Satellite-based internet is nothing new, but the idea of getting satellite internet on your phone is something that has eluded us for a while. A number of smartphones now offer satellite connectivity of some kind, but that's mostly reserved for emergency situations, but the real question is, when will we be able to ditch cellular service and beam our mobile data from space?

Big tech has already been mulling over this idea for a while now. Elon Musk has talked about making Starlink a direct-to-cell service. And just this week Semafor reported that SpaceX (the parent company of Starlink) may be looking to acquire spectrum at government auction to compete directly with AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile. Or it may decide to acquire another wireless carrier altogether.

Meanwhile, Amazon has filed an application to launch its own satellite-based internet service. Fortunately, we don't have to wait for the to get their act together, because carriers around the world have started offering satellite services to their customers.

Being the curious type, I decided to give one a go and see whether it was actually worth signing up for full time.

How satellite 4G works

Those reading this from the U.S. may be aware that T-Mobile offers a satellite service powered by Starlink. I live in the U.K., and naturally don't have access to T-Mobile, but the carrier O2 offers a similar service as an optional extra. This extra is also powered by Starlink, costs £3/$4 a month, and gives you access to satellite-based 4G should you find yourself without a cell signal or Wi-Fi connection.

That lack of additional connectivity is crucial to the whole process, because of the way modern smartphones connect to satellites. If there is another form of data connection, be it cellular or Wi-Fi, then the phone will refuse to look for a satellite. The satellite is essentially a last port of call to get your device connected.

This has led to some amusing instances of my phone looking for a satellite when there's zero chance of making a connection — such as when I was traveling several feet underground on the London Underground's Central Line. That's because I disconnected from cell service for more than a few seconds.

Finding the right spot

Surprisingly, the connectivity aspect actually caused a problem for me, because O2's outdoor 4G coverage is surprisingly good in my part of the country. There are plenty of areas in the U.K. that don't get any 4G cell signal, let alone 5G, but the official coverage map shows they're mainly in very rural areas — notably mountainous regions of Wales, Scotland and Northern England.

I live in the South East, roughly around 40 miles from central London. Anyone from different parts of England will be well aware that this is the region where most of the money goes. So, even though I live in a village in a fairly rural area, the cell signal is remarkably robust when you're using an O2 SIM card.

That's not to say 4G connectivity is universally available. There are various dead spots scattered around the place, according to both O2's own coverage checked and the independent map from mobile regulator Ofcom.

I just had to find one that intersected with a road, ideally one that had ample space to pull over and let me play on my phone. If you've had any experience with British country roads, you'll know that they're often too narrow to do this safely.

Thankfully, I found a spot roughly 30 minutes away by car. Not only is it a good-size deadspot, it also contains a pub with a sizable parking lot. There are certainly worse places to stop and test some new phone features.

The actual connection is easy and automatic

It took a couple of minutes to drive through the deadspot and park my car, by which point my Galaxy S26 Ultra had already connected to Starlink's satellites. That was rather surprising, considering that satellite connectivity typically needs a direct view of the sky to actually make the connection.

And no, before anyone asks, my car does not have a sun roof. It's totally solid, though I'm unsure of what materials were actually involved in its construction.

Admittedly, the signal wasn't particularly strong inside the car, illustrated as one bar out of three in the S26 Ultra's status bar. This doesn't change the fact that my phone was connected to the satellite through the car roof, and was receiving data from some Starlink satellite in space.

My next move was to stick the phone out of my window and raise it up towards the sky. It took about a minute for the S26 Ultra to register that circumstances had changed, and there were no obstacles in the way — at which point the signal jumped up to two bars.

It never hit three bars, though, despite the fact I was in an open area with relatively clear skies. I should also note that moving inside the pub, a 350-year old building with a thatched roof, cut off all access to the satellite. So while the signal may be able to penetrate my car, it isn't magic.

Accessing Google Maps from inside my car was a slightly drawn out affair. The app warned me that it was connected to the satellite, with lower loading times, and it took between 30 and 60 seconds for the actual map interface to load up fully. Shifting things outside and the load times were significantly reduced, though nowhere near as quick as they are with a 4G connection, let alone 5G.

So you're not going to be tapping your feet staring at your phone waiting for an all-important app to load over the course of several minutes. But your speeds aren't going to be as instantaneous as they might be with full bars of cell signal.

This isn't unrestricted 4G like you're used to

It was a surprisingly effective system, though the main drawback is that there are limitations on the apps you're able to use. These limitations seem to have been coded in at a system level by your phone rather than by the carrier. My personal guess is that this is due to modern phones treating satellite connectivity as an emergency feature, rather than a stable source of data.

This means that you will only be able to use the bare minimum of apps you need to communicate, navigate and potentially allow yourself to be found in an emergency. We're talking about things like Google Maps, Google Find Hub, Messages and the weather.

The latter may seem like an odd choice, but if you're out in the sticks by yourself with no vehicle or shelter, being able to keep tabs on the weather is essential. It could be the difference between you being stuck in a freak storm and finding somewhere to hunker down and ride it out in relative safety.

Your more frivolous apps, like social media and web browsers, are all disconnected and behave as though you don't have any active data connection. So don't expect to be sitting on a mountain somewhere catching up on your favorite Netflix series. That's not what this system is for, and the app straight up won't work if you try it.

Likewise, any third-party apps that could prove useful in precarious situations, such as mapping apps, still behave as though they are offline. The good news for wilderness-enthusiasts is that you can still get GPS with no data, but if assets haven't loaded, or are hilariously out of date, then the lack of data to update could end up being a problem.

A fantastic backup tool, but it's not replacing cell service yet

If you live out in a deadspot, or regularly find yourself in one, then gaining satellite access through your carrier is not going to make up for the fact there's no cell signal. The limitations in what the satellite connection can or can't do means that it's not a true replacement for cell service in the way a full Starlink setup would be for home internet.

But this sure as heck beats being stuck with zero access to the internet. Carrier-supplied 4G may not be able to give you access to web browsers and streaming, but it keeps you hooked into the apps that you might actually need in a pinch. In short, it means that you will always be able to reach the outside world in the event that you desperately need to.

Some may not like the fact that it's getting harder and harder to disconnect, but this means that you won't be stuck in the middle of nowhere without support. The fact that satellite access still worked in my car, and loaded up Google Maps, will easily be a major boon for navigating areas with little to no cell service. Which isn't a bad deal for $4 a month (or $10 a month with T-Mobile).

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Can't afford a Rivian EV? Then how about an e-bike with the same stylings and some of the tech as the luxury carmaker? I had a chance to test ride the Also TM-B, a new electric bike from a company spun out of Rivian.

The bike shares some vestigial DNA with the parent company — just check out it headlights — but also has a drivetrain and features that set it apart from other electric bikes.

The TM-B (which stands for "Transcendent Mobility-Bike") also comes with a pretty steep price tag, especially when compared to the best electric bikes we've tested. Can its performance transcend its price?

Price and configurations

This Rivian-inspired ebike also has a Rivian-size price tag. The base model TM-B, which has a 538Wh battery with a range of 60 miles, air shocks and front coil suspension, costs $3,500. The Performance model, which has an 808Wh battery with a range of 100 miles and air shocks and air coils, costs $4,500.

When configuring your bike online, you can choose either a small or large frame, and can even add a splash of color by picking from a gray, orange, purple, blue, or yellow seatpost.

You can also pick a seatpost with a built-in rear rack for an extra $150, or a larger bench-style seat for $50. Fenders are not included; they're a $125 extra, and if you want all-terrain tires, that will set you back an additional $200.

Also plans to release additional accessories, such as a rear passenger seat, front rack, and panniers in the future.

The company is currently taking preorders, with shipments expected to start in August; that's a bit of a delay from earlier announcements, as it was initially targeting the first half of 2026.

Design

The TM-B stands out for its unique design, which is unlike any other electric bike I've seen, save perhaps for the Infinite Machine Olto (also an eye-watering $3,450). Both scream "futuristic," by the TM-B is a little less dystopian.

At the core of the TM-B is a squarish section that houses the motor and battery. The cover is transparent, so you can see the belt drive as it winds its way around the sprocket. Half of the space is taken up by the battery, which can be removed by turning a small handle, but only after you press a button on the center console to release the electronic lock.

Not only can the battery be recharged away from the bike, but it also has two USB-C ports, so you can use it as an external power source for your devices.

Equally futuristic is the TM-B's center display, a large circular affair that shows everything from your speed and distance to whether or not you're using power from the battery or adding to it via regenerative braking.

The bike has both front and rear turn signals — something I like — but, due to the design of the lights (which look like the headlight on a Rivian), the turn signals are smushed together, so it's not as obvious if you're turning left or right.

Each handlebar has a cluster of controls ; on the right is a throttle, while the left has a scroll wheel and selector button for navigating the on-screen menus. Interestingly, the turn signals are activated by using your index fingers, something I've not seen on any other e-bike or scooter.

The seatpost of the TM-B is also connected electronically, and can only be released using the center control (or the Also app). The bike is designed so that, if you buy a model without a rear rack, but decide you want one later, the company will send you the rack along with a new seat, rather than just the rack itself.

The ride

I (and my rear end) really appreciated the dual suspension of the TM-B as I rode over cobblestoned streets and potholes of lower Manhattan.

Unlike a regular ebike, your pedaling motion doesn't directly translate to moving the rear wheel. Instead, you're basically spinning a generator, which is recharging the battery; a separate, disconnected motor is then doing the work.

This novel setup allows Also to do some pretty interesting things. You can ride it like a traditional e-bike, and adjust the level of motor assist, or you can switch to a mode where selecting a different assist level is more akin to switching gears on a regular bike.

I tried both modes, and could definitely feel the difference between the two; the latter requires you to pedal a bit more, but the bike feels more responsive to your inputs; I would liken it to driving stick vs. automatic.

The TM-B's handlebars are mounted in a aggressive stance, more like a mountain bike than a commuter. I felt the handlebars were set a bit too wide for my tastes, and put a bit of extra pressure on my shoulders as compared to the other ebikes I've ridden. If you're considering buying this bike, I would definitely recommend a test ride first.

The TM-B is rated as a Class 3 e-bike; it has a top assisted speed of 28 miles per hour, and its thumb throttle can accelerate the bike up to 20 MPH where it's permitted. It certainly felt zippy as I was cruising through traffic, with a fast, smooth acceleration curve.

Outlook

There's no doubt that the Also TM-B was a fun ride. Apart from my issues with the handlebar design, I enjoyed riding the bike up and down the west side of Manhattan, even though it was on a day where the skies were filled with smoke from Canadian wildfires.

The issue I suspect many will have with the TM-B is its price. At $4,500 for the top-end model, it's up there with other premium ebikes such as the Gazelle Avignon and Cannondale Mavaro 2, though those models aren't as futuristic-looking, and only have front suspension.

Still, I like that companies such as Also are experimenting with new ebike designs and features, even if they're out of the range for most riders right now.

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The Samsung Galaxy Z 8 series seems mostly focused on hardware upgrades, but there are still some excellent new AI and software features for you to take advantage of. My current favorite is MyFanCam, which edits a video to follow an individual rather than including the entire frame. Unfortunately, having tested the feature, there's one downside I didn't anticipate.

I have two very energetic dogs, and I had hoped MyFanCam would help make videos of them playing a little easier to follow. Unfortunately the AI is only capable of recognizing people, which means my dreams of more stable and easy to follow videos of my dog chasing a ball have been dashed — for now.

What is MyFanCam?

MyFanCam is a new Galaxy AI feature that's been released on the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, Z Fold 8 and Z Flip 8. The idea behind it is that you can reframe existing videos and shift the focus onto individual subjects rather than everything as a whole. Samsung's example videos feature people dancing together and utilizing MyFanCam to focus on a single member of the troupe.

This isn't a dedicated camera mode that follows people in frame, though. That feature has existed for a few years, and it's called Video Auto Framing. Instead, this is an AI editing feature, which takes videos you've already recorded and applies the principles of MyFanCam to the people in shot.

I was able to do it with videos I recorded as far back as 2019 on a non-Samsung phone. That's helpful, because it means you could breathe new life into your old videos, without having to worry about whether they have the right markers for Galaxy AI to do what needs to be done.

The other obvious benefit here is that you don't need to worry about getting the perfect shot while you're busy recording. In the same way that Reframe in iOS 27 will let you tweak the perspective of your photos, MyFanCam lets you change the main focus of the video so that viewers can hone in on what's important.

It's also worth noting that MyFanCam can't focus on more than one subject at a time, because that defeats the whole purpose of the feature. However you can always go back and make another MyFanCam video that focuses on someone else.

So in that group of three dancers, you could potentially end up with three additional takes on the very same video.

It only seems to work on people right now

I like taking photos and shooting videos of my dogs. They're adorable for one, but you never know when they're going to do something stupid and hilarious. The problem is keeping track of them when they're off their leash, and bolting around the local park. They're moving so quickly, and are often so far away, that I just can't keep track of them with my camera.

Sadly, running videos of my dogs playing through MyFanCam did... nothing. The AI didn't register that the dogs were there, which obviously meant that it wasn't able to focus on one of them and edit the video accordingly.

I then went back and checked it against a video of me and one of my dogs clearly in frame, just to see what happened. As expected, it picked me up right away, but was apparently oblivious to my furry companion.

Oddly intrigued, I tried to find some bizarre videos of people, and see how well Galaxy AI was able to pick up people in situations that are a little out of the ordinary. It had no problem focusing on a Berlin street performer that was doing a handstand on a skateboard, but it had trouble recognizing that a mid-performance routine was a human being. Similarly, adolescent gorillas at the zoo straight-up didn't register.

If you want to know something quite funny, MyFanCam was able to focus on certain characters on the parade floats at Disney World, including Pluto and Chip — but it struggled with Goofy. Clearly not even AI is sure what Goofy is supposed to be, because he's sure as heck not a dog.

I can't tell you whether Samsung has done this deliberately or not, but in my experience attempting to use AI camera features, I've noticed that it only really plays along when people are involved. Google's Add me feature is a very good example of this, since it also wouldn't register that my dogs were living, moving creatures that could move in and out of photos as they saw fit.

As for why, I can only assume that it's because the AI utilized by these camera features has only been trained on people. Tech companies likely figured that people would mostly want to photograph or video their friends and family.

Try and get the AI to register something slightly out of the usual parameters and it'll struggle. I guess people are easier for AI models to understand, whereas animals and pets come in all kinds of different shapes and sizes.

Bottom line

Despite that obvious flaw, I feel as though MyFanCam has potential. The idea that you can go back to a video and completely reshape what people see, and without resorting to changing things with generative AI, is quite impressive.

I'm disappointed by the lack of support for pets, though. As anyone with energetic animals in their lives can likely attest, capturing them on camera can be rather difficult. I was so looking forward to getting MyFanCam to get to work on the videos of my dogs, but sadly that wasn't meant to be. Hopefully it's something Samsung can work on, and roll out to Galaxy phones and roll out as a software update in the near future.

In the meantime, just make sure to keep your editing focused on people.

More from Tom's Guide

• I just ditched my iPhone for the Z Fold 8 — Android 17’s new migration tool is pure magic, but there is one painful catch
• I just spent 24 hours with the Galaxy Z fold 8 Ultra — here's what I liked and what I didn't
• Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra doesn't have a crease-free display — but it's the closest Samsung has ever got to one

You may have seen that Samsung showed me all of its canceled prototypes of the Galaxy Z Fold 8. That moment combined with my time flying to China and checking out this future of passport foldables that the iPhone Ultra looks set to adopt made me nervous that this stubbier size isn’t quite right.

But after my first 36 hours with the Z Fold 8, I’m coming around to the idea of this aspect ratio choice. Maybe the weight of my previous experiences clouded my judgement, but now out in the real world, it’s starting to click and make sense.

Throw in a strong camera, good battery life and beasty internals, and this has been a great first day of using Samsung’s new blower. I’ve seen a bunch of questions and thoughts in our comments, so these 24 hours have been more focused on answering these.

What’s the aspect ratio like?

We’ve been used to taller foldables that open out to a much more squared-off display for years now. Of course, other companies have tried the squished form factor like this, but this is Samsung’s first stab at it.

And honestly? At first I was feeling weird about it. Don’t get me wrong here, the smaller design does feel great to hold, and the one-handed operation feels like a blast from the past when small phones were cool.

That being said, the aspect ratio choice made here is a tough one to make — forming an awkward balance that black bars vertical content on the outside screen, as well as landscape on that 4:3 screen on the inside. Given the way “The Odyssey” is filmed in 70mm IMAX, this phone must be Christopher Nolan’s dream come true.

But compared to the square of the Ultra, the size of content on this phone is much better. Catching up on Netflix is a joy on this screen, though the audio sounds a bit lop-sided when both speakers are on the left side, so headphones are a must.

And when it comes to getting stuff done, of course the Ultra is more angled towards that, but flipping this into a portrait 3:4 ratio is great for this specific job. Samsung worked on the software to optimize the keyboard for typing away, while the extra height does give you a lot of real estate for multi-tasking.

Also, big screen TikTok is fun, web browsing feels much better with this vertical canvas, and I now have a foldable Kindle in my pocket. Pretty sweet!

Is the crease visible?

Samsung made a whole thing about the use of a titanium alloy film atop the inside screen and titanium plate beneath it — with the mission being to improve durability and eliminate the crease.

Now, does it eliminate it? No. It’s a lot better than it has been before, but at certain angles with the light bouncing off it, you can see the outline of it. But you have to be very specific about it to see the thing.

Also, shout-out to that anti-reflective coating. Of course, the naming of it may feel a little misleading when you still see reflections bounce off of it. However, there is a noticeable reduction in the glare, and light sources have been dimmed quite a bit by whatever the coating is doing here.

Zippy and long-lasting

With Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy inside with 12GB RAM does keep things nice and spritely under multitasking pressures for sure. And now that we’ve had these benchmarked in the lab, you can see this reflected in the numbers too.

That single-core speed especially manifests itself in a snappy, responsive UI and opening apps at breakneck speeds, while the multicore comes into effect when I’m hopping between apps running in the background.

Then there’s the battery — a 4,800 mAh cell that embraces silicon carbon battery tech to add a little more juice while keeping it thin and light. In our lab testing, we’ve been able to get 12 hours and 20 minutes out of it on one charge.

In real-life, I’ve been able to get through an entire day of standard use with no real worries. Starting from 100%:

• Two hours at the gym with music playing and regular screen opening to read news between sets: Battery went down to 92%
• Two hours on the phone with my wife — visiting websites on inside screen to finalize wedding celebration plans: Battery went down to 84%
• TikTok wormhole on inside screen for an hour: Battery went down to 79%
• Photography trip around London, multitasking between messaging apps, TikTok on the Underground, a couple phone calls, web browsing, and taking many photos: Battery went down to 64%

By the time I got to the Nvidia afterparty at 10pm, the battery was at around 50%. Of course, if I’m more sparing with my use, you can make this run much longer. But it’s clear you’re getting all-day usage with no problems.

Snap happy

I always have a beef with Samsung about its camera science. The hardware is always good, but coming from being an iPhone user, the focus on vividity always makes me feel like the phones of old have just vomited color all over the screen.

Not anymore. These dual 50MP shooters are impressive. Detail preservation is good and while color balance does lean towards the warmer tones, they’re not as distractingly vivid as before — keeping natural skin tones looking realistic.

And shout-out to night time photography too. I know Samsung made a whole song and dance about Nightography with the Ultra’s 200MP lens, but you’re getting more than enough of that experience with a quarter of the megapixels here.

Outlook

This is the first foldable I’ve properly daily driven. I have tested others in the past of course, but this is my first concerted effort to ditch a candy bar and give folds a chance. And after my first day and a half, I get the attraction to it.

There was a part of me that feared this would be a pure gimmick. And to many of you reading this, chances are it will be. You’ve got to have very specific use cases on lock to make the most of this — the work and content needs for that bigger screen if you’re always on-the-go.

If you have them, this more easily pocketable foldable is a real conversation starter, and a genuinely nice form factor. My only real problem is that $1,899 price tag. It’s massive to say the least! You can feel the premium nature of this phone, but that’s a huge cost to put on people.

More from Tom's Guide

• I just spent 24 hours with the Galaxy Z fold 8 Ultra — here's what I liked and what I didn't
• I just ditched my iPhone for the Z Fold 8 — Android 17’s new migration tool is pure magic, but there is one painful catch
• I'd buy a Galaxy Z Fold 8 over the Z Fold 8 Ultra — and it's all because it steals this Z TriFold feature

It's always exciting to try a brand new phone, and those first 24 hours can be pretty telling. That's especially true when you're making the jump from a regular phone to a foldable, because the fold-out large screen design opens a whole new world of possibilities.

That's certainly how I felt while unpackaging the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra — a phone that has so far been living up to its new designation. But a brief hands-on can only tell you so much about a phone, and it's only after spending several hours (or days) with your device that you can get a much clearer idea of what it has to offer.

The Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra could be one of the best foldable phones, pending our full review, thanks to the sheer amount of upgrades Samsung has added this year. But is it really all that? Let's go through my first day with this Ultra foldable, so you can experience the highs (and lows) of picking one up for yourself.

Setting up

The great thing about modern phones is that they've made the set up process an absolute breeze compared to what it used to be like. Samsung is easily one of the best I've used, especially if you're copying data over from another Samsung phone.

In fact my Galaxy S26 Ultra detected the Z Fold 8 Ultra right away, and brought up the QR code scanner to link these two devices together. The most troublesome part of the whole experience was flicking through the many menus asking you to confirm various permissions, and which search engine you'd like set as your default.

The actual transfer process happens in the background, beaming over apps, accounts, default settings and everything else you had sitting on your own phone. Since my S26 Ultra doesn't get a ton of use, that process was pretty quick, and your experience will differ depending on how much you actually need to beam to your new phone.

I also find myself pretty impressed with the way Galaxy foldables set up fingerprint recognition. Samsung phones are usually some of the easiest and fastest devices for setting up biometric security, but with the physical fingerprint scanner all you need to do is wiggle your chosen digit around during the mapping process. None of the tedious lifting and replacing motions that you get with under-display fingerprint scanners.

Adapting to new displays

Switching to a foldable phone means adapting to a brand new set of displays. The 6.5-inch cover display offers a 21:9 aspect ratio, which is noticeably narrower than the 19:5:9 aspect ratio you'd find on most phones.

Having been used to using 6.3-inch non-folding phones for so long, the narrower form factor is taking some getting used to. To the point where I gravitate towards the 8-inch foldable display instead. It seems like a paradox, but I find the larger screen is a lot more comfortable to use — especially considering the doubled-screen is the perfect size for two-handed use.

As Samsung says, it's like having two 6.5-inch phones in a single phone.

One thing I noticed was that the Samsung web browser defaulted to the desktop view on both screens, and to my surprise I actually found it more comfortable to read that way.

Admittedly the text was rather small on the cover display, but the mobile option was too large and squashed together for me to read comfortably. It was almost like I had an accessibility feature that blew up the print for users with visual impairments. That said vertical videos looked perfect on the narrower cover display, with next to no wasted space.

That was not entirely true for horizontal video, but that just gave the foldable screen even more chance to shine. Especially since Flex Mode let me partially fold up the screen and use the Z Fold 8 Ultra as its own stand.

I'll admit, though, it does still feel as though something is missing with the larger screen, and I feel like having some kind of S Pen support would help complete the puzzle. I'm not entirely sure I would be using the stylus all that much, but it would be nice to have the option.

Not quite crease-free

One of the most anticipated upgrades on the Z fold 8 Ultra is the flex titanium display, which was heavily rumored to eliminate the crease down the display. It doesn't take long to spot that this is not really the case, and the crease is still visible in certain conditions.

That being said, the crease is a lot harder to see when compared to the Galaxy Z Fold 7. It mostly shows up when the screen is switched off, or you find yourself in particularly bright conditions. The fact you have to go out of your way to see the crease means Samsung should be commended for what it's managed by adding the Flex Titanium display.

That said, you can still feel the crease when you're scrolling along the large display. It feels almost identical to the Z Fold 7's crease, and I have to admit the more I use the phone the more distracting it is to come across the dip in the middle of the screen. That's definitely something Samsung needs to work on for the Z Fold 9 Ultra.

Galaxy-class performance?

While I haven't done any benchmarking with the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra yet, I have done some gaming to try and take the new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy chipset for a spin. Loading up PUBG Mobile and I found that the settings automatically set the frame rate to the highest level, though it was being a little bit stingy with the graphics until I told it to up the ante.

The performance at the highest possible settings was excellent, as I'd hoped. I didn't notice any frame rate issues while I played, and the graphics were exactly what I expected from PUBG after dabbling with the game over the past few years. Better still I didn't even feel the phone get warm throughout an hour of playthrough, which is always best for the long-term health of the phone.

As for the battery, I found that this play session ate up around 5% of my battery, including the time it took to download the more advanced graphics.

Similarly, I forgot to charge the Z Fold 8 Ultra overnight, but still managed to get to around 3.45 p.m. before it flashed up a battery warning. That bodes well for the actual battery life, but since we haven't tested it I can't say whether Samsung's 27 hour battery life claim is accurate or not.

Cameras are so-far so-Samsung

I haven't had much need to take photos with the Z Fold 8 Ultra so far, but it's not like I need an excuse to snap photos of my dogs — especially when they make such adorable models. Needless to say, I'm impressed with the photos I've taken with the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra so far.

The photos of my dogs and my plants came out looking pretty well, though I will admit that the main lens struggled with close-ups of my Lego minifigures. For some reason it just would not focus on what I wanted, meaning I had to resort to the lower-resolution Ultrawide angle lens to actually get this shot of Captain Jean-Luc Brickard.

You can kind of tell that the resolution isn't really there, though the photo itself still looks rather good. Sadly, the telephoto lens doesn't quite match up, and the quality feels more akin to the 10MP selfie cameras rather than the other two rear lenses. I wouldn't say it's taking bad photos, but they're not quite the caliber I would expect from a $2,100 phone.

As for the selfie camera, I won't say that I dislike the photos it takes, but it falters compared to that main 200MP camera. The selfies feel a little grainier and washed out, and I feel like you'd be better off taking advantage of the rear cameras instead. The very nature of foldables, and the fact you can use the cover display as a viewfinder, means that's a very real option for you.

If anyone is interested in how I got my tomatoes looking so nice after the immense heat and drought we've been having in the U.K., the answer is coffee grounds. Those leftovers mean I haven't had to feed my tomato plant all summer. Sadly, the same can't be said for my pepper plant, which hasn't even flowered yet.

The AI isn't ready this soon

As much as Samsung (and other phone companies) love to hype up AI capabilities, you can't really take full advantage of them on day one. The fact that Galaxy AI already has information on me, transferred over from my Galaxy S26 Ultra, meant that they weren't completely useless. So Now Brief had some basic information from places like my calendar to get me started.

