taste-test recipes with the help of my partner. I note down our initial impressions and opinions before discussing a dish any further.

All of the recipes turned out great. The pork chops with couscous and roasted carrots struck the perfect balance of sweet and savory, creamy and chewy. And the penne dish let mushrooms shine, an ingredient I think is often overpowered by strong sauces and flavors. The end results of the dishes I made were quite delicious.

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Louryn Strampe

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June 29, 2024
My Favorite Smart Home Gadget Is My Garage Door Opener

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The garage responds as quickly to the app as it does to a regular button clicker, with one caveat: Choosing to close the garage with the app causes it to flash its lights and beep several times before the garage will begin to close, and will still beep and flash until closing is complete. It’s for safety reasons, since the garage doesn’t know whether anyone else is in the garage while you’re closing it or whether you’re nearby to make sure the garage path is clear of anyone walking in or out.

The only way around this, sadly, is to not use the app. You can install the MyQ Smart Garage Video Keypad ($99) outside of your garage to close it without getting any beeping and to get a similar experience to a video doorbell and smart lock but for your garage. I tested one and it works fine—the key codes are easy to set up and you can close your garage beep-free, plus you’ll get alerts like a security camera for outside of your garage, but I had a mixed experience using the call button. You also have to drill it into your garage or home exterior (MyQ says it’s too heavy to use adhesive strips), which my home’s HOA sadly forbids me from doing. Still, it’s a good price for a combination lock and exterior video feed for your garage, if you’re allowed to install it.

Photograph: Nena Farrell

Notify Me

The default owner of the MyQ (that is, whoever set it up first in your home) also gets an onslaught of notifications every time the garage is opened and closed, whether via app or with your standard garage door buttons. In comparison, when you’re an added user, you won’t get any notifications by default. Both parties can go into the app, select the gear icon on the garage door (or other MyQ product in question), and edit the notifications they’re getting for the specific product.

I set up both my and my husband’s phones to get notifications about our garage being open for more than 10 minutes, and another for myself if it was open for an hour. You can add a lot more notifications, and you can also set it up to work with Amazon Key to get deliveries right into your garage (and get notified about that too). I haven’t been able to talk my husband into using it, but the included camera in my model makes me feel comfortable giving it a try.

Speaking of video, MyQ does have storage subscription plans for its video products (the brand also has video garage door openers, a video keypad, and a stand-alone camera). The first tier starts at $20 a year and goes up to $100 a year, and depending on which tier you pick you get additional features like face, person, and motion detection, detection zones, and either seven or 30 days of storage.

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Nena Farrell

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June 28, 2024
Linner’s $400 Hearing Aids Are Surprisingly Great for Streaming Media

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I don’t think I’ve ever seen a hearing aid that looks quite like Linner’s Mars devices. Depending on your point of view, that’s either a good or bad thing.

Let’s start by getting the appearance out of the way. The Mars hearing aids are in-ear devices designed to look and feel like an earbud, and they make no effort trying to be discreet. Each aid is bright white with a strip of color across the outward-facing side—blue for left, orange for right—and these strips include a tiny LED that illuminates when charging and pairing via Bluetooth. (The units are also available in “cosmic blue.”)

More immediately noticeable is the rubber hook that sticks up from the top of each aid. This horn-like “ear fin” wedges into your ear and helps hold the device in place, following the contour of the concha. While the hook largely disappears when worn, the hearing aid itself is bulbous and quite visible (you can remove the ear fin if it’s bothersome). At 5.52 grams each, they’re the second-heaviest hearing aids I’ve encountered.

Photograph: Christopher Null

Despite being a low-cost offering, the Linner Mars hearing aids come with support for Linner’s mobile app and pull double duty as robust media-streaming Bluetooth earbuds. Again, for a relatively entry-level product, there’s quite a lot to explore here, including independent volume controls for each aid, four operational modes (dialog, restaurant, commute, and outdoor), and a “focus mode” that allows the aids to directionally focus on sound coming from in front of you.

An “advanced settings” button gives you access to an equalizer of sorts, though it’s rather obtuse and takes a bit of trial and error to figure out what sounds best. Each ear can be tuned separately along five dimensions: overall, thickness, fullness, clarity, and transparency, with weightings of -3 to +3 for each. What do these settings mean? I haven’t had much luck figuring that out. Each changes the audio experience but in a way that is difficult to fully explain, either introducing or removing a slight level of hiss at a different pitch. User experimentation is clearly in order, but the impact isn’t significant enough to merit investing a lot of time.

