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  • Creative’s Aurvana Ace 2 Are Game-Changing Earbuds

    Creative’s Aurvana Ace 2 Are Game-Changing Earbuds

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    For those of us who can’t stop listening to music on the go, the past decade has been a whirlwind. We’ve seen the rise of AirPods—and the associated loss of the headphone jack—in addition to a vast array of microphone, noise-canceling, and other feature improvements that make listening on the go more convenient. One thing we haven’t really seen? A big jump in audio quality.

    With its new solid-state drivers, California-based xMems has finally offered us a real leap in how earbuds generate sound. Using the same technology pioneered for producing microchips, these silicon earbud drivers provide a flatter, cleaner overall signature, in addition to significantly added robustness when compared to previous technology.

    We first tested xMems’ tech inside a ludicrously expensive (and awesome-sounding) pair of milled titanium earbuds from Singularity Industries, but that felt akin to trying a new eco fuel inside a Ferrari. With two new pairs of earbuds (confusingly named the Aurvana Ace and Aurvana Ace 2, despite simultaneous releases), the folks at Creative Audio have made this brand-new tech accessible to all. In essentially the same form factor, and for the same price as Apple’s standard AirPods, you can now hear the drivers of the future. When it comes to audio quality for the money, there is no contest: Solid state is the future.

    Twinsies

    Both pairs of Creative’s new earbuds appear almost identical from the outside, sporting familiar elephant-trunked designs in black with copper-gold accents on the outside of each bud. You can tell which pair is which from the charging case. The standard Ace come with an opaque black shell, whereas the Ace 2 come with a see-through gray that reveals a shiny gold interior to the clamshell.

    Photograph: Parker Hall

    Under the surface, they both get the same xMems driver technology, but the Ace 2 get better processing. The Ace 2 also support lossless Bluetooth audio and come with adaptive noise canceling rather than the non-adaptive, non-lossless technology inside the regular Ace. Both rounded cases offer 18 hours of battery reserve and Qi wireless or USB-C charging, in addition to the six hours of playback inside the buds. For the purposes of the rest of the review, I’ll focus on the Ace 2, which have the same drivers as the Ace but have the aforementioned higher-end chipset. At just $20 more (MSRP), they’re a better buy.

    Touch Type

    Touch controls on the outside of each bud allow you to tap twice to play or pause music, or hold the outside of each bud to increase or decrease volume (the left side turns it down, right turns it up). These buttons weren’t easy to use; I tended to use Creative’s headphone app and my phone’s controls to mess with the buds when I needed to, which worked fine.

    One thing I do like is their simple, easy-to-understand code for telling how much battery is left in the charging case. A red light means 0 to 30 percent, yellow 31 to 70 percent, and green 71 to 99 percent. It’s simple, and it’s helpful for those of us who leave buds in bags for gym time and rarely take them to the charger.

    Speaking of gym time, you’ll have no problem breaking a sweat in these, or at least I didn’t, thanks to an included IPX5 rating for water resistance. I used them for many trips to my gym and even some time in the sauna with no issues.

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    Parker Hall

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  • Save your thighs in a pair of anti-chafing shorts this summer

    Save your thighs in a pair of anti-chafing shorts this summer

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    Ever found yourself googling “what can I wear so my thighs don’t rub”? Me too. Luckily, anti-chafing shorts are here to save the day (and our sanity).

    It’s no secret that my mood completely changes as soon as the sun starts to shine (hello, endorphins), but it can switch just as quickly as I begin to feel that familiar, painful rash between my thighs. Chafing is extremely common – it can occur in all shapes and sizes, sexes, genders and so on – but it’s rarely spoken about.

    What is chafing?

    Chafing occurs when your thighs (or any parts of your body, really) rub together as you move, causing an uncomfortable friction rash that often sticks around for far too long. As well as chafing cream, there is a fool-proof solution to relieve your thighs: anti-chafing shorts. The best part? You don’t have to apply, pat, roll or spray anything onto your skin. Bliss.

    What shorts are good for legs that rub? What shorts prevent chafing?

    There are thousands of anti-chafe shorts out there, but there are two styles I regularly revisit for their affordability factor and general practicality.

    ASOS DESIGN Curve 2 Pack Anti-Chafing Shorts

    Period Pants Anti-Chafing Shorts

    ASOS DESIGN’s two-pack speaks for itself; you get two pairs for the price of one. They’re super thin and lightweight, so easy to throw in your bag when you’re on the go, and the seam-free design means they don’t dig in anywhere – so no one’s any the wiser as to what you’re wearing. When its that time of the month, though, this pair from Modibodi are the ones I reach for. I don’t have to think about changing my sanitary products every few hours or worry about leaking, they’re genuinely some of the best period pants I’ve ever tried – as well as being a dream in the anti-chafing department, of course.

    What is the best material to prevent chafing?

    When shopping for a pair of anti-chafing shorts (or several, for that matter), the best material to look for is polyester, nylon and high-tech fabrics that are moisture-wicking and are designed to keep your skin dry. This is to avoid thigh rub (i.e. where your thighs stick together) and any friction from occurring. This two-pack of anti-chafe shorts from Marks & Spencer is made from polyamide (a synthetic material) and elastane (for stretch), creating a barrier between your legs and protecting you.

    The next thing to look for is length; something long enough to cover most of your thigh, but not too long as to peep out from beneath short summer dresses and mini skirts. These ones from Amazon are semi sheer for a more seamless, discreet finish, while these Stay Cool Chub Rub Shorts from Snag can be pulled up for a more personalised result.

    How we tested/chose the best anti-chafing shorts:

    Combining our expert knowledge in fashion – including which brands are worth spending your money on live up to the hype – with customer reviews and data on what you’ve been searching for, we’ve curated what we feel is a selection of the best anti-chafing shorts on the market. We’ve rifled through the good and the bad so you don’t have to, and have paid particular attention to specifics like functionality, cost, fabrics, sustainability and wearability in order to narrow it down. Our aim is to find you pieces which will last as well as work, and, as a team of 30+ here at GLAMOUR HQ, we’ve tried our fair share of the best anti-chafing shorts to know which ones are worth shouting about.

    For more from GLAMOUR UK’s Commerce Writer Georgia Trodd, follow her on Instagram @georgiatrodd.

    What are the best anti-chafing shorts? Take a look at our favourites below to find out…

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    Georgia Trodd

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  • It’s Time for Nothing to Do Something

    It’s Time for Nothing to Do Something

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    From having no products, the Cayman-Islands registered company was able to assemble a device with off-the-shelf components (the first generation Ear 1 didn’t even have custom drivers) quickly and sell it, drawing on connections the co-founders had made while at OnePlus, another brand with similar strategy.

    Nothing’s initial product had a good marriage of hardware and software, and the headphones sounded pretty solid compared to others. We liked them on review, though not enough that they’re a top pick for us.

    The second generation of earbuds, the Ear (Stick) (7/10, WIRED Review) and Ear (2) (8/10, WIRED Review) brought custom drivers and a better case, although they still look, feel, and sound very similar to the vast majority of earbuds that I call “AirPods but”. You probably get the idea: Airpods but with color. AirPods but with better eartips. AirPods but with LDAC lossless audio or noise canceling. Nearly every brand has them, nearly all of them are pretty decent. LG doesn’t even make cell phones anymore and yet it has a pair of AirPod clones. The fruit hangs to the ground.

    The new Nothing Ear and Nothing Ear (a) appear to once again offer incremental performance increases. I say appear to because though the company asked WIRED to announce these new products to the world, it has yet to provide us with usable images, battery life, a release date, or pricing, despite repeated inquiries. All the brand would supply was the picture you see at the top of this article.

    Nothing did provide us with a bit of info about the inside of the headphones, which we have to assume will resemble the older models until proven otherwise. The brand claims a new ceramic driver will make crisper, clearer sound up high, and a new internal architecture will offer deeper bass. It also touts new adaptive noise canceling tech in the Nothing Ear (a) as being now 5db quieter overall (from 40db to 45db of reduction between generations). That’s fine, but it’s not staggering.

    I’m not sure whether these incremental innovations are enough to put the brand on the top tier of consumer audio, but at least they keep it from falling behind. Apple itself has incrementally updated the AirPods and AirPods Pro for generations—but it also has the world’s best-selling product.

    No Solid State for Nothing

    It’s not like Nothing doesn’t have the capacity to develop new things. When it released its first headphones, it had a combined staff of 30 on audio. That staff is now up to 300, according to Evangelidis, including five dedicated acoustic engineers, and a team of 30 folks alone to debug the new active noise canceling. That’s significantly more brainpower, which is exactly the kind of stuff that might lead to noticable innovation either in these new models or down the line.