However, I did need to go through a bunch of setup processes, like updating Samsung's Personal Data Intelligence and creating my own custom cards, to start making the most of the feature. On a similar note, the fact that Now Nudge hadn't had time to burrow into the depths of my phone hasn't been able to surface any useful information so far.

I have attempted to utilize MyFanCam, which lets you edit videos in a way that focuses on a single subject rather than an entire group.

I had hoped I would be able to use the feature to video my dogs playing, and help keep the focus on one of the two, instead of having to try and keep their crazy antics in frame all the time. But apparently the AI that powers MyFanCam doesn't recognize dogs, only people. Stay tuned for more.

What a difference a day makes

24 hours is not a lot of time when it comes to getting to grips with a new phone, especially when there are AI features that need time and resources to get themselves working at anything close to operating capacity. Still, it's a good amount of time to start getting to grips with a new device, and for all its potential flaws I am rather happy with the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra so far.

I am not a huge fan of the narrow cover display, and feel like the wider Z Fold 8 might offer a better experience in that regard. I do like the main 8-inch display, though, especially since it makes viewing and scrolling a more comfortable experience than you'd normally get. Though I would have liked the option to use an S Pen, and hope Samsung brings it back sooner rather than later.

Of course, there's still plenty of testing that needs doing before we can publish our full review. While I hope this shapes up to be one of the best foldable phones, 24 hours just isn't enough to make that happen. That means it's time to get testing and see what this phone can really do.

More from Tom's Guide

• I just ditched my iPhone for the Z Fold 8 — Android 17’s new migration tool is pure magic, but there is one painful catch
• ‘We're pretty confident': How Samsung plans to fight the first foldable iPhone
• I'd buy a Galaxy Z Fold 8 over the Z Fold 8 Ultra — and it's all because it steals this Z TriFold feature

Foldable phone makers have declared war on the display crease, and this year could be the year a bunch of them make real progress. Samsung, in particular, has been slowly reducing the visibility of the crease over the past few years, but the recent launch of the Galaxy Z 8 series marks the most significant reduction to date.

Rumors suggested that Samsung had managed to eliminate the crease, but I can promise you that this isn't the case based on my experience with the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra over the past day. Samsung has made a lot of progress in making the crease less visible, but it hasn't managed to hide it from view completely.

I should make it very clear from the get-go that the crease on the Z Fold 8 Ultra is rather difficult to see at a glance. Especially when you compare it to the Galaxy Z Fold 7, which, despite its own screen refinements, still has a rather prominent crease down the middle of its foldable screen.

That being said, the visibility of the crease all depends on what the phone is doing and what the lighting conditions are like. For instance, having the screen switched on makes the crease a lot harder to notice than when it's switched off.

Bright, direct light is the worst offender for this. Which means that even though the Z Fold 8 Ultra has a new anti-reflective coating and a 3,000-nit display to aid performance in bright conditions, there's no hiding the prominent dip and warp running down the center of the screen.

That said, switch your location to a spot without bright and direct light, and the crease practically vanishes before your eyes. So long as the screen is switched on, that is.

Similarly, bright environments really highlight the warping around the center of the phone. However, it's not even close to as bad as the warping visible on the Z Fold 7. That level of warping is enough to visibly ruin whatever is on your screen, and is particularly pronounced in bright environments.

Tilting the screen around ruins the illusion too, but as long as you're avoiding direct light, it's still a bit of a struggle to see the crease on the Fold 8 Ultra.

Looking at the Z Fold 8 Ultra is only one part of the equation when it comes to the crease, though. Samsung doesn't seem to have made any headway in reducing the way the crease feels when you slide over it with your finger.

There's a noticeable bump, followed by a dip and another bump. It's not subtle, and the feeling is almost identical to that of the Galaxy Z Fold 7. That suggests to me that the hinge design hasn't changed since last year, and the Flex titanium display doesn't seem to be doing much, if anything, to cushion everything underneath the display panel.

How this affects you is going to depend on how you use your Z Fold 8 or 8 Ultra. I've been using the larger screen in landscape mode, with the crease running from left to right, and that naturally means my thumb rolls over the crease quite a lot. Obviously, if I held the phone the other way, with the crease running from top to bottom, things would be totally different.

Obviously this is something prospective Galaxy Z Fold 8 owners need to be aware of. Just because Samsung has reduced the visibility of the Z Fold 8's crease by a considerable amount, it doesn't mean that you won't notice it. Whether that's because you're in a bright environment, or because you can't stop sliding over it while doing basic, everyday things on the larger screen.

Still, credit where credit is due, Samsung has done a lot to improve the look of the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra's display. Though now the real question is how it will compare to the upcoming foldable iPhone Ultra.

After all, Apple has reportedly been especially particular about the crease to the point where it apparently delayed the phone until it could be eliminated. But we'll have to wait until mid-to-late September to find out for sure.

More from Tom's Guide

• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 is the first Galaxy phone with a silicon carbon battery — here's why that's such a big deal
• No, the Fold 8 doesn't have an S Pen — but Samsung is ‘exploring’ its return for future Folds
• I held Samsung’s secret, canceled Z Fold 8 prototypes — and they killed the best one

For a decade, Apple has essentially held my digital life hostage with iPhones. Every time I looked at an Android phone, the sheer dread of migrating my passwords, WhatsApp chats, and app layouts kept me firmly trapped in the Walled Garden. But with Android 17 on the new Galaxy Z Fold 8, Google just handed me a pair of bolt cutters.

Enter Google’s new Android Switch iOS migration tool — named Smart Switch in the newly launched Galaxy Z Fold 8, Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra and Galaxy Z Flip 8. And all I’ll say is if switching operating systems is a dealbreaker for you — getting all the right apps, account logins and home screen layouts just right — all of that is gone.

This is a breakthrough for phone switchers, and a real leveler in the iOS vs Android war.

Just scan and go

It all starts with a QR code scan — no additional app required. At that point, I picked what apps and data I sent across, and it just…did it. Mostly.

There is the brutal reality I did face while switching: the software is pure magic, but physics still applies. I was staring down the barrel of a decade's worth of iPhone photos (514GB to be specific), and the Z Fold 8 simply didn't have the storage to swallow it all.

I had to make the agonizing choice to leave my photo library behind in the Apple ether. But once I made peace with that (and started a mass transfer to Amazon Photos with my Prime account)? What happened next was jaw-dropping.

Your Android phone will find its OS equivalents of the apps you have on your iPhone and install them all, all your messages, call logs and contacts, WhatsApp data, account logins and passwords, settings and even the way the apps are laid out on each home screen (as well as wallpaper) all make it over.

The only things you’ll need to do are log back into your apps with the saved details and add the Android equivalent to the widgets, as I saw with these suspicious gaps in my app layouts.

The elimination of basically all friction here is amazing to me — someone who’s seen both sides make it as awkward as possible for platform lock-in.

And even better? It just took me around 25-30 minutes wirelessly. Of course, mileage may vary depending on just how much data you’re sending over, but this was for roughly 55GB of total data.

Stick another five minutes on top for logging back into everything and setting up my bank card with Samsung Pay, and I was using the London Underground again as if nothing had happened.

What’s the catch?

So there is one small frustration that I came across — my first attempt came up with an internet connection problem. Basically, the migration didn’t start because the Android phone wasn’t connected to Wi-Fi. This could be because I was on my hotel’s network, and your home Wi-Fi may behave differently.

If that happens, just start the process as if you were setting up your Android phone from scratch, connect to Wi-Fi, then head back to the migration screen. That fixed it for me!

But beyond that, everything else was shockingly smooth on this transition, and surprisingly fast too. In all my years covering phones, I never expected to see iOS and Android playing nice together like this.

Put simply, the fear of platform lock-in should no longer be part of your purchase decision.

More from Tom's Guide

• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 is the first Galaxy phone with a silicon carbon battery — here's why that's such a big deal
• Samsung just added Automated Tasks and Gemini Notebook to Galaxy Z Fold 8 — here's what these AI features let you do
• I held Samsung’s secret, canceled Z Fold 8 prototypes — and they killed the best one

Are smart glasses too ... smart? Rather than creating a jack-of-all trades pair of specs, the new Halliday G2 smart glasses are aimed at one thing: Making your meetings more focused and productive.

To that end, these glasses don't have a camera, but instead a set of mics and an AI that can act as your assistant to look up data, create action items, and help keep people accountable.

I went hands-on with the Halliday G2 a few weeks back and here's everything they can do, as well as my initial impressions on how they compare to the best smart glasses.

Price and availability

The Halliday G2 will cost $599 (the same price as the Even Realities G2, but $200 less than the Meta Ray-Ban Display), and is expected to ship in September. Preorders begin today (July 21) at www.hallidayglobal.com; those who secure a preorder with a $10 deposit will get $100 off the regular price of the glasses.

The G2s will be available with prescription lenses.

Design and display

While the Halliday G2 has a display, it feels a lot more stripped-down than the Meta Ray-Ban Displays or the Snap Specs, but that's by design.

For one thing, there's no camera. In addition to making the glasses simpler, it was also done to put others at ease, company reps told me. (They can record audio, but still.)

While the G2 has a built-in display, it's much more basic than what you'll find on the Meta Displays, and more like that on the Even Realities G2 or Rokid Glasses: a green, monochrome readout.

Unlike the first-gen Halliday, the G2's display is brighter and clearer, and appears virtually in front of both your eyes, rather than on just the right side. The image appears to hover a few feet in front of you, which made it much more natural to look at when holding a conversation with others.

The G2's feature dual micro-LED projectors with a resolution of 600 x 300 in each eye, and a peak brightness of 1,600 nits.

I wore the G2's for a few minutes during a hands-on session, and found them to be as comfortable as the Ray-Ban Metas, as well as my regular non-smart glasses. The G2's weigh under 50 grams, which put them in the same tier as the Ray-Ban Meta (51 grams), the Rokid Glasses (48 grams), but heavier than the Even Realities G2, which weigh just 35 grams.

A touchpad on the right temple lets you navigate the G2's interface with swipes and taps; it'll take some practice to get the hang of things.

Similar to most smart glasses, the Halliday G2s can also deliver notifications, phone calls, play music, and let you use the Halliday AI Assistant.

Made for meetings

The biggest differentiator between the Halliday G2 and other smart glasses is its focus on making meetings more productive. To that end, its biggest feature is called Meeting Flow, which has several facets:

• Understanding the conversation (literally): The glasses support real-time translation in over 45 languages, and can pick up voices using its 4-mic array, which work in up to a 2-meter radius.
• Quick Summary: If you lose focus or get distracted, the glasses can catch you up on what was just said.
• Quick Research: If you need to look up a fact or information, Meeting Flow can dig up relevant information based on the conversation taking place at the time of your query.
• Thread Tracker: Often, conversations can drift off on tangents; this feature tracks how things evolved, so you can get back to the original subject.
• Decision Confirmation: This helps make sure that if something was decided, it gets remembered, and also prompts the G2 wearer if something was left open-ended.
• Commitment Check: If someone in the meeting says they're going to do something, this feature will prompt the wearer to not only confirm that, but also give the person the information they need to complete the task.
• Open-item tracker: If things are left unresolved, this feature will make note of them, and put them in a checklist.
• Summary and transcript: Like all other AI assistants, Meeting Flow will create a summary and transcript of the meeting.

Outlook

At a time when there's a lot of concern around privacy and smart glasses — just look at the issues around Meta's smart glasses — the idea of having a camera-free set of specs will no doubt be appealing to many.

The idea of having a set of smart glasses hyper-focused around a particular activity could appeal to those who spend a lot of time in meetings, and need a smart way to not only make them more productive, both during and after the fact.

However, I have no doubt that many will look to the broader appeal of the upcoming Samsung smart glasses (and other Android XR devices), which could cost around the same, but offer more functionality.

We'll reserve our final judgment until September, when the Halliday G2 glasses — and Meeting Flow — rolls out.

• I've reviewed all of Meta's smart glasses, and this is the pair I'd actually buy
• Exclusive: Inside Google’s plan to win over your face with AI glasses — and avoid Meta's privacy missteps
• I’ve traveled over 50,000 miles testing smart glasses in 2026 — here are my 3 favorites that have launched this year so far

Watch out, MacBook Neo! The new Dell XPS 13 is here, and it could arguably be the best budget laptop available. With a starting price of $699, it packs many of the features you’d find in higher-end XPS laptops. Given the ongoing RAM crisis, this notebook is seriously worth considering for what it offers.

Unlike most budget Windows laptops, the XPS 13 has a CNC aluminum chassis built to the same standards as its more expensive XPS counterparts. Not only does it look great, but it’s also the thinnest XPS laptop ever. Toss in other features, such as a vivid 2.5K touch display, a backlit keyboard, and fast performance, and you have a winner.

I’ve spent 48 hours with the Dell XPS 13 and find that it lives up to the hype. To be clear, I tested the model with 16GB of RAM, which retails for $899. I’ll review the model with 8GB of RAM soon, but for now, here’s what I think of the new Dell XPS 13.

Dell XPS 13 (2026): Specs

Dell XPS 13 (2026): Design

“Wow, that’s light,” was the first thing I said when I picked up the XPS 13. And that wasn’t just my brain playing tricks on me. At 2.2 pounds, this laptop is lighter than the 2.7-pound 13-inch MacBook Air and MacBook Neo. This is exactly the kind of laptop I want to travel with since it’s so light — a fact that was very clear when I barely felt it in my backpack when I brought the XPS 13 from the office to my apartment.

The smooth aluminum chassis also ensures that the XPS 13 is plenty sturdy, as it doesn’t easily bend or flex. This is a far cry from the plastic laptops I’m used to in this price range. I’m glad that Dell didn’t sacrifice build quality to drop the price, as the aluminum casing is an important selling point here.

Another big selling point for anyone deciding between the XPS 13 and the MacBook Neo is the former’s backlit keyboard. This is something some folks don’t think about, since many laptops have backlit keyboards, but if you work at night or just need help seeing the keys, it’s a crucial feature.

Dell XPS 13 (2026): Display

The Dell XPS 13 has a 13.4-inch 2.5K-resolution touchscreen display. Though it’s not an OLED panel, everything looks bright and colorful to me. When running a video featuring colorful animals, I was impressed by the color representation and accuracy. Naturally, text-heavy websites are very clear.

As you can see from our display benchmarks, the XPS 13 delivers solid color representation (sRGB and DCI-P3) and color accuracy (Delta-E). While Dell’s notebook has higher resolution and touch support, the MacBook Neo matches the XPS 13 in color representation and accuracy. However, the Neo's display is overall brighter, especially with SDR content.

While the 13-inch MacBook Air has a slightly taller display at 13.6 inches, everything is still clear on the XPS 13’s display. This is a big win, especially since laptops in this price range tend to have duller displays.

Dell XPS 13 (2026): Performance

The XPS 13 features the new Wildcat Lake CPU and gives me my first chance to test a laptop with Intel’s lower-end Series 3 processor. Our review unit also has 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. While these specs aren’t mind-blowing, they get the job done.

Even with 15 Microsoft Edge tabs open and a YouTube video running in the background, the XPS 13 didn’t noticeably slow down. My experience aligns with our CPU benchmarks, which show solid single- and multi-core scores.

Even with its 8GB of RAM, the MacBook Neo has a slight edge in CPU performance, underscoring the incredible efficiency of Apple’s affordable laptop. As for the Handbrake video transcoding test, the MacBook Neo performed the task about 10 seconds faster.

We haven't run our battery life test yet, but Dell claims up to 17 hours of streaming battery life for the XPS 13. We’ll see if the XPS 13 can match the Neo’s 13.5-hour endurance in our lab tests. If Dell can match or exceed that, it would be another big reason to buy.

Dell XPS 13 (2026): Outlook

For what it offers, the Dell XPS 13 is an excellent budget Windows laptop. It’s extremely rare to find such a solid notebook at this price point. I’ll have a full review for you soon, but based on my experience so far, I’m very impressed with what Dell has delivered.

As for the MacBook Neo comparisons, they’re even more relevant now, given Apple’s price hikes, which have put the Neo at the same starting price as the XPS 13. If you’re married to a specific platform (macOS or Windows 11), the decision should be easy. However, if you just want the best value, you now have two strong options.

Stay tuned for my full XPS 13 review, along with a deeper face-off between Dell’s laptop and the MacBook Neo to help you decide which one is best for your needs.

More from Tom's Guide

• I ditched the MacBook Air for a MacBook Neo for 48 hours — and I'm shocked
• We benchmarked the MacBook Neo vs budget Windows laptops
• How to maximize your MacBook Neo for peak performance

Minimalism — open spaces, minimal clutter and devices that are designed to be sleek and low-profile — is all the rage, and has been for a while. It sounds great, and in some cases it definitely can be a great aesthetic choice. But there are cases when minimalism, and deliberately trying to take up as little space as possible, just doesn't work. This car mount from Lisen is one very good example.

There are countless different kinds of the best car phone mounts, each capable of supporting your phone in a different way. My personal preference is for suction cups, since they tend to offer more versatility than vent mounts and other options.

The problem is that they're usually quite big and take up a lot of space — not to mention the fact that the suction cup mechanism needs a flat surface, otherwise a single bad pothole could send your mount (and phone) flying towards the back of the car. Trust me, it can happen, and it is not a fun experience.

It certainly has the right look

Lisen's magnetic suction cup mount certainly has the right look. It's sleek, it's compact, and because it has a suction cup mount, you don't need to rely on adhesives that could melt or dry out over time. Plus the actual vacuum suction is controlled by a dial in the center, rather than an ugly lever or some other fold-down mechanism.

The fold-out magnetic ring looks rather nice as well. It folds up neatly, and the magnetic ring is MagSafe compatible, which means it has a really strong grip on your phone. The problem is that the rings are far too small (and short) to be particularly useful, to the point where it makes the mount a pretty useless addition to the dashboard.

The main problem with a suction cup mechanism is that it needs to be attached to a surface that is smooth and relatively flat. Anything else, like curves or textured materials interferes with the vacuum and stops it from gripping to the surface correctly.

Every car's dashboard is different, but you can usually find a few places that are flat enough to securely attach a car mount like this. My general rule of thumb is that a phone needs to be positioned in a way that means it's not blocking your view of the road (for safety reasons), but in a spot that the driver can see should they need their phone for some crucial driving-related app or feature.

If you can't see the screen, you might as well tuck the phone out of sight and make use of in-car alternatives like Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. There's no need to have a phone mount if your phone isn't mounted in a convenient place, after all.

Sadly this is exactly what happened to me with Lisen's MagSafe suction cup mount.

Practical appeal is lacking, for my car at least

My car has a fairly curvy dashboard, with some mild texturing. But there are still a few places where a good suction cup mount can grab onto without any problems. The issue with Lisen's mount is that the magnetic connector is so low down, that it breaks my two main rules about car phone mounts.

Here's the problem. You find a spot and securely attach your mount to the car's dashboard. Then you attempt to attach your phone, and find that the phone is too big. "No matter," you say. You simply tilt the connector backwards until there is room for the phone. Only then, your phone is angled so far back that you can't see what's on the screen.

So you attempt to find a spot that lets you set up the mount where there is room for the phone to stay more or less vertical — giving you an unobstructed view of what's going on. Only then, you find that the only suitable spots are right in the middle of the dash, or so far back that your phone ends up blocking a not-insignificant portion of your windshield. There's no doubt that this is the worse option, and could easily be a hazard to everyone around you.

My go-to phone is a Google Pixel 10 Pro, which has a 6.3-inch display — which is a fairly average-sized phone. In other words, it's nothing out of the ordinary, as far as smartphones are concerned, and it's a form factor that accessory-makers really should account for before finalizing their designs.

My car is slightly to blame

Naturally the shape of my dashboard is partly to blame, as is my preference not to attach suction cup mounts to the windshield — since it blocks my view of the road. But with all the different suction cup mounts I've tried and tested over the years, I've never had one that was too small to secure my phone correctly.

There's always been some part of the design that lets you adjust the mount and adapt it to your own car. It's something that the Lisen MagSafe mount sorely lacks, and despite its handsome design it fails the most important purpose of all: Practicality for everyone, regardless of which car they drive.

Maybe your car has a suitable dashboard design to attach this mount properly. The problem is that, like me, you likely won't know the full situation before you buy one and attempt to install it yourself. Which is less than ideal, to say the least.

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I've tried just about every AI productivity tool you can imagine. From chatbots that help me research to wearables that act like an external brain, I lean into AI for productivity often.

But when it came to AI note-taking devices, I was on the fence. I've tried several, like Otter.ai and Gemini for notetaking, but to be completely honest, nothing could beat my physical notebook and pen. That is, until the Flowtica AI pen caught my attention.

Rather than changing how I work, this real-working pen allowed me to keep writing with pen and paper while quietly recording the conversation, then let AI organize everything afterward. It sounded almost too simple, here are my thoughts after using Flowtica AI pen for a month.

What is the Flowtica AI pen?

At first glance, you'd never guess the Flowtica AI pen was AI hardware at all. It simply looks like a cool metal pen that writes on ordinary paper. But what's great about it is, with a quick tap on the button, it also records conversations while you take notes, syncing everything to a companion app that can generate transcripts, meeting summaries and action items. Talk about a productivity game-changer!

Now as I write, I don't have to worry about catching everything. Flowtica will always pick up the slack. One feature I found especially interesting is something Flowtica calls FlowMark. If someone says something important, you press a button on the pen to create a marker. The idea is that the AI pays extra attention to those moments when it builds your summary later.

There's also a feature called Snap It, which lets you photograph notebook pages or whiteboards so the AI can combine your handwritten notes with the transcript.

What surprised me most

As a journalist, I spend a surprising amount of time juggling three things at once. I'm listening in briefing calls or interviews, asking follow-up questions and writing — all while trying not to forget what someone just said.

Even with years of experience, it's easy to miss a quote or lose track of an important point. I've experimented with AI transcription apps before, but they usually require pulling out another device, opening another app or remembering to hit Record before a conversation starts.

A pen feels...normal. No one thinks twice when you take notes with a pen. Of course, I always let them the person in front of me know when I'm recording — something most have come to expect from a journalist anyway.

But what surprised me most about this unique pen is how little I had to actually think about the technology at all. As someone who has become so used to AI demanding my attention, I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to just tap the button on the side to get started.

Because instead of changing your workflow, Flotica AI adapts to a workflow that's existed for decades.

Where Flotica really impressed me

The obvious audience for this product is people who spend their days in meetings. I also think this would be great for college students who don't want to miss anything during lectures. But the more I use the pen, the more use cases came to mind.

In fact, I now keep it with me whereever I go. With 32GB onboard storage that stores approximately 4,000 hours of audio and a built-in studio-grade MEMS microphone for recording conversations while I write, it's a no-brainer.

One thing to note, unlike similar AI notetakers, no special paper is required. I use it on my own notebook or journal.

Charging is easy and the battery life is incredible. Flowtica AI offers up to 30 hours of continuous recording on a single charge and up to to 100 hours of recording with the optional charging case. Standby time is up to 5,600 hours — that's a whopping 233 days. The charging cable, included, uses USB-C.

The speaker recognition is incredible. It can capture up to 15 speakers in a room, but to be fully transparent, I didn't try it with that many since I work remotely. But it did pick up my voice from about ten feet away. The company promises it works up to 16.4 feet (5 meters).

It also labels people by name after they've been introduced once, which is great for keeping track of who said what in a meeting — even in a conversation between two or three.

The app works on iOS and Android and users get unlimited recording with no subscription required. That's the tier I used, which has been plenty. There is a paid plan, which unlocks even more AI features.

What I didn't like

I think Flowtica is great for many reasons, but it also frustrated me on occassion. For instance, sometimes the pen would stop pairing or syncing recordings. I usually solved this by clicking the pen on and off again and doing the same to my phone. That did the trick, but took time.

The summary accuracy was also something I think the company really needs to improve. The summary was often too short and some details were missed completely at times. Sometimes the Bluetooth pairing would drop off, but for the most it worked as it should and the transcript quality seemed up to par.

The takeaway

Anyone who regularly fills notebooks with pages they'll probably never revisit should check out this pen. Because AI can automatically organize those notes into something searchable and actionable, that's potentially a meaningful time saver that you never even realized you needed. I certainly didn't until now.

This has become my favorite AI note-taker yet because it is easy to use and let's me write by hand, which I don't think I could ever give up.

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• Someone created a 'Ghost Font' that humans can read but AI can't — I had to try it for myself
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Apple is expected to launch iPadOS 27 this Fall, but you can try the upcoming operating system right now via the public beta. While the OS is still a work in progress, it has most of the essential new features coming to the best iPads.

Like iOS 27 and macOS 27, iPadOS 27 is focused on overall system refinements and deeper AI integration. That last bit is especially noteworthy, as there is now a dedicated Siri AI app that functions like a standard chatbot. Beyond answering questions, Siri AI can also take actions on your behalf since it’s integrated into the operating system and works with Apple’s applications.

Though iPadOS 27 isn’t a monumental update, features like the overhauled Siri AI, the Liquid Glass slider, and other quality-of-life improvements make it worthwhile. Here are my impressions of the upcoming iPad operating system and its new features.

iPadOS 27 hands-on preview: Compatible iPads

Here are all the iPads that support iPadOS 27.

• iPad Pro (M4 and later)
• iPad Pro 12.9‑inch (4th generation and later)
• iPad Pro 11‑inch (2nd generation and later)
• iPad Air 13-inch (M2 and later)
• iPad Air 11-inch (M2, M3, and M4)
• iPad Air 11-inch (4th generation and later)
• iPad (A16)
• iPad (9th generation and later)
• iPad mini (A17 Pro)
• iPad mini (6th generation)

iPadOS 27 hands-on preview: New features

Siri AI

Apple Intelligence is finally ready for prime time on the company’s devices. Thanks to the new Siri AI app, you can now interact with Apple’s virtual assistant the same way you would with a chatbot like ChatGPT or Google Gemini. Apple Intelligence runs on both servers and your device to offer better image understanding and more.

There is now a dedicated Siri AI app, which looks and functions like a regular chatbot app. In this window, you can ask Siri questions or have it perform tasks for you. For example, I used Siri to send a message to one of my iMessage group chats, and it did so after my approval. Sure, I could have just done this directly in the group chat, but it’s a good demonstration of what the new Siri can do.

Siri AI also understands what it sees on your screen. When I had the Tom’s Guide homepage open on Google Chrome, it correctly detailed what was on the screen, including all the articles. It couldn’t open the articles or read them out loud (despite saying it could), but given that I’m testing a beta version, I’ll give it an A for effort, even if it failed to complete the task.