You can feel a much more powerful influence by tweaking the three levels of noise reduction, though the higher levels tend to mute sounds you probably want to hear (namely voices). The higher you go, however, the lower the amount of hiss you’ll experience. There’s fortunately not a lot of hiss to contend with throughout the user experience, but it did tend to be present even at low volumes and in all types of settings.

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Christopher Null

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June 25, 2024
The Cozey Ciello XL Is a Big, Sort-of Comfy Couch

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I’ve had my fair share of gigantic boxes arriving at my front door. It’s the nature of my job. But despite checking the dimensions, and despite attempting to brace myself, nothing could have prepared me for the delivery of the Cozey Ciello XL Couch.

This sofa is huge. Dimensions vary by configuration (more on that later), but mine comes in at 148 x 68.5 x 26.8 inches—and that’s without the optional storage ottoman. Each section of the couch arrives in its own box, and mine had so many that I was able to fully lie down on top of the boxes.

A piece of furniture this big is bound to come with some quirks, but overall, the Cozey Ciello XL is perfectly fine—provided it’s what you’re looking for in the first place.

Modern and Modular

One of the biggest draws of this couch is its customizability. It’s available in three performance fabric colors and two chenille colors. I tested the sofa in the Gray performance fabric for a little under two months. You can order a swatch book for free to figure out which fabric you want.

Photograph: Louryn Strampe

I recommend having a partner or friend help you set up the sofa. Once you get into the groove, the couch is really easy to assemble—even easier than some smaller couch-in-box setups that I’ve tried. The covers and hardware ship inside the hollow seat, backrest, or armrest. We configured our sofa and assembled it piece by piece, then snapped the pieces together. It can be a little tricky to line up the brackets perfectly when seating everything into place, but take your time and you should be fine. Just be prepared to break down a LOT of cardboard afterward.

The performance fabric is fine. It feels a bit scratchy, but it’s easy to clean, and the removable cushions mean you can sort of wash your couch in the washing machine. The couch didn’t have an offensive smell, and it was pretty comfortable right from the jump. Which brings me to my next point—exactly how comfy is it?

Okay-est Nap of My Life

I’m an awkward sitter. I’m constantly pretzel-ing my body, draping my limbs over furniture, and folding my legs up as I shift in my seat. The Cozey Ciello XL made this simultaneously very easy and very difficult.

The seats of the couch themselves are great, if a bit crinkly-sounding. They’re deep and comfortable, provided you sit in the seat itself and not across the edge of two of them (in which case the rigid structure underneath you will make it feel like you’re being split in two). Unless you’re exceptionally tall, if you scoot all the way back, your legs and/or feet will dangle. The back cushions leave a lot to be desired. The back of the couch and the arms are both very boxy and low, so when you scoot back and attempt to throw an arm over the back of the sofa, it feels a bit awkward. The seat cushions also tend to slide forward, away from the back cushions, and the back cushions and arm cushions don’t like to stay in place. That means I spent a lot of time rearranging the sofa instead of just sitting on it. This same design issue means when you’re sitting side-by-side, you end up sinking into the person sitting next to you. There’s more than enough room for two people to sit at opposite ends of the sofa, but again—I should be able to sit next to somebody else without invading their personal space.

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Louryn Strampe

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June 24, 2024
The Polyend Tracker+ Is a Powerful but Niche Groovebox

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Polyend’s Tracker+ is a significant update to its powerful (if somewhat anachronistic) sample-based groovebox, the Tracker. What made the Tracker so unique, and also confounding, was that it was a tracker (small t), but in hardware form. Trackers were an early form of music-making software that emerged in the late ’80s. They were initially used mainly for video game music but eventually found favor with a certain strain of electronic musicians, most famously Aphex Twin.

They’re very much a product of their time though, designed to work around the limitations of late 20th century personal computers like the Amiga. The new $799 Tracker+ has evolved to take advantage of modern technology, but its interface stays true to its forebears. The best way to describe a tracker is that it’s like composing in Excel. They’re vertically scrolling, spreadsheet-like collections of letters and numbers that can easily scare off a newcomer. But persistence will reveal a shocking amount of flexibility.