    Once again: I haven’t yet heard or seen a pair, and I have no idea what they’ll cost. They are set to release later this year, with samples coming to reviewers in short order. On paper, and without the vital information of pricing (but knowing that historically Nothing’s buds have cost $100-150), they seem like they’ll be competitive buds that will likely offer many of the same features as options from JLab, Jabra, Oneplus, Samsung, and countless others.

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    Parker Hall

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  • TCL’s QM8 Is A Great TV for Bigger Rooms

    TCL’s QM8 Is A Great TV for Bigger Rooms

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    Since the beginning of broadcast, TV brands have been battling for technological supremacy. They were all expensive. From initial tube models to plasmas, LED, and now Mini LED and OLED, you used to have to pay an arm and a leg for a large screen that looked good. (Unless you wanted it in a Michael Scott dinner-party size, of course.)

    These days, you really don’t have to pay that much. Enthusiasts can shell out for 8K resolution or OLED displays with perfect black levels at extreme sizes, but most people who are just streaming movies, sports, or video games can get a great viewing experience with a mid-tier option like this TCL QM8. Unless you’re hoarding an epic 4K Blu-ray collection in the basement or hosting a massive server with lossless rips, you probably won’t see much of a difference.

    Folks ask me all the time whether they should buy a projector, and the fact is that TVs like this one now compete on size, but offer a much better picture that’s much easier to set up and use. If you want a big screen experience at home, start here.

    Easy Going

    Getting started with TCL’s flagship model is just as simple as with any more affordable TCL, which is to say it’s dead simple. You unbox the screen (ranging in size from a manageable 65-inch to a gargantuan 98-inch), place it facedown on a table or padded flat surface of capable size, and attach the included pedestal mount. Depending on which size you have, this might take two people or three or four, but it’s really not that hard. If you’re wall mounting, make sure you mount it to a stud, or several. This isn’t a light TV.

    I personally enjoy the fact that the QM8 model isn’t as thin as higher-end TVs from LG, Samsung, and others. It makes it easier to carry and mount without feeling like I’m going to bend it in half, especially at the larger 85-inch size of our review unit.

    Photograph: Parker Hall

    Plugging in the TV and popping a pair of batteries into the lengthy rectangular remote, you’ll find yourself greeted by the Google TV interface, which quickly enables Android users and Google account owners to log in to a smorgasbord of streaming services. If you can’t find it here, it’s probably pretty shady. (You can also cast using the TV’s built-in Google Chromecast and AirPlay functionality.)

    Other devices are extremely easy to setup with the TV too. I plugged in a soundbar, the KEF LS50 Wireless II (8/10, WIRED Recommends); my computer; and a Nintendo Switch (8/10, WIRED Recommends), and all of them performed flawlessly. Especially impressive is the 144-Hz refresh rate at 4K and 1440p resolutions with really low (sub-10-millisecond) input lag for instant onscreen action. It made playing fast-paced games like Assetto Corsa Competizione and F1 2023 particularly gorgeous when sim racing via my PC.

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    Parker Hall

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  • Celestron’s TrailSeeker Binoculars Offer High Quality Without the High Price

    Celestron’s TrailSeeker Binoculars Offer High Quality Without the High Price

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    I started bird-watching around the age of 0. That’s what happens when your parents are birders. I started using binoculars by age 5, an ancient pair of Bushnell 10x50s I’d grab when my father wasn’t looking. They were huge—so heavy I could barely lift them—but the world they opened up was well worth the neck strain. Forty-five years later, I am less cavalier about the neck strain.

    When I head out of the house these days, my binocular of choice is 8×32. (I explain what these numbers mean in my Best Binoculars guide.) Celestron’s TrailSeeker 8×32 ED binoculars offer the best combination of image, quality, durability, and price that I’ve been able to find. Many a time have I brought these to my eye and thought, I can’t believe these are only $324. They perform well above their price, matching the performance of models that cost twice as much.

    Optical Performance

    Photograph: Scott Gilbertson

    Celestron’s TrailSeeker 8×32 ED binoculars have phase and dielectric-coated BaK-4 prisms, which are rare in binoculars of this size at this price. You might also see them listed as “roof prism binoculars with multicoated optics.” What this all means is that the air-to-glass surfaces have multiple layers of antireflective coatings, ensuring that very little light is lost within the prism. More light being reflected off the prism and getting to your eye ensures a brighter, sharper, and more contrasty image.

    In practice, the TrailSeeker binoculars deliver an excellent image with a sweet spot—where the image is sharpest and has the most contrast—that is absolutely tack sharp and occupies roughly 60 percent of the image, expanding out from the center. That’s very good for a $320 pair of binoculars. The image softens toward the edges, but not to such a degree that I notice, unless I go looking for it.

    The edges are still sharp enough that I catch motion, at which point I can move the binoculars to center the bird, or whatever subject it is, into the sharper center. Additionally, based on my testing, most of the minimal distortion near the edge can be corrected by focusing for the edges. I never felt the need to do this in real-world use, but for the sake of testing I discovered it is possible (with a corresponding loss of sharpness in the center, since you’re adapting to curvature distortion at the edges).

    Side view of black binoculars with the lens caps partially off sitting on wooden surface with dry leaves in the background

    Photograph: Scott Gilbertson

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    Scott Gilbertson

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  • ‘Mary & George’ Is a Compelling Trip to the Gay 1600s

    ‘Mary & George’ Is a Compelling Trip to the Gay 1600s

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    History is so boring. At least, it can be when told in the stiff cadences of a traditional costume drama—all drab rooms and clopping hooves and loaded looks meant to stand in for heat and action. Thus our culture is littered with movies and TV series that have tried, to varying degrees of success, to liven up our ideas the past, to infuse things with grit and color and messy spurts of passion. We’ve seen it done to the Tudors, to the Borgias. And now we turn our hungry eyes to the Jacobeans in the series Mary & George (Starz, April 5), which finds a novel way to stimulate modern sensibilities. 

    The hook of the series—created by D.C. Moore, adapting from Benjamin Woolley’s book The King’s Assassin—is titillating. Mary & George casts us into the realm of ruffle collars and capotain hats and then says, But wait! What if everyone was gay? Or bisexual, or whatever? Even more compellingly, it’s based on what is, in fact, somewhat settled history: King James VI and I (so-called for his reigns over both England and Scotland) preferred the company of men, most especially a gorgeous young courtier named George Villiers. Another famous contemporary, Francis Bacon, is also thought to have been gay. The series then infers a bevy of buggering swains and connivers to populate these fellows’ sexual drama. 

    It’s a lark to see familiar trappings so queered, especially when it is justified (at least somewhat) by historical record. Several episodes of Mary & George are directed by Oliver Hermanus, a South African filmmaker who has heretofore made grave dramas, some of them gay in theme. For a change of pace, he lets himself have fun here, setting the series bounding along with lusty heaves as George (Nicholas Galitzine) and his calculating mother, Mary (Julianne Moore), set out to seduce the king (Tony Curran) and secure their social station. 

    Attention is caught quickly, pretty as George is—and horny as James is. In its first few episodes, Mary & George favors wickedness over profundity, reveling in a frothy vision of the past in which sexual mores have little bearing on those powerful enough to bend the law to their will. Mary and George don’t make headway uncontested, though. They’ve a slew of doubters and rivals to push past on their way to the center of the kingdom, a struggle that leaves them credibly bruised and battered. Both mother and son err spectacularly; they embarrass themselves, they make clumsy appeals to the wrong people. 

    In these moments of squish and cringe, it seems that Moore (D.C., not Julianne) has seen The Favourite and perhaps enjoyed it a little too much. The arch, merry profanity of his series does, on occasion, feel like ersatz Tony McNamara. But if Moore can’t quite accurately ape McNamara’s sideways bite, he at least entertains. He’s aided in that by Moore the actor, who glides through the series with pleasing squint and growl. Galitzine, a rising star who recently played a gay prince in Red, White & Royal Blue, grows into the role just as George grows into his, cherubic guilelessness gradually curdling into reckless vanity. 

    The show is not entirely ruthless. We are to believe that George and James do have a genuine, and rather deep, affection for one another, despite their shared knowledge that George is using the king as both lover and political leverage. Jealousy enters the picture when either man has a dalliance on the side; real tears well up any time one partner is missed, or forgiven after some terrible row. A strange romance lies at the heart of the series, while Mary pecks and meddles in its orbit—and has a same-sex love arc of her own.