Siri is most useful when you’re using Apple’s own apps and programs. It can create events on your calendar, set reminders, play music, and more. For example, when you’re looking at a schedule, you’ll see an “add to calendar” button pop up. When you right-click certain folders, files, or apps, you’ll see an “Ask Siri” option at the bottom. Selecting this will open a window where you can start texting or talking with Siri.

Though Siri can’t yet interact with most third-party applications (such as those from Google), it’s a huge improvement over the old Siri.

Liquid Glass improvements

Liquid Glass hasn’t gone anywhere, as Apple is leaning more into the UI with its latest operating system updates. However, Apple is now giving you greater control over how it looks thanks to a new slider that adjusts the opacity. You can’t eliminate the Liquid Glass look, but you can severely minimize it.

There are other improvements, such as how complex background visuals now appear more diffuse so that text stands out more. You’ll also notice that the edges of icons are more pronounced to help further separate them from the background. The uniform corner radius of all app windows also helps them stand out more.

Even if Liquid Glass hasn’t gone anywhere, even detractors should find the updates tolerable since they do greatly improve overall readability and visibility. The Liquid Glass slider is a nice touch.

I've never had a problem with Liquid Glass because I think it’s an interesting visual effect. That said, I’m glad that folks can now fine-tune it to their liking. The slider is especially neat because it’s easy to use and makes it clear how much of a difference there is when you go from one extreme to the other.

Child safety features

If you’re a parent, you’ll be happy to know that Apple is expanding its parental control features with iPadOS 27. This way, you can let the kiddo use Apple’s tablet without worrying too much about the kind of content they’re watching and for how long they’re using the slate.

Some of these updates include a redesigned and more intuitive Screen Time Dashboard that offers one-tap controls and expanded safeguards. There is also Time Allowances for app categories, Ask to Browsw website approval, Communication Safety that blurs gore or violence, and one-tap access management. You can tailor these features to suit your child.

I don’t have kids but I did find the child safety features simple enough to use and customize. Given how much kids love iPads, it’s smart for Apple to continue making adjustments to these safety features.

iPadOS 27 hands-on preview: Other features

Spatial Reframing: As the name suggests, you can now reframe a photo after it’s been taken thanks to this feature. You can also expand your shots with the Extend Tool and remove objects with the Clean Up tool.

Upgraded Image Playground: Image Playground can now generate higher quality images than before. You can also modify and transform existing images by describing what you want.

Siri in Notes: Siri AI can assist with your handwritten or typed notes in the Notes app by (for example) organizing bullet points into a formatted agenda or turning handwritten lectures into a detailed study guide.

Safari updates: In Safari, tabs can now be automatically grouped by topic to make related pages easier to find. With Safari Notify Me, you can receive an alert if there’s a price change or a restock for an item you’ve been eyeing.

Describe Shortcuts: Instead of manually building complex workflows, you can now describe what you need, and Shortcuts connects actions across multiple apps to make it happen. This is useful if you want to set specific routines, such as launching a specific app when you connect a peripheral.

iPadOS 27 hands-on preview: Outlook

iPadOS 27 won’t set the world on fire with revolutionary new features, but the upgraded Siri AI and deeper Apple Intelligence integrations help make iPads that support the update more useful. This is especially true if you frequently use Apple’s own apps.

Keeping in mind that iPadOS 27 is still a work in progress, I think it’s a smart update that finally sees Apple’s AI ambitions bear fruit. Things could change between now and when the expected Fall launch, but right now, Apple has delivered on its promises for a more helpful and intuitive iPad experience.

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The public beta for macOS 27, also known as macOS Golden Gate, is here! While this update isn’t as monumental as macOS Sequoia, it delivers a slew of AI features and smoother overall performance, making the best MacBooks more personal and streamlined.

I’ve had the developer beta of macOS Golden Gate installed for a month, with the latest version close to what the public beta is offering. While the beta is still very much a work in progress, I’ve had a smooth time using it and testing out its new features.

If you’re signed into the (free) Apple beta software program, you can try the public beta of macOS Golden Gate right now. Here are my thoughts on the beta and the key features worth checking out.

macOS Golden Gate public beta hands-on: Supported Macs

The Intel era is over, as macOS Golden Gate doesn’t run on those older machines. Here is a complete list of Macs that support Golden Gate.

• MacBook Neo (2026)
• MacBook Air with Apple silicon (2020 and later)
• MacBook Pro with Apple silicon (2020 and later)
• iMac with Apple silicon (2021 and later)
• Mac mini with Apple silicon (2020 and later)
• Mac Studio with Apple silicon (2022 and later)
• Mac Pro with Apple silicon (2023 and later)

macOS Golden Gate public beta hands-on: Features

Most of macOS Golden Gate’s new features center around updated versions of Siri and Apple Intelligence. These are the ones that have stood out the most during my testing.

Siri AI

There is now a dedicated Siri AI app for macOS Golden Gate that functions similarly to chatbots like ChatGPT and Google Gemini. This app is also available on iPadOS 27 and iOS 27, and is arguably the biggest new feature for the Apple devices that support it.

You can access the Siri AI app either by clicking it in the Dock or in the Menu bar. You can also bring it up by pulling up Spotlight. Doing this brings up a dedicated chat window where you can ask Siri AI questions or just talk to it about whatever’s on your mind. Again, this functions exactly like the chatbots you’re already familiar with.

And since Siri AI is now baked into the operating system, it can do more than just chat. For example, if you’re looking at a schedule, you’ll see an “add to calendar” button appear. I’ve even had this happen when I suggest a date/time to meet with friends. When you right-click on folders, files, or apps, you’ll often see an “Ask Siri” option at the very top, where you can begin asking questions about whatever you’re highlighting.

You can even create Shortcuts by typing or speaking what you want instead of manually building complications. While I wouldn’t call this vibe coding, it can feel that way since you’re using natural language.

For those in the Apple ecosystem, Siri AI can be more useful than other chatbots because it’s integrated into the system. However, third-party integrations are still a work in progress, so Siri AI’s usability for you might be limited if you use Google apps like Gmail, since Siri AI doesn’t work with them (yet).

Liquid Glass slider

If you’re not a fan of the Liquid Glass UI, you’ll be happy to know there’s now a slider to adjust its opacity. It lets you dial the effect up or down to your liking, and I’m surprised it took this long to implement it this way.

Beyond the slider, you’ll notice that more complex background visuals appear more diffused, which improves text readability (which was a big issue for some). The edges of icons are also more pronounced, so they stand out more from the background. All app windows now have a uniform corner radius to help them pop out as well.

I've never had a problem with Liquid Glass because I think it’s an interesting visual effect. That said, I’m glad that folks can now fine-tune it to their liking. The slider is especially neat because it’s easy to use and makes it clear how much of a difference there is when you go from one extreme to the other.

Spatial Reframing

Spatial Reframing isn’t exclusive to macOS Golden Gate, but since the Reframe tool stole the show at WWDC, it’s a feature worth spotlighting if you take a lot of photos.

As its name suggests, Reframe lets you reframe existing photos and adjust the perspective to your liking. This can be especially handy if you need to take photos in a hurry, as you can come back to them later to fix them.

After you select Reframe in the new Tools option in Photos’ editing mode, Apple Intelligence scans the photo you’ve selected. After that, you can pull your finger across the touchpad to change the perspective. Sliders on the side also give you more precise control over the angle, orientation, or size. When you’re done, the AI shifts things around to fill in any blanks.

This isn’t a feature I use often since I like photos in their original form, even if they’re not perfect. That said, I can’t knock the results, as Reframe does an excellent job of living up to its name. And to be fair, the changes made don’t radically alter the image — you just get a better version of what you’ve already snapped.

macOS Golden Gate public beta hands-on: Outlook

Apple Intelligence didn’t live up to the hype after it was first announced, but it’s now living up to its potential on Macs and the other Apple devices it can run on. If you’re a big AI user already, then macOS Golden Gate could arguably be a significant update. I imagine Siri AI will only improve between now and the OS’ expected fall launch.

Other features such as the more customizable Liquid Glass UI and Spatial Reframing might not be monumental game-changers, but they’re nice additions regardless. Apple also said there’s improved performance on devices using the upcoming operating systems, but during my time with macOS Golden Gate, I haven’t seen any noticeable improvements or hiccups on that front.

Apple’s new operating systems are still being worked on, so things could change before the official launch. I’ll have a full review for you then, but based on my experience with macOS Golden Gate, I’ll say that the new features are a step in the right direction.

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After struggling through a recent sleep-killing heatwave, I've finally managed to get my hands on the CoolNest Memory Foam Mattress, now $399.99 (was $699.99) at SweetNight in the 4th of July sales. The CoolNest Mattress is designed to add cooling comfort to your sleep set-up — but does it deliver on its promise?

The best mattresses on the market typically have some degree of cooling features, as overheating stops you from falling asleep. The CoolNest takes things up a level. A dedicated cooling model, it uses an airflow-boosting cooling cover and heat-dissipating Phase Change Material (PCM) to guarantee a bed that's 8°F cooler than standard memory foam mattresses.

But as mattresses don't always live up to their hefty promises, I decided to give the SweetNight CoolNest Mattress a try ahead of the 4th of July mattress sales (and another heatwave). While a full review is coming soon, here is my first impression of the SweetNight CoolNest Mattress.

Easy to set up

Like the best mattresses in a box, the CoolNest is shipped compressed, rolled up, and wrapped in plastic. This shipping method means the CoolNest needs to be unboxed, unwrapped, and left to expand.

I unboxed the CoolNest with a fellow mattress tester (unboxing a mattress tends to be a two-person job) and we were pleasantly surprised how easy it was to set up. We had previously unboxed a bulky hybrid mattress, so the all-foam CoolNest was a dream in comparison. There was minimal off-gassing, too.

As for the expansion time, there's little to worry about — it was ready in hours. Fresh from the box it did look slightly squished (especially at the corners) and I worried we'd be waiting a while to test it. Plus, SweetNight writes on their website that it takes its mattresses 72 hours to fully expand.

However, the CoolNest Mattress seemed to plump up to its full size within hours of unboxing, and the brand says their beds are safe to sleep on within 6 hours of opening.

Immediately cool to the touch

Now for what you came for — the CoolNest's cooling properties. Straight from the box I felt the mattress's cover, and the CoolNest was immediately cool to the touch. We unboxed the CoolNest in the same lab as the Plank Firm Luxe, and all I can say is that the Plank's cover felt like a radiator compared to the CoolNest.

It's all well and good for a mattress to feel cool on first touch, but what's the CoolNest like after it's soaked up your body warmth? During our temperature regulation tests, I lay on the CoolNest for 15 minutes. That's ample time for it to warm up but not once did I feel heat building beneath me.

The CoolNest's cooling performance is no surprise, as it uses the heat-dissipating materials found in some of the best cooling mattresses on the market. PCM, for example, is used in the Bear Elite Hybrid Mattress (our favorite cooling mattress) and has been proven to lower skin temperature and improve human heat dissipation up to 25.6% (compared to conventional mattresses).

Ideal for side and back sleeping

My fellow mattress tester (Ruth Jones) and I have different sleep needs and sleep in different positions, so we both tried out the CoolNext to compare thoughts.

I'm a side and back sleeper, and I felt the most comfortable on the SweetNight in these positions. While it isn't the plushest or most cushioning mattress (there's no pillow top), it still hugged my pressure points when side sleeping to distribute weight and prevent soreness. I also felt my hips and spine were properly aligned when sleeping on my back, to reduce tension.

Ruth, who is a stomach sleeper through and through, didn't feel comfortable on her front (her hips dipped into the surface). But she loved sleeping on the mattress in the back and side sleeping positions.

My thoughts on the SweetNight CoolNest mattress so far

Overall, my first impression of the SweetNight Cooling Mattress is that of a mattress that outperforms its budget price tag. It provides the temperature regulation of the best luxury mattresses, using state-of-the-art cooling tech to dissipate heat for a refreshing feel.

As for comfort and support, it has the classic body-hugging feel of the best memory foam mattresses, providing great comfort for side sleepers and support for back sleepers — even if stomach sleepers will need something firmer.

I've been excited to get my hands-on the Plank Firm Luxe mattress, now from just $745 at Plank in the 4th of July sales, ever since I tested the original Plank. The all-foam Plank impressed me with its extra firm feel and incredible support — this hybrid upgrade promises all that and more.

I've slept on some of the best mattresses for every sleep style, but firm beds are always my winner. It's no wonder I was full or praise in my Plank Firm mattress review, as extra firm support was the stand-out feature. So far, the Plank Firm Luxe lives up to its predecessor and adds a bouncy, luxury finish.

I'll be writing a full review shortly. so keep an eye out for updates. But with the 4th of July mattress sales underway (and 30% off the Plank, FYI) I wanted to share my initial thoughts for all the firm mattress lovers. Here's my experience of both sides of the Plank Firm Luxe mattress so far — yes, it's a double-sided bed.

Set up is a strain on the back

Our mattress photographer is always yelling at me to lift with my knees and if he saw me handle the Plank Firm Luxe, he probably would have fainted.

This mattress is incredibly heavy and even with the help of my dad, getting a queen size up the stairs put strain on every muscle in my body. It was also difficult to remove the multiple layers of plastic wrap but that was largely because I was already exhausted.

The good news is that once your mattress is unboxed, it's pretty much ready to sleep on — and you'll appreciate the lie down after maneuvering the thing.

Normally, I can dismiss a difficult unboxing process. After all, mattresses in a box are never going to be light and once they're out of the packaging, the job is done.

However, the Plank Firm Luxe is a double-sided mattress, which means you don't just unbox it and leave it. Every so often you're going to want to flip this bed to enjoy the other side. By myself, I simply can't do it. That means either missing out on one half of the bed, or begging the Tom's Guide fitness team for advice on building your 'mattress flipping' muscles.

The firm feel delivers incredible support to ease back pains

Unboxing the Plank Firm Luxe might have done a number on my back but the mattress itself is great at soothing aches and pains. The firm feel keeps your whole body lifted — whichever of the dual sides you're sleeping on — to reduce strain on your spine.

As a front sleeper, I'm used to beds causing tension in my lower back (this unusual sleep position works against the natural curve of the spine.) However, the Plank Firm Luxe lifts everything from my shoulder down, holding me in comfortable alignment. That's the kind of feature I look for in all the best mattresses for stomach sleepers.

But that's the experience that earned the original Plank Firm a place among the best mattresses for back pain. What makes the Luxe worth the upgrade?

Like our favorite hybrid mattresses, the Plank Firm Luxe uses springs and foam to create a bouncier, more responsive feel. I tend to move from side to side in the night (at least, according to my sleep tracker) and this quick response time ensures I receive continual support for every part of the body.

While the original Plank mattress wasn't bad in this respect, it did have a deadened feel that offered less targeted support.

It's a surprisingly luxurious firm mattress

The Plank Firm Luxe doesn't look as indulgent as, say, the Westin Heavenly Bed. However, dress the Plank Luxe in your best bed sheets and you'll believe you're sleeping on a luxury mattress.

This is an area where the Luxe distinguishes itself from the all-foam original. The addition of coils not only adds height (increased mattress thickness is a hallmark of premium beds) but also provides a more traditional feel that brings to mind designs like the Saatva Classic and the Stearns and Foster Estate mattress.

While the best memory foam mattresses can be luxurious, the firm build of the original Plank feels like a high quality necessity, rather than an indulgence. The Plank Firm Luxe adds that finishing touch to elevate the sleep space and make climbing into bed a treat.

My thoughts on the Plank Firm Luxe mattress so far

I'll be writing my full review of the Plank Firm Luxe mattress soon but so far, I'm impressed. It's a worthy upgrade to the Plank Firm (a mattress I loved).

The addition of springs feel like more than just a gimmick (or a way to hike up the price). They provide luxury and responsive support without sacrificing the super-firm feel that makes Plank beds stand out in the first place. But they also add weight and I'm curious to see how often I can work up the nerve to flip this bed during the review period.

And while the motion isolation and the edge support looked good during our Sleep Lab tests, I want to see how they hold up in real life circumstances. The Plank original also had a slight problem with overheating and early tests indicate the Luxe hasn't quite sorted the issue.

However, while it might be early days, I think we have a new contender for the top spot in our guide to the best firm mattresses.

Whenever I get the chance to test out the best gaming laptops, my first port of call is to actually game as a form of benchmarking. For years, Control has long been one of my go-to titles, but that will quickly change once Control Resonant arrives on PC.

Horrifying, bleak and messy — not exactly "positive" words to use for developer Remedy Entertainment's upcoming action-heavy sequel, but I mean these in the most endearing way possible from what I saw when playing Control Resonant on an RTX 5090 gaming PC during a three-hour hands-on session.

Fighting off hordes of The Hiss (the main threat in the game) is thrillingly horrifying with their grotesquely detailed forms, the bleak atmosphere of a warped Manhattan is enthralling and the mind-bending, twisted environments you get to explore are satisfyingly messy. If you thought The Oldest House in Control was a trip, just wait for what Control Resonant has to offer.

With Nvidia's RTX 50-series GPUs lending their power, though, with DLSS turned on and ray tracing set to high, Remedy's follow-up had me immersed. From the expert use of lighting in a chaotic world to the smooth, fast-paced combat, I already see Control Resonant being an all-new PC gaming benchmark.

You can check our Control Resonant preview for how the game plays and our interview with Remedy Entertainment's Creative Director for more on what is now one of my most highly anticipated games of the year. But for how it handles on PC, let's dive in.

Control Resonant PC requirements

While I played Control Resonant on a monster of a gaming PC (the RTX 5090 says it all), I was assured by the team at Remedy Entertainment that PCs that don't reach those heights, like many of the more affordable best gaming PCs, will be able to play the game without trouble.

Take a look at the system requirements for Control Resonant below, along with the PC specs I played on. Spoiler alert: you will need a lot of storage.

Brimming with power

First, a few preliminary points. As with most previews, this isn't the final version of Control Resonant. Not only is lighting and framerate still being worked on, but also audio mixing, hit impacts and more. This is still very much in beta, but honestly, from the time I had playing through the opening act and a mid-game area called The Sinkhole (it's a masterpiece), it's already looking to be in good shape.

I can imagine a lot of that has to do with the RTX 5090 working behind the scenes. With DLSS upscaling (no frame generation) and DLSS Ray Reconstruction (for sharper reflections and accurate lighting), zipping and levitating through a disfigured Manhattan as the all-powerful Dylan Faden (our up-close-and-personal protagonist) was a treat for the eyes.

And that was with graphics and ray tracing presets set to high, only made better by the 4K (3840 x 2160) resolution I was playing on. From the many twisted forms of The Hiss shown in terrifying detail to the deep contrast of red hues streaking across the screen, along with the subtle yet clear reflections in windows of buildings turned upside down, it's all beautifully crafted — and I often found myself taking it all in.

After leaving The Oldest House after the opening act, I was impressed by the visual distortion effect beaming off cars, with The Hiss floating in midair endlessly in the background. That, along with blaring, dangerous red lighting reflecting off the pavement. For those stationary moments, it all hits right.

In combat, with Remedy changing pace from a third-person shooter to pure melee action, things can get chaotic, but unsurprisingly, this rig could handle it all. As in, the copious amounts of rubble Dylan hurls at enemies while quickly dashing to slash through them using his Aberrant weapon (I chose the sword-like Flurry form as my weapon of choice), while the almost faded rainbow oil mist blasts off foes as he hits them.

It's smooth, clean action, which is what you'd want in a fast-moving action game. It's the little nuances, like the aftereffect of dashing being so crystal clear, like a sleek afterimage of static video, that make it work.

Now, I wasn't able to see frame rates or tinker with different settings, as it appeared the game was locked at a rock-solid 60 frames per second (FPS) for beta purposes. But even with the mass of Hiss shooting red beams from every direction during The Sinkhole section, along with the gravity-bending environment Dylan can shift through, it's clear Control Resonant will be taking full advantage of what Nvidia's GPUs have to offer.

And I'm here for it.

Reaching a new PC benchmark

While Remedy is still polishing off Control Resonant, especially the PC version, we can expect plenty of RTX features to be fully on show (just like path tracing in Resident Evil Requiem). That includes DLSS 4.5 and its dynamic multi-frame gen tech (expect frame rates to hit over 200 FPS), DLSS Super Resolution and path tracing for photorealistic lighting, no less.

That's exciting, considering just how well it already looks, and there's still plenty of time for the team at Remedy to cook. During my session, I had a chat with Lead Gameplay Designer Sergey Mohov, and he explained how there's now more to play around with.

"We weren't limited by hardware in terms of gameplay. It's very helpful that computers and consoles these days can actually run games like this, and we're able to put all of these enemies on screen, all of these effects and make it look nice while feeling very satisfying to kill them all.

"The hardest thing was actually making the world, making it bigger and increasing draw distances. But we've invested in improving our in-house engine (Northlight Engine) to handle these things. But, you know, we've done it."

I believe Mohov is spot on, taking the improvements we saw in Alan Wake 2 and pushing it even further. Of course, just like how Control is now available on iOS, there's the aim for Resonant to be flexible enough to be played on, well, anything that isn't just an RTX 5090 while still delivering great visuals and performance.

"We have a lot of people who are really excited about putting all the latest tech in. Nvidia is helping out, and we'll have all the latest Nvidia stuff in [Control Resonant]. So that's going to be pretty cool. But if somebody can run Control on, like, a potato or a fridge, I'll be pretty happy."

Control Resonant is set to launch on September 24, available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, macOS and cloud streaming via Nvidia GeForce Now. But just from my brief experience, it will be a PC purchase for me.

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When you know players like Virgil Van Dijk swear by recovery tech, you tend to take note, so when I heard he uses the Hyperice x Nike Hyperboot as part of his warm-up and recovery routine before and after games, I wanted to test these sought-after recovery boots for myself.

Of course, it's a Hyperice and Nike collab, so the boots look darn good. But are they really as great as I've been told? I wanted to find out.

Recently, I've been exploring the best massage guns and alternative recovery tools in a bid to ramp up my recovery routine after weightlifting, Pilates, and yoga. I just couldn't say no to this opportunity, and I've already clocked a few things I like and dislike along the way.

Here are three reasons I'm hooked, and two areas I think could use improvement.

What are the Hyperice x Nike Hyperboots?

Like the famous Hyperice Normatec sleeves, the recovery Hyperboots combine heat and compression to boost recovery and reduce soreness; Liverpool FC and Netherlands player Virgil Van Dijk is a huge fan and ambassador.

Using a boot design, the recovery tech can effectively target the ankles, feet and Achilles tendons, helping to improve range of motion, warm the joints and muscles before exercise and aid soreness and recovery post-game or training session.

The Nike x Hyperice Hyperboot is available globally and retails for $799/ £699, including a USB charging cable.

I did a little digging into research on heat application for recovery, as the surge in recovery trends like saunas, contrast therapy, infrared sauna blankets and heat pads continues to gain traction for exercise recovery and boosting athletic performance.

Multiple studies, like this one on local heat therapy, show that heat application can improve blood flow to the area, increasing vasodilation and reducing the onset of Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness, or DOMS, and stiffness.

There's also research showing the benefits of compression, which can mitigate both muscle strength and power decline following exercise-induced muscle fatigue. This can be the case for trained and untrained people; in this piece of research, trained individuals benefited most, making it a promising tool for recovery, particularly when paired with heat therapy.

And what's more, these tools are becoming more accessible for at-home use, although it'll cost you. Here's what I think so far after testing the Nike x Hyperice Hyperboots.

Like 1: They're powerful

These Hyperboots don't mess around. There are three settings to choose from on the sides of the boots, allowing you to tailor the heat and compression to your personal preferences. All you have to do is hit play once you've chosen your settings.

On full whack, I had to reduce the heat because it was so strong, which isn't a bad thing, as I find some heat therapy devices can be tepid, but be warned that they come in hot. I recommend starting on just one bar, then moving up from there.

The compression was also great, covering my feet, ankles and lower leg up to roughly half of my shins and calves. I'm impressed by the coverage and the bang for your buck.

Like 2: They look good and they're easy to use

I had no doubts that any Nike and Hyperice collab would produce a good-looking product, and the Hyperice x Nike Hyperboots don't disappoint. They look a bit like moon boots, but they're super easy to put on and secure, and I personally love the design: chic, understated and a little bit soccer-boot-esque.

I also loved that I could walk about if I needed to, unlike compression leg sleeves, where you're rooted to one spot for the duration of the compression therapy. They're also quite flexible and attach with a wraparound Velcro strap, so you can get in and out easily enough with very little fuss.

Like 3: I can feel them working in real time

Not only is it a relaxing form of recovery, but my ankles feel less stiff after running and the heat is definitely improving the overall range of motion. Plus, it's super relaxing and my ankles and feet feel better prepped for yoga sessions and weightlifting.

I like the versatility of the boots as well, as I can slip them on before or after training, or even as a relaxing bedtime routine at night while I'm winding down (and not scrolling on my phone, promise).

On cooler days, I can see the attraction of getting heat delivered directly to your joints and muscles, helping speed up the warm-up and recovery processes. After all, we never want to approach exercise without warming the joints and muscles first.

Whether or not I will notice any long-term improvements is yet to be seen, and I'll update you once I've been testing for longer. But for short-term effectiveness, I'm loving the Hyperboots so far and the benefits are immediate.

Dislike 1: Heat strength

It's not exactly a dislike, but I found the highest heat setting to be incredibly intense and I didn't have much warning that the Hyperboot heat could be so powerful. I'd rather be looking at too much heat so I can reduce it than not enough, but I just encourage anyone trying them for the first time to be mindful of the setting options, as, combined with the compression, that heat is pressing directly into your lower limbs.

Dislike 2: Sizing

I'm a UK size 3 foot and found the boots hard to secure close to my feet. That said, the compression was still strong enough for me on the highest setting, so it didn't matter too much.

I suggest taking note of the sizing options, which range from S (UK size 5) to XXL (UK size 15). I could have done with a little extra compression around the mid and forefoot, as I'm a fan of intense sports massages and love nothing more than feeling the pressure release along my arches, but this is a minor gripe for an otherwise pretty powerful recovery product, making it well worth the price tag, in my opinion.

Verdict

All in all, I'm so impressed by the Hyperboots and I can see why even the most elite soccer players are using them. Powerful compression, even more powerful heat therapy, and you've got yourself a wonder boot that is quick, easy and effective, whether you're on the go, competing at a high level, or just sitting at home (like me) needing some TLC.

Follow Tom's Guide fitness on Instagram for more workouts, routines, tips, and tricks.

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So, as the smart glasses guy on the Tom’s Guide team, my main beef has always been with the Nintendo Switch just making things awkward with its video out on the USB-C connector.

With literally any other gaming handheld, it’s a seamless dream — plug your AR glasses in, and see the picture in front of your eyes. The Switch (and Switch 2) requires jumping through hoops of tricking your console into thinking it's in docked mode to bypass the complicated encryption.

