Posts

Showing posts from February, 2023

Honor Magic 5 Pro review – a versatile flagship with a potentially world-beating camera

Image
Honor Magic 5 Pro: Two-minute preview In an interview with TechRadar at MWC 2023 , Honor CEO George Zhao made no bones about the capabilities of his company’s latest flagship, the Honor Magic 5 Pro (stylized as the Honor Magic5 Pro). “If you compare [this phone] to other flagship devices, it’s better than them. No one can compete with us,” he proclaimed. It remains to be seen whether that statement rings true, but in my short time spent with the Honor Magic 5 Pro – a successor to the excellent Honor Magic 4 Pro – the phone has proven a unique and feature-packed device with few obvious drawbacks. The Honor Magic 5 Pro’s display is big and bright. The cameras are some of the most impressive I’ve seen. Its large battery looks, on paper, to ensure that you’ll get at least 12 hours of heavy use from the phone before needing to charge it. That said, the Magic 5 Pro’s unusual (read: impractical) design won’t work for everyone.  (Image credit: Future / Axel Metz) Before you read

Acer Chromebook 515 review: capable Chromebook, not best for business

Image
Acer Chromebook 515: Two-minute review I was excited to get my Acer Chromebook 515 review unit - one which skews the Chromebook formula by stirring in the adjective ‘big’. After all, Acer and Chromebooks go hand in hand. The company has probably the widest catalogue of ChromeOS devices and isn’t afraid to apply slightly more adventurous designs, like that of the Chromebook Spin line, to a product category that’s usually pretty dull. We’re even more excited (and a little surprised, too) to find out it’s actually decent. Part of that quality comes from its internals. Yes, a package of 11th-gen Core i3, 128GB SSD, and 8GB RAM might seem a little lacking in a regular £449 (around $550 / AU$790) laptop, but put it to work powered by the ChromeOS, and it’s enough to make it really fly. This is a machine that rarely feels like it’s trying too hard, and there’s a Core i5 version (which may even be available for a very similar price) if you feel you’re going to need to push it harder. Then

Visme review

Image
Visme serves up an interesting concept: make information interesting and visually engaging. But the platform’s scope stretches far beyond social media-friendly infographics, with graphic design software , a video maker, mockup software , and tools for building attractive documents and presentations that stay on-brand.   Visme: Pricing & plans Free option, subscription plans with heavily discounted yearly fees Visme is subscription-based, with tiered plans offering more features as the price rises. All subscriptions are discounted when paying upfront for the year over the monthly charge.  Basic is the free plan, which gives you more than enough to get a feel for what Visme is about, and what it can do for your business. Even better, there’s no time limit. Use it for however long you need. It offers 100MB of cloud storage , limited access to templates and assets, and what Visme refers to as “regular” support. The Starter plan is $29 a month (approx. £24 / AU$44) or $147 a ye

EarFun Air Pro 3 review: the best cheap noise-cancelling earbuds you can get

Image
EarFun Air Pro 3: Two-minute review The EarFun Air Pro 3 are the latest affordable noise-cancelling buds from a company that makes some of the best budget wireless earbuds around. EarFun has released several pairs of earbuds that we rated highly, including the original EarFun Air Pro and EarFun Air S , all delivering decent sound and fantastic value. The EarFun Air Pro 3 build on this further, all for under $100 / £100. In terms of design, they're more elegant-looking than their predecessors, and although they feel a little cheap, that means a light and comfortable fit that stayed put throughout the day when I tested them… with one notable exception that I'll come to.  The EarFun Air Pro 3's ANC (active noise cancellation) isn't on par with the best noise-cancelling earbuds available today, but they cost less than half as much as most, and the decent level of quiet offered here should be good enough to focus at work or keep most sounds dampened down when you’re t

PowerA MOGA XP7-X Plus review: A cloud gamer’s best friend

Image
Cloud gaming on mobile devices is an enticing prospect for players on the go, especially as they completely sidestep the hassle of downloading the game. There’s just one issue: gaming with touch controls doesn’t translate well to a traditional button layout. Tacky on-screen setups hinder the experience, often oversized and lacking a pad’s tactile nature. PowerA provides a solution in the MOGA XP7-X Plus, a dedicated mobile controller from the Designed for Xbox line. As such, it’s a perfect match for Xbox Cloud Gaming , letting you play the best Xbox Game Pass games without needing to wrestle with awkward touch-based controls. The MOGA XP7-X Plus removes that obstacle and also features strong build quality with some great feeling sticks and face buttons. You can even charge your phone with it while you play. Some shortcomings aside, these features alone make the MOGA XP7-X Plus worth checking out. Especially at its relatively affordable price. PowerA MOGA XP7-X Plus: price and avai

Xbox Series X review

Image
Xbox Series X one-minute review When the Xbox Series X launched, it was a tough sell due to the number of features it was missing. But since 2020, it's come a long way, and the additional improvements it's received has drastically changed the experience for good. So even though the Xbox Series X has always been an impressive piece of hardware, it's certainly worth every penny now. Once again, that’s not to say that the Xbox Series X wasn’t missing the wow factor for quite some time. The lack of exclusive games made it feel like you would struggle to get the most out of Microsoft’s newest system, especially with such fierce competition with the PS5 and a number of Sony-exclusive titles being thrown into the ring. In addition, this wasn’t helped by the Xbox Series X’s use of the Xbox One interface.  So, when you first boot up the Xbox Series X, it’s easy to feel a little underwhelmed. But the further you dive into the console, the vast improvements begin to shine throug