The Basics

Let’s get all the specs stuff out of the way first. The Polyend Tracker+ is a 16-track groovebox. Eight of those tracks can support stereo samples, with various methods of playback, and the other eight tracks can either control external devices via MIDI or one of the five built-in virtual synths. Samples can be simple one-shots or loops; you can slice up loops, or even load them into granular and wavetable engines for sample-based synthesis.

All of the tracks are monophonic. So playing a chord will eat up multiple tracks unless you’re using a sample of a chord. But tracks aren’t dedicated to any specific instrument so, you can combine kicks and snares on track one and maybe squeeze your bass in between hi-hats on track two.

The tracks themselves can be up to 128 steps, and each step contains instrument and note data, along with two slots for FX. The “FX” in this case aren’t chorus or reverb but things like chance, micro timing, and rolls. These two effects slots are the key to making your music not sound like it was written in a spreadsheet.

In addition to the increased sample memory, virtual synths, and stereo sampling, the other big upgrade from the original Tracker is support for audio over USB. This means you can connect the Tracker+ to your computer and get 14 stereo audio tracks out straight into your digital audio workstation (DAW). This makes it easy to put the final touches on an arrangement you’ve created on the Tracker+.

In Use

Photograph: Terrance O’Brien

Polyend nearly nailed the hardware with the original Tracker, if you ask me. The Tracker+ introduces some minor tweaks, but it’s mostly the same. It’s lighter and easier to toss in a bag but feels solid enough. The buttons are slightly clicky but have a new soft-touch finish. The large encoder has a bit more resistance, and the screen is brighter.

The grid of 48 pads is the same and remains, at best, usable. If you plan to use the built-in synths, I recommend connecting a MIDI keyboard. The pads are tiny, not velocity-sensitive, and don’t feel particularly natural to play. The quality of the hardware here is important since the interface can feel a bit like doing office work. But the feel of the keys and the resistance of the click wheel are all incredibly satisfying.

Polyend put a lot of thought into the interface to keep things from getting too tedious. There are shortcuts for quickly filling in entire tracks with data. For instance, you can quickly lay down a four-on-the-floor kick pattern with just a few button presses, generate a melody quantized to a specific scale, or randomly tweak the velocity on a hi-hat to give it a more natural feel.

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Terrence O’Brien

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June 21, 2024
Sony’s Second-Tier Mini LED Is Stunning, From a Certain Point of View

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If you’re more hands-off, the TV offers some advanced auto-calibration features, including the new Prime Video auto-calibration which pulls metadata from videos. It looks pretty similar to the Professional mode for filmlike content such as Jack Ryan or The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, but when I put on the new Patton Oswalt game show The 1% it brightened the image significantly without looking oversaturated or washed out. I couldn’t test the feature for sports on Thursday Night Football, but it already seems among the best such options I’ve tried.

Solid Spoils

The Bravia 7 is fairly well appointed elsewhere, especially for gaming. The TV offers class-standard features like HDMI 2.1 support for VRR (variable refresh rate) at up to 120 Hz to provide tear-free gameplay, and ALLM (auto low latency lode) for speedy response. Sony’s game bar lets you add crosshairs and optimize several options on the fly, including a split-screen mode to watch YouTube walk-throughs onscreen. PlayStation 5 owners can also access Auto Genre Picture Mode and Auto HDR Tone Mapping to further optimize performance.

One notable drawback is, like the much pricier A95L, only two of the TV’s four HDMI ports support 4K at 120 Hz, one of which also harbors HDMI eARC for connecting a soundbar or other audio device. Cheaper options like Hisense’s U8N offer two discrete HDMI 2.1 ports, while step-up models like LG’s C4 OLED and Samsung’s QN90D and S90D OLED offer four. Inputs aside, I love using the TV for gaming. Its pristine clarity is almost distracting, evoking fine details like gold rivets glowing in the sun on a worn leather shoulder brace.

The 7’s built-in audio system is serviceable, thanks to dual woofers, dual side-mounted tweeters, and features like Voice Zoom 3 digital optimization designed to pinpoint dialog, but it’s also rather thin and sharp. I recommend buying an outboard audio device like one of our best soundbar or best bookshelf speaker picks for sound on par with the visual experience.