Well, when I tested Xreal Aura some more here at AWE 2026, the team literally mentioned in a passing conversation that they’d cracked Switch compatibility in Android XR. Before they could say another word about local AI, I stopped the talk in its tracks and asked for a demo.

And hot dang, they did the thing! Not only is there full Switch support over USB-C, but with no real noticeable latency, and you can use Gemini to ask questions about the games you’re playing!

Fixing the problem with brute force

So the problem is one of compatibility and protocols (boring, I know). 99% of the market uses DisplayPort Alt Mode through that USB-C socket, which natively supports just plugging the glasses straight in. Meanwhile, Nintendo is using Mobility DisplayPort (MyDP) — a standard that was typically used with micro-USB ports back in the day. Why? God knows.

For years now, the fix has been something like the Viture Switch Dock: trick the Switch into thinking it’s in docked mode via a big battery pack to keep it alive at higher wattages and simulate an HDMI connection.

And now, a simple USB-C connection into the Aura’s compute puck does the trick… “HOW!?” I excitedly asked Qualcomm’s team, to which they couldn’t help but chuckle and give me cheeky grins.

Truth is, they can’t tell me exactly how they did it, so all I can do is theorize. You’ve got a strong, open, and versatile development platform like Android XR, paired with a monster spatial computing chip in Snapdragon Reality Elite. I think it’s not too much of a stretch to assume that this high-performance chip is able to transcode that signal in real-time in a well-written Android XR app.

What does it feel like to play?

One common issue with this workaround for the current Switch docks for AR glasses is latency. It’s not terrible, but it can be noticeable in faster titles. None of that exists here, and in my time playing Zelda, it all felt nicely responsive.

On top of that, given it’s a floating window within Android XR, there’s the Gemini Live edge too! Fire it up, look at your screen, and ask away — Gemini was quick to let me know where to go next in the forest.

That is a real value-unlocker vs going to GameFAQs for the answer I need to get ahead in my gameplay whenever I’m stuck.

Take that, Nintendo!

Yes, I know the Switch 2 is great and everything, but this whole USB-C compatibility issue is a pet peeve I’ve been super vocal about for a long time now! Whether it’s so that Nintendo can make its own AR glasses, I don’t know. But the fact that I can’t save myself from neck pain playing the damn thing on long-haul flights seems crazy to me when it’s literally the easier (and better) standard to support.

However, with some brute force of Snapdragon Reality Elite and some coding know-how in Android XR, that’s no longer a problem, and not only that, it’s latency-free compared to the other workarounds we’ve seen.

Low key, this is the biggest winning feature I’ve seen for Xreal Aura. I know there’s so much more to talk about here in what Android XR can do in an optical see-through (OST) environment vs a VR headset, and Gemini’s capabilities in spatial computing. But to 1-UP Nintendo’s limitations? You just love to see it.

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It’s looking inevitable that a foldable iPhone Ultra is coming later this year. Looking at what the iOS 27 beta code reveals, Apple’s teeing us up for a new form factor.

So, while I was in Shenzen, I nipped into a Huawei store and went hands-on with the Pura X Max… You know the one, right? That one everybody reported was a close match to the leaks of the fabled foldable iPhone.

And…well…all I can say is while the smaller, stubbier foldable is definitely a little more pocketable, it reminds me of one of my Dad’s life lessons that resonated with me: “just because something looks different doesn't mean it’s better."

The screen aspect ratio feels off here in both that small cover screen and trying to type on the keyboard folded open, the lack of verticality can be felt in productivity, and I just hope the rumors are wrong.

Weird dimensions

Now to be clear, this isn’t a diss of the phone hardware fundamentals. This is a premium sandwich of metal and glass that feels impressively upmarket — using a wide-format panel that when unfolded packs a 7.7-inch diagonal screen.

On first impressions of holding it in the hand, you’ve got a nice solid grip around it’s shorter stature. But then, you start to use it, and things fall apart quickly. Not to say it’s a bad experience, but in my own personal experience, I noticed three key issues.

First, that front panel lacks height to really get stuff done on. Your messages timeline gets drastically cut down and the screen becomes like 65% keyboard when you summon it.

Second, I unfolded it for the full keyboard and I can see some struggles reaching the keys in the middle near the crease with shorter thumbs and that wider display aspect ratio. And third, the lack of verticality does hit the Pura Max’s productivity credentials here.

Yes, I know we already have sorta similar passport-style foldable like the Pixel 10 Pro Fold, but this is shorter and fatter. Already with Google’s option, I thought this felt weird, so to go even harder in this direction doesn’t help the situation!

In between a rock and a hard place

You know the feeling (I know it all too well). It doesn’t matter which path your take, someone is always going to get annoyed. That is the situation foldable phones find themselves in right now.

Thanks to Samsung being in this game for years now, the world expects a tall phone with an inner panel that’s closer to a square in aspect ratio. It’s the form factor I personally prefer for browsing/getting stuff done, but will fully admit it’s not good for entertainment (especially watching letter-boxed films).

Meanwhile, if this iPhone Fold wannabe is indeed a sign of what’s to come, Apple’s device will more effectively nail the entertainment side of it, but not be so great for getting stuff done on.

The point I’m trying to make is there isn’t really such a thing as a “right answer” to this question — at least not yet anyway. It’s going to come down to personal preference, and for me, I prefer to keep my fingers crossed that what I just handled was not an early glimpse of the iPhone Ultra.

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I currently have a seven-month-old who is remarkably clingy. There are times when I’m the only one around to watch (and hold) him, which makes typing a very awkward and clumsy affair. While I generally try to avoid using speech-to-text if I can help it, the tool is just about the only way I can stay slightly productive during certain periods of dad time. The big problem is that the words often come out in such a jumbled mess that the extended editing process needed to make it legible defeats the point.

Apple hopes to fix a lot of those problems with the release of iOS 27 and the upgraded version of Apple Intelligence. The most advanced AI models Apple has feature a new and improved dictation feature that is exclusive to iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air. Apple claims that this new system will let you “speak naturally and trust the words will appear clearly, accurately and as intended.“

So to test this claim, I’m writing this entire article with dictation software. Part of it will be dictated on an iPhone 17 Pro Max running the first iOS 27 developer beta, but I will be comparing to a couple of alternatives. Specifically, an iPhone 17 Pro running iOS 26 and a Google Pixel 10 Pro running Android 16 with Google's speech-to-text feature.

What dictation feels like in iOS 27 developer beta 1

I’m currently only a few paragraphs into this article, and it is clear that dictation on iOS 27 developer beta is far from perfect.

The entire process of initiating speech-to-text is relatively simple. You need to make sure dictation is switched on in iOS's keyboard settings and make sure that the Apple keyboard is open in your app of choice. Once there, all you need to do is tap the microphone button in the bottom right-hand corner of the keyboard. This enables dictation mode, which transforms your spoken words into digital text regardless of the app you are using. I've used it in a Word document, Apple Notes, and even to craft text messages that are sent to my friends and family.

The most obvious issue is one that is commonly shared across all dictation software I've used. The actual formatting of your text after it’s been “typed out” is impossible to do using your voice on its own.

Apple's dictation software does understand basic punctuation such as periods, commas and quotation marks, but it struggles with other things. Something as simple as hitting return on a keyboard and starting a brand-new paragraph isn't actually doable without tapping your screen.

Perhaps there's some kind of special command I could have used that actually lets me add a page break, and not see the word "return" appear on my screen. But if it exists, I couldn't figure out what it was. "Page break" didn't work either, for whatever that's worth.

Another issue is the fact that Apple promised its improved dictation software would be able to automatically punctuate your speech as it’s converted into text. Apple’s press release specifically mentions capitalization, punctuation and formatting, but my experience with the developer beta so far is that this implementation of this is remarkably inconsistent.

If I had let Apple software have its way, the previous two paragraphs would’ve been one big, long block of text with only a single period in the middle. It’s almost as though iOS 27 just didn’t think that my continuing spiel needed to have text breaks and other grammatical flourishes that actually make it possible to read.

Likely, this is simply a by-product of the fact that I am running beta software rather than the final version of Apple's improved systemwide dictation, so here’s hoping that future updates improve this before iOS 27 is released to the general public

Another point of note is that my iPhone does seem to struggle to understand my accent at times. I wouldn’t say that I have a particularly strong accent, but there are some cases where the dictation software doesn’t fully understand what I'm saying. Often this is as innocent as "improved" for "improve," but there was at least one instance where it decided that "one-handed" was actually 100.

While that is a little bit funny, I hope this is down to the fact that this is beta software that isn’t finalized yet, along with the fact that Siri probably doesn’t have the best grasp of my own personal voice right now.

How does it compare to dictation on iOS 26?

This next section was written with an iPhone 17 Pro running iOS 26.5.1 to get a general feel of how Apple’s dictation software appears to have changed between different versions of iOS. The old Apple dictation software has a reputation for being kinda crappy, which is why iOS 27's AI overhaul is supposed to be making such sweeping changes to speech-to-text on iPhones.

It's important to mention that the older dictation software isn't being ditched with the release of iOS 27 later this year. Apple has confirmed that systemwide dictation is one of two features that is only available on iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max and iPhone Air. So iPhone 17 and older will still use the less advanced dictation software.

The first thing I noticed is that the actual dictation is slightly slower than what is available with the iOS 27 beta. There is a noticeable lag between saying words and having them appear on screen. It's subtle, and there isn't an enormous difference a lot of the time, but there's an extra jerkyness to the way the text appears on screen when you're dictating using iOS 26.

I have also noticed iOS 26 seems to make more mistakes, some of which get corrected by the software and others that do not. One prominent example I spotted while dictating this was seeing "iOS 27's AI" written down as "iOS 20 7AI". It’s almost as though the speech to text software isn’t quite sure of what I’m saying, so it ends up second-guessing itself at various points.

At the same time, it certainly feels a little bit less refined with the kind of mistakes that are actually being made and the way the dictation software interprets what it thinks I'm saying. Not to mention the fact that it ends up picking up various filler words (erms and arrs) and translates them into real words like "where." There were also occasions where it struggled with homophones, and mistook words "whether" and "write" for "weather" and "right."

Overall it certainly feels like Apple has made a bunch of significant improvements to dictation in iOS 27 in terms of speed, accuracy and general understanding of what the user is actually saying.

What about Google's dictation?

One thing I should add is that Google actually updated its own dictation software with Gemini support less than a month ago. For that reason, it feels as though this version of Google speech to text is a little bit more polished than what I remember using in the past. It's not remarkably different, but some of the automatic formatting features are a little bit more refined than I remember.

Google says that Gemini will be able to remove those dreaded filler words automatically, while also adapting for any mid-sentence corrections you make. Sadly, I'm not having a great deal of luck with the latter. The dictation software knows to skip over the various uhs and ars that I subconsciously make while talking, but it was still picking up other filler words and seemed incapable of correcting those mid-sentence mistakes.

Even as I speak to write this sentence, it's incorrectly formatted a sentence by adding a period and starting a brand new sentence when it wasn't required. So clearly some work needs to be done to get this working correctly

I should point out that iOS 27's speech to text did not pick up any random filler words either, but iOS 26 was very fond of including them. From a performance standpoint, it seems that Android and iOS 27 beta are at a similar level when it comes to understanding what I say — though Apple's automatic formatting currently isn't nearly as impressive as Apple's announcement would have you believe,

You do have to remember that the current version of speech to text in Google keyboard is the finalized public version of the software, which isn't the case with the iOS 27 developer beta. So, by its very nature, there are obviously going to be some discrepancies in iOS 27's performance. We will have to see how much things have changed later this year, once iOS 27 is released to the masses.

As a side note, I noticed that Google keyboard tends to switch off the dictation mode far faster than Apple does. So if you don't continually speak, or stop a little too long to think, you run the risk of having to tap the microphone button multiple times to say what needs to be said. Apple's dictation did automatically switch off eventually, but there is a much longer grace period before it decides that you're finished talking.

Bottom line

Back to iOS 27's dictation to finish things off and it’s clear that Apple has made some pretty noticeable improvements to its dictation software compared to what iOS 26 has accomplished. It’s generally faster, more accurate and easier to use. That said, it's far from perfect and it certainly isn’t going to convince me to ditch typing any time soon. The fact is the system is still very inaccurate and the automatic formatting feels almost non-existent, which means I have to spend a bunch of time editing to produce a coherent article.

Admittedly Google's dictation does have a lot of those same issues, and that isn’t even beta software. The honest truth is that free dictation software from Apple and Google is only really useful in quite small doses. When it comes to writing hundreds of words, in large blocks of text like this, its usefulness is hampered by the mounting inaccuracies and formatting issues that inevitably need correcting. Or, at least, they do if you want to produce something legible and readworthy.

To top it all off, in my case, a bunch of things I've said don't really translate to the page in the same way as typing on a keyboard. A bunch of sections of this article have had rewrites, either because the sentences themselves didn't quite work or because I needed to straight-up rewrite whole paragraphs.

Apple has made some significant improvements already, that much is clear, but it's going to be interesting to see how much changes as iOS 27 moves through the various pre-release stages of beta testing. That includes getting a better handle on what my voice is like, and with potential improvements to the actual dictation software. Regardless, I still have a hard time picturing a future where text-to-speech can fully replace typing or writing. Certainly not for me.

If you're interested in seeing just how much this article changed during the editing process, you can check out the original, unedited transcript right here.

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I'm a restless person, but as someone who exercises often for both personal gains and my job, I also know I need proper recovery, which means active or passive rest (sometimes against my will).

Recently, I've been exploring the best massage guns and alternative recovery tools in a bid to make what can feel mundane for some a little more exciting, when I got the chance to test the Bon Charge Red Light Therapy blanket elite soccer players trust for boosting recovery and sleep.

In fact, British Premier League soccer club Fulham FC have made Bon Charge a key player in the team's recovery process, which convinced me I needed to try it for myself. And given it has been described as a "cozy sleeping bag," I really couldn't say no as I watched the rain pouring down outside in the middle of June.

The question is: Does this red light therapy blanket actually work? I just found out. Here are three reasons I am already utterly hooked.

What is the Bon Charge Red Light Therapy Blanket?

The therapy blanket delivers high-powered red light therapy to your entire body, primarily promoting muscle relaxation, reduced inflammation, better sleep and skin appearance, exercise recovery and boosted energy. Bon Charge makes it clear that this is not an infrared blanket, which is more focused on heating the body.

Bon Charge uses lab-grade red light therapy in the form of two mats that can be used by two people or zipped together to create something similar to a sleeping bag you'd camp with, although this version is far more high-tech. It features high-powered red light LEDs designed to penetrate the body to promote restoration.

If the numbers interest you, the brand uses 660nm red light and 850bm near-infrared light, which, according to Bon Charge, "are the most studied and therapeutic frequencies of red and near-infrared light."

While it's not cheap — the red light therapy blanket retails at $1,999 — you do get a lot of bang for your buck given the quality of the blanket itself and the red light therapy you receive. Each purchase also comes with a user manual, adapters, protective goggles, controllers and a power cord.

You can use the controller to adjust light intensity and timer settings, plus there's a pulse mode that allows for deeper penetration of the light.

Unable to resist, I did a little digging into the research on red light therapy, which indicates there's some emerging solid evidence for skin rejuvenation, collagen production and complexion.

A 2025 meta-analysis published in Sports Health looked at 14 randomized controlled trials examining the effects on high-level soccer and volleyball players, focusing on muscle strength, muscle endurance and biochemical markers of muscle damage.

Researchers found red light therapy didn't really help athletes produce more force (a marker of strength), whereas volleyball players who received therapy before exercise could complete more reps, indicating potential muscle endurance gains. For soccer players, the endurance results were mixed.

When looking at muscle damage, soccer players who had red light therapy indicated less muscle breakdown, whereas volleyball players' results were more mixed. This could mean it's helpful for sports that include high levels of running and eccentric contraction.

Another meta-analysis found evidence to support pre-exercise red light therapy for recovery. It concluded "Significantly improved muscle endurance" while also aiding the recovery of muscle strength and injury markers.

It's worth mentioning that the FDA hasn't evaluated the statements made by Bon Charge about the benefits of the product, and it isn't intended to diagnose, treat, or cure.

3 reasons I'm already hooked on the Bon Charge Red Light Therapy Blanket

Here’s what went down when I cocooned myself in a recovery blanket.

1. It's super warm and cozy

I basically posted myself into this thing like a letter in an envelope, and I was surprised by just how warm and cozy it was. I'd give it a few minutes to warm up if you're trying yours on a cooler day, but there's definitely some heat to the blanket.

That said, it won't get you sweating or burning calories (that's not the point), and it shouldn't be used in place of an Infrared sauna blanket if that's what you're looking for.

10/10 for feeling like I could snooze all afternoon, and the timer gives you generous options so you can stay there for as long as you like. Personally, I find my mind wanders too quickly and I get bored, so I put a mindfulness exercise on YouTube, which helped me relax.

After 45 minutes, I felt like I'd been cuddled and genuinely felt sleepy and tension-free.

2. The pulse mode is my favorite feature

The blanket has a few preset settings you can flick through, and I'm still figuring these out, but I found pulse mode to be super relaxing. If you've ever had Reiki, it's a very similar sensation, but if you haven't, the best way I can describe it is like a gentle tugging at random points on your body, not unlike a very gentle electric shock.

It was quite invigorating and relaxing at the same time, but whether or not it would make a huge difference to results in the long-term is up for debate.

3. It felt powerful

Sometimes I find recovery technology a bit faddy, and you see a lot of products come and go in my job. This red light therapy blanket feels like it's really having an impact on my body, especially my ability to relax.

The light looks and feels strong because it is strong, and it's high quality. I advise your goggles for this reason. And it definitely feels like the light is penetrating the skin and warming your body without cooking you.

I didn’t feel much different physically after a few goes (I plan to report back on muscle recovery and long-term skin appearance), but mentally, I felt calmer and slower, which I liked. I also felt a little energized.

For a first hands-on, I'm super impressed, and I'll be reporting down the line to see how red light therapy impacts recovery and wellbeing as part of my routine going forward.

Follow Tom's Guide fitness on Instagram for more workouts, routines, tips, and tricks.

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The USGA is making some big moves for its GHIN app in 2026, so I recently paid golf's governing body a visit at the absolutely stunning Winged Foot Golf Club to try out the new features, and I was absolutely blown away (by the course and the app).

To me, the coolest change is the new Rules AI feature, which is essentially like ChatGPT for golf rules. But there's also a whole new layout coming to the app, along with a boatload of new features designed to make keeping score and entering your post-round results more streamlined.

Do the best golf apps like Arccos, 18Birdies, and GolfShot need to be worried about the GHIN app replacing them? Time will tell, but the USGA is moving in the right direction towards making its app more useful than just a way to input your scores for your handicap.

Rules AI is exactly what you want it to be

When I arrived at Winged Foot, I had already tried the beta of GHIN's new layout and was impressed, but at the end of the day, it took its relatively barebones scoring app and brought it up to par with competitors like 18 Birdies, The Grint and the other big players in the space. And getting users who already pay for a subscription to those apps to switch will be an uphill climb, no matter how much the USGA shines up its interface.

“Our goal has always been to ensure the Rules are accessible and that golfers can find the information they need to play the game fairly, enjoyably and with confidence,” said USGA CEO Mike Whan.

“By combining our expansive historical data with modern AI technology, we are providing a bridge between tradition and innovation. Rules AI is designed to continue making the Rules of Golf easier to navigate and meet golfers where they are—on the course and on their mobile devices.”

But then they told me about Rules AI, and my entire perception of the situation changed. You mean to tell me that not only is the arbiter of golf rules building a more robust scorekeeping app, but the USGA is also making an AI you can ask rules questions to while on the course? That should put the other apps on notice.

Maybe I'm just an overly excited golfer and tech enthusiast who gets excited about something new.

That's what I thought before I tried it. Once I actually asked it a rules question and received a perfect response that explained the rule and how to deal with the rule, I was truly sold.

I asked what if my ball lands on "Frankenstein's fat foot" as an ode to Shooter McGavin in Happy Gilmore, but it didn't like that question, saying it will only answer questions about golf. So I asked without the Happy reference and got a quick, rules-accurate answer.

The full answer is in the screenshot above, but the summary is that you can move the ball and where to move it depends on the situation.

Which means the rule in "Happy Gilmore" is inaccurate. But it's also a movie, so I suppose it doesn't need to follow the USGA rules to the letter.

App redesign

As mentioned, the actual reason we went to Winged Foot was to see the redesigned GHIN app, which is expected to be made available to the public in late summer of 2026.

It's a lot more streamlined than the original app, with heat maps showing green slopes and improved distances to bunkers and other hazards on the course.

These features exist in other apps, but what makes their coming to GHIN exciting is that in 2025, 2.91 million people posted a score in GHIN. That means they're already using the GHIN app to enter scores, so it seems logical that golfers could condense everything into a single app that does it all. And now that the GHIN app does it well, that could actually work.

Will it convince me to leave Arccos? Highly unlikely. After spending a round with it at Winged Foot, I like what it brings to the table, but for me, nothing will replace the insights and data Arccos offers with minimal effort on my part. Sure, GHIN lets you input how many putts you made and whether you hit the green in regulation or the fairway, but Arccos does that automatically.

Still, if you're on the fence about which golf app to use and you use GHIN for handicap data, it might be worth switching to it for all your golf needs once the update is released.

And if nothing else, you'll want to use the Rules AI feature if you plan to play any sort of competitive golf where rule questions may emerge.

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Apple spent a big chunk of WWDC 2026 talking about the new Siri AI and how Apple Intelligence is set to transform the iPhone experience with iOS 27. The company is (once again) betting heavily on AI, promising a much smarter Siri that can interact with apps and surface information buried deep inside your phone — something that the company believes will become one of the biggest reasons to upgrade to iOS 27.

The thing is, I've been using the iOS 27 beta for the past couple of days, and like many other users, I'm still stuck on the Siri AI waitlist. So while Apple wants Siri to be the star of the show, I haven't actually been able to use most of its new capabilities yet.

What I have been able to use, however, are dozens of smaller changes scattered throughout iOS 27. And after spending some time with the update, I'd argue many of these features are more exciting than Siri AI. Here are some of the small and hidden iOS 27 features that have impressed me the most so far.

Save images from videos directly

Raise your hand if you've ever recorded a video and then wanted to pull out a single frame as a photo. Until now, the usual workaround was taking a screenshot, cropping it, and then sharing it wherever you needed.

Thankfully, iOS 27 makes this much easier. While playing a video, you can tap the three-dot menu in the top-right corner and select Save Video Frame as Photo. iOS will then extract that frame and save it directly to your photo library as a standalone image in full resolution.

More control over iCloud Photos syncing

Not all of us buy iPhones with huge amounts of storage, which is why iCloud ends up being pretty important. One of the long-standing annoyances, though, is that iCloud Photos typically waits until your phone is connected to Wi-Fi and charging before it starts backing everything up.

With iOS 27, Apple is finally giving users more control. You'll now be able to force an immediate sync of your photo library to iCloud. So, for example, if you're traveling and taking lots of photos, you might want those images uploaded immediately in case your phone gets lost or stolen, or accidentally gets dropped in the pool.

And the best part is that you can enable the feature temporarily for a single day, and after that, iOS automatically reverts back to the normal syncing behavior.

View only photos taken with your iPhone

This is something iPhone users have been asking for years, and Apple is finally doing something about it in iOS 27.

Until now, the Photos app has always lumped all images in your library together, whether they came from WhatsApp, Telegram, screenshots, or others. While Apple already separates things like videos and screenshots, there was never an easy way to see only the photos you had actually taken yourself.

With iOS 27, that's finally changing. Apple has added a new section that lets you view only the photos captured using your iPhone's camera. To find it, head to the Collections tab, then Utilities, and finally Captured by Me.

Independent alarm volume controls

Android has had this for years, but Apple is finally bringing independent volume controls to the iPhone with iOS 27.

Until now, alarm volume was tied directly to your ringtone volume, which meant lowering one also affected the other. With iOS 27, you can finally set separate volume levels for alarms, ringtones, timers, and other system sounds. That means you can keep your ringtone volume relatively low while cranking up the alarm volume, or vice versa.

The Clock app now understands holidays

One small (yet useful) feature Apple added to the Clock app in iOS 27 is the ability to detect your days off. The feature uses your calendar and regional holidays to understand when you might not actually need to wake up early.

For example, if you have an alarm set for a weekday morning but the next day happens to be a public holiday, iOS can proactively ask whether you'd like to skip that alarm.

Share a phone number between two iPhones

Another interesting addition in iOS 27 is the ability to use the same phone number across two different iPhones. This should somewhat work like how an Apple Watch with cellular shares your iPhone number. Apple says you'll be able to use a single number across multiple iPhones, making it easier to switch between devices without juggling separate SIMs.

There are still a few unknowns here. It appears to be carrier-dependent, and it isn't known if there will be any additional fees involved. But if you're someone who regularly uses two iPhones at the same time, this could end up being surprisingly useful.

Voice typing is much smarter on iOS 27

Apple is also bringing a much better voice typing to the iPhone with iOS 27. Using on-device AI, the feature can better understand context, recognize complex words, and automatically remove filler words like 'umm' and 'ahh' from your speech, similar to tools like Wispr Flow.

It is worth noting, though, that the feature requires Apple's newer on-device Siri models and is currently limited to the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air.

If you own a supported iPhone, you can enable this by going to Settings > General > Keyboard, then turning on Advanced Dictation Preview.

Paste copied content faster

Another small feature I noticed in iOS 27 is that the keyboard can now surface copied text and even screenshots directly in the suggestion bar. When you copy something and switch to another app, you'll see that content appear above the keyboard for quick pasting.

Previously, this mostly worked for one-time passcodes and links, but Apple is now expanding it much more broadly.

Show more wallpaper on your Lock Screen

If you're like me and prefer seeing more of your wallpaper and less clock, iOS 27 now lets you use a smaller Lock Screen clock with the date and time displayed in a single row at the top.

It's a small change, but it helps show off more of your wallpaper. Apple has also finally made playback controls dismissible on the Lock Screen. You can now swipe them away, just like notifications, which is especially useful when streaming content from an Apple TV.

Connectivity Assist

If your Wi-Fi connection is weak or inconsistent, iOS 27 can now automatically use cellular data alongside Wi-Fi to keep things running smoothly. Apple calls this Connectivity Assist. The feature can help maintain faster and more reliable speeds, although it may increase mobile data usage. In my case, it used around 300MB in just 48 hours.

You can enable it by heading to Settings > Wi-Fi > Connectivity Assist.

Add your own passes to Apple Wallet

Apple is finally bringing one of the most requested features to the Wallet app with iOS 27: the ability to create custom passes.