    That’s all well and good, this homoerotic mapping of the post-Elizabeth years. But just as George does, the series eventually becomes too grandiose in its ambitions. Midway through, Mary & George eschews the carnal intrigue and begins plodding through Jacobean history, darkening itself into a moody recitation of the downfall of Walter Raleigh and other events leading to George’s end. The show becomes yet another dutiful chamber piece, the actors mere vessels of exposition. These real-life happenings are, of course, worth covering in a series about the Villierses, but Moore is so preoccupied with getting the timeline right that he loses his grip on the engaging characters making their way across it. 

    By the finale, we’re more than willing to let this dreary world slip back into the murky recesses of the past. The spark and furor is gone, replaced by the inevitability of decay, the entropy of all things. Perhaps there is a metaphor in there, an allusion to the fading of youthful beauty and verve as practical and dire matters of life conspire to kill the party. Ah well. At least Mary & George headily enjoys its salad days while they last.

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    Richard Lawson

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  • The MSI Prestige 13 AI Evo Is a Lightweight, Powerful, and Affordable Laptop

    The MSI Prestige 13 AI Evo Is a Lightweight, Powerful, and Affordable Laptop

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    MSI has long been an under-the-radar producer of PCs and laptops, with as many hits as misses in its repertoire. As we enter the “AI laptop” age, MSI’s first volley in the new category lands squarely on the hit side, with its Prestige 13 AI Evo nailing an effective balance among price, performance, and portability.

    As the name suggests, the Prestige 13 is an ultraportable 13.3-inch laptop, featuring a 2,880 X 1,800-pixel OLED display (no touchscreen). Inside is an entry-level Intel Core Ultra 5 125H CPU with 16 GB of RAM and a 512-GB SSD. Nothing fancy, but enough to get the job done. There’s also a version with the Core Ultra 7 with double the RAM and storage for not much more.

    For those of you who haven’t been following the microchip world closely, Intel’s Core Ultra series features (among other innovations) a new neural processing unit designed specifically to improve artificial intelligence operations. The “Evo” designation is bestowed on devices by Intel for laptop designs that “pass rigorous testing around performance, battery life, connectivity, audio and visual quality, size, weight, and more.”

    Photograph: MSI

    With that preface, I’ll start where the laptop soars the highest: performance. The Prestige indeed lives up to its name on general apps and AI-related tests. MSI’s ultralight Windows machine ran rings around the performance of the more tricked-out Lenovo X1 Carbon, which features a faster Core Ultra processor. The MSI bested it on general app benchmarks by 3 to 47 percent, depending on the test, and the difference was noticeable in daily use, as the Prestige felt whip-crack fast to load apps, recalculate spreadsheets, and the like. The picture wasn’t as rosy in its graphics capabilities, as the lower-end CPU and lack of memory suppressed frame rates on video tasks considerably—although the Prestige did perform surprisingly well on photo rendering tests.

    At 2.1 pounds and 18-mm thick, this laptop is about as portable as it gets in the 13.3-inch category, though more diminutive 13.0-inch units can be a few ounces lighter. Available in white or black, the magnesium-aluminum alloy chassis isn’t the sturdiest I’ve felt lately, but at the same time, it doesn’t come across as flimsy.

    Side view of slim black laptop opened about 45 degrees

    Photograph: MSI

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    Christopher Null

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  • Q Acoustics’s Superb New M40 Speakers Prove Bigger Isn’t Always Better

    Q Acoustics’s Superb New M40 Speakers Prove Bigger Isn’t Always Better

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    Streaming from a mix of AAC files from Apple Music on the iPhone 15 Pro, and both Qobuz and Spotify using the aptX compatible Sony Xperia 1 V, I was thoroughly entertained by the M40s. They’re balanced and surprisingly punchy, with a delicious low-end that I genuinely didn’t expect.

    Working through my Family Playlist, it’s blatant that these speakers don’t discriminate. Like the perfect wedding DJ, they’re happy if the audience is happy. The Prodigy’s classic dance-floor filler/emptier (delete depending on how old you were in 1994) “Your Love” bounces and rumbles with bags of energy, while Olivia Rodrigo’s ”Vampire” soars confidently, with impressive control, even at the sort of volume a 10-year-old daughter demands.

    From classical to classic rock, via electronica and acoustic, I’ve yet to be disappointed by the M40’s warm, accessible performance. Plugging my laptop in via USB port (maximum 24 bit/192 kHz via Qobuz) added more depth to the playback compared to standard Bluetooth streaming, but I imagine most owners will be delighted however they’re choosing to listen.

    As further reference, I positioned the M40s side-by-side with the similarly priced Q Acoustics 3050i analog floorstanding speakers. These were powered by the Sonos Amp with audio streamed wirelessly. I was surprised by how well the M40 HD kept up while streaming “just” aptX Bluetooth. Yes, they lacked the same full-bodied presence, but that’s hardly surprising given the 40-inch cabinet height (12 inches taller, and considerably wider) and twin 165-mm drivers.

    They didn’t, however, feel underwhelming. And while $999 isn’t chump change, given the added cost of an amplifier, streamer, CD player, etc., and considerable size savings, they offer solid value for money.

    Competition Time

    Not to be confused with something like the loan-inducing, KEF LS60 Wireless floorstanding speakers, but if you do want the added tech of Wi-Fi, EQ settings, app-based remote control, and hi-res streaming, the WIRED Recommended KEF LSX II LT could be worth a look. It costs about the same and sounds dreamy, but lacks the ability to command a good-size room.

    The M40s sound great, look good, and sonically punch well above their size, but the lack of smart features could be alienating to many potential buyers. Bluetooth sounds good here (especially aptX), and I imagine many people won’t think to demand more.

    But anyone who has used a speaker with Wi-Fi streaming will be frustrated by the limitations of Bluetooth. Audio cutting out when a phone call comes in, signals dropping if you leave the room with your phone, and having to connect to the speakers each time feels dated.

    You could, of course, plug a streaming box like the well-regarded $149 WiiM Pro into the M40s and enjoy all the benefits of hi-res Wi-Fi streaming with Spotify Connect, AirPlay, Alexa, and Google Assistant. It’s not ideal, but it’s a relatively friction-free workaround for anyone wanting superb audio quality and streaming smarts.

    I’m not, however, going to call the M40s old-fashioned. They’re definitely low-tech, if hi-res Wi-Fi streaming and app-controlled compatibility are important to you. But if you’re in the market for a superb pair of all-in-one stereo speakers with 200 watts of amplification built in, and with connections to laptop, turntable (preamp needed), CD player, and Bluetooth streaming, you won’t be disappointed.

    I’ll also be the first to admit that I was skeptical about the size of the M40s. Launching something to a predominantly traditional audio audience that’s not one thing or another is a risk. But in real-world conditions, the mini towers managed to be relatively unobtrusive while sounding anything but. Maybe, just maybe, it really is what you do with it that counts.

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    Chris Haslam

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  • The Garmin Forerunner 165 Has Better Sensors and the Same Great Training

    The Garmin Forerunner 165 Has Better Sensors and the Same Great Training

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    Even the most advanced fitness trackers can’t catch everything. While testing the Garmin Forerunner 165 Music, I got a severe case of food poisoning and spent two days in bed. There’s nothing more irritating than your cheery fitness tracker notifying you that you’ve gotten tons of sleep and your Body Battery is at 100 as you’re struggling not to throw up water. It’s almost as irritating as your children shouting to ask if you’re still trapped in the bathroom.

    When I finally got back to working out, the watch counseled me to build up my base with long, slow runs. This pace is insanely slow, particularly since I live next to a college campus full of long-legged teenagers, humiliating me with their vigorous strides, youthfulness, and hope. Nevertheless, I persist. My legs feel great. The Forerunner has allowed me to graduate to tempo runs, and my heart rate is lower than ever. Amazing!

    The Forerunner 165 is the latest entry in Garmin’s Forerunner series, but there are no duds in the Forerunner lineup. If you’re a beginner runner who can find the barebones Forerunner 55 for under $200, that one is perfectly fine! However, the Forerunner 165 has enough additional features that, to me, it justifies the extra cash.

    A Few More Features

    The Forerunner 165 looks like your standard technical Garmin. It has the familiar five-button layout—three on the left and two on the right—with a chemically reinforced screen, a polymer bezel, and a silicone strap. Note: You will need to wash the strap every two to three days if you don’t want to get a wrist rash. It now also has a new, bright AMOLED display that I had no problem seeing in bright, direct sunlight.