Other key Bravia 7 features include support for multiple HDR modes, including Dolby Vision, HLG, and HDR10 (but not its more advanced HDR10+ version), streaming over AirPlay 2 and Chromecast, and the new Eco Dashboard 2 for deep-dive energy monitoring.

Punch, Poise, and Positioning

I was immediately impressed by the Bravia 7’s accurate yet engaging picture, and in most respects, I only grew more enamored with it over time. There’s a beautiful subtlety to the way Sony’s top TVs handle everything from fine details and colors to dark corridors and gleaming HDR. The Bravia 7’s mix of quantum dots for expansive colors, advanced mini LED backlighting for excellent control, and Sony’s latest XR picture processing help it to lean into that legacy with sweet results.

The 7 doesn’t offer the full-throttle, hair-on-fire brightness of lauded value options like the Hisense U8N (8/10, WIRED Recommends) or TCL’s latest QM8 (which I have yet to test). The 7 taps out around 2,000 nits, but that kind of brightness is still plenty potent for SDR (standard dynamic range) and HDR content alike. Laser shots in sci-fi films blaze, explosions pop, and nature scenes like sparkling coral reefs are rendered with sun-drenched realism.

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Ryan Waniata

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June 21, 2024
This ‘Alien’-Inspired Exoskeleton Wants You to Ramble Like Ripley

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He was skeptical to start with, especially on the flat, but after climbing a relatively steep slope he conceded, “I would usually have to stop halfway up here and would definitely be more out of breath than I am.” He also noticed that walking on the flat, “alters my natural stride, and I feel like I’m someone with a disability that’s being held as I walk.”

Asked if he’d spend $1,200 on it though, Dad laughed.

The Dnsys X1 is heavily discounted as part of the brand’s crowdfunding campaign, with pricing from $750, which is slightly more palatable than the suggested retail price if and when it makes it to the market—though at $1.2 million and counting you’d assume it will.

My final prototype sample certainly had issues. Without the benefit of the Dnsys app, the controls on the X1 are fiddly and confusing, with various tones and tiny lights representing power modes and battery life.

The app makes everything easier, but it’s not great. I had to ask the brand what the different power levels actually represented, as there was no guidance. Levels one and two, for instance, are designed for women “with regular body weight”; levels two to four are for long-distance walking and climbing hills; and levels five and six are for trail running and intensive sports activities. Hopefully this basic info will be added to the app before proper launch.

During testing, the unit also failed several times. According to the engineers, this was a safety feature that kicks in when the straps are not in the right position. This in itself is a good thing, but I couldn’t tighten the straps any more, and the unit was unable to reset itself. Hopefully, for the Kickstarter backers, these are just teething problems.

Pensioner Power

There’s no denying the Dnsys X1 Exoskeleton works. It really does power you along and take the strain out of your legs when walking uphill. It’s too heavy, though, and the waist strap needs to be comfier.

Judging the Dnsys X1 as it stands now, it gets the score here—and it should be underlined that, even though this is a final-stage prototype, Dnsys was insistent we could fully review this model. If the glitches we found can be sorted out, it’ll be interesting to see how the shipped product, supposedly coming in September, differs.

I can’t help thinking, however, that the brand is currently targeting the wrong audience. Not a single person in the marketing literature looks like they actually need help hiking, walking, or running.

I’m lucky enough to be relatively fit and healthy, but as I get older and bits start to crumble, I’d love to know that there is a way for me to still get out and explore. Yes, my dad initially scoffed at the price, but he’d almost certainly spend big to keep doing what he loves—and I for one would love to welcome more Mighty Morphing Power Pensioners to the trails.

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Chris Haslam

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June 21, 2024
This Meal Kit Puts Tasty Organic Ingredients on Your Plate

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Green Chef (owned by HelloFresh) is a great meal kit subscription for beginners. I said as much in our Meal Kit Buying Guide. The recipe cards are full of helpful pictures, and the intuitively grouped instructions don’t skip important steps. I’ve spent weeks testing meal kit subscriptions during my tenure at WIRED, but we’re testing them again in order to give them individual reviews. Green Chef has been an honorable mention in our guide since I first tested it, and I still think it’s a good option for anyone looking to build up their culinary prowess.