The feature lets you manually add things like event tickets, memberships, and other passes directly to Apple Wallet. For example, if you have a physical ticket but no digital version, you can simply scan it with your iPhone and create a Wallet pass from it.

When creating a pass, Apple gives you a few templates to choose from, including membership and event passes. You can then customize details such as the pass name, location, admission type, membership number, and even the background design.

AirPods Pro 3 gains GymKit support

Finally, one of the most underrated additions in iOS 27, at least in my opinion, is that Apple is expanding GymKit support to the AirPods Pro 3. This means you'll now be able to connect not just your Apple Watch, but also your AirPods directly to supported gym equipment for the first time.

AirPods Pro 3 can already track your heart rate, and with this feature, just as you would tap your Apple Watch against a reader to pair it, you'll now be able to pair your earbuds with compatible cardio equipment, treadmills, ellipticals, and exercise bikes, to keep track of metrics like pace, heart rate, and more.

Bottom line

Having spent a few days with the beta, it's becoming pretty clear that iOS 27 is much more than a Siri AI update.

In fact, in addition to the features mentioned above, Apple says iOS 27 also focuses heavily on the fundamentals. The company claims things like app launches, AirDrop transfers, and general system responsiveness have all been improved.

We'll have to wait and see whether Siri AI lives up to Apple's promises. But even if it doesn't, iOS 27 already feels like a surprisingly substantial update.

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Often when it comes to kid-friendly devices, they’re covered in garish hues usually paired with branded images related to popular cartoons or characters. As kids get older and their tastes “mature,” the colorful look may be deemed “uncool.”

Something like the iClever Auraa is more on the cartoon side of things. If you, or your child, are big on looks, the Puro Sound Labs BT2200-Plus cans offer a premium aesthetic with ear-friendly technology.

As with the iClever headsets, kid (and teen)-friendly headphones must meet a few criteria to be worth letting your kids blast their ears with music or games. They have to have hearing protection built-in, be durable, and be comfortable to wear over long listening sessions.

With that in mind, I spent a few weeks with the Puro Sound Labs BT2200-Plus headphones to see if a premium aesthetic also brings high-end, safe sound. Plus some thoughts from a kid who thinks he’s already a teenager.

What makes headphones ear friendly?

The BT2200 Plus features an 85dB noise level cap. That cap is a constant loudness ceiling recommended by OSHA and the World Health Organization over an eight-hour period. Anything louder or longer and you risk permanent hearing damage.

Most manufacturers of kid-friendly headphones that feature caps will place the volume limit at around 85 dB. It does mean that the sound can feel muted, especially for those of us who've destroyed our ears by standing next to speakers at concerts. However, avoiding that destruction is the whole point.

Premium looks

Out of the box, Puro Labs is not kidding about giving it a more high-end look. Unlike the iClever set, which ships in a cloth bag, the Puro comes with a zip-up pleather semi-hard case. The case also has a little pocket for carrying accessories like the included 3.5mm cord, replacement earmuffs, a USB-C charging cable, and the instruction manual.

The headphones themselves are made of aluminum with comfortable leather ear cups and a squishy but sturdy headband. I wouldn’t describe the included cords as premium, but they aren’t awful.

Durability and battery life

Compared to more colorful headphones, which tend to use heavy plastic, the BT2200 is made of aluminum and feels far sturdier. After a month or more of use, there is no real wear and tear, and I believe it would take some serious errors to really damage these. This is with my son running around the house just wearing them without music.

As for battery life, Puro Labs lists the BT2200 as having 20 hours of battery life. I found that to be fairly accurate when using the Bluetooth mode, even with ANC mode on. Personally, I prefer my headphones wired, so I spent most of my listening using the included 3.5mm wire.

Sound quality

My daily drivers are a set of BeyerDynamic Custom One Pros (discontinued). When I switched to the BT2200, I found the sound a bit more muted in comparison. On my Custom One Pros, the sound is much brighter, with the treble standing out.

The BT2200 felt flat even when listening to podcasts and YouTube videos with more talking. However, it didn’t take long for my ears to adjust, and I found the BT2200 Plus fairly decent. Audio sits squarely in the middle range. You aren’t getting high trebles or deep bass, but it’s not so crushed that you’re losing the total sound stage when listening.

The important thing is that, as an ear-friendly headphone, the volume is capped at 85dB, meaning over long listening sessions, even at high volume, your or your child’s ears are more protected compared to headphones that can go higher.

What the kids are saying

I wasn’t alone in my testing. My seven-year-old son got plenty of time with the BT2200s on three different road trips and day-to-day use when playing Zoombinis on an iPad mini. He said they were good and is a big fan of headphones with 3.5mm cords that can plug into almost anything.

He also liked that they were smaller than the iClever Auraa headphones, which I interpreted as him saying they were more comfortable. He did have an ample amount of praise for the carrying case, a strange ode to Puro Sound Labs, since I don’t believe I ever saw him put the headphones back in the case or use it for anything.

That said, when given the choice in the last few months, he was more inclined to pick the BT2200 cans. Praise enough in my mind.

Verdict

Puro Labs offers both premium aesthetics while still providing ear safety with the volume cap. I’m not worried about hearing damage, and the sound is good enough.

So far, these headphones are durable and can stand up to rowdy kids and more careless teenagers. At $99, you want something that can hold up to the rigours of kid life, and these do.

Compared to other kid-friendly headphones, the price tag is higher and does reflect a more “adult” look and feel. But if you have a teen who needs some cans and you’re looking to protect their ears, BT2200 Plus is a good option.

When it comes to the best gaming chairs, you find they all follow the same rules — bucket seat-esque ergonomics, a sort of stiffer cushion to force a posture, and a head pillow that I always struggle to figure out how to position it just right.

Well, what if you took the full plushness and recline of a La-Z-Boy and paired it with a throne for play? You get the Cougar Arker, which is easily my favorite gaming chair of the past few years and one I can’t wait to complete my setup with when it comes out for a “targeted” price of $270.

Sleep or play? Your choice

Whenever I see a gaming chair fold completely flat, it’s always given me gimmick vibes. It’s a nice-to-have, but I’d never use it fully horizontal. The luxurious cushioning that you just fully sink into on the Arker makes that posture make sense. I could see myself totally taking a nap working while laid back on this thing.

And that Hyper-Dura leatherette upholstery did get me worried at first — thinking that my legs in shorts were going to stick to it. But no, that material doesn’t get uncomfortable, it doesn’t stick to your legs. It’s got the sensation of leather without gluing your skin down to it.

I seriously cannot understate how soft this seat truly is. No hard cushioning, this feels like a hug in chair form with well-placed arms too for a nice ergonomic posture to boot.

Kick back

Then there’s the full recline and that sneaky footrest you can pull out from beneath the chair. With it, you can fully lay back and to be honest, I was so close to napping.

Is this because I’m seriously sleep-deprived after going hard on covering Computex 2026? Maybe. Did Nvidia keep me awake much longer than anticipated with RTX Spark testing? Possibly.

But in a real-world scenario, I can see this slotting ideally under my desk — not just for working by day but playing and resting by night. Turning on some soft RGB and some LoFi to lay back and really vibe in a multi-sensory experience while I grab some Zs.

Outlook

But what shocked me most is when talking to Cougar about the chair, the price target for them is $270, which is crazy good value for money when it comes to gaming chairs. That’s especially true for something like the Arker, which the company has really found a sweet spot with for me.

For too long, I’ve been forced into different postures, and I know it’s for my health and everything, but it’s tricky for me to really get lazy on them. Turns out all your need to do is throw a lot of cushion at it and make the thing feel like your favorite couch from your childhood.

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As expected, there are plenty of monitors here at Computex 2026. Asus unveiled a bunch of new displays, including its first monitor with a Tandem OLED panel. Alienware also showcased new products, such as the Alienware 34 280Hz QD-OLED monitor, which brings some serious upgrades to one of the best gaming monitor lineups around.

That said, I've always believed there's still room for innovation in this space, and not everyone is looking for the highest refresh rates or the fastest response times. Here at Computex 2026, I came across a new monitor from a relatively young brand that does something completely different — it comes with Google TV built directly into the monitor.

This monitor is basically a smart TV

Traditionally, monitors and external displays have relied on an external input source to display anything on screen. They're essentially "dumb" displays that require a Windows PC, Mac, console, or streaming device to do anything useful. But that's not what Amzfast's new monitor is trying to do.

The company has introduced a new 27-inch 4K monitor at Computex 2026 that runs Google TV out of the box. This means that alongside working with gaming PCs and Mac devices, the monitor independently runs Google TV — which is essentially Android TV with Google's modern interface — giving it access to Android apps and the Google Play Store.

That means you can run apps like YouTube, Netflix, Disney+, and more without connecting any external hardware to this monitor. In fact, the bundled remote even includes a Live TV button that provides access to Freeplay, Google's free streaming TV channels.

In terms of the display itself, you're looking at a Fast IPS panel with 4K resolution and support for up to a 160Hz refresh rate. It includes a USB-C port with 65W Power Delivery, two HDMI 2.1 ports, and a DisplayPort for connectivity.

There are also plenty of software settings you can tweak, including the ability to boot directly into a connected device when powering on. The monitor also supports multiview, allowing you to display two sources simultaneously. In theory, that means you could have your desktop workspace on one side while streaming content through the built-in Google TV interface on the other.

The company hasn't disclosed the internal specifications yet, including what chipset is powering Google TV behind the scenes. However, during my roughly 15-minute hands-on session on the show floor, the experience felt surprisingly fluid. Apps opened quickly, navigation felt responsive, and because it runs Google TV, you'll also be able to cast directly from supported apps on your phone.

Amzfast hasn't announced pricing or availability just yet. However, given that competitors, including Asus, sell similar smart monitors for around $350, I'd expect the company to undercut that price in some way.

Representatives told me they're "trying" to bring the monitor to the U.S. market as soon as possible, although they denied to share any launch timeline. It would've been great to see this arrive before the FIFA World Cup, though.

There's another monitor from this brand worth keeping an eye on

The Google TV monitor wasn't the only display Amzfast had on show. It also showcased several new monitors, including its first move into the OLED market. Historically, the brand has relied on IPS panels to keep prices low, but that's changing with their new AMZG27P1QL.

The monitor features a 27-inch 2K OLED panel with support for up to a 280Hz refresh rate. Amzfast claims response times as low as 0.03ms, alongside HDR support, which could make this a compelling option for gamers. There's also a built-in blue light filter designed to reduce eye strain during longer gaming sessions.

Of course, being a more budget-conscious brand, it isn't packing cutting-edge technologies like Tandem OLED panels or GaN-based power supplies. That said, if you're looking for an OLED gaming monitor that focuses on the fundamentals and keeps the price within reach, this could be worth considering.

Similar to the Google TV monitor, though, Amzfast hasn't shared pricing for the OLED model just yet, but it does say it plans to launch the monitor in the U.S. later this year for under $500.

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There's no shortage of gaming handhelds here at Computex 2026. Intel unveiled Arc G3 here in Taiwan, and with it, we've seen some impressive new handhelds arrive, including MSI's Claw 8 EX AI+ and the Acer Predator Atlas 8.

The thing is, I've never really been a fan of gaming handhelds in the first place, mostly because of how big and heavy they've become. Sure, they're powerful enough to run AAA games on the go and even double as mini Windows PCs when connected to an external monitor, but the size trade-off has always felt a bit much for me — I don't really want to carry another bulky gadget in my backpack every time I travel.

That was until I checked out the Ayaneo Pocket Play here at Computex 2026. It genuinely made me rethink gaming handhelds, partly because it looks eerily similar to the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play from back in the day, and partly because it doubles as an Android phone.

Ayaneo Pocket Play is the perfect tribute to the Xperia Play

Ayaneo is no stranger to gaming handhelds. In fact, the company recently announced the NEXT 2 Windows gaming handheld, complete with a massive 9-inch OLED display and AMD's Ryzen AI Max+ 395 processor underneath. However, Ayaneo also makes Android-based gaming handhelds, and the new Pocket Play feels like a direct callback to 2011.

At first glance, the Pocket Play looks remarkably similar to the Xperia Play from 2011. It features a sliding display that moves upward to reveal physical gaming controls underneath, including a D-pad, ABXY buttons, two circular touchpads, and several customizable buttons. If you've ever used a phone with a sliding mechanism, the nostalgia hits almost instantly the moment you pick this thing up.

The display itself is a 6.8-inch OLED panel capable of reaching 165Hz, although it does come with fairly noticeable bezels around the sides.

Coming back to the design, the top section houses the L and R shoulder triggers, which naturally become accessible once the display slides upward. The handheld itself feels fairly lightweight, which should help during longer gaming sessions. That said, I did find the build quality a little flimsy.

The unit I tested came in the Origin Gray finish, which looked great but picked up fingerprints and smudges almost immediately. Ayaneo also plans to offer the Pocket Play in Deep Space Black, Stellar Silver White, and Crimson Red.

Powering everything is MediaTek's Dimensity 9300 chipset paired with the Arm Immortalis-G720 GPU. It's not the newest flagship silicon anymore, but it's still more than capable of handling modern Android games.

During my brief hands-on time, the device had no trouble running games at high frame rates, although I did notice it warming up after extended play sessions.

On the software side, the Pocket Play runs Android 15 with Ayaneo's custom software layered on top. One of the customizable buttons can be mapped to launch the company's gaming hub, making it easy to jump between games, while another button gives you access to performance settings.

As for the rest of the specs, you're looking at a 5,000mAh battery with fast charging support. It's also being positioned as a smartphone, which means Ayaneo has included a dual-camera setup on the back consisting of a 50MP primary sensor and a 16MP ultra-wide camera. That said, I'm not exactly holding my breath when it comes to camera performance.

The Ayaneo Pocket Play doesn't seem designed to replace your dedicated Windows gaming handheld. Instead, this feels like a device built specifically for retro gaming enthusiasts and people who miss the days of phones like the Xperia Play.

As for pricing and availability, things are still a bit unclear. The Pocket Play originally launched through Kickstarter earlier this year, but shipments were reportedly paused because of delays. We've reached out to Ayaneo for updated information on both pricing and availability, and we'll update our coverage once we hear back.

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Eight laptops are launching with Nvidia RTX Spark inside at Computex 2026, and the Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra is easily one of the best — so beautifully designed it almost makes Spark feel like a side character.

Gunning for the 16-inch MacBook Pro, Microsoft doesn’t miss with a seriously luxurious build, great I/O for pros, fantastic ergonomics (including a breakthrough touchpad) and a mesmerizing display.

And you’ve seen what it will be able to do from all the RTX Spark testing I’ve done. This will not be a cheap laptop with that chip inside, so Microsoft has rolled out the red carpet in utilitarian aesthetics. Let me tell you about it.

Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra: Specs

A seriously good looker (and worker)

Make no mistake about it — the Surface Laptop Ultra is built different. On the face of it, this is a Surface Laptop if it started bulking for a few months. But once you get into the details, you realize it’s so much more than that.

It starts with a beefy utilitarian presence atop any desk. This is a hefty machine, but those premium materials and the added bulk makes this feel ready to power through any task you throw at it — just like a MacBook Pro does.

The similarities also extend to the port selection, but chalk this up as a win for the Ultra with its additional USB-A for wider support. They keyboard feels gorgeous to type on, which is something that Microsoft has really excelled in in the past — giving you a nice tactility to every key press that makes it feel intentful.

But the real star of the show on that bottom deck is the 30% larger haptic touchpad. It’s an absolute ocean with a smooth gliding surface, with every click giving me those same snappy sensations I love from the MacBook Pro’s trackpad. But as an addition here is the haptics that actually communicate back to you.

Built directly into Windows 11, you’ll feel small hints of feedback as you do key things like snap apps to sides of the screen. On top of that, the company is working with key developers to give you those same sensations in third party apps like moving your cursor over clips in a video timeline.

It’s a feeling that when returning to my MacBook Pro, I felt like something was missing! Top it all off with that gorgeously color-accurate and smooth PixelSense display up top that can get seriously bright, and you’ve got a nice-looking beast that’s ready for anything.

Monstrous performance

Speaking of ready for anything, that’s where I get to the fun stuff inside. You’ve seen a lot of the software stuff it will be able to do from the Microsoft Build announcements — in short, expect a lot of agentic AI features to take advantage of that RTX Spark chip.

And as you saw in my testing of Spark itself, there’s a lot to be had here from the massive local models changing the dynamic of how you interact with a computer from it being a tool you lays idle when you’re not using it, to an active assistant machine.

But let’s compare apples and oranges and put it up against the MacBook Pro workload. You want your laptop to get the pro stuff done speedily both on and off the charger. After flying around the most dense Unreal Engine map while connected and disconnected, that’s easily proven true. There’s also tie-ins with Adobe to use much more of that built-in RTX 5070-level GPU and turboboost creator tasks beyond levels I’d seen in equivalent Apple laptops.

But the real killer app for me is the ability to use the same laptop to work by day and play by night. Alan Wake 2 is built natively for Arm and can run at 1600p resolution with ray tracing and DLSS 4.5 ray reconstruction at buttery smooth frame rates. Even games that are not built for this architecture like Pragmata go through the Prism emulator layer and play smoothly too. And yes, both of these were on and off the charger too!

The big unanswered question here is power efficiency, which could be affected by that emulation layer. Speaking to Nvidia, they’re not giving anything away, but did give me a cheeky smile when I started talking about what all-day battery life really means. We could be in for something special here.

Outlook

Ignoring the larger USB-C port mystery (my theory is it’s a magnetic breakaway USB-C socket that replaces the missing Surface Connect), what you’re left with here is a phenomenal laptop that feels powerful.

The aesthetics are clean, the ergonomics are fantastic, the display is mesmerizing and the power under the hood is awesome! Of course, there’s a big question on price, which rumors here at Computex point to a starting cost of $3,000.

This is definitely for the pros who know how to make the most of that power, and no longer is the MacBook Pro the default option at this price. A new player has come to town.

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In a surprising twist, Ubisoft is resurrecting one of its beloved iconic characters with Rayman Legends Retold. As you might have guessed from the name, this is indeed a remake of the 2013 title, featuring a new 2.5D art style, an expanded story with voice acting, and hours of bonus content. This might not be a brand-new Rayman game, but I’ll take it.

I recently went hands-on with Rayman Legends Retold to see what it has in store. During my session, I played through some of the introductory levels and even checked out some of the new segments. If you’ve played the original, it's like an enhanced version of what you loved. If you’re new to the game or series, this will feel like a brand-new 2026 title.

Anyone who is a fan of Rayman games or challenging platformers with a quirky art style is in for a treat when Rayman Legends Retold releases on October 1. Here are my initial impressions.

Rayman Legends Retold: What’s new?

Ubisoft has remade Rayman Legends Retold from the ground up on the Frostbite Engine—the same one The Division games run on. Instead of adopting a realistic art style, Legends Retold retains the bright, colorful, and whimsical look of the original, now rendered in 3D. It makes for a visually interesting game, though I’m still partial to the original’s cartoonish style.

All the levels you remember from the original are here, along with many others. One interesting thing is that all the levels are interconnected, making the world feel more cohesive. Don’t expect a full-on open world experience, however.

Speaking of new content, Rayman Legends Retold features several levels where you ride on the back of a dragon. These on-rail segments are reminiscent of Star Fox or Panzer Dragoon and nicely complement the core sidescrolling gameplay. I miss on-rail shooters, so I’m glad Ubisoft added these to the game.

Lastly, you get an expanded story featuring a new villain and a whole new endgame sequence. On top of that, all the main characters are fully voiced, which is definitely a nice touch. The next sections alone make the $39 asking price all the sweeter.

Rayman Legends Retold: Hands-on

It has been over 13 years since I played Rayman Legends, so Retold was effectively a new experience for me during my play session. As I said up top, I played some of the intro levels, which covered the basics. Some areas were locked off since it was a demo, but what I played gave me a good idea of what Ubisoft Montpellier sought to accomplish with this remake.

If you’re familiar with sidescrollers (and who isn’t?), then you’ll feel at home here. Making Rayman jump over gaps, punch and kick enemies, swing on vines, and more all feel incredibly smooth and responsive. Even if the game runs on a completely different engine, it remains true to the original's mechanics. Exploration is also satisfying, and I often went off the beaten path to try to nab collectibles.

The on-rails sections were a nice highlight and truly make this remake different from its predecessor. While riding the dragon, you can shoot a barrage of fireballs in quick succession or hold the fire button longer to unleash a more powerful attack. The latter is especially useful for destroying tough obstacles like walls. There are also obstacles to avoid, so using the left and right roll buttons is crucial.

I didn't get to experience this during my session, but you can play the entire game with up to four players via couch co-op. While that's commendable given how few couch co-op games exist these days, it's disappointing that there is no online co-op.

Rayman Legends Retold: Outlook

The only negative thing I can say about Rayman Legends Retold is that we have to wait so long for it. October can’t get here soon! But the wait will be worth it, as this should be a fun game for both veterans and newcomers alike.

And as I said before, Rayman Legends Retold only costs 40 bucks, so there’s no reason not to give it a shot if you need a game to bring a smile to your face. Keep this one on your radar, because it's certainly on mine!

Rayman Legends Retold releases on October 1 for the PS5, Switch 2, and Xbox Series/X.

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So, to start my thoughts on testing Nvidia RTX Spark laptops, some context is needed.

My daily driver is the M5 MacBook Pro for its lightning fast performance and power efficiency to be just as fast on and off the charger, but I have to carry a Steam Deck for the gaming side of it. Enter RTX Spark, and that compromise is gone.

With Microsoft in tow, working in lockstep to rebuild Windows 11 for Nvidia's agentic vision for the future of computing, these are going to be some truly mighty notebooks that may very well revolutionize the Windows laptop and truly stand on their own as the future of computing.

But even if you’re not interested in the AI features, Nvidia has created the silicon that actually can kill the MacBook. No joke. Let me explain.

Nvidia RTX Spark: Adobe Premiere Pro boost

Nvidia worked closely with key creative app developers to ensure serious speed increases with that on-board GPU. Adobe Premiere Pro is 2x faster in key tasks that you can automate with AI, like cutting down massive clips. Meanwhile, in Unreal Engine 5, a massive cityscape of trillions of polygons can be loaded and moved around with ease.

And even better? All of this can be done both while plugged in unplugged. That crucial MacBook Pro advantage is no longer limited to Apple’s notebooks.

With these big specs (128GB RAM in this economy!?) these particular variants will be limited to only the absolute pro creators, but it’s not too far of a stretch of the imagination to see lower-end versions of these chips being more than enough for putting your projects together.

Nvidia RTX Spark: Gaming

This is the main weakness of any MacBook. Don’t get me wrong, they do offer game support, and apps like GameHub can navigate the compatibility issues and give you some form of PC gaming. But none of it compares to a DLSS-armed RTX Spark system.

Whether it’s Arm-native games like Alan Wake 2 taking full advantage of DLSS 4.5 ray reconstruction for some eye-catching visuals, or games that are being emulated like Pragmata, you’re getting a buttery smooth experience across the board. Nvidia wouldn’t show us FPS numbers, so based on eyeing it, I saw both these games in excess of 100 FPS on these laptop screens (which I assume are 120Hz).

The questions I don’t have answers to yet are how much that emulation harms performance (if at all), and whether battery life is impacted. But based on early impressions, these are laptops you can work on and play on.

Nvidia RTX Spark: Going agentic

Let’s get into Team Green’s mission to “reinvent the PC” to begin with. I got to try out some demos of some of its agentic features.

First, there was a mutli-device OpenClaw situation of talking to your computer. This was done on a DGX Spark mini PC, but given the silicon is practically identical to RTX Spark (just that the latter is optimized for Windows), you can do this too. And the idea of your computer being something that you can work with from anywhere no matter what device came into view.

From complex things like coding a website landing page to simpler things like translating a menu and picking the right dish with low salt if you have high blood pressure, the long memory context that can be saved and loaded into the massive memory on tap here is significant.

Second, there was the multi-app pipeline of getting something done. I got to recreate the demo from the keynote where a griffin was AI generated in Photoshop based on a sketch, turned into a 3D model and animated via ComfyUI (the visual way of connecting AI models together).

The speed was seriously impressive, though you did see the limitations of the current local AI models, where the legs would disappear in what I assume was some hallucination madness.

Then came the developer side of things. I won’t go into the vibecoding bit of it (I don’t really agree this is the way to create sites and apps), but what I will talk about is the system taking agentic control of the website. The last time I tested something agentic on a web browser was Opera’s Browser Operator, which would take a screenshot and then send it to an LLM in the cloud to devise the next move.

All happening securely on the system, the speed difference is night and day — tearing through a site and filling in a form in mere seconds. This is a glimpse of what telling your laptop to just do something can be.

And yes, the bird creation turned into video definitely screams AI slop, but the principle is there. You can imagine the natural language prompts with an image to tweak the colors and contrast, or turning your pencilled ideas into something that can inspire a real-life idea.

Also, shout-out to the tweaks being made to Windows 11 too! Attaching the taskbar to the side of the monitor is a revelation to getting it out of the way and focusing on your work.

The Nvidia RTX Spark laptops are seriously good

Then there’s the laptops themselves. I won’t spend too much time talking about them here, as I want to rank them in a future piece (spoiler alert: that Asus ProArt P14 is calling to me). But to match that expected high price, there are some seriously sleek hardware options coming.

One thing you’ll notice is that these are very familiar shells with maybe a tweak for cooling here and there. This lines up well with what Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang told me about wanting users to “go on the journey at your own pace” when it comes to the agentic side of things. So to completely flip the laptop build would probably terrify some folks.

For the 2-in-1 crowd, the MSI Prestige N16 Flip AI+ is a seriously nice system, Microsoft’s Surface Laptop Ultra is a luxurious device, HP’s Omnibook 14X has an amazing keyboard, and the Dell XPS 16 Creator Edition gives you a nice upmarket feel. These partners have truly pulled out all the stops to provide some primo shells for Nvidia’s silicon.

RTX Spark outlook

I was speaking with our video producer extraordinaire Paul Antill in an uber around Taipei, and he asked about whether RTX Spark could beat the MacBook. To me, that question is always a bit of a poison pill, but one that is fair — every tech news outlet is guilty of saying “this laptop is good, but it’s not quite as good as the MacBook.”

But now, finally, after years and years of waiting for an Apple killer, Nvidia has stepped up and done the damned thing. AI slop laptop potential aside (lapslop?), this is a phenomenal chip that delivers big on making an extremely powerful machine both on and off the charger with serious power efficiency, while also being a peak gaming machine, too.