    Photograph: Adrienne So

    It’s also a touchscreen, so instances where I spectacularly fail at navigating the button system have decreased dramatically. Same with times where I accidentally call my emergency contacts from holding the wrong button down for too long. (It’s the Up button on the left side. Don’t hold that button unless you’re in trouble.)

    The higher-end Forerunner models are aimed at multisport athletes, but the Forerunner 165 is pretty explicitly aimed at runners. In addition to personalized, adaptive training plans, you can also now see metrics like running power and cadence on the screen on your wrist, as well as some of Garmin’s more esoteric proprietary metrics, like Training Effect, which helps you determine how impactful each workout was on your overall performance.

    The reason you get a Forerunner 165 over a Forerunner 55 is that in addition to a nicer display, you also get more sensors. In addition to the now-standard multiband GPS positioning systems—GPS, Glonass, and Galileo, which lets you position yourself precisely for accurate workout metrics—the Forerunner 165 has the pulse oximetry blood oxygen sensor, as well as a barometric altimeter, compass, and ambient light sensor.

    Digital wristwatch screen showing running power stats

    Photograph: Adrienne So

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    Adrienne So

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  • HP’s Spectre x360 2-in-1 Laptop Is Fantastic—but Not Flashy

    HP’s Spectre x360 2-in-1 Laptop Is Fantastic—but Not Flashy

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    Once an edgy alternative to stuffier laptops like the Lenovo ThinkPad line, the HP Spectre x360 series has settled into a much more corporate groove of late. Back in the late 2010s, Spectres looked like props from Tron, with sharp edges, cut corners, and gold trim on some models, for Pete’s sake.

    Alas, those days are over, and while the Spectre x360 is still a top-shelf ultralight Windows laptop, it has traded in style for consistency. All-gentle, OSHA-friendly curves clad in corporate black, silver, and blue give the sense that the Spectre didn’t sell out, but rather bought in.

    The 2024 rendition of the Spectre x360 sticks closely to the design of the 2023 model, all built around showcasing the “360” portion of the name. A pair of hinges allows the screen to fold back 180 degrees, converting the laptop into a 14-inch tablet. A fingertip works on the screen, as does the stylus included in the box, and the rechargeable active pen snaps magnetically to the side of the chassis when not in use.

    Photograph: HP

    As with most new machines hitting the market this season, the major upgrade here is the introduction of the AI-infused Intel Core Ultra CPU—in this instance, the Ultra 7 155H model, backed up by a beefy 32 GB of RAM and a 2-TB solid state drive. The unit is a bit light on ports, with two USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports (one used for charging) and a single USB-A port partially covered by an awkward and unnecessary spring-loaded, flip-out panel.

    Sure enough, there’s ample power in those specs, and the Spectre x360 turned in the best performance I’ve seen to date on general business apps—by a healthy margin of 20 percent or more versus other Core Ultra laptops on many tests. It was about par for the course on graphics apps, though no slouch in this department either. Despite improvements in the Core Ultra’s integrated GPU, you’ll still need to upgrade to a laptop with a discrete graphics processor if you want to undertake significant gaming or rendering activities. On AI tasks, the Spectre fell just a hair shy of the high mark set by the MSI Prestige 13 AI Evo in my prior testing.

    Size and weight are fine, although the unit is heavier than the similarly sized Lenovo X1 Carbon, with 19 millimeters of thickness and a 2.4-pound weight. That’s not bad considering the inclusion of a touchscreen and the 360-degree hinge. The extra weight may also reflect a slightly larger battery. My testing (with a YouTube video playback at full brightness) achieved 10.5 hours of running time—significantly better than other Core Ultra laptops I’ve tested to date.

    2 side views of a thin black laptop while closed

    Photograph: HP

    The OLED screen is dazzlingly bright, which is right in line with the rest of the market today. The speakers on the unit are also excellent, with top-firing tweeters and two front-firing woofers, improved by an impressive cooling system that barely saw the super-silent fan kicking in at all.

    My only real complaint is a fairly mild one. While the Spectre’s keyboard is fine, the haptic touchpad can be erratic, missing taps and clicks, depending on where you hit it. I don’t know whether this is a simple user error due to freakishly long fingers, but it’s an issue I’ve had with various Spectres for years. It has arguably improved a bit with the new touchpad, but it’s still a thorny problem that created a minor headache for me during extended use.

    Pricing is tricky, as the exact specification I was sent isn’t readily available. You can get a close version for $1,400 on HP.com with 16 GB of RAM, but if you configure it on HP’s website, you’ll come up with a price of around $1,850. Even at the higher price, I’d say the exceptional performance, battery life, and usability options merit the outlay.

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    Christopher Null

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  • I didn’t believe in magic until I visited this Maldives resort

    I didn’t believe in magic until I visited this Maldives resort

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    On our first night we had a relaxed dinner at Café Umi – tuna tacos and a sweet yuzu black cod, if you’re wondering – before finding ourselves back at the all-day eatery in the morning for the most impressive breakfast spread I have ever come across.

    Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and no one knows this better than the Intercontinental Maldives, where you can indulge in everything from sushi to shakshuka, blissfully crisp pastries and crêpes or one of their many freshly-prepared menu options. Perhaps my only regret of the trip is that there was never enough time to sample every endless option, with there truly being something for all, even the fussiest of eaters.

    Each of the resort’s seven restaurant and bar offerings has its own unique charm and character. The Thai-influenced seafood restaurant Fish Market stands out in particular – if not for the delicious coconut prawn clay pot, then for the sheer novelty of gazing at angel fish as they swim beside you while you dine (be sure to ask for a waterside table!).

    Meanwhile, The Lighthouse, our personal favourite, is the ultimate spot to watch the sunset, perched on the resort’s edge and offering unrivalled 360 views of the island and ocean. Book for 7pm and come half an hour early to enjoy the sunset before your meal that sees the finest seasonal ingredients transformed into delicate dishes, from zingy rainbow trout carpaccio to saffron infused seafood paella.

    And that’s all before I’ve even got to mentioning The Collective’s pizza and deli offering, the Retreat’s tailored tipples, or the Pool Bar and Sunset Bar, where you can find just about any and every drink under the sun.

    When it comes to keeping busy during your stay, while it would make perfect sense if you wanted to do nothing but soak up the immaculate vibes of the island on a sun lounger or in your private pool for the entirety of your stay, on the days that you do manage to tear yourself away from lazing in the sun, there’s plenty of ways to pass the time.

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    Lian Brooks

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  • Blackmagic’s Full-Frame Cinema Camera 6K Is the Upgrade I Didn’t Know I Needed

    Blackmagic’s Full-Frame Cinema Camera 6K Is the Upgrade I Didn’t Know I Needed

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    Few camera manufacturers have managed to stand out the way Blackmagic has when it comes to capturing high-quality video on a mirrorless camera. The Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro (dubbed PCC6K Pro) impressed me when I reviewed it a few years ago, but somehow the company’s new Cinema Camera 6K has managed to top it. With a full-frame sensor, the new L mount, and a similar $2,600 price, it’s turning my head again.

    The Cinema Camera 6K is largely similar to its predecessor, with nearly identical battery life (about an hour on one 3,500-mAh battery), and it retains the intuitive controls compared to what you’ll find on most professional cameras. It lacks the built-in neutral density filters I liked in the PCC6K Pro, but the new features are worth the trade-off.

    The Full-Frame Sensor Experience

    The biggest upgrade to the Cinema Camera 6K is the one so important they put it right on the front of the casing: a full-frame, 36 x 24-millimeter sensor. Compared to the Super 35-mm sensor on the previous models–which, despite its name, measures 23 x 13 mm–the new model’s sensor is a significant upgrade.

    Full-frame sensors are comparable in size to 35-mm film. The most prominent benefit of this is that there’s no crop factor when using most lenses. Cropped sensors result in a smaller field of view, meaning you can fit less of a scene into a frame compared to a camera with a full-frame sensor. Put simply, you need to be further away, use shorter lenses, or both to get the same image. This can often come at the expense of things like a shallow depth of field or worse low-light performance.

    Putting a full-frame sensor inside one of Blackmagic’s cameras is probably the best upgrade I could’ve asked for. I often shoot videos in my apartment, and it can be difficult to get images that look good because there simply isn’t enough space in the frame to get the scene that I want. For example, below are two photos taken with a 50-mm lens, first with the PCC6K Pro and the second with the new Cinema Camera 6K; I stood in the same spot in my tiny living room. The full-frame sensor can capture significantly more of my living space. For some people like me who often have to shoot in cramped spaces, this is nothing short of a godsend.