Green Chef has a few plans available. You can get three meals with two servings per meal (which works out to $13.49/serving), or you can go all the way up to four meals with six servings per meal (which works out to $11.99/serving). Different lifestyle and dietary filter options include plant-based, low-calorie, high-protein, keto, and gluten-free (among others). Note that Green Chef’s pricing is higher than similarly styled meal kits—that’s because nearly every ingredient is organic.

Usually there are introductory offers to make your first week(s) cheaper. Each week you’ll select your dishes from the weekly menu and make any customizations, such as swapping proteins or adding extra portions. You can pause or cancel your subscription anytime so long as you do it at least five days before your order ships. Most of the packaging is made from recycled materials and is recyclable itself.

An Emotional Rollercoaster

During my week of testing Green Chef, I experienced the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. My Steak & Shrimp With Creamy Truffle Sauce was a brown, oversalted disaster—partially due to my heavy hand with the Maldon flakes, and (I think) partially due to the instructions telling me to salt my dish six separate times. For context, there wasn’t any particular kind of salt to use—most meal kit services have you provide your own, so I just used the flaky sea salt that I always season with. I was so absorbed in following each step thoroughly that I didn’t stop to think, “Hmmm. I’ve already salted and peppered this four times.” Instead, with reckless abandon, I enthusiastically seasoned, and at the end I cried, threw it away, and sadly DoorDashed myself chicken nuggets at 10:30 pm. And for what it’s worth, even outside of the salty sauce, I didn’t love the accompanying green bean and tomato side. I didn’t love the ratio of shrimp to steak. I just didn’t love this dish!

Photograph: Louryn Strampe

On the flip side, my Chicken With Maple-Dijon Sauce was delicious. Possibly one of my favorite dishes I’ve ever made. The chard, sweet potato, and apple hash could have been a meal in and of itself, and the maple-glazed chicken was divine. I realized it reminded me of my favorite dish from Sweetgreen (the Harvest Bowl), and after trying the finished dish thoroughly enough to be able to review it, I went rogue from the recipe and added a chunk of goat cheese to further emulate the Harvest Bowl. It was perfect. So good that I didn’t want to share it. I loved this dish so much that I saved the recipe card.

And I had a similar experience with the third dish—Buttery Lemon-Garlic Shrimp. The star of the meal was the sun-dried tomatoes that had soaked in a lemon juice and vegetable broth mixture. They were bright and tangy, a true delight that brightened up the otherwise heavy, shrimpy pasta. I’ve cooked with lemon juice, sun-dried tomatoes, and vegetable broth individually hundreds of times. Why did I never think to combine them before?

Overall, I found that the recipes’ time estimates were a bit short. I think all recipe kits have this flaw. If you’re Ina Garten or one of the wonderful Bon Appetit food editors, maybe you’d nail the timing. But for the average person, it’s safe to give yourself a 20-minute buffer on top of the estimated prep time shown on the recipe card.

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Louryn Strampe

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June 21, 2024
Honor’s 200 Pro Is Different, but Is It Desirable?

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Honor’s 200 Pro is an upper-midranger or maybe a lesser flagship. It has a lovely screen, good battery life, fast charging, a versatile camera, and the AI features of Honor’s flagship, Magic 6 Pro. Compromises are minimal. Sure, the processor is a step down from the flagship tier, it’s slightly less water resistant, the camera isn’t quite as good, and the 200 Pro misses out on secure face unlock, but it offers a pretty similar experience at a much more affordable price (£700 in the UK or 800 euros in Europe). It is not officially sold in the US.

Honor focused on the portrait prowess of the 200 Pro in the unveiling, talking up its partnership with Paris-based Studio Harcourt (a famous portrait studio). But, like many of the 200 Pro’s AI features, this stuff feels a bit gimmicky. The real reason to look at the 200 Pro is the hardware you get for the price. Just be aware that Honor’s software can be jarring, and the design is not for everyone.

Classic or Old

While the Honor 200 Pro feels like a classy phone, the design gives me grandmother vibes. I acknowledge this might just be me, but something about the cameo brooch-shaped camera module (supposedly inspired by Gaudi’s “Casa Milá”) and the pale green (Ocean Cyan), swirly, mother-of-pearl finish has me picturing Grandma fishing it out of her handbag. There’s nothing wrong with the design, and I feel bad dunking on an attempt to do something different with the camera module, but it’s just not for me.