More from Tom's Guide

• I spoke to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang about RTX Spark — he is ‘willing to work’ on an RTX gaming handheld, N2X and N3X are already planned and the chip is 'more like R2D2’ than a laptop CPU
• I gamed for 250 hours on AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE — it’s a $549 nightmare for Nvidia’s RTX 5060 Ti
• I just tested the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ — it leaves ROG Xbox Ally in the dust with breakthrough Intel Arc G3 power

Asus went all-in on OLED monitors at Computex 2026, and we got our first hands-on look at some of them.

Over the past few years, the company has tried to make OLED the default choice, whether you're a competitive esports player or someone building a work-and-gaming setup. Asus wanted to cast the widest net possible, and mostly to great effect.

I spent a good chunk of my time checking out Asus' gaming monitors at Computex 2026, but I found only one worth spending my time with. Read on to find out what it was!

The 32-inch ROG Swift OLED is everything you'd want from a flagship monitor

I've seen a lot of OLED gaming monitors over the past couple of years, and at this point, it's honestly difficult to get excited about yet another 32-inch 4K OLED display. But Asus' ROG Swift OLED PG32UCWM (yes, the name is a mouthful) brings a few genuinely interesting upgrades.

As expected, you're looking at a 32-inch 4K OLED panel. The monitor uses Tandem RGB Stripe OLED technology. The Tandem OLED part means there's a dual-layer OLED stack designed to improve brightness, while the RGB Stripe pixel structure means the underlying panel ditches the traditional white sub-pixel entirely and relies solely on red, green, and blue sub-pixels.

The result, Asus says, is noticeably sharper text, which has long been one of the biggest complaints about such monitors, along with better color reproduction compared to previous OLED generations. Asus even had a digital microscope connected to the display to show the sub-pixel layout.

The monitor runs natively at 4K and 240Hz, but it can also switch into a Full HD mode capable of reaching 480Hz. As you'd expect, it also supports Dolby Vision, while Asus claims a response time of just 0.03ms. Connectivity is equally impressive, with DisplayPort 2.1 offering full 80 Gbps bandwidth, alongside HDMI 2.1 and USB-C with 90W PD.

One of the more interesting details wasn't the display itself but the internals powering it. The rear of the monitor still carries the usual ROG industrial design language, but Asus has also integrated GaN-based power delivery technology into the monitor's power system.

According to the company, using GaN improves power efficiency and reduces heat generation, which is increasingly important when driving a tandem OLED panel at such high resolutions and refresh rates.

Asus also confirmed that a 27-inch version is coming later this year. Unfortunately, the company still isn't talking about pricing just yet.

This 540Hz OLED monitor is where things get interesting

Another arguably more interesting monitor from a technology perspective was the ROG Strix OLED XG259QWPG Ace. Asus is calling it the world's first OLED esports monitor, and honestly, there is a pretty good reason for that claim.

Until now, most 500Hz+ monitors have relied on LCD technology (TN or IPS panels). Asus is taking a different approach by using a Tandem WOLED panel in the ROG Strix OLED XG259QWPG Ace. As you'd expect, the move to Tandem OLED brings a number of benefits, including up to 15% higher peak brightness, 25% larger color volume, and up to 60% longer OLED lifespan compared to previous-generation WOLED panels.

The monitor itself features a 24.5-inch display and can reach an eye-watering 540Hz refresh rate with a 0.02ms response time. It's pretty clear that this monitor is aimed at professional esports players and competitive gamers. Asus is also using its GaN tech here to help improve efficiency and keep temperatures under control.

The company has even added measurement markings directly onto the stand and base, allowing players to consistently position the monitor exactly how they like it, something professional esports players will probably appreciate more than anyone else.

I also got to see the ROG Strix OLED XG259QWPG Ace side by side with a traditional high-refresh-rate gaming monitor that wasn't OLED, and the difference was immediately noticeable. The OLED panel delivered noticeably better color reproduction, especially when viewed from off angles.

Outlook

Computex is always packed with monitors, gaming gear, and other ridiculous hardware. And with the event now officially underway, there's still plenty more weird and wonderful tech to check out.

I'll be spending the next few days getting hands-on with even more peripherals and displays to find the coolest gadgets at Computex 2026, so stay tuned!

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• I just tried the new Alienware 34 280Hz QD-OLED — and my favorite gaming monitor is better than ever

Windows gaming handhelds got a shot in the arm with Intel Arc G3 silicon, and I got to test the Acer Predator Atlas 8 sporting this chip. It’s a solid piece of kit (and I’ll go into it more later), but what surprised me most is what I got to play on it.

As you probably already know, I got to test the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ behind closed doors here at Computex 2026. With a lot of events like this, you get shown demos in controlled environments with specific games to make the handheld look good.

Well, over with Acer, the one game MSI told us not to play was on show: my favorite of the year so far in Forza Horizon 6.

And after playing it, I’m honestly baffled why MSI's handlers didn’t let us get into it, because it’s a real showcase of how much of a breakthrough the Arc G3 really is.

By the numbers

On the face of it, I can see why MSI may not have wanted us to play Horizon 6 — it supports XeSS 2.1 rather than the full-blown third-generation version with multi-frame generation. But even with that, I managed to squeeze a surprising amount of graphical prowess out of this system.

At 1200p resolution with no ray tracing, the game can run at 66 FPS on the charger and 45 FPS when you reduce the wattage from the plug socket. I played for about 20 minutes off the charger and saw the total battery capacity drop by 5% during that time, which shows impressive power efficiency.

Then I decided to go a bit wild with it, turn the graphics settings up to ultra, turn on ray tracing, and XeSS (because I’m not a madman). Even with this, I was getting 42 FPS, and with the 8-inch display squishing this game down, there was no visible ghosting, and in gameplay, I felt no latency.

A (mostly) great handheld

Acer’s always been on the periphery of the handheld space, usually dominated by Asus, MSI, and Lenovo.

But with the Atlas 8, this feels like a real coming-to-power moment for them because it is a sturdy system with decent ergonomics, a nice, bright screen, adjustable triggers that can be either one-press or full analog, and good cooling with that world-first metal fan in a portable like this.

That being said, I do give the edge to the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ for snappier buttons (Acer’s D-pad and face buttons feel a bit mushy) and ergonomics, as the Claw has better-defined handgrips that fit the hand better and have a grippy texture.

All this aside, though, the Predator Atlas 8 will have its audience as another great handheld to get. The adjustable triggers do make this a versatile handheld that can be adjusted to any particular play style.

Throw in the Arc G3, and you’re onto a surefire winner. The question now, of course, is price. Acer (just like MSI) is a little hesitant to talk about cost, given the whole RAMageddon thing happening right now. But I’m hoping that, given Acer has always been the value-for-money brand, they can do something good here.

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We’ve already seen a ton of new handheld gaming PCs here at Computex 2026 but, instead of going that route, Asus has decided to commemorate the 20th anniversary of its Republic of Gamers (ROG) subbrand with a special edition of the ROG Xbox Ally X.

Dubbed the ROG Xbox Ally X20, this new device uses (mostly) the same hardware as last year’s Xbox-themed handheld. You still get the powerful performance of AMD’s Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme chip with 24GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD. While not technically an entirely new device, Asus has made some fundamental changes under the hood and has also given the handheld a regal makeover with hints of gold throughout its design.

Asus definitely could have stopped there and called it a day. However, given the recent launch of its new ROG XREAL R1 AR glasses, the company decided to give them the same ROG 20th anniversary treatment too. They’re the same glasses more or less but since they’re intended to be used alongside the ROG Xbox Ally X20, they won’t ship with Asus’ ROG Control Dock.

After going hands-on with the new ROG Xbox Ally X20 and ROG Xreal R1 Edition 20 here in Taipei, I’m quite impressed by how all the little changes Asus made to its handheld make for an even better experience. However, are they enough to justify a bundle that will likely cost a hefty sum once it releases later this year? Find out in my full hands-on review.

Asus ROG Xbox Ally X20 specs

Fit for an anniversary

Just like Microsoft did with its 20th anniversary Xbox Controller, Asus has also given the ROG Xbox Ally X20 a transparent front shell. It looks even better in person and when seeing it side by side with the original Xbox Ally X, this small tweak really makes the upgraded handheld stand out. If that wasn’t enough though, the View, Command Center, Menu and Library buttons now feature gold accents.

In another nod to the Xbox brand, the Xbox button to the left of ROG Xbox Ally X20’s side buttons now lights up green too. Within Asus’ Armory Crate software, you can also tweak its brightness and lighting effects as well. Seeing the Xbox button pulse green was especially cool while trying out the new handheld.

On the top edge of the ROG Xbox Ally X20, you still get two USB-C ports — one USB 4 one and one USB 3.2 one — along with a power button and a 3.5mm headphone jack. If you look closely though, you might notice an extra cooling vent between the main two on the left and right side. Asus reworked the cooling for the ROG Xbox Ally X20 to improve airflow which is why we now have four instead of three vents like on the Xbox Ally X.

Around back is where the ROG 20th Anniversary design changes are the most apparent on the Xbox Ally X20. In addition to a gold badge underneath the right fan, the diagonal line with “Republic of Gamers” written out is now gold too with the letters in a vibrant red. The top half of the back panel is transparent too which lets you see how Asus went to the extra trouble of making the ROG Xbox Ally X20’s fans and heatsink gold too.

Besides these aesthetic changes, the handheld’s grips are now wrapped in a grippy, rubber-like plastic too just like on the Xbox Elite Series 2 Controller. This is another one of those small but very noticeable differences with the Xbox Ally X20. The upgraded handheld felt even better to hold in my hands, speaking of which…..

Upgrades you can feel

As I’ve mentioned, small but noticeable improvements with a touch of gold throughout seems to be the big theme of the ROG Xbox Ally X20. This is also the case with the handheld’s bumpers and triggers.

Asus actually moved the position of the bumper buttons on the device’s motherboard to make them easier and more comfortable to press. While they used to sit on the top edge, they’re now positioned diagonally on the left and right side of the motherboard. This is a small change I know, but having tested the bumpers on both the Xbox Ally X and the ROG Xbox Ally X20 side by side, this tweak is noticeable.

The shape and feel of the ROG Xbox Ally X20’s ABXY buttons are different too and they now feature a slightly more rounded profile. As you might have guessed, this is another nod back to the Xbox controller. One area where Asus is pushing ahead of Xbox though is with the joysticks on this handheld.

Although a lot of people kept asking about Hall Effect joysticks coming to its handhelds, Asus wasn’t quite happy with the tradeoffs that would come with adopting them. So instead, the company went with TMR joysticks on the ROG Xbox Ally X20. In my testing, they were incredibly smooth and responsive which makes me hope this will become the norm with PC gaming handhelds going forward.

Now you might have realized I skipped over the microSD card slot before when discussing the ports on the back of the ROG Xbox Ally X20. Well, that was intentional. You see, this is actually a microSD Express card slot like the one found on the Nintendo Switch 2. While you can upgrade the handheld’s internal storage, if you don’t want to open it up, you can always pop in a microSD Express card to get some more storage space and thanks to its faster speeds, you shouldn’t have any trouble playing even more demanding games off of it.

Transforming with a twist

Now this next upgrade is one that both fighting game and Xbox 360 fans will instantly appreciate. While a 4-way d-pad is perfect for platformers and retro games, it isn’t ideal for 2D fighting titles like Street Fighter. With the ROG Xbox Ally X20, Asus said why not both. So just like on the wireless controller that was released quite late in the Xbox 360 era, this handheld also has a transforming d-pad.

To switch between the two modes, you just pinch both sides of the d-pad, pull up and give it a quick turn. This lets you go from a 4-way to an 8-way d-pad that feels almost identical to the one on the Xbox Series controller in the best way possible.

In case you pull up but don’t quite turn the d-pad all the way, you won’t be able to press it down at all which lets you know you did something wrong. Likewise, the d-pad spins all the way around, so you aren’t stuck going in one direction or the other.

The OLED we’ve been waiting for

Back when my colleague Jason England wrote his ROG Xbox Ally X review, one of his biggest gripes was that it didn’t have an OLED display. Well, Asus must have been listening as the ROG Xbox Ally X20 does and it’s a full-featured one at that. The handheld’s OLED features HDR 1000, comes equipped with VRR thanks to AMD FreeSync Premium Pro and can reach a max peak brightness of 1,400 Nits.

While we’ll have to get one into our testing lab to see for sure, in person, I noticed a stark difference between the brightness of the Xbox Ally X and the ROG Xbox Ally X20 with the two handhelds next to each other. When playing Control and Chronos: The New Dawn, the blacks were quite deep and the colors really popped. However, it wasn’t until I saw the driving game Assetto Corsa running on two devices side by side — one with HDR on and one with it off — that it really hit me.

Speaking of small but noticeable improvements once again, Asus actually managed to fit a larger 7.4-inch OLED screen here without increasing the overall size of the handheld. On the original Xbox Ally X, the bottom and top bezels were the same size. That isn’t the case with the ROG Xbox Ally X20 as Asus shrunk the top bezel to make room for the bigger display, making it smaller than the bezels on either side.

Personally, this was a huge improvement and quite noticeable during my hands on time with the device. For the most part when playing games on a handheld like this, you’re looking up at the top of the device and not the bottom, so the screen feels a lot larger even though the panel is still technically the same size.

Even better together

Now I know most people haven’t tried gaming while wearing a pair of the best smart glasses but if you haven’t yet, it’s an awesome experience. Instead of a 7-inch display — or 7.4-inch one here — by plugging in a single USB-C cable, you instantly get a massive, movie theater-like screen right in front of you.

Asus and I must be on the same page which is why the company plans on releasing the ROG Xbox Ally X20 in a bundle with a special edition pair of its ROG Xreal R1 smart glasses. They’re mostly the same minus the dock and like the handheld, they have some gold accents on the sides.

For those unfamiliar, using these — or any other AR glasses — with the ROG Xbox Ally X20 is about as plug and play of an experience as you can get. You just plug in the glasses on one of the top USB-C ports, put them on and you’re good to go. One cool use case a few of Asus’ staff and I discussed is wearing them while lying back in one of the best gaming chairs so you don’t run the risk of dropping a handheld on your face. I’ve played this way at home and trust me, it’s as comfortable as it is plain cool.

One neat difference here is that when you pair the ROG Xreal R1 X20 glasses with the ROG Xbox Ally X20 is that you don’t have to press the buttons on their sides to tweak picture settings. You absolutely can if you want to though. However, settings like screen size, transparency and even enabling real-time 3D conversion on the glasses are available right within Asus’ Armory Crate software.

I have to admit I stuck to making most of my adjustments on the glasses themselves as I’m quite familiar with Xreal’s AR glasses after I paired them with a portable mini PC for a truly unique setup. However, if this is your first time using them, it will probably be easier making adjustments right on the handheld itself.

This bundle won’t come cheap

Asus gave myself and the rest of the Tom’s Guide computing team a sneak peak at the ROG Xbox Ally X20 at its HQ here in Taipei, with more details likely to come at Gamescom this summer. While we don’t know the official price yet, the ROG Xbox Ally X20 and ROG Xreal R1 X20 will likely be available ahead of the holidays later this year.

The other big news we got out of Asus is that the two will come as a bundle. Given the original ROG Xbox Ally X costs $999 on its own and the ROG Xreal R1 glasses are available now for $849, I doubt this special edition bundle will cost less than $2,000. However, since you aren’t getting the ROG Control Dock with the glasses, that could bring down the price slightly.

We’ll have the full pricing and release details soon enough but after spending an afternoon with the ROG Xbox Ally X20 and the ROG Xreal R1 X20, Asus went above and beyond here for sure. Just changing the color of the handheld’s shell and some of its buttons definitely would have been enough. However, Asus’ engineers went back to the drawing board and made seemingly small but very noticeable changes to the Xbox Ally X.

Now I wouldn’t recommend rushing out to get this bundle if you already have an Xbox Ally X unless you’re a really big ROG fan. Personally though, these improvements and tweaks have me really excited for what Asus will eventually do with its followup to the Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X.

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MSI’s trend of putting works of art on its laptops continues with the Prestige 14 Flip AI+ Vincent van Gogh Edition, and it’s downright beautiful. I’m never the guy to call tech beautiful, but this is the most mesmerizing system I’ve seen at Computex 2026.

Adorned with van Gogh’s artwork on the lid, it’s a surefire conversation starter and something that will adorn any desk with pride. But I wonder how Vincent would’ve felt about being on a laptop with the word “AI+” in it? My guess is not too happy.

Still, can’t deny it’s evocative, and the fact it’s built around a Prestige 14 Flip AI+ means you’re getting quite the workhorse here too. Let me break it down.

Attention to the details

MSI’s Artisan Collection isn’t just about putting a painting onto a lid, but the intricacy of the craftsmanship too to make it both a visual and tactile work of art.

This van Gogh crossover achieves that handily with a choice between two iconic pieces: Starry Night and Starry Night Over the Rhône.

These aren’t just printed on, they’re layered on in an exhaustive process that adds a sensation to the lid that you can’t stop running your fingers over. The bold, eye catching shell colors are chosen to perfectly pair with the art you see, and the overall impact is astonishingly striking.

But this isn’t just the laptop. Since it’s a special edition, you’re getting a full van Gogh desk pad, luggage tag and custom mouse too.

More like Vincent van GO

It all starts with the guts of this machine, and at the core is an Intel Core Ultra X9 CPU and up to 64GB LPDDR5x RAM. As you’ve seen by the time I’ve spent testing Panther Lake, this is a screamer of a chip for productivity, and thanks to that powerful integrated GPU, it can handle AAA gaming like a champ too.

To show your content, you’ll see that same great 1920 x 1200 OLED touchscreen on a 360-degree hinge to turn this into your own personal canvas, and the stylus is integrated directly into the bottom of the shell.

Connectivity-wise, there’s a couple of Thunderbolt 4s, a USB-A and HDMI 2.1, alongside Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6. The keyboard has a nice tactile feel to it and sum of it all is a real workhorse and entertainment powerhouse.

Outlook

Van Gogh was a man of fierce passion and obsession with the physicality of paint. So I can’t help but feel conflicted to see his masterpieces atop a laptop that is adorned with AI branding.

Still if you ignore the AI features and the bigger question at play here, what you get is a truly beautiful laptop that has all the horsepower you need under the hood to tackle your whole workload.

But what about the price? MSI really wants me to stop asking about price, because it’s the one question nobody can really answer given how RAMageddon has put the whole computing market into a state of flux.

So let’s take a guess — given the current Prestige sells for $1,299, and this is a more powerful spec and a special edition, throw in higher RAM prices and my bet is $2,499. Brutal, but that’s the nature of the game right now.

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The Alienware 34 QD-OLED gaming monitor series has been my favorite ever since the first model launched in 2022. Now, it’s set to receive a new model later this year. While the Alienware AW3426DW isn’t a radical change from the past, it delivers meaningful upgrades for an even richer gaming experience.

Some enhancements include a higher refresh rate of 280Hz, up from the previous 240Hz. The display’s new 5-stack Penta Tandem tech helps deliver darker blacks in bright environments, higher peak brightness, and sharper text with no fringing. As before, the 34-inch curved display does an excellent job of immersing you in games.

The Alienware 34 AW3426DW has debuted at Computex, but I’m currently testing it at the office. My full review will come in due course, but for now, I want to outline the basics of what has a good shot at making our best gaming monitors list. Here’s what I think of the AW3426DW.

Alienware 34 280Hz QD-OLED hands-on: Specs

Alienware 34 280Hz QD-OLED hands-on: Display

Like previous models, the AW3426DW has an immersive 1800R curvature and a sharp 3,440 x 1,440 resolution. Yes, it’s not a 4K OLED panel, but everything looks bright and vibrant. And thanks to the cinematic 21:9 aspect ratio. If you’ll pardon the pun, it’s a sight to behold.

I tested Cyberpunk 2077 on the AW3426DW and was impressed by the rich picture quality. The greater contrast between dark and light elements is noticeable and makes colors feel more vibrant. That said, the standard picture mode isn’t as oversaturated as on other gaming monitors, which helps everything feel more realistic.

Naturally, I’ll need to test more games, and we need to run our display benchmarks to see what the AW3426DW can really do, but for now, I can say it delivers a superlative gaming experience.

Alienware 34 280Hz QD-OLED hands-on: Design

The Alienware AW3426DW has the same design as before, which I certainly won’t complain about because it’s both lovely and practical.

With its panel measuring 32.05 x 14.23 x 4.38 inches, you’ll need a decent-sized table for this beauty, but nothing overly large. The flat stand is pretty unintrusive, so it’s unlikely to get in the way of peripherals like your keyboard and mouse. The cutaway on the stand’s shaft makes cable management easy, and you can raise or lower the monitor to your desired height.

Again, I’m glad Alienware didn’t change the AW3426DW’s design, since it’s about as perfect as you can get. It might not immediately scream “gaming monitor,” but it keeps the focus on the display and, thus, on whatever game you’re currently playing.

Alienware 34 280Hz QD-OLED hands-on: Performance

Performance gets a nice boost thanks to the higher 280Hz refresh rate and lower 0.03ms response time. And as before, compatibility with Nvidia G-Sync and AMD FreeSync also helps deliver a smooth gaming experience.

To test the AW3426DW, I connected it to the new Alienware 16 Area-51 gaming laptop, which packs an Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX CPU, an Nvidia RTX 5080 GPU, and 32GB RAM. You won’t need such a beastly rig for this monitor, but it certainly helps.

Thanks to the high refresh rate and low latency, I had a smooth time playing Cyberpunk 2077. I couldn’t get the frame rate anywhere near the refresh rate, but having all that extra headroom effectively eliminated any choppiness. I also didn’t notice any input lag.

Alienware 34 280Hz QD-OLED hands-on: Outlook

I’ll need more hands-on time with the Alienware AW3426DW, but for now, I can say it brings meaningful updates to an already fantastic gaming monitor.

Even if it gets outclassed by the new Alienware 39 5K OLED, it should still be an excellent option for those who want a smaller monitor with excellent features. Stay tuned for my full review!

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Intel Arc G3 handhelds are the talk of the town here at Computex 2026, and I just got an early hands-on with the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+. In short, believe the hype — this is the next generation of gaming on-the-go unlike anything you’ve seen before.

Of course, a lot of this comes from that new silicon, which copies a lot of Panther Lake’s homework including that monster integrated GPU with XeSS 3 support to deliver some blistering frame rates (more on those later) while being much more power efficient than any AMD-filled handheld I’ve tested.

But the secret sauce here is MSI’s DNA — learning from previous Claws and dramatically upgrading the design, vastly improving airflow to keep it cool, bringing a gorgeous new display, tweaking the ergonomics and tactility of the vibration, and making it even easier to upgrade.

What’s the price? I asked MSI and the answer was “stop asking about it,” which does make me nervous in the current state of RAMageddon, but I can’t deny this is utter brilliance.

MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ specs

Raiders of the lost Arc

The key ingredient is that shiny new Panther Lake chip: Intel Arc G3 Extreme. This is tailored more to a gaming-centric workload with a reduced amount of CPU cores while maintaining that same Arc B390 integrated GPU with the 12 Xe3 cores.

This GPU ticks off a lot of the boxes of what I wanted to see come to the handheld space: a wide versatility of power settings from the 17W endurance mode all the way up to 45W, native ray tracing support and all the XeSS 3 AI trickery goodness.

And the results are…well if you’ve been used to seeing AMD handhelds getting good frame rates, you ain’t seen nothing yet. I can’t give you specifics with benchmarks, but here’s what I got from the 3 games I was allowed to test.

And this is kept cool by MSI’s new Cooler Boost HyperFlow tech — based on two fans and two pipes to deliver five watts higher cooling and 25% higher pressure for the fans. That keeps those temperatures nice and well maintained in the various scenarios, including two that are often overlooked but significant.

First, I’m talking about the Switch’s bread and butter in docked mode. You already saw a bit of this with Panther Lake laptops being able to offer a fantastic experience on a massive screen. XeSS 3 is the key to that fluid big screen gameplay with minimal ghosting, and you’re getting the exact same thing here. F1 25 at 4K with XeSS 3 set to performance mode (so upscaled from 1080p) ran at a silky smooth 90 FPS in my time testing.

Throw in the better cooling too, and you can pump a massive 45 watts of power through this tiny shell, which gets you some speedy, smooth gameplay on the big screen when plugged in.

And the second scenario is one of the main reasons why I love my gaming PC: being able to play but also get stuff done. With the dual Thunderbolt 4, you’re able to have your own mini PC setup that can multitask effectively between pretty intense apps like Photoshop and many Chrome tabs.

Of course, these technically are possible on AMD handhelds, but nowhere near at the levels of performance and power efficiency you’re seeing on-board here.

Feeling great in your hands

I could go on about the chip inside, but there’s a whole handheld built around it, and it’s looking gorgeous in this Void Purple finish. And as you can tell, there are some significant changes being made here to the

One of the most noticeable upgrades you’ll feel is in the ergonomics. Whereas previous claws had a slightly flatter, more blocky appearance, the grips have much more definition and curvature to them to fit nicely into your hands.

MSI set on a mission to achieve the same level of ergonomics as the Xbox controller, and it shows with that dot texture eliminating any slip, the flared design of the grips and huge button upgrades.

Triggers and analog sticks are hall effect now, and now the D-Pad + ABXY buttons feel a lot snappier without any spongeyness like previous Claws thanks to being based on a metal dome.

But the biggest change you’ll feel is in the haptics. There’s a new 6-axis IMU vibration motor running on a new software algorithm to deliver what is called HD Haptics — allowing them to simulate much finer details like different textures of surfaces you walk on.

It’s hard to explain, but MSI’s basically done for gaming handhelds what PS5 DualSense did for controllers. It feels truly phenomenal.

Not forgetting the fundamentals

But of course, a PC handheld like this has more to nail than just performance and design. MSI's ticking off these boxes nicely here with a vivid, bright, smooth screen, surprisingly beefy speakers and quiet operation.

That 8-inch 1200p touchscreen may be IPS (so no OLED color waterfalls here), but it's still decently colorful. And with a variable refresh rate from 48 all the way up to 120Hz, gameplay feels more reactive here.

Dual speakers on here have a surprising amount of bass and don't distort at all at max volume, and alongside this, the cooling system doesn't get loud at all!

A pricey upgrade?

I can’t deny that this is a fantastic handheld — one of the best I’ve ever tried. Intel Arc G3 is the key to unlocking some stellar performance, with XeSS 3 being almost like a cheat code to frame rates unlike anything you’ve seen in a portable device like this.

Throw in a gorgeous screen and a real attention to the ergonomics, then you’re onto a winner here. But just like a lot of companies here at Computex, price is the terrifying question, as the entire market is fluid based on RAM prices.

Speaking to MSI, they are targeting $1,500 for this machine (less than the $2,000 rumor that panicked us all). But Intel and MSI's confidence is well-placed here, as this is an incredible piece of hardware.