    • Photo of livingroom corner.A picture hangs on the wall behind where a tv sits on a stand and a lamp is beside the tv. To...

    Photograph: Eric Ravenscraft

    Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro

    The new model feels just as comfortable to use as Blackmagic’s other cinema cameras. It might be a little bulky, but its chassis feels excellent whether you’re holding it with one or two hands. The autofocus is impeccable; there’s still no autofocus tracking nor in-body image stabilization (IBIS), but with the handy focus button next to the left thumb, I find it easy to land the focus directly on my subject. The whole thing can be heavy, especially if you use it with Blackmagic’s optional battery grip, but this is still my favorite design for everything from the studio to run-and-gun shoots.

    Low-Light Performance

    With a bigger sensor comes larger pixels that can capture more light. Compared to the sensor on the previous 6K Pro, the full-frame sensor has nearly three times as much surface area, but the same 6K resolution. That means that each pixel is capturing almost three times as much light for each pixel in the image.

    The result is that the new Cinema Camera 6K performs even better in low-light conditions than the already impressive model that came before it. Here are two photos, one with the previous 6K Pro, and one with the new Cinema Camera 6K. Both cameras were set to an ISO of 400, at an ƒ/3 aperture, and 1/30 shutter speed. They were also captured from the same position, although I cropped the full-frame photo to a comparable area of the 6K Pro.

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    Eric Ravenscraft

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  • DJI’s Latest Air 3 Drone Does It All Brilliantly, Without Busting the Bank

    DJI’s Latest Air 3 Drone Does It All Brilliantly, Without Busting the Bank

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    DJI’s drones dominate the market to such an extent that you barely hear any other brands mentioned. They’re not quite competing with themselves, but the DJI Air 3 does fill a gap between the professional-grade Mavic series and the pocket-size Mini range. It’s the first new Air model since 2021’s Air 2S, and DJI has done it again, with a drone that offers enhanced video performance and mercifully stress-free flying.

    I’ve been flying the DJI Air 3 for the past few months, comparing it with a range of other drones, including its main competitor, the superb Air 2S. The biggest improvement over its older cousin is a multi-camera setup previously exclusive to the much pricier Mavic models, but there are notable boosts to battery life and flight safety too.

    Twice as Nice

    The headline feature for the DJI Air 3 is the two cameras mounted on its front gimbal. There’s a “standard” wide-angle camera offering a 24-mm-equivalent field of view (broadly similar to the camera on the Air 2S) and a medium-telephoto camera offering a 70-mm-equivalent field of view. The latter gives the drone a brand-new creative option, with the angle allowing for a narrower framing of smaller subjects and the ability to isolate them against the background in an all-new, dramatic way. A tighter field of view might not sound all that exciting, but in practice it’s a significant upgrade.

    Photograph: DJI

    Both cameras use a 1/1.3-inch Quad Bayer CMOS sensor with 48-megapixel resolution. What I like about these sensors is that they both capture video at the same quality, making it easier to give footage a unified, harmonious look when editing, no matter which parts were captured by which camera.

    The DJI Air 2S had a single 1-inch 20-megapixel sensor, which might make the Air 3’s smaller 1/1.3-inch sensors sound a little disappointing. But it doesn’t feel like too much of a loss. I understand DJI’s justification; two larger sensors would add weight and take up space. But all told, I think the image quality is better on the Air 3, with wider dynamic range and less noise.

    The Air 3 does lose the ability to record video at a 5.7K resolution, being restricted to 4K on both cameras, but in all honesty, I don’t think anybody will mind all that much. For the majority of casual users, 4K will be more than enough detail.

    4K can be captured at up to 60 frames per second in the standard video mode, 100 fps in slow-motion mode, and 30 fps in the new night mode, which ekes out extra detail after the sun goes down. I found the flat D Log M color profile a joy too, as it let me do my own color grading and correction in postproduction and achieve the results I wanted.

    Photos (which can be captured in JPEG or DNG RAW) look excellent too, and while the Air 3 can’t match the WIRED-recommended Mavic 3’s Four Thirds Hasselblad camera, it’s not far off, while being smaller and substantially cheaper.

    Photograph: Sam Kieldsen

    DJI Air 3. Still image shot using the wide angle 24mm equivalent camera.

    Fly Safer for Longer

    Buzzing around the beaches and headlands of Britain’s southeast coast, I found the Air 3 to be even more forgiving and enjoyable to fly than its (already forgiving and enjoyable) predecessor. This is thanks to a bigger battery (46 minutes as opposed to the Air 2S’s 31—although real-world use numbers are marginally lower for both drones) and a full omnidirectional anti-collision sensor setup that makes crashes very unlikely. The Air 3 now has sensors facing forwards, backwards, upwards, downwards, and laterally on both the left and right sides, and in good light these will spot hazards and stop your drone from careering into them. These sensors become less reliable the darker the conditions are, but it’s an invaluable feature that could save your blushes and bank balance.

    Like all DJI drones, the Air 3’s flight controls are wonderfully intuitive and loaded with practical automated functions. For instance, you can tap a button on the controller to take off, and another to bring the drone back from wherever it is and land. You can also define waypoints for fully automated flight, and set the Air 3 to track a static or moving subject, keeping its cameras trained on it at all times.

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    Sam Kieldsen

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  • Keychron’s Q5 Pro and Q6 Pro Are Excellent Full-Size Mechanical Keyboards

    Keychron’s Q5 Pro and Q6 Pro Are Excellent Full-Size Mechanical Keyboards

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    I’ve spent the last few weeks with the Keychron Q5 Pro and Q6 Pro mechanical keyboards, and I think they’re some of the best bang-for-your-buck full-size keyboards you can get today. The Q6 Pro is a traditional full-size keyboard layout with a NumPad and navigation keys, while the Q5 Pro is a slightly more compact 1800-style layout.

    Both of them are gasket-mounted, with thick aluminum cases and a knob in the top right corner. You can buy either model with Keychron’s red linear switches, brown tactile switches, or banana tactile switches, and they include hot-swap sockets, RGB lighting, and Bluetooth 5.1 connectivity by default. If you don’t mind a cord, you can also connect them via USB-C. (Read my guide, How to Shop for a Mechanical Keyboard, if you want to learn more about some of these terms!)

    Why a Full-Size Layout?

    Anyone who wants a full-size keyboard layout already knows they want it. In my experience, it’s something you’re already acclimated to, not something you’re going to switch to on a whim. These things are huge and can have a dedicated key for everything, especially if you take advantage of the ability to reprogram keys.

    The bare-bones version of the Q6 Pro allows you to add your preferred set of switches and keycaps.

    Photograph: Keychron

    Yes, the entire keyboard is completely reprogrammable. Keychron’s Q Pro line supports QMK/VIA, an open source third-party software that lets you reprogram every key. QMK is a system for keyboards that allows users to flash new firmware and keymaps, and VIA is a system that makes this reprogramming quick and seamless within a web browser. These keymaps persist across devices and have nearly limitless potential once you’ve learned the software.

    Because of the utility of QMK and VIA, I found the number pads useful even though I hardly ever use them to input numbers. They can easily be reprogrammed and used as a dedicated macro pad, or for any other number of uses. (It’s worth noting that with both QMK and VIA, you have to plug in the keyboard to reprogram it.) The placement of the reset button underneath the spacebar on the top of the printed circuit board (PCB) makes reprogramming easy, since you don’t have to take the entire keyboard apart (unlike quite a few other keyboards that place the button in a hard-to-reach spot).

    Even if you don’t plan to reprogram any keys, the number pad is great for quickly typing long strings of numbers or if you want to utilize Alt Codes so that you don’t have to constantly Google “Em dash” and copy and paste the symbol on Windows. (Hot tip: The Alt code for an em dash is Alt + 0151.)

    The Typing Feel

    Both the Q5 Pro and Q6 Pro use a gasket mount, meaning the main keyboard assembly (plate, switches, PCB) is suspended inside the case using two compressed layers of foam instead of being directly attached to the case. This creates a bouncier typing feel and isolates the internal assembly to create a softer, more crisp typing sound.

    Keychron’s gasket-mount system is fairly bouncy, meaning the key presses feel soft and relaxed. This meshes with the switches provided, which have fairly light springs, to create an overall typing experience that’s crisp and bouncy without feeling cheap or flimsy.