The 200 Pro is light, slim, and curves front and back into the aluminum frame. It’s very comfortable to hold. But I have grown tired of curved screens and the inevitable accidental touches. I have no other complaints about the 6.78-inch AMOLED screen. The 2,700 x 1,224-pixel resolution is plenty sharp, the refresh rate goes up to 120 Hz, and it’s bright enough to read outdoors (Honor claims 4,000 nits of peak brightness, but that sounds optimistic). The sound quality of the stereo speakers is also impressive.

Photograph: Simon Hill

The fingerprint sensor at the bottom of the screen proved fast and responsive. I’m not keen on the double cutout for the front-facing camera, and there is no 3D time-of-flight sensor, so the 200 Pro doesn’t boast the secure face unlock of its more expensive sibling. The 200 Pro scores an IP65 rating, meaning rain and spills are probably fine, but you should avoid submersion.

The 200 Pro relies on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 processor, which is intended for the midrange. Somewhat confusingly, it is a step down from the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, but I doubt many folks will feel a lack of processing power. The 200 Pro felt snappy, mostly keeping its cool while running games like Asphalt 9: Legends. Honor has generously appointed the 200 Pro with 12 GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage.

Portrait Photography

The Honor 200 Pro has a triple-lens main camera that combines a 50-megapixel main shooter with a fairly large 1/1.3-inch image sensor, a 50-megapixel telephoto lens with a customized Sony IMX 856 sensor capable of 2.5X optical zoom, and a 12-megapixel ultrawide that can also handle macro photography. Honor made a big deal of this phone’s portrait chops, developed with the help of Studio Harcourt. True to that theme, there is a 50-megapixel front-facing camera with a 2-megapixel lens for depth sensing.

Honor has been quick to roll AI features into its phones, and the 200 Pro has its “AI Portrait Engine” built in, which is supposed to make the most of shadow and light to help you nail your desired artistic style with portrait photos. There is even a Harcourt Portrait mode in the camera app that lets you choose between vibrant, color, or classic (black-and-white) styles, but it only works with the main camera, not the front-facing selfie camera.

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Simon Hill

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June 20, 2024
I Love the NZXT Relay and SwitchMix System—but Wish It Was Wireless

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The NZXT Relay Headset isn’t noteworthy on its own. It’s a solid gaming headset with decent audio quality, comfortable earcups, and an understated design. But NZXT swung for the fences with its foray into the world of audio. Paired with NZXT’s SwitchMix accessory, the Relay Headset gets far more interesting.

The NZXT Relay Headset ($100) and the NZXT SwitchMix ($130) are sold separately, but they’re designed to be used together (along with NZXT’s Relay Speakers and Subwoofer). The headset plugs into the SwitchMix, which plugs into your PC, and you can use the SwitchMix to adjust the volume with the giant stylish knob or balance between game audio and voice chat with a simple slider.

But the headset hangar is the star of the show. It has a built-in pressure plate switch that tells the SwitchMix mixer to change devices between the headset and your external speakers. No more fiddling with device settings in Windows, forgetting to swap outputs, and accidentally waking your partner with your game. Just take the headset off the hangar and your PC will switch to it. Put the headset back on and audio will come out of your speakers. It’s a dream come true—when it works.

One Simple Switch

The SwitchMix accessory doesn’t come with the Relay Headset, and it costs slightly more than the headset itself, but that feels appropriate. It’s pretty unique. It comes in two parts: a mixer and a headphone stand.

The mixer is a sturdy yet sleek brick with a large stylish knob and a slider along the right side. The bottom of the mixer has four circular rubber pegs on the bottom that fit neatly inside a grid of holes on the base of the stand. It’s a nice little design touch that lets you rotate the mixer so it’s positioned best for your desktop setup. The knob and slider are large and distinct, making it easy to adjust them without looking, which can be crucial when you’re trying to adjust audio in-game.