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Powered by True RGB, Sony’s answer to the RGB backlighting revolution sweeping the TV industry, the Bravia 9 II feels like a masterclass in Mini-LED.

But the road here started with the original Bravia 9 and its groundbreaking 22-bit mini-LED driver. As I reported at the time, it was the first processor and backlight pairing I saw capable of producing a raw, yet recognizable image beneath the screen. Sony took that exact same high-precision driver and replaced traditional blue LEDs with individual RGB LEDs, producing the RGB Backlight Master Drive Pro.

I’ve already broken down what that means for True RGB, but now I can tell you what it means in a real TV that may impress enough to attract more than just early adopters.

Sony Bravia 9 II & Bravia 7 II: Price and availability

The Bravia 9 Mark II will be available some time in June and scales from a premium 65-inch model all the way up to a monstrous, luxury 115-inch theater display. Sony is also offering a lower-tier alternative with the Bravia 7 II that skips on Luminous Booster Pro (meaning, it’s not as bright) and the Black Screen Pro anti-glare panel I’ll get into a little later on.

I’m actually surprised by the pricing for the True RGB collection. Sony TVs tend to come with sticker shock, and while they’re by no means cheap, they’re more accessible than I originally expected.

Here’s what makes the Bravia 9 II so great

Visually, two major performance aspects completely blew me away.

With nearly 4,000 nits pushing through the panel, I anticipated at least some degree of light spillage around dark backgrounds. But even in stark contrast scenes, blooming was virtually non-existent. Human eyes naturally bloom a bit anyway when hit with extreme brightness, but looking closely at the panel, there was no actual spillage. I saw further evidence of this control in the beautifully smooth gradations of sky scenes.

Then there’s off-angle viewing. I know I'm frequently guilty of pitting Mini-LED and OLED tech against each other for the sake of storytelling, and off-angle viewing has traditionally been an area of unmatched OLED dominance in that discourse. In the Bravia 9 II, because the colors are coming directly from both the True RGB backlight and the filter, the panel maintains color saturation much farther off-angle compared to traditional Mini-LEDs.

Speaking of OLED, Samsung more or less made anti-glare technology a mainstream fixture on flagship TVs starting with its S95 QD-OLED line. Most manufacturers have followed suit in one form or another, and for Sony, it’s dubbed Immersive Black Screen Pro.

Sony utilizes a “patent-pending nanostructure layer,” claiming its superior to traditional anti-glare solutions currently in the market. I saw it in effect side-by-side next to competitor TVs featuring their own premium anti-glare finishes. Sony’s panel did in fact seem to genuinely absorb the reflecting ambient lights rather than just scattering or dissipating them across the screen like the others.

Sony Bravia 9 II: preliminary test results

Sony is always chasing the performance profile of its BVM-HX3110 $30,000 professional studio mastering monitor in terms of color reproduction and brightness.

We got to run some benchmarks during our hands-on time. I must state that since this is a pre-production unit, these numbers might not perfectly reflect final retail performance, and we will absolutely re-test it thoroughly in our Tom's Guide lab. That said, testing HDR brightness in a 10% window as we do on all TVs, the Bravia 9 II reached 3,990 nits. The BVM-HX3110 masters up to 4,000 nits of brightness, so I guess Sony can say mission accomplished.

We also tested the Bravia 7 II, and it capped at 2078 nits in the same 10% window. While that’s a solid showing, it’s also evident that it’s a step down from the Bravia 9 II experience.

Raw brightness is easy, but controlling it presents massive engineering hurdles. Yet, Sony seems to have it completely under control.

The Bravia 9 II’s design is a thing of beauty

I’m generally in favor of mounting a premium TV like this, but I’d be remiss not to mention the Bravia 9 II’s physical aesthetics: It comes with what Sony calls the Mirage Stand, a base that creates an optical illusion of the TV completely floating, from the right angle.

The lenticular effect also conceals your cables and literally makes them vanish out of sight. It’s a pretty neat trick if you ask me.

For the Bravia 9 II’s audio layout, Sony added an upward-firing beam tweeter in addition to the sound-positioning tweeters on the sides. While the primary speakers and subwoofers are still housed in the back, Sony re-architected the chassis to create more space for air to move inside.

But if you want to add a dedicated sound system, Sony is introducing the Bravia Theater Trio alongside Bravia 9 II. This innovates on traditional quad setups by utilizing a central, more condensed soundbar complemented by separate wireless left and right channels, giving you way more placement flexibility depending on your screen size. You can also optionally add the Rear 9 speakers and Sub 9 subwoofer to complete the theater package.

Sony Bravia 9 II: Outlook

Given the massive jump to True RGB tech and how impressively it performs, $3,600 feels like a fair price to pay. Sony has managed to harness monstrous, near-4,000-nit brightness while calming blooming concerns to virtually zero.

We still need to get official retail units into the lab to verify how these benchmarks hold up and see how it scales all the way up to that massive 115-inch model. But right now, the Bravia 9 Mark II looks like the premium TV to beat this year.

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The MacBook Ultra is making a lot of headlines — namely for being the first system that will reportedly bring touchscreen to the MacBook. But what if you wanted that without having to pay the (probably) massive price that’ll come with a top-of-the-line Apple computer?

That’s where Intricuit’s Magic Screen comes in. Unveiled at CES, I’ve been testing one for a while now, and not only is it a fantastic piece of kit for converting to a 2-in-1 and extracting more value from your laptop, it proves that Cupertino may be more ready for a touchscreen Mac than you may think.

So, consider this both a review of my three weeks using Magic Screen and a look into Apple’s quiet work preparing for when the worlds of iPad and Mac collide ahead of WWDC 2026.

How it works

It’s a lot simpler than you think! Magic Screen is a magnetic glass layer that snaps directly on top of your current MacBook Pro’s display. Make sure the original display glass is clean, pop it on top, connect via USB-C and you’re off to the races.

In terms of availability, you’ll be able to pick one up in all display sizes — from the 13-inch MacBook Neo all the way up to the 16-inch MacBook Pro. Offical pricing is unconfirmed (it’s going through Kickstarter first), but we do know early bird pricing will start at $139. That's giving me hope that the final retail cost will be reasonable!

You can see it impacts viewing angle at the most extreme of degrees (i.e. directly off to the left or right — places where you won’t be using it), but brightness remains untouched by the additional layer.

Plus, with the lip, you will not be able to close the laptop with this attached. Consider this a PSA because I don’t want eager users destroying their pricey MacBook Pros!

MacBooks suit touch input well(ish)

The first thing that surprised me about using the Magic Screen is just how intuitive it is from the word “go.” The plug-and-play nature of it shows just how macOS already has some nice touch optimization going on here — something we already found when building a touchscreen iMac.

Navigating around is a cinch with simple taps on apps, press and holds for the right-click menu, multi-touch gestures that are mapped identically to the ones you do on the touchpad, and dragging windows and objects around. And the iOSification of the aesthetics of macOS really lends itself to being more touch-friendly than Windows 11 for sure.

Is it perfect? No, and it comes down to two key issues that I’ll be watching WWDC like a hawk for to see if there are any hints of making macOS even more touch-friendly.

First, the general user interaction dynamic changes with different icons — double-tapping a folder on the desktop vs single tapping an app is a great example of this. It’s a small thing on paper, but everything needs to work the same in a uniform kind of way.

And second is the macOS apps themselves. They’re clearly built for mouse and keyboard, and this can prove tricky with some tiny touch targets in things like a Final Cut Pro timeline. Buttons will need to be simplified and made larger for these moments.

This is going to be more of a mammoth task, not just for Apple’s own apps but for third-party developers, and I’m not entirely sure how it’ll be done. Beyond ground-up redesigns, will it be reactive windows that change as you start to touch? I don’t know.

Magic Screen is pretty magical for getting creative

As for the Magic Screen itself, it’s a well-made piece of hardware with the intuitive setup of just magnetically snapping it onto the chassis. You’ve also got that folio case for the panel itself that doubles as a brace that stops any display hinge wobble while you touch too!

But things get really interesting when you turn it into a drawing tablet with the stylus. We’ve loved illustration surfaces from the likes of Wacom for a while now, and this additional use case makes for a really nice ergonomic dimension for getting creative.

Palm rejection is hard at work here, and the stylus has a nice feel in the hand with immediate response times and pressure sensitivity. And given it’s a giant touch surface that matches the dimensions of your laptop’s panel, it’s really easy to guess where your pen will land (even without looking at the hovering icon).

Bridging the gap between iPad and Mac

For years now, it’s seemed a little crazy to me that there hasn’t been a touchscreen Mac. I understood Apple’s reasons, and the touchpad navigation can feel almost iPad-esque with the multi-touch gestures and speed of getting around.

But the wealth of Windows 2-in-1s has shown the world is keen for touchscreen laptops, and this additional paradigm of interaction with a Mac feels very intuitive. Apple’s already done the heavy lifting with macOS taking some visual cues from iOS, and outside of a few app tweaks and gestures, it’s pretty much ready for primetime.

That’s what we’ll hopefully see more of come WWDC 2026 — these small visual tweaks and UI elements that make it more finger-friendly!

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I recently reviewed the LG UltraGear 27GX790B-B, which can hit a 720Hz refresh rate. I thought we couldn’t get higher than that, but LG decided that wasn’t enough and has now unveiled what it claims is the world’s first native 1,000Hz Full HD gaming monitor. No, that’s not a typo, my friends.

During a recent LG event, I got to see the new LG UltraGear 25G590B first-hand. While I wasn’t able to test any games on the prototype model, I did see a test pattern that demonstrated how much smoother things can run at 1,000Hz compared to lower refresh rates. I also learned about some of the AI features meant to provide a more immersive experience.

While I’m not the competitive gamer this monitor is designed for, I’m still impressed that it can hit such a lofty refresh rate. Here are my eyes-on impressions of the LG 25G590B.

LG UltraGear 25G590B hands-on: Display & performance

Most of LG’s recent UltraGear lineup comprises dual-mode monitors, but the 25G590B is 1,000Hz by default. The company told me that this lets players play (and compete) under consistent visual conditions. I take that to mean you won’t have to worry about the monitor's refresh rate when you're using it.

The test pattern I saw showed several slides running at different refresh rates. Naturally, 30Hz to 120Hz looked the choppiest compared to the higher refresh rates. However, all the slides moved very smoothly at 240Hz and up. I’m sure a eagle-eyed esports player could tell the difference between 1,000Hz and 720Hz, but I sure couldn’t. Regardless, I could still see that the 25G590B does indeed offer buttery smooth movement.

This monitor is best suited for first-person shooters like Counter-Strike and Call of Duty, where you need ultra-fast response times to survive. Despite the 1080p resolution, everything from in-game menus to interfaces comes through clearly, even if you’re moving fast in a game. That’s thanks to a new Motion Blur Reduction Pro technology (as LG calls it) that ensures fast-moving objects are sharp and easy to track.

LG says the 25G590B’s IPS panel has a low-reflection film meant to offer consistent color reproduction while reducing glare. There was a light directly above the monitor I was viewing, and I can confirm it didn’t significantly degrade the image quality. This is all meant to increase visibility across various in-game environments.

LG UltraGear 25G590B hands-on: Design

The 25G590B has a 24.5-inch FHD panel. As I was told, this is the size professional gamers prefer because it lets them see everything on the screen without moving their heads.

Design-wise, LG has kept things simple and efficient. For instance, the stand’s base has a small footprint, so you have more room to move your mouse. There are even calibration indicators on the stand to let you adjust the height, swivel, and tilt settings. This way, you can achieve an optimal viewing angle.

The main embellishment is on the back, with a nifty UltraGear Logo that creates ambient illumination. I wasn’t able to test this at the event, but if this is like other UltraGear monitors I’ve reviewed, you’ll be able to customize the RGB lighting to your liking.

LG UltraGear 25G590B hands-on: AI features

The LG 25G590B boasts AI features, such as AI Scene Optimization, which adjusts picture quality to suit different game genres. We didn’t get to see this feature in action, but one of the slides showed how AI is used to improve image quality and clarity. Given how this is a 1080p display, this seems like a smart feature.

Then there’s AI Sound, which will apparently create spatial audio and deliver clearer in-game communications when used with compatible headsets. Sound is almost as important as visuals in fast-paced first-person shooting games, so it’s good to know LG has taken that into account for a competitive-focused gaming monitor.

LG UltraGear 25G590B hands-on: Outlook

I’ll need to test the LG UltraGear 25G590B myself to see if the insane 1,000Hz is more than just tech flexing. Now that LG has taken the refresh rate wars to literal new heights, it’ll be interesting to see if competitors follow suit.

The LG UltraGear 25G590B should launch in the second half of 2026 in select markets. Let us know in the comments if you would want a 1,000Hz monitor or if you think it's overkill.

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The $849 Asus ROG Xreal R1 smart glasses (£749 in the UK) are finally here, and I’ve been testing them for a while. So why am I not scoring them? Well, life comes at you fast and I’ve been traveling over 10,000 miles to Google I/O and back.

That means while I am able to put these specs through their paces in a portable state, I’ve not been able to really test the biggest feature of them — the dock allowing for lightning fast 240Hz gameplay. That’s a world’s first for smart glasses…but it wasn’t available during the time I (and other tech journalists) have been testing them.

But there’s enough here that I can give you some in depth first impressions of using these for hours on end. Let’s get into it.

👎 Not quite ready for primetime

I’ll get this one sorted right off the bat. The hardware is finished, but the software isn’t quite done yet. This shouldn’t be something you face, but it is highly recommended that you get the firmware updated for both the glasses and dock before you properly try them out.

Out-of-the-box, the Frame Rate Boost mode that gives you 240Hz is not available, and with the update literally coming out mere days ago, I can’t in good conscience give you a scored review until I’ve put them properly through their paces.

Plus, it doesn’t help that I’m testing them while out here at Google I/O (far away from my gaming tower and the dock). The following is my experience of the portable setup — stand by for my time replacing my gaming monitors with this set of specs!

👍 Comfortable wearability

The aesthetic may be more Matrix than modern (it won’t be for everyone), but the end result is nice weight distribution across the glasses with pressure-absorbent nose pads that give you a nice wearability for hours on end.

It’s a larger pair of glasses on the face, but still comfortable enough for long flights, along with well-placed buttons for custom controls of the screen tweaks and the X1 chip-enabled feature set.

👍 Crispy picture, versatile customizability

It’s a 1080p picture, but with the prism display tech over bird bath, it’s an impressively sharp 1080p. That comes down to the clarity of the optics here, which does make plugging these into your phone for watching the finale of “The Boys” a nice experience.

On top of that, I’ve always said Xreal’s the way to go for a productivity focus, and these deliver when connected to a laptop — the 32:9 ultrawide panel activated entirely with the on-device chip (no software needed) is a nice touch.

For a better mix of a vivid color palette, something like the Viture Beast is a better pick here. However, Xreal is on the comeback with a customizable color palette. Still not as colorful, but getting closer!

👎 Some edge blurs and screen tearing at higher refresh rates

But while the Xreal One Pro image quality is well and truly here, that comes with some of the drawbacks I saw while testing these — namely the edge blurriness. These prisms are being stretched here by the micro OLEDs within them, and that means you’ll have to tweak the screen distance to be either smaller or further away from you.

Also, rather frustratingly, once connected to the dock, the buttons on the glasses themselves do nothing. While I can understand that in this deskbound situation, you’ll be more likely to use a dock to control them (and the joystick/button layout is easy enough to use), I did find myself often going for the glasses buttons to no avail.

And the big final part here is the screen tearing when using the dock. In all the games I played (particularly any with Nvidia’s DLSS turned on), it was a visible distraction of tears and artifacting that would pose a competitive disadvantage.

Of course, this is without the firmware update, so this could be swiftly resolved, but I’m only here to tell you the immediate experience I’ve had with them.

👎 $849 is a steep price

But that’s when I get to the big issue here — that is a hefty price tag. I know premium AR glasses will cost more, but $849 is a large chunk of change to say the least. You need to be either a serious PC player or a refresh rate purist to really want to spend this much.

Make no mistake about it. This is prime for a specific kind of audience, but even at that rate, you’re getting a crispy, colorful experience that’s more than enough at way cheaper prices. The Xreal 1S — for example — are a great pair of gaming glasses, and while they’re not 240Hz, you get more than enough of a silky frame rate for handheld play (honestly the place where you’d use the Xreal R1s most of the time anyway).

Outlook

Obviously, it’s too early to call on a lot of these features. Maybe the firmware update fixes the screen tearing and these could be the 240Hz wonder glasses that could replace your gaming monitor.

But in my first 10,000 miles, you can tell Asus and Xreal are onto something mightily interesting here, which is a bit of a diamond in the rough at the moment. Time will tell whether these issues are fixed (which you kind of hope they do for $849), and my full review once the full updates are applied will be coming early next week!

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I love Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag and consider it a series highlight. However, I wasn’t exactly thrilled when Ubisoft announced a remake of this modern-day classic, given the slew of remakes we’ve seen this generation. Now, after having played nearly three hours of it at an event, I’m pleased to say that Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced is now one of my most anticipated games of 2026.

Resync is a complete overhaul of the original game, now running on the same Anvil Engine as Assassin’s Creed: Shadows. Every asset has received a visual overhaul for modern gaming platforms, and it even adds new physics to make the world feel more immersive. Naturally, combat and traversal have also been updated to feel smoother. Beyond updating what existed, the game also features hours of new content.

The best thing I can say about Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced is that it looks and plays the way I remember, meaning that it captures the spirit of the original but is a wholly modern experience. It’s a game that reminds me why I fell in love with this franchise in the first place.

A new adventure

The demo begins on a dark and stormy night on the deck of a pirate ship, where protagonist Edward Kenway is fending off attackers who’ve boarded the vessel. This gives you a taste of the enhancements, like the realistic rain physics, detailed lighting, and smooth combat mechanics. It’s a brief opening that’s as impactful here as it was in the original game.

After being cast overboard, Edward swims to a nearby beach. He doesn’t have time to get his bearings, as a hooded man from the enemy ship soon attacks him. After a cinematic battle, Edward emerges victorious. Taking the man’s strange clothing and weapons, he decides to go to Nassau, as his enemy had a note discussing some sort of payment. What Edward doesn’t know is that he killed a member of the Assassin Order and that he will soon undertake a grand adventure.

The next section is where the game truly flexes its graphical muscles. The deep blue of the Caribbean Sea and the dense island fauna draw you into the scene. The way shadows cast by swaying trees fall and move across the sand and rocks is also impressive. Words can’t do justice to just how fantastic this game looks.

Edward spots a docked ship that can take him to his destination, but numerous British soldiers are patrolling the beach. This is where you can test the game’s stealth mechanics, which involve slowly skulking around and dragging foes into thick bushes to take them out silently. One major change from the original is that you can now crouch-walk, which makes stealth gameplay feel more realistic.

Civilized lands

After making a new ally and arriving at Nassau, Edward has to sneak into a British fort to find the loot he had learned about. Towns and forts are just as immaculately rendered as natural settings, with the colorful brick buildings and bustling streets. Even when wading through thick crowds of townsfolk, merchants, beggars, and thieves, the game maintains excellent performance, without slowdown or stuttering.

Traversal is a blast thanks to the smooth and precise parkour mechanics. I remember the original game feeling clunky when I tried to transition from running to jumping, but here, everything flows seamlessly from one action to the next. This is especially true thanks to all the ziplines that have been added to cities and villages.

I tried to remain as stealthy as possible, but I eventually had to face off against enemies. I was told that all moves unlock early in the game and that there are no skill trees or RPG mechanics, such as leveling up. Because of that, you have to rely on your skills to survive, which is the way I prefer it.

Enemies adapt to your attacks, so you’ll need to switch things up to keep them on their toes. Foes have a defense meter, but you can instantly deplete it with a perfectly timed parry or gunshot. Landing a parry and following up with a killing strike never gets old.

Taking to the high seas

After that section, I was allowed to explore the Caribbean openly. Resynced has the same locations as before, but each now contains new items and even missions. There are also several new islands and locations. The open sea, with its rolling waters and distant islands gleaming in the bright sun, looks phenomenal.

Here is where I got to check out the updated naval battles. As before, your goal is to line up your ship’s broadside with the enemy’s so you can deal massive damage with cannon strikes. New mechanics include a secondary fire mode for every naval weapon, such as double shot for Chain Shots. One of my favorite updates is the ability to manually aim Swivel Guns at weak points.

As before, you can board enemy ships to take their crew and treasures. These battles can get pretty intense, as it’s your entire crew versus theirs. Trying to fend off foes with your cutlass is hard enough, but toss in snipers perched on the mast, and you’ll need to remain constantly on the move. Killing enough foes depletes their crew’s morale, and when it’s low enough, you win.

I also engaged in a battle against an enemy fort, using all the new tools at my disposal. The main difference here is that you’re fighting a stationary object, though forts can cause greater damage since they can bombard you with near-constant cannon fire. Once you destroy their defenses, you storm the fort and take out its defenders until they surrender. It’s hard to decide whether I like taking over forts or ships more, as both are a lot of fun.

On a related note, I completed a new mission that involved swimming to an enemy ship to rescue a woman named Lucy and recruit her into my band of pirates. After destroying the ship in a pitched naval battle, we returned to Edward’s Hideout, where I learned more about Lucy and explored the updated locale. I stuck to the main quest here, but was told the Hideout has a bunch of new missions and activities.

Diving deep

After speaking with Edward Teach, also known as the infamous Blackbeard the Pirate, I got to try out the updated underwater mechanics. Like before, you use a diving bell connected to your ship to sink into the ocean. The bell is not only useful for that task, but also a place where you can replenish your oxygen or swim to safety if there’s a hungry shark on your tail.

I didn’t spend too long underwater, but I definitely found swimming and diving more fluid (no pun intended) than before. And this might just be me, but it also seemed that Edward had greater lung capacity than in the original, which allowed me to explore more without fear of suffocation. Ubisoft told me there will be many more underwater sections in Resynced, with new collectibles and secrets.

Outlook

Even with so many remakes and re-releases coming out, Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced stands out thanks to its meaningful graphical and gameplay updates. Thanks to that, it looks and feels like a modern title and not just a reskinned older game. It’s clear Ubisoft went all out here, and I anticipate this title will do well because of the company’s efforts.

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced should be perfect for newcomers and veterans alike. It releases on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on July 9, cementing it as the perfect game for the long summer months. I can’t wait to play the full game, and you can definitely expect more coverage from me, so stay tuned, you land lubbers!

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The next generation of Android Auto was announced at the Android Show, and I got to properly test it at Google I/O. In short: Apple CarPlay feels washed in comparison — let me explain.

It takes the car from simply being something you go from Point A to Point B in, and adds an additional layer of making it a central hub for navigation, productivity on-the-go and entertainment. And with Gemini thrown in, Cars with Google built-in just took an evolutionary agentic AI step too.

So I took a (simulated) ride in the Kia EV9 with Android Auto and the full Google built-in Volvo EX60 to see what the upgrades bring to the table.

On-the-go

It all starts with the biggest update to Google Maps in over a decade — Immersive Navigation provides a nice 3D view with a huge increase in details like lanes, traffic lights and stop signs. Being able to see everything with greater clarity like this is a huge step forward for getting around.

Then there’s the multi-widget layout of the new Material 3 Expressive design, which creates a really nice, refined UI for the car and multiple app widgets for quick glance interactions.

Top it all off with Gemini and even agentic actions like ordering a meal on Doordash for when you get home (and even adjusting Google Home controls), and it simplifies the idea of multitasking while you drive with the power of your voice — all in a way that Apple CarPlay has never been able to do.

Stuck in traffic

But if there’s one thing I’ve learnt while out here at Google’s campus, it’s that you spend most of your time in California stuck in traffic not really doing much at all. The standstills are painful, and if you’re in an EV, you could be spending up to 30 minutes sat in your car waiting for it to charge.

That’s where the redesigned audio experience in apps like Spotify come in, and most importantly, support for full HD video up to 60 FPS on the center console. Throw in Dolby Atmos support and the surround sound experience was beefy and all-encompassing. But of course, this is only when you throw the car in park — once you start driving, that video vanishes in favor of an audio-only overlay.

Given the explosion in video podcasting on YouTube, I can see this being a hugely-adored feature for the moments you’re parked in traffic for the full visual experience, and switching on the fly to audio when you start crawling forward.

Your own personal car butler

But things get really interesting when you move over to Cars with Google built-in. For those uninitiated, most cars support Android Auto through connecting your phone to the car and project the content of it on-screen.

Cars with Google built-in are natively-built on an Android Automotive operating system — operating entirely as standalone devices that don’t require a phone to be connected to it. They’ve been around since 2020, and now we’re getting the biggest updates to these models since the launch.

The big thing here is Gemini is able to tap into your car’s controls and onboard sensors. No, that doesn’t mean it’ll drive the car for you, but what it actually means is Google Maps can be far more accurate and give real-time advice by using the car’s sensors to identify which lane is needed for your exit.

On top of that, you can ask Gemini to adjust pretty much all the settings in your car, like making the sun roof transparent, changing the climate control, and altering the mood lighting of the cabin. Rather than getting lost in the many panels of settings, having an AI assistant that can actually take action means less time looking at the screen and more time watching the road.

And even better, it’s got some conversational powers too to help you make sense of the world around you. For example in the demo I took part in, we had a first-person video of a drive through San Francisco, where we asked Gemini to identify the big tall building ahead. Google then went straight to the cameras, identified it and gave me an answer in seconds.

Outlook

So far, I’ve always felt that smartphone-enabled in-car experiences have always been a mask over the frankly terrible software that carmakers subject you to. They’ve always been handy, but only so far and you had to be ripped out of the experience elsewhere.

And while that’s still the case with Android Auto from your phone, Cars with Google built-in finally feel like the revolution that’s needed in this space to make car software actually fun to use — and the secret to it is Gemini intelligence.

Taking the confusion out of your car settings is a huge step forward alongside Immersive Navigation, a new cleaner Material 3 Expressive design and the ability to play full HD video for making your motor a central hub wherever you are.

It’s yet another massive step forward for Google that’s leaving Apple’s CarPlay in a serious need of catching up. All eyes on WWDC 2026!

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• I just tested Xreal’s Android XR glasses, and they are an early glimpse of my dream future smart glasses

The Samsung Odyssey G8 (G80HS) is the world’s first 6K gaming monitor, according to Samsung. While this 32-inch monitor focuses on high pixel counts, it also has two refresh rates that favor cinematic or competitive gaming.

I recently went hands-on with the G80HS at a Samsung event, and was stunned by the sharp picture quality it delivered in both its 6K 165Hz and 3K 330Hz display modes. Not only that, but the vibrant colors and smooth performance made me demo the monitor longer than I typically would. It’s a thing of beauty.