    The two boards I received have the Red and Banana switches from Keychron’s K Pro switch line. The Reds are simple, effective linear switches that sound poppy and feel fairly smooth. The Banana switches are tactile with a medium-strength bump and a good amount of travel after the bump. I’d recommend either one since both are high-quality examples of their respective switch types that will be acceptable to a large number of users.

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    Henri Robbins

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  • The DJI Mini 4 Pro Is a Small Drone With Huge Appeal

    The DJI Mini 4 Pro Is a Small Drone With Huge Appeal

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    Even as a relatively experienced pilot, I love how difficult it is to to crash a DJI drone. This is thanks to its full omnidirectional vision sensor array, which is drone jargon for sensors facing forwards, backwards, downwards, upwards, and to both sides. It’s the first time this level of disaster avoidance tech has been seen on an ultralight DJI drone, and I love it. If the Mini 4 Pro senses an imminent collision it will stop immediately in the sky. You’ll struggle to even deliberately crash this drone, which is just as it should be.

    These sensors also allow the drone to circumvent obstacles when using its autopilot-like ActiveTrack 360 system. Just draw a box around an object—a boat or car for instance—on the controller’s touchscreen and the Mini 4 Pro will autonomously follow it as it moves around, keeping it framed in the camera. I found it useful for making cinematic shots of me riding my bike, and also, impressively, keeping pace with a speedboat through the wake, and it was reassuring to know that the Mini 4 Pro had the brains to stay safe as it tracked.

    The vision system isn’t totally foolproof, though. It doesn’t work when flying the drone in its fastest, most responsive Sport setting, which is fair enough, but you’ll also have to exercise some additional care after dark.

    Night Moves

    But it’s worth brushing up on your sundown flying skills, however, thanks to the significant upgrades lavished on the gimbal-stabilized camera. The Mini 4 Pro has the same 1/1.3-inch 48-megapixel Quad Bayer image sensor as the Mini 3 Pro, but processing has been greatly improved. It now matches the Mini 3 Pro’s 4K/60-frames-per-second performance but can also capture super-smooth slow motion in 4K at 100 fps.

    Even better, it now has the option to record 10-bit D-Log M video, allowing for greater grading potential in postproduction. I’m still learning when it comes to color grading and correction of drone footage, but I was able to turn my 10-bit aerial footage into something really dynamic and engaging. It’s definitely the best footage I’ve ever seen from an ultralight drone, even if it doesn’t quite hit the levels of detail offered by the larger sensors on the likes of the DJI Mavic 3 or Air 3.

    Photograph: Sam Kielsden

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    Sam Kieldsen

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  • ‘Adventure to Fate Lost Island’ Review – Get Lost For Hours In This Great RPG – TouchArcade

    ‘Adventure to Fate Lost Island’ Review – Get Lost For Hours In This Great RPG – TouchArcade

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    Ten years. Ten danged years. That’s how long it has been, minus a couple of months, since I reviewed the very first Adventure to Fate game, Quest to the Core. It was a game with a humble scope, but what it did it did well. While not without its share of rough edges, it was a compelling little turn-based RPG. When the time came for a full-on follow-up, Adventure to Fate: Quest to the Future cleaned up most of the issues I had with the original game. It’s been around eight years since that game came out, and while the series hasn’t been in the deep freeze the entire time (Adventure to Fate: Future Arena came out a few years back), we’re finally seeing another full-blown follow-up in the form of Adventure to Fate Lost Island ($4.99).

    So what has changed? You know, not as much as you might think. We’ve got a whole new quest here, of course. Lots of new enemies to battle, lots of places to explore, lots of new loot to find, and plenty of interesting combinations of races, classes, and abilities to tinker around with. A big box of new toys, and new reasons to play with those toys. For many of us, that’s more than enough. Particularly given we don’t really see many games of this nature anymore. A single, reasonable, upfront price. No IAP. No ads. Pay your five bucks, enjoy your game. Ten years ago that was only a little uncommon. Today it feels as rare as hen’s teeth, especially for a mobile-exclusive release.

    The story of the game, such as it is, is that you’ve crashed on some kind of weird island. You need to find four goobers to get off the island, and each of those goobers is located in a different location. You can’t just Uber over to them, either. Each of them is waiting at the end of a veritable dungeon’s worth of exploration and battling, and if that isn’t enough, they’re also protected by a bunch of dorks who won’t hand them over without a fight. Luckily, fighting is the one thing you’re really good at. Well, I hope you are, anyway. You’re going to be doing a lot of it.

    Like in previous games, the exploration part of Adventure to Fate Lost Island is relatively trivial. There are secrets to find and objects to interact with, but the path to your goal is generally linear and merely requires you to move from bite-sized screen to bite-sized screen until you reach it. It’s not boring or anything, but you won’t need to worry about mapping things out or anything like that. Finding treasure is always a good time, and running into NPCs and objects like Weapon Forges keep things from getting too monotonous. Still, the meat of this game lies elsewhere and I think it’s well aware of that.

    Battles! Turn-based battles! That’s what Adventure to Fate has always been about at its core, and that’s where all the magic happens. Broadly speaking, the appealing aspects of this series and this game come from three components. You’ll need to learn the ropes of all of them if you want to have a smoother ride through the game, though you can to an extent brute force your way through a good chunk of the game by grinding if you’re pig-headed about it. I strongly recommend not being pig-headed. The first Dragon Quest game is right over there if you’re looking for that kind of battle system. There are a lot of random encounters in this game, but there are also a lot of fixed ones and it’s those that will give you serious trouble if you try to power through. Anyway, those three bits you need to manage.

    First, your character build. Each installment of the series has given the player different kinds of options to build their character with. Lost Island essentially gives you the kitchen sink experience. You get ten races, twelve classes, six crafting specialties, a couple dozen pets, plenty of gear slots and tons of cool gear to fill them with, and a massive number of skills that you’ll earn as you gain levels. It goes without saying when you have this many variables at play, balance goes out the window to an extent. But finding those broken builds is a big part of the fun, and there’s always something new to challenge yourself with if you’re seeking more thrills. You have lots of character slots you can make use of, and I recommend experimenting to see which ones fit your needs best.

    Next, preparation. This has been a major part of Adventure to Fate right from the start, and it’s no less vital here. You can only use items and skills that you have equipped, and you’re generally tightly limited as to how many of each you can have available to you in combat. Items are mainly consumable, too. If you forget to refill your pockets after using what was in them before your next fight, you can easily get caught out. Bringing the right mix of skills to take on a tough battle can make a seemingly impossible situation more than manageable. You’ll also want to keep on eye on what gear you have equipped. Pure defense and attack might be the order of the day in most fights, but you’ll also want to take advantage of various special effects and resistances for certain encounters. You’ll also want to keep on top of your shopping, and of course manage your health and ability points as you make your way through each area.

    Finally, execution. The battles in Adventure to Fate are turn-based affairs, with you and your pet on one side and up to three enemies on the other. You’ll have a limited amount of stamina points you can make use of on each turn to take actions with, and so will your pet. You take your turn, then the enemies take theirs. Continue until either they’re all dead or you are. And that does mean your character. Your pet can’t keep the fight going on its own. Do not let your health drop to zero or you’ll fall unconscious and wake up back at the start of the area. In a straight blow for blow fight, you will generally be at a disadvantage. You have to make a plan, use your skills as best as you can, and gain the upper hand with your strategy. Basic battles don’t drag on too long, but you’ll have to watch your ability points carefully when things go on longer.

    Frankly, this game is incredibly deep in these respects. I’m probably making it sound like it’s complicated, but the reality is that it’s pretty easy to get started in this game. It doesn’t give you too many options at the start, allowing you to get used to the proverbial water before it starts gradually turning up the heat. The UI makes a lot of sense and is perfectly suited to mobile, too. Want something you can play one-handed in portrait mode? This game has you more than covered. Since it’s all about besting each battle, one by one, it’s easy to dip in and out of. Those linear dungeon designs mean that even if you have to take a long break between sessions, you won’t be lost. And the blessed game auto-saves constantly, so if you need to pop out at a moment’s notice you won’t lose much, if anything at all.

    Presentation-wise, it’s all quite familiar. The Oryx sprites make a return, but they’re not only quite scarce these days but actually pretty nostalgic. The UI does its job and give you all the information you need while making it very easy to do what you want to do. The game also sports full VoiceOver support so that visually-impaired players can have just as much fun as everyone else. No, it’s not going to challenge Final Fantasy XVI in terms of its production values. But it gets across what it needs to, and there’s certainly a charm to its no-nonsense approach to the RPG genre.