Photograph: Eric Ravenscraft

The switch in the stand is easily the most appealing part of this setup, and it pulls off this party trick in a low-tech way that’s both a blessing and a detriment. A small 3.5-mm connector runs from the base of the stand into a port on the rear of the mixer. A USB-C port on the rear of the mixer runs to your computer, while two more 3.5-mm ports run to a speaker and (wired) headset.

This setup, unfortunately, means that the hangar switch works only with wired headsets, and can only connect to external speakers via a single 3.5-mm port. That limits the amount of hardware this setup will work with. But when it does work, it’s delightful. I prefer to watch videos on my desktop with my speakers but put on my headphones while I play Overwatch 2 with my friends. Picking up the headset from the stand, the audio switched over before I even got the headphones on my head. The word “seamless” was invented for experiences like this.

The SwitchMix also functions as a standalone digital-to-analog converter (DAC), though in my experience, this isn’t a particularly noteworthy benefit. The SwitchMix supports 24-bit/96-kHz audio output, but I didn’t notice a meaningful difference in the audio compared to plugging the headset directly into my PC.

One Solid Headset

The Relay is a solid first entry from NZXT. The earcups have a smooth matte surface in either black or white. I tested the white version and it looked particularly stylish. The foam inside the cups is soft and comfortable, and the headset is lightweight enough to wear for hours without discomfort.

Photograph: Eric Ravenscraft

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Eric Ravenscraft

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June 16, 2024
HiGround’s Base 65 Keyboard Is More Hype Than Substance

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What impressed me, though, is the Base 65’s RGB lighting—between the clear case, white silicone dampening, transparent switches and keycaps, and the reflective aluminum plate, the RGB absolutely shines, making this keyboard a bright centerpiece on any desk. Sadly, programming the RGB is a bit of a chore, and most of the factory presets have incredibly limited customization.

Paying for Looks

The saving grace is HiGround’s pop culture collaborations. You can get a keyboard made in collaboration with Minecraft, and previously there have been tie-ins with game and anime series, including Naruto, Pokémon, Attack on Titan, Gundam, and Yu-Gi-Oh. However, this usually comes with a tradeoff: Would you rather have a high-quality keyboard or one designed after your favorite media franchise? This keyboard is flashy, colorful, and a statement piece. But besides visuals, the Base 65 keyboard doesn’t do anything new, or anything that justifies the price.

Photograph: Henri Robbins

I also want to note the “all sales are final” line in most of the company’s product descriptions. Combine this with massive brand tie-ins and an emphasis on “limited” drops, and I’m reminded of the collab-based hypebeast sneaker culture of the 2010s; a marketing strategy that emphasizes exclusivity and makes people jump at “rare” (i.e., artificially scarce) products and assume they’re more valuable/higher-quality than they are. I know this is a lot of advertising rhetoric that sits outside the quality of the end product, but I think it’s important to consider why the keyboards are the way they are, and why they sell well despite some of the issues they may have. (As a side note, multiple keyboard collaborations from HiGround are currently being scalped on StockX.)

I also found some frustration when trying to review this keyboard because, when HiGround had a release coming up, every single page on its website would redirect to a password-protected countdown. This meant that the keyboard’s documentation, drivers, and even basic product information were unavailable for the entire time while waiting on a limited release (in this case, the Minecraft keyboard collection).

Ultimately, it’s hard for me to recommend HiGround’s keyboards unless you really want a branded keyboard for a certain media franchise and are OK with the sacrifices to the build quality and typing experience.

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Henri Robbins

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June 15, 2024
The Barnes and Noble Nook 9-Inch Lenovo Tablet Is Startlingly Affordable

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We like e-readers because they’re easy on the eyes and relatively simple, with one use case: reading. The Nook, which is made by Barnes and Noble, has been a solid e-reader option since 2009, and the brand has released several traditional tablets along the way. This year, it updated its tablet made in collaboration with Lenovo.

Though it’s branded a Nook, it’s not quite an e-reader. You can read on it—it comes with the Nook app loaded—but it’s the 2024 version of the Tab M9 running Android 13, so it’s a tablet first. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Given the relatively cheap $150 price, it means you or your kid can get a pretty decent tablet without spending hundreds.

Reading Room

Photograph: Medea Giordano

The 9-inch, 1,340 x 800 display is small enough that you could throw it in a purse, but you could still comfortably stream your favorite shows while traveling or walking on a treadmill. This isn’t the most intense display you can find in a tablet, but I still watched clear YouTube videos at 1080p, and with Dolby Atmos, they sounded clear too.