    If you’re an RPG fan who likes a good battle system or character customization systems, you’ll find a wealth of enjoyment in Adventure to Fate Lost Island. If you’re looking for an intricate story, hot graphics, or a fancy world to explore, this might not be your cup of tea. You could certainly levy the accusation at Lost Island that it perhaps doesn’t push its design in new directions enough when compared to its predecessor, but what might have felt like going to the well one too many times in 2018 instead comes across as rather refreshing in 2024. Easily worth the asking price, and a game that will do a nice job of filling the RPG lover’s time for hours upon end.

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    Shaun Musgrave

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  • Alone in the Dark Review – A Case Best Left Unsolved

    Alone in the Dark Review – A Case Best Left Unsolved

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    Alone in the Dark on PlayStation 5

    Ever since it was announced in 2022, my hopes were high for Alone in the Dark. The franchise is the founding father of the survival horror genre, predating the first Resident Evil game by four years and establishing the fixed-camera creepiness that Capcom’s series would go on to make a worldwide sensation.

    It’s a property that has long laid dormant; the rights flitting between publishers until this new high-profile reboot from THQ Nordic starring Jodie Comer and David Harbour. The result is a game of contradictions: it simultaneously tries to reclaim its survival horror throne, all while poorly apeing the games it inspired in the first place. Alongside some of the worst technical performance issues I’ve seen in a current-gen game, it becomes incredibly hard to recommend.

    Image Source: THQ Nordic

    2024’s iteration of Alone in the Dark is a full reboot of the series, loosely adapting the 1992 original. You play as either detective Edward Carnby (David Harbour) or Emily Hartwood (Jodie Comer), both investigating the disappearance of Emily’s uncle Jeremy at Derceto Manor, an ominous-looking asylum.

    The game promises diverging stories for each playable character, the extent to which you’re recommended to play through both of them, a la Leon and Claire’s separate campaigns in the 2019 Resident Evil 2 remake. Doing so is much more of a chore than a chance to dive further into the lore, with only about half an hour’s worth of exclusive scenarios and sequences in each one. The only saving grace is that the game is incredibly short: my first run-through as Emily took around six hours, while the second as Edward clocked in at just over four hours. There are a range of endings to see, but having to trudge through the entire game twice simply isn’t worth it.

    Edward shooting a skeleton enemy in Alone in the Dark.
    Image Source: THQ Nordic

    That’s because the gameplay at the core of Alone in the Dark is uninspired, clunky, and not especially fun. If the Resident Evil series stuck to the original’s survival horror roots during the PS3/Xbox 360 generation, this is exactly what it would look and play like. Characters run slowly around the manor, take ages to open doors, and fire weapons that feel imprecise and floaty. Enemies are at best spongey and at worst broken, and have no in-universe explanation for existing in the first place. So much of Alone in the Dark’s DNA feels directly ripped from Resident Evil, but to a much lower standard.

    Even the map you use to traverse Derceto Manor – alongside classic features like colors denoting whether you’ve explored the whole room or not, and keys that gradually open up new areas as you progress – is hard to navigate due to a lack of directional arrows on your character, and completely absent during gameplay outside of the asylum.

    The only part of Alone in the Dark’s gameplay that is notably fun is the puzzles, which amount to a much larger proportion of the game than you may expect. A lot of them require you to look through notes you collect, translating coded messages into inputs for the mystical talisman you carry around, and there’s a really rewarding feeling when you figure them out. Going back to the sticking point of having to play the game twice to see its proper endings, though, they unavoidably become dull and far too easy on that second playthrough.

    Emily walking through a trench in Alone in the Dark.
    Image Source: THQ Nordic via Twinfinite

    But the main cardinal sin of Alone in the Dark is just how unpolished it feels. The game already went through a fair few delays, but even now it truly feels like it needed much more time in the oven to be ready for a proper release. Simply put, Alone in the Dark is so rough around the edges that I can’t in good conscience recommend buying it until those issues are fixed.

    It isn’t just the odd visual glitch here and there: at worst my game crashed entirely, and it doesn’t get better once you’re past those. There were numerous times in both playthroughs my character got stuck in the wall or floor, meaning I had to reboot the game (losing progress in the process) to continue playing. On-screen button prompts are incredibly finicky, sometimes taking upwards of four approaches to show up properly. Boxes you open with these floaty controls sometimes contain nothing at all, entirely wasting your time. The bayou section towards the game’s end is by far the worst offender, with leaping leech-like enemies that sometimes clip through walls to reach you and other times float in the air, static, once defeated.

    Emily shooting a creature in Alone in the Dark.
    Image Source: THQ Nordic

    These technical problems made Alone in the Dark a chore to play through the first time around, and just bitterly disappointing on the second. It’s slightly easier to look beyond the uninspired story and gameplay, putting it down to double-A production and a desire to go back to the series’ roots, but the amount of game-breaking problems I encountered take away any of its charm.

    As it stands, it’s very hard – if not impossible – to recommend Alone in the Dark in its current state. Even if you can look beyond the blandness of its design, story, and gameplay, the sheer lack of polish is far too frustrating to warrant spending any money on. It’s a game that, without exaggeration, I had been looking forward to for years. All that’s left now, though, is a sour taste.

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    2

    Alone in the Dark

    As it stands, it’s very hard – if not impossible – to recommend Alone in the Dark in its current state. Even if you can look beyond the blandness of its design, story, and gameplay, the sheer lack of polish is far too frustrating to warrant spending any money on. It’s a game that, without exaggeration, I had been looking forward to for years. All that’s left now, though, is a sour taste.

    Pros

    • Enjoyable and rewarding puzzles

    Cons

    • Clunky movement and shooting
    • Divering stories that barely have any differences
    • Awful game-breaking bugs

    A copy of this game was provided by the publisher for review. Reviewed on PlayStation 5.

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    Luke Hinton

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  • The Orange Box Is a Perfect Speaker for Stoner Metal

    The Orange Box Is a Perfect Speaker for Stoner Metal

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    Think about the last time you saw a person lugging around a Bluetooth speaker and thought to yourself, “Dang, that person looks cool. I want to listen to whatever they’re listening to!” If you have no such memory, you’re not to blame, and you’re certainly not alone. Many portable speakers are dorky hunks of plastic that are aesthetically adjacent to pleather trench coats, mall swords and TJ Maxx hoverboards. And then there are the units that actually sound good, which—with a few exceptions—rank in the looks department between perfunctory and obnoxious.

    Iconic guitar amp makers like Fender, Vox, and Marshall have noticed this hole in the market and have plugged it with their own offerings. Marketed as stylish sound cubes bursting with punchy midrange and timeless rocker swag, models like the Fender Indio ($379) and the Marshall Kilburn II ($399) promised to sound just as good as they looked. Now your cool uncle who sleeps on a waterbed can blast Metallica and make jokes about turning up his Marshall to 11 while you knock back a Leinenkugels and help him change the oil in his van! But do these diminutive faux amps have the cojones to make the infamous snares on St. Anger fill the garage with crisp and clangy treble? Can their woofers be trusted to ensure that what little low-end was left in the masters of …And Justice For All is evetrn remotely audible?

    In the case of the Orange Box, the aptly named entry from the legendary London-based amplifier brand Orange, the answer is a resounding yes. Clocking in at 50 watts and weighing a little over 6 pounds, this workhorse of a speaker packs a massive punch for its size. After spending a month running the Orange Box through its paces in a variety of scenarios where Bluetooth speakers are essential—kitchen prep, yard work, household repairs, bothering fellow hikers with Top 40 music at a National Park—we’ve sussed out the good, the bad, and the bothersome of this impressive little box.

    Dial-a-Tone

    Photograph: Orange

    Stark minimalism has been all the rage since the mid-aughts, but the stripping-away of essential knobs, jacks, and buttons is a sore spot for the aging demographic that know the Orange brand better than most. Thankfully Orange’s mimicry of their beloved amplifiers yields tactile, user-friendly results in the Orange Box. With the exception of a rather standard pairing workflow, the rest of the controls on the device have a satisfying analog feel to them. Turning the volume knob up controls the actual output of the amp rather than that of the paired device. This works wonders when you’re across the room and want to control the unit remotely with a maximum volume ceiling that’s mitigated by the volume controls on your phone.

    Dedicated bass and treble knobs felt like nice extras at first but became essentials after daily use. The former can add or subtract a warm thump from the low end—around the 100-Hz mark, based on our tests—while the latter can be used to either add or remove presence that hovers around 8 KHz: the sweet spot for most spoken word and singing. Having a hard time hearing a podcast in the shower? Crank the treble to 10. Guests straining to hear over your music at a dinner party? Cut the treble to create a lane for casual conversation.