There’s an actual headphone jack (hallelujah!), or you can connect Bluetooth headphones for listening to music or audiobooks. If you’re set on seeing the richest colors and intense contrast, you probably want something better, but you’re also probably not trying to find a tablet in this price range.

It comes with 64 gigabytes of storage for all your books and apps, or you could add your own microSD card to expand it to 128 gigs. You’ll get up to 13 hours of battery life, but expect a few hours less if you’re mostly streaming video.

While in the Nook app, you may want to turn on reading mode in either chromatic for color books to lower the color temperature or grayscale to make the screen black-and-white. But this is still an LCD screen, so it’s not as easy on the eyes as a dedicated e-reader. One thing I don’t like about the Nook app is that swiping through pages is similar to how you swipe to close out of an app, so I frequently found myself on the home screen instead of the next page.

The tablet has a notification-free mode that you can set up for any apps you choose, and I would suggest adding the Nook app to that list. E-readers are nice because they’re distraction-free, so turning off notifications helps get this focused feeling back.

Photograph: Medea Giordano

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Medea Giordano

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June 15, 2024
Raycon Made My New Favorite Power Bank

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I’m picky when it comes to portable chargers. There are plenty of power banks out there with built-in cables and wall plugs, but in a crowded market, it takes a lot more than a 10,000-mAh capacity to catch my eye. That’s why I was shocked that Raycon’s Magic Power Bank not only did everything I ever wanted but also some things I didn’t know I could want from a portable battery. And then I discovered the built-in phone stand.

This power bank’s 10,000-mAh capacity is enough to charge your phone around two times. It also has two charging cables built in—one USB-C and one Lightning cable for older iPhones and Apple devices. Additionally, it has two USB ports (one USB-A and one USB-C) on the front where you can connect additional cables.

Raycon calls this a 5-in-1 power bank, but you might’ve noticed those cables and ports only account for four charging options. The fifth sits atop the power bank: a MagSafe-compatible 15-watt wireless charging pad. While only certain iPhones support Apple’s magnetic accessory system, the wireless charger will work for any phone that supports the Qi standard. It’s worth noting that since this is not Made-for-iPhone-certified, MagSafe iPhones will only be able to take advantage of 7.5-watt charging speeds from the magnetic interface, which essentially means it’ll charge slowly.

Still, the battery can use all five charging methods simultaneously. (You might need to press the button beneath the digital display to activate the wireless charging for some phones.) If that was all this power bank did, it would be enough to be my new everyday carry battery. But there’s more.

Extras on Extras

Recharging the Magic Power Bank is super simple. It has a two-prong wall plug you can plug directly into any typical wall socket (in North America). It can also be recharged via the USB-C port on the front if you don’t have a convenient wall outlet nearby.

Photograph: Eric Ravenscraft

A rubber loop sits in one corner of the power bank, which makes it easy to latch onto a bag or belt. I often find myself at conventions or festivals where I expect my phone to die more often than usual, and carrying a giant battery in my pocket is cumbersome. This loop is a welcome addition. Even if I don’t want to carry around a bag, I can use a carabiner to latch it to one of my belt loops.

On the front of the battery, a digital readout shows the power bank’s current charge. This feature is mercifully becoming more standard on power banks, but it still feels like a nice-to-have. I’ve owned dozens of portable batteries, but only a few that can show me how full they are with this level of accuracy. Once you’ve had that convenience, it’s hard to go back.

And a Phone Stand

With the wireless charger, digital readout, and built-in cables/wall plug, I was ready to call this my new favorite portable battery. But I noticed an odd little plastic slider on the bottom. It has a couple of ridges; when I slid it out, it clicked into place. I hadn’t read everything about this battery before I started fiddling with it, so the surprise I felt when I realized what it was for brought me the kind of joy that gadget nerds live for.

It was a phone stand. A phone stand! I set the battery on my desk, laid my phone on it sideways, and it rested, tilted up at a slight angle to make it easy to watch a video. I could also prop the phone up in portrait mode to keep an eye on my notifications while my phone was on my desk (or for watching vertical videos).

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Eric Ravenscraft

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June 8, 2024