    One minor flaw of the Orange Box is the way it handles the crowded high end of radio-friendly pop music at high volumes. If modern producers cease to brick-wall their mixes and cram every last sonic crevasse with ear candy, then the Orange Box may eventually be up to the challenge, but until then the last era of radio hits that really shine on this speaker is the post-grunge explosion of the late ’90s. Then again, what zoomer is spending $300 on a Bluetooth speaker that looks like the amp their grandpa used to play proto-metal on during the Carter administration? Master of Puppets sounds absolutely killer on the Orange Box, and (almost) nothing else matters.

    Party Time

    Closeup of the Orange Box amp

    Photograph: Orange

    The Orange Box is sexy as-is, but the included leather strap doesn’t do much in making it easier to carry around town on its own. For an extra $60 you can buy a gig bag made of sturdy gray denier fabric, which results in a potent totable that looks and feels more like a soft-side cooler full of ‘Kuges than a portable amp. The bag fits snugly around the box, and a piece of cream-colored cloth covers the grill of the speaker without muffling any of the output. The top snaps in place tidily via a pair of magnets, and it peels back quickly to offer easy access to the control knobs. Side pockets keep small essentials like aux cables, beef jerky, and weed safe from the elements, but the power supply does not fit conveniently in any of the compartments.

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    Pete Cottell

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  • Bonavita’s One-Touch Coffee Maker Is Small, Simple, and Excellent

    Bonavita’s One-Touch Coffee Maker Is Small, Simple, and Excellent

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    After years of trial and error, my coffee setup is nicely streamlined. I have an Oxo 8-Cup for a full pot or quick single cup, an AeroPress for a higher-end mugful, and a French press for when I’m feeling nostalgic. Thanks to a tiny, bare-bones new machine, though, I’m considering changing up my countertop lineup.

    The Bonavita 5-Cup One-Touch Thermal Carafe is tiny, and like many of the company’s brewers, wholly ungimmicky. In an exciting twist, my first cup was perfect, something that almost never happens with a new brewer. Using my coffee of the moment, French Sumatra from Seattle’s Lighthouse Roasters, the first sip immediately made me think of Christmas and was followed by a delicious wave of chocolate flavor. I get just a couple of cups this good in a year if I’m lucky. It was such an unexpected performance that I forgot to take notes.

    Hidden Genius

    The 5-Cup has the stripped-down appearance of an old-school coffee maker, with a water tank, filter basket, smaller-than-normal five-cup carafe, and just one button. Its size and simplicity were immediately appealing for someone like me, who slams two cups first thing in the morning, then slow-sips for the rest of the day. Since I’m the only coffee drinker in my house, this means I can brew a full pot, which is only about 2.5 mugfuls.

    I was happy to learn that, at this scale, a half carafe is essentially a single-cup option that’s surprisingly good. For folks like me, this is preferable to using a larger brewer, as most of them make their best coffee only when making a full pot; by the time I hit the bottom of a pot that size, it’s well past its prime.

    Much of the Bonavita’s abilities are under the hood, like a generously sized showerhead, high water temperature, and regulated brewing time, all of which make for a better cup. At a time when brewers can have sprawling control panels and complicated apps to match, I love how this machine steals the show with generic looks and a single button. As a sort of secret weapon, press and hold that button for five seconds, and subsequent batches get a pre-brew soak known as a bloom, which dampens the grounds before the full brew cycle so they release carbon dioxide, which can create a sour flavor in the cup.

    It all reminded me a bit of the way Bryan Cranston souped-up a near-invisible getaway vehicle for Ryan Gosling in the opening scene of Drive. “Plain Jane boring, just like you asked for, but I dropped in 300 horses on the inside. She is gonna fly,” he says, as the two walk past muscle machine after muscle machine in the garage before arriving in front of a nondescript gray Chevy Impala. “[This is] the most popular car in the state of California. No one will be looking at you.”

    Taking advantage of the strong performance under Bonavita’s Plain Jane hood allowed me to confidently tinker with the basics and consistently get a quality cup. I puttered with ratios of water to coffee and adjusted grind size and was always in the ballpark. It worked so well, I went from testing to just using it as my regular coffee machine without really noticing. Having just reviewed a countertop behemoth, this was a city-dweller’s dream, with a footprint a little more than 6 by 12 inches and just a hair over 10 inches high.

    Strict Control

    My happiness with it was no surprise to award-winning barista Sam Schroeder, co-owner of Washington state’s Olympia Coffee Roasters. Sam had a Bonavita at home for seven years, so he was immediately comfortable with it. At Olympia’s lab in Seattle, we put it through its paces surprisingly quickly. Since the fill lines on the water tank are in number of cups, not volume, Sam did some quick and clever work, setting the empty machine on a scale, taring it (zeroing it out) then filling the tank with water, at which point we learned “five cups” is about 750 milliliters. Then he used a standard brewer-friendly ratio of one part beans to 16 parts water, rounded down a bit, and started a batch with 45 grams of Olympia’s Little Buddy grounds.

    Immediately, the machine hit its marks, making coffee with a total dissolved solids score of 1.4, meaning it was the right strength. It had an extraction percentage of 20.98, which meant the balance was what he called “straight up good.” The coffee tasted great. It was so good, in fact, that Sam immediately broke out the good stuff, opening a six-ounce bag of Panama Bambito Gesha Peaberry from Oliver’s Custom Coffee, where he’s also a co-owner. Soon, we were marveling at the coffee’s bonkers umami notes. I was quite impressed with both Sam’s confidence in the machine and its one-button ability to make great coffee.

    Watching Sam work was also a good reminder of how even on a simple brewer like this, you can still control several variables, such as the amount of coffee and water used (by weighing it instead of using the fill lines on the tank), along with grind size, and doing so can make notable changes to the quality of the coffee.

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    Joe Ray

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  • Soundpeats’ Air4 Pro Earbuds Have Premium Features for Less

    Soundpeats’ Air4 Pro Earbuds Have Premium Features for Less

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    Confusion aside, nearly all the commands you need are at the ready, with more control options available in the Soundpeats app. Considering the previous two pairs of Soundpeats buds I tested had no app support at all, that’s a notable step forward for the brand.

    Economy Plus

    As expected, the Air4 Pro don’t offer everything you’d get in the $200 to $300 price range. They skip fancy extras like spatial audio or earbud trackers (sadly), but there are enough goodies here to make you feel reasonably chuffed about your purchase. The app unlocks conveniences like a multiband EQ, battery display, and even a gaming mode that lowers the audio latency to a claimed 88 milliseconds. You’ll also find controls for ambient sound modes, as well as the ability to turn off the buds’ auto and touch sensors. The ability for firmware updates down the line leaves open the possibility for new features or control options in future app iterations.

    First, you’ll need to set it up, which requires a mandatory registration process that seems to have stalled some users due to its (unlisted) password requirements. The first few times I tried to register, my password was rejected. Pro tip: I dumbed it down to letters only, which then worked without a hitch.

    Connecting the Air4 Pro’s multipoint pairing sidesteps the app, requiring simply turning off Bluetooth on your first device, connecting to the second, and reconnecting the original device. Once done, the buds moved remarkably smoothly between my iPhone and my spare Android phone or Macbook.

    Battery life is another selling point, with Soundpeats claiming up to 6.5 hours of playback per charge, and three extra charges in the case. I got a bit less in testing with noise canceling, but using the feature for the better part of three hours at a stretch still left over 60 percent in the tank, so you can probably expect between five and six hours. The buds also charge quite quickly in the case, facilitating enough playback time for all but the most demanding use cases.

    I made a fair few calls with the buds with no real complaints on either end. They tend to get testy with wind, but I found them up to the task for most scenarios.

    The biggest get, the Air4 Pro’s noise canceling, is limited yet effective. It does a solid job rolling off low-frequency sounds like airplane drones, traffic, and other ambient noises, especially with some music playing. It’s not as successful as class-leading options like the Liberty 4 NC, but you’re also unlikely to pay as much for the privilege.

    As expected, the Air4 Pro’s ANC struggles at subduing high-frequency sounds, from children yelling to keystrokes. The Liberty 4 NC and Space A40 both outdo them there, but you’ll have to step up to premium noise cancelers like the AirPods Pro (9/10, WIRED Recommends) or, above those, Sony’s WF-1000XM5 (7/10 WIRED Recommends) and Bose’s latest QuietComfort buds to successfully fend off those annoyances.

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    Ryan Waniata

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