Though it doesn’t have an OLED panel, its ultra-sharp resolution and immersive 32-inch canvas make for a fun gaming experience. Here’s what I think of the Samsung Odyssey G8 (G80HS).

Samsung Odyssey G8 (G80HS) hands-on: Display

Naturally, the 6K resolution is the main draw here. And I have to say, it’s not just number-flexing.

When I played Cyberpunk 2077 on the Odyssey G8, I purposely focused on buildings in the distance. Despite being so far away, I could make out the individual windows and even the dirt around the building’s facade. Of course, objects in the foreground, like the car and the grimy streets I rode across, also came to life in stunning detail.

3K resolution is just slightly less detailed than 6K, but no less stunning. I’m used to 1440p monitors, so the step up from that is noticeable, even if it's not as sharp as 4K. I could tell the immediate difference when I switched between 3K and 6K modes. However, you’re not getting a diminished viewing experience with either mode.

We’d need to get the Odyssey G8 in for testing, but to my eyes, everything looked bright and colorful on the 32-inch display. I don’t know which display mode it was set to, but the colors didn’t appear overly saturated. Despite this not being an OLED panel, you still get excellent overall picture quality.

Samsung Odyssey G8 (G80HS) hands-on: Performance

Dual-mode gaming monitors are all the rage these days, and the Odyssey G8 follows suit with its two refresh rates.

6K resolution gives you 165Hz, while 3K mode bumps that to 330Hz. 6K 165Hz mode is ostensibly for “cinematic” games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Ghost of Tsushima, where you’d want the very best picture quality. Conversely, competitive gamers who need faster performance can flip over to 3K 330Hz. In this way, the G80HS is basically two gaming monitors in one.

Since I’m not a competitive gamer, I couldn’t notice a huge difference between the modes in terms of performance. However, I’m sure hawk-eyed Esports players will notice the difference right away. Regardless, both modes feel incredibly smooth and responsive.

Samsung Odyssey G8 (G80HS) hands-on: Design

The G80HS has the familiar design of the Odyssey series, with its sharp angles and relatively dark color way. Besides the display, the only other light source is the RGB ring around the monitor stand, which creates a nice glow when the monitor is close to a wall.

Other features include a flat stand that doesn’t get in the way of your peripherals, and easy access to the ports on the back. I was also able to raise, lower, and tilt the monitor to my liking.

Overall, this is a nice and practical design that keeps the focus on the game you’re playing.

Samsung Odyssey G8 (G80HS) hands-on: Outlook

Right now, the Samsung Odyssey G8 (G80HS) isn't yet available to purchase. However, it should cost around $1,600 on Samsung's online store. That's not cheap, but for what it offers, it could be worth it for you.

I’ve tested a lot of the best gaming monitors over the years, so it’s nice to have the Samsung Odyssey G8 G80HS flip the script by featuring a 6K resolution. That might sound ludicrous (and perhaps it is), but there’s no denying that it can offer a truly rich viewing experience.

I can’t yet say whether this should be the new standard, but it’s certainly impressive. I should have a full review of the Samsung Odyssey G8 (G80HS) soon, so stay tuned for more!

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So as you well know by now, the “intelligent eyewear” from Google and Samsung is launching this fall with designs by Gentle Monster and Warby Parker. While nobody was able to go actually hands (or eyes) on with these actual glasses, I did get to test the software that will be fuelling these specs and, well, the Ray-Ban Metas are kind of cooked.

Basically, everything AI-related that Meta has brought to the table in its past couple generations has been usurped by what is set to launch on Google’s glasses. We may not know what they will be called, and we don’t know the price. But if they’re competitive to Meta’s specs, Zuckerberg has a big problem on his hands.

Judging the styles

So we’ve got Warby Parker and Gentle Monster doing the designs, and I wouldn’t be surprised if most people went for the former. We only got to look at photos (ignore publications that said they got to “wear them all,” because they didn’t), so I can only give you my eyes-on perspective.

The Warby Parker frames look less daring and more subtle on your face, whereas Gentle Monster is looking to make a statement. Nothing wrong with that at all, but the aesthetic is not going to be for everyone.

As for specifics on them, Google didn’t share much. But with these prototype specs weighing less than 50 grams, I’m quietly confident that they will also be lightweight and wearable in the very long-term. Plus, they’ll definitely be prescription-friendly, as has been confirmed extensively here at I/O.

All-round smoothness

As for using them day-to-day, you’ll get your standard interface that uses your phone as the brains of your glasses, with a little bit of local AI to run the basics. It’s a method that has a proven track record so far, and they will be compatible with both Android and iOS devices.

Gemini Live is the key to making these true Ray-Ban Meta beaters, and it frankly makes Meta AI seem feeble in comparison. Rather than having to follow rudimentary vocal steps to do certain things, a press and hold on the stem turns it on and I’m having a full conversational interaction with the AI about the world around me.

As is the case with any of these demos, I had a bunch of props to work with — figuring out a Van Gogh painting, or going through a Korean cookbook and ensuring that the recipes are safe for my peanut-allergic friends to consume. In all of these, the AI voice is extra descriptive of its determination and provides a nice helping hand in a way Meta AI has never really done so.

Throw in all the Google app integration in here too and it gets even more interesting. You can receive a summary of your latest messages or turn-by-turn directions to the nearest bar (it’s been a long day, don’t judge me). It’s clear that a real-time AI like Gemini has been the missing link that’s going to bring everything together in a way that can reduce the number of times you need to pull out your phone.

Turning on the display

This is a feature that will not be coming to this first crop of smart glasses — they are all display-free. But the monocular waveguide display in this prototype does add some fantastic visual aids to some key use cases.

You’ve probably already read a lot about this when Mark went eyes-on with this same prototype last year. But to give you my thoughts, bringing Google services into a pair of smart glasses really brings a user-friendly advantage here with the likes of Google Maps and photo taking.

Seeing a little HUD give directions or a GTA-style radar when you look down for a nice street layout is a nice touch. Then the image generation efforts with Nano Banana were frankly hilarious. I took a picture of my camera guy and asked it to turn him into a superhero…what does GL mean? Also his name is Paul Antill as clearly stated on the badge, but now he’s Paul Arnold!?

Regardless, it’s clear that you’ll have plenty of fun with the generative AI experiences of these specs.

Watch out, Meta!

And all of this exposes that while the Ray-Ban Metas may have a couple of years headstart, the usefulness updates over time have been rather minor and slow in the progress of things.

I mean, sure, there are reminders of things, but do they actually mean something when they’re not integrated into your services that matter? Or do turn-by-turn directions really help when the mapping technology doesn’t hold a candle to Google Maps?

So, I say this to Zuck. You have about five months-ish to figure out how to compete with this. I’m not sure what the answer is, but Google is about to bring actually useful AI to smart glasses, and Meta AI needs to catch up fast in both a simple Q&A fashion and in agentic use, too.

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Alongside AI glasses made with Samsung, Gentle Monster and Warby Parker, Google is also tying up with Xreal on Project Aura. We’ve been seeing small glimpses of them for the past year and finally, I was able to go fully hands-on (and eyes-on) at Google I/O. And in three words: it’s the future.

For those uninitiated, Project Aura is Xreal’s best pair of AR glasses connected to a compute puck with Qualcomm silicon inside — taking on Meta’s Project Orion from a while back and figuring out how to stuff the experience of a full-blown VR headset like the Samsung Galaxy XR or Apple Vision Pro into something the size of a slightly oversized pair of specs.

As the smart glasses guy on the team, it’s been my dream to watch the worlds of the best smart glasses and best VR headsets come together. And while they’re definitely not all the way there (you won’t be taking these outside in public without getting second looks), it’s a damn good starting point.

A new window

The field-of-view battle has been ongoing between the likes of Xreal and Viture, and so far that ceiling has been 58 degrees in the Viture Beast. When Xreal’s CEO came out and announced a 70-degree field of view for Project Aura, I was very much in the “I’ll believe it when I see it” camp…

Well, I saw it and yes, it’s a true generational leap for immersion. The prisms are massive and while you can definitely see some edge blurring, the fact that said blurring is kind of moving off to your peripheral vision masks it nicely.

It’s that missing link between just being a nice big screen for your phone or laptop on your face and becoming that stepping stone into being a VR experience to boot. On the sides, you’ve got two cameras along with a centrally-placed lens for full 6 DoF tracking, and the whole thing is tethered to a compute puck (with a strap to shoulder it) that’s roughly the same size as my iPhone 15 Pro.

We don’t know anything about what’s inside the puck except for a 4455mAh battery (probably good for 2-3 hours of heavy use), and some unnamed Snapdragon chip inside.

My guess is an XR2 Gen 2 or something maybe newer (Gen 3? Couldn’t be sure). But the end result is mostly accurate hand tracking and impressively fixed windows in place — to the point that you can walk around them a la VR headsets.

Getting to use them

So what can you do on them? Well, spatial computing stuff of course — this is Android XR after all! If you’ve used the Galaxy XR, you’ll feel right at home with the pinches and drags. But the transparency of glasses adds a new dimension of layering to the whole thing. This is not you seeing the world through cameras, it’s seeing the real world with your content laid over it.

I got to multitask without any noticeable hitches, messed around with a music creation app that merges drawing in the air with Gemini’s music creation, and even played Demeo — a D&D-style tabletop game that almost feels purpose-built for a device like this.

Ultimately, it does hit those same barriers that any spatial computing interface faces: namely that it’s slower to do things than on an actual computer. But I can’t deny that these are so much fun to use! And Gemini brings it all together nicely with voice prompts to make your way around.

Also shout-out to the auto electrochromic dimming of the lenses, which means that if someone is getting my attention, I can look away and the lenses immediately become fully transparent so I can maintain eye contact.

Outlook

OK, so how much are they going to cost and when will they come out? On the latter, they’re set for later this year but everyone’s staying super tight lipped on price. So all I can do is guess, and while I’d love for these to be sub-$1,000, I don’t see a world where this happens. I mean the Galaxy XR headset is nearly two grand, and this is a lot of compute that has been ruthlessly shrunk down into a pair of glasses.

However, doesn’t take away from one simple truth: these are a glimpse into the exciting future of AR glasses — specs that are no longer just a display on your face, but a whole platform to do things on. It’ll take time to get that compute puck outta there, to make them a true must-buy. But as they are now, these are the next generation to look forward to.

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The Awara Classic Hybrid mattress is the brand’s mid-level bed, an upgrade from the Essential Hybrid, but not as luxurious as the Premier Hybrid.

It incorporates organic wool and latex into its hybrid build, which are features usually found in the best organic mattresses that cost upwards of $2,000 for a queen. But a queen Awara Classic Hybrid costs $799, putting it in the lower mid-range price bracket.

I’ve tested some of the best mattresses of the year, so I wanted to find out whether the Awara Classic Hybrid could really deliver all it says it can — excellent pressure relief, support no matter your sleeping position and durability — for such a reasonable price.

After sleeping on this mattress for a week, I can say I’m impressed. Especially considering I swapped out my Birch Luxe mattress, which costs over $1,000 more than the Awara, and am sleeping better than ever. Here are my thoughts so far.

The delivery was a breeze

Being a mattress tester might sound like the best job in the world, but after lugging a heavy monster of a bed around the house for an hour, it starts to feel like the worst. So, when my Awara delivery arrived, and the bed was packaged up into a medium-sized box, I was very pleased.

Awara offer free shipping, and while this doesn’t compare to the white-glove delivery service you get from some brands like Saatva, where your mattress is set up for you in your bedroom, it’s easy enough because the beds are vacuum-packed and rolled.

Once I had the box on my bed frame, I shifted the mattress out of it, positioned it correctly and then cut away the layers of plastic. It was super simple and easy.

The bed didn’t spring out of the wrapping and throw me across the room; instead, it rolled out and slowly inflated to its normal size.

Awara say it should only take a few hours for the bed to expand to its full size, but can sometimes take up to 72 hours. For me, it was the former, with the Awara Classic Hybrid looking sleep-ready in just an hour.

My pet peeve (hence why I love an organic mattress) is off-gassing. This is the chemical smell caused by VOCs being released when you unbox a new mattress. It gives me a headache and seems to linger in the house for days.

But thanks to the natural materials in the Awara (like organic wool and latex), there was no new-mattress smell at all. I was happy to sleep on it straight away without risking a headache or irritated airways.

It was softer than I thought it would be

I always thought that if you opt for a latex bed, you’re going to be sleeping on a firm mattress. That’s the nature of the material. However, the Awara Classic Hybrid surprised me. While I obviously didn’t sink into the bed as you would on a foam mattress, there was a lot of ‘give’.

On my Birch Luxe Natural mattress, the surface doesn’t contour or mould around your body. It keeps you elevated and doesn’t really give much at all beneath you.

On the Awara Classic Hybrid, I remained ‘on top’ of the mattress, but the whole bed was much more responsive to my body. As a side sleeper, this is a big win because pressure wasn’t building up in my hips and shoulders like it can with a firmer bed.

To be clear, it’s still not a ‘soft’ mattress, but it’s the softest latex bed I’ve tested so far. I’d say it’s probably around a 6.5 to 7 out of 10 on the firmness scale.

But because of this unique feeling and robust support from the hybrid design, the Awara Classic will suit most sleeping positions and could even be in the running for being one of the best mattresses for side sleepers.

It’s fantastic for couples

My husband and I have completely different sleep schedules. I love an early night and an early morning. He, on the other hand, is a complete night owl who’s most productive at 2.a.m. This means he usually comes to bed a long time after I’ve fallen asleep.

On a mattress where you can feel a lot of movement, this is a problem. The action of him getting in and out of bed can be enough to wake me up and disturb my sleep.

But despite latex being known for its bouncy feel, this bed isolates motion well — stopping it from traveling from one side of the bed to the other. This is likely due to the individually wrapped coils, which help stop the transfer of movement.

The Awara Classic Hybrid also has Thick Gauge Edge Support perimeter coils. This means that the edges of the bed are designed to remain as supportive as the middle.

And it shows. The surface of the mattress feels bigger because there is so much ‘sleepable’ space. In fact, I’ve been sleeping right up to the edge of the bed and have even occasionally forgotten my husband is on the other side.

My verdict on the Awara Classic Hybrid so far

I’ve still got two weeks left until I write my full review of the Awara Classic Hybrid, but so far, I’m thoroughly impressed. Considering organic mattresses are notoriously expensive (because of the higher cost of natural materials), I was doubtful of the Awara Classic’s performance.

But so far, I’ve been able to get comfortable straight away (without any annoying breaking-in period), sleep through the night and wake up without any aches and pains. It could even rival some of the best hybrid mattresses I've tested.

Plus, my fussy husband loves it. The previous memory foam beds we’ve tried have all felt too soft and marshmallow-like for us both. But the Awara Classic Hybrid brings together the softness and pressure relief that I need as a side sleeper with the robust support of latex. So far, it’s a winning combination for a very reasonable price.

Alienware's notebooks are among the best gaming laptops available, but they can be pricey for most folks. This is especially true now, thanks to RAMageddon. Thankfully, the company isn’t ignoring the current reality and has just launched a more affordable gaming laptop for PC gamers. Meet the new Alienware 15 (2026) gaming laptop.

Starting at $1,299, this 15-inch laptop packs up to an AMD Ryzen 7 CPU and up to an Nvidia RTX 5060 GPU. Couple with 16GB of RAM and up to 1TB of SSD storage, and you have the basics for playing the best PC games at 1080p resolution and medium to high graphics. While the asking price is still above $1,000, it’s not terrible given current conditions.

I tested a pre-production model of the Alienware 15 gaming laptop and found it delivers a solid experience for those who don’t want to break the bank. Given its price, you’re not getting a premium display or chassis, but if you just want to play your PC games on something reliable, you won’t go wrong here.

Alienware 15 (2026) hands-on: Specs

Alienware 15 (2026) hands-on: Design

At first glance, the Alienware 15 certainly has the iconic look of the company’s laptops, with its all-black shell and Alienware logo on the lid. However, picking it up instantly makes it clear this isn’t just any Alienware product.

The polycarbonate resin lid and bottom have a plastic-like feel that’s a departure from the aluminum casings of higher-end Alienware laptops. While that’s jarring at first, the smooth, contoured lines and overall sleek design help offset that.

Unlike the Alienware 16 Area-51, the Alienware 15 has a full keyboard, which should make number pad users very happy. I don’t fall into that camp, so having the keys I actually mostly located on the left-hand side made it tricky to find my stride when typing. That said, the thick keys and their satisfying travel distance do make this a good laptop for writing.

The lion’s share of the ports is on the left-hand side. This includes two USB-A ports, an Ethernet port, a USB-C port, and an HDMI port. On the left are a lone USB-C port and a headphone jack. Port placement is generally fine if that’s the side you prefer to connect peripherals to, but it could be burdensome if you would have preferred them on the right side or on the back.

Alienware 15 (2026) hands-on: Display

The 15-inch display isn’t terrible, but after testing so many laptops with OLED panels, it’s certainly a step down in both picture quality and overall brightness.

Since this was a pre-production model, we didn’t run our usual suite of display benchmarks. To my eyes, however, the screen is noticeably dimmer and less vibrant than a more premium display.

That’s not to say things don’t appear clearly defined, because they certainly do. The 1200p resolution lets you see everything on the screen in fine detail. However, the muted colors and low brightness make everything look duller than you’d like.

Again, things don’t look terrible on the Alienware 15, but don’t expect a top-end viewing experience when playing games or watching videos.

Alienware 15 (2026) hands-on: Performance and battery life

I tested a pre-production model with entry-level specs. It includes an AMD Ryzen 5 processor, an Nvidia RTX 4050 mobile GPU, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of SSD storage. These aren’t the latest and greatest components, but they’re good enough for playing even demanding games at smooth frame rates.

At default graphical settings and native resolution, Cyberpunk 2077 ran at around 45 to 50 frames per second during my testing. Mind you, that’s without the frame-boosting DLSS upscaler enabled. With this feature turned on, the fps jumped to the low 60s, so it’s definitely worth it for a system like this.

Given its prowess as a gaming machine, the Alienware 15 had no problems handling my average workflow, which usually consists of dozens of open Chrome tabs and the occasional YouTube video running in the background. If you need to get work done, this laptop won’t let you down.

Lastly, let’s talk about battery life. We didn’t run our usual battery test on this machine, but during my testing, I was able to play for close to 90 minutes before the battery life warning appeared. That’s typical for a gaming laptop, so I wasn’t surprised. Naturally, you’ll want to keep this laptop connected while gaming so it keeps running and maintains optimal performance.

Alienware 15 (2026) hands-on: Outlook

Given how expensive gaming devices are nowadays, I applaud Alienware for keeping the average gamer in mind. Both the Alienware 15 gaming laptop and the $349 Alienware AW2726DM gaming monitor exemplify this philosophy.

While I wouldn’t call a $1,299 starting price cheap, it’s still affordable given the current state of things. I’ll have a full review for you once I get to test a final model, but for now, I like what Alienware is cooking up.

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If you’re shooting content for Instagram or TikTok, or dialling in to an online interview, capturing good quality audio is a must. For those of us working from noisy homes or busy cafes, we often have to get creative to record clean audio. Having a decent wireless microphone certainly helps.

Billed as “the world’s first AI-powered, transformable wireless microphone system,” the Boya Magic is essentially a pocket-sized recording studio. The comparison fits: it’s a four-in-one device that packs multiple audio tools into a single wireless unit.

Depending on the configuration, you can:

• Clip it to your shirt as a lavalier mic
• Use it handheld for interviews
• Set it up as a desktop microphone
• Connect it to your camera via the 3.5mm TRS cable

The mic comes in different bundles that vary depending on what types of receivers you want to purchase. These range from $89.99 to $144.99.

Weighing just 7 grams, the transmitter clips easily onto your clothing, either via its built-in clip or the included magnetic mount, and sends audio to a receiver that connects to your phone over USB-C or Lightning.

Each kit includes two mini transmitters, along with a charging case that doubles as a handheld microphone for a more traditional setup, especially if you slip on one of the windshields that you’ll receive. That same configuration doubles as a podcast setup. Simply plug it into your computer, place the mic on a table, and capture 360° sound with ease.

Battery life is solid for something this compact. Each mini mic lasts up to six hours on a single charge, and the charging case adds a further nine hours — giving you a combined total of 30 hours before you need to find a plug. Under optimum conditions, Boya rates the wireless range at up to 328 feet (100 meters).

The audio I captured with the Magic didn’t blow me away, but it’s a clear step up from recording directly through my iPhone. It records at a 48 kHz sample rate with 24-bit depth across a 20 Hz–20 kHz frequency range, similar to competitors at this price point, such as the Rode Wireless Micro.

Where the Boya Magic stands out

Using the Boya Magic’s AI noise cancellation is where I started to get impressed. You can switch between light (-15 dB) and strong suppression (up to -40 dB), helping your voice cut through background noise. Both modes can be toggled via the companion app or the onboard controls.

I tested it in windy conditions that my iPhone struggled to handle, with gusts often overpowering and obscuring my voice. A generic wireless mic offered some improvement, but the audio was still inconsistent.

Plugging in my Boya Magic significantly upgraded the recording experience. Despite the AI processing, my voice still felt like my own and I didn’t notice any sort of warping. The only thing I noticed was that the wind and traffic noise were significantly muted.

Boya says its AI noise cancellation was trained on over 700,000 noise samples and can suppress audio up to -40 dB. I reached out to Boya about the AI features but did not receive a reply by the time of publication.

Nevertheless, the AI noise reduction does what it says on the box. With noise cancellation features off, the Boya Magic mic combined with the windshields still did a pretty good job of picking up my voice in windy conditions.

When I turned on the noise cancellation modes, I did pick up subtle ambient sound but in no way was it overpowering. If anything, I felt it made my recordings sound more natural.

Final thoughts

If you’re looking for a versatile wireless microphone that captures good quality audio for your phone, laptop or camera the Boya Magic mic is a good contender.

While the recording quality suffices for creating casual content, the most impressive features are the two AI noise cancelling modes that allow you to get your message across regardless of whether you’re in a windy park or a noisy cafe.

If you have easy access to quiet recording spaces where noise cancellation isn’t a priority, you could save some cash by going with other mics such as the Boya Mini 2 that retails for around $40.

The Magic’s versatility does come at a premium, but gives you greater peace of mind on those days when you can’t control your environment.

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I’ve been using iPhones ever since the 3GS, and an Apple ecosystem has grown around me — from the M5 MacBook Pro to my Apple Watch Ultra 2. But as my iPhone 15 Pro is on its last legs (as a content creator, I’ve really put it through its paces), it’s time to upgrade and I’m stumped.

Normally, my inner voice would be saying “just get an iPhone” to silence the blue bubble FOMO, but the Honor 600 stands as one of the few Android devices that actually plays nice with the ecosystem instead of fighting it.

And this isn’t just in software, the aesthetics are seriously premium, you’re getting a giant battery, mesmerizing OLED display, AI smarts in (mostly) all the right places and a banger camera system.

I do have some gripes (more on them later), but for £549 — £50 less than the iPhone 17e — you’d be hard pressed to find a better direct foe to Apple’s lineage.

The anti-Android aesthetic

It all starts with the Honor 600 being a serious looker and real premium feel in the hand — slim and lightweight at 6.7 ounces with unibody cold-carving process creating that sleek aluminum frame around the body.

But the real attention to detail comes in two ways. First, that super skinny bezel at 0.98mm (actually the thinnest in the industry right now) really does make the front basically look like its all display, while giving your thumb plenty of real estate to navigate while one-handed.

Then there’s the translucent composite fiber back. Touching it, you’d think it’s glass. But I promise you it’s not, and it actually makes the phone much more durable too. Throw in IP68, IP69 and IP69K water and dust resistance, alongside being SGS 5-star rated for drop and crush resistance, and this is ideal for clumsy hands like mine.

Living in both worlds

So here’s the secret weapon. I know Android Quick Share has managed to crack the AirDrop formula for Apple devices, but Honor’s been doing this for a while and with the upgraded OneHop technology, you’re getting much broader interconnectivity with other gadgets too!

It all starts with the Honor Workstation app for one-tap file sharing with iPhones and Macs, which in my time testing transferred data at a much higher speed too. One word of warning, though, both the Honor 600 and the MacBook need to be on the same WiFi network to make this happen.

But it goes further with a shared/synced notes system similar to the iCloud alternative. Open up a Workstation note and it’ll appear on your phone in real-time. Then comes the Apple Watch integration where the 600’s messages can sync to my Ultra 2.

It’s not the completely perfect “it just works” levels of Apple integration you get with an iPhone, Apple Watch and MacBook working together, but it’s close enough for what I need to do.

The day-to-day

Of course, one of the ways that Android phones stand up to iPhones is by offering better hardware for less, and that’s exactly what the Honor 600 does. Beyond the design aspects we’ve already talked about, there’s a giant 6.6-inch AMOLED screen running at 120Hz with a crispy 458 pixels-per inch.

Colors melt off the screen — especially when you flick on Vivid Display that uses AI to enhance clarity and color — with anything you watch, play or work on moving buttery smooth. But the real superpower here is brightness that hurts (but in a good way), as sunlight mode can tweak that peak brightness all the way up to 8,000 nits…yes you read that right.

That meant even in the most direct sunlight (even when its reflecting off the cover glass), I had no problem seeing content. And for late night use, this is contrasted by the 3,840Hz PWM dimming and AI defocus features that has legitimately made this display feel easier on the eyes when doomscrolling.

Then there’s the software that brings it all together: the MagicOS 10 skin on top of Android 16. There’s plenty of customizability to the UI, but out-the-box it felt familiar to an iOS-style app pages formula, which then slowly reveals other familiarities like the Dynamic Island-like Magic Capsule on top too for quick reference to real-time notifications.

But it’s 2026, so of course the phone has AI, which for the 600 extends far beyond your standard writing tools and translations. I’ve already talked about the AI display tweaks you can make, as well as the fun image-to-video stuff you can do too. But a lot more comes into play with that dedicated AI button.

With either a short, long or double press, you can jump into various features like a circle to search, and get suggestions based on on-screen content through the image model. There’s also AI battery scheduling too for identifying your usage patterns and optimizing power allocation, and a deepfake/voice clone detection system, though on that latter one it wasn’t entirely accurate with a 75% success rate in my testing.

Plus, with that giant 6800mAh battery inside, I’m able to comfortably make it through an entire day of regular use (Apple Music, checking socials, messaging, TikTok doomscrolling, a couple quick games) with around 35% left in the tank — a far cry from the fumes I’m left with on my iPhone at its peak.

Getting snap happy

Of course, one of the biggest selling points for a phone is its camera, and in my time testing, the 600 mostly nails it. That 200MP main snapper definitely delivers some flagship-level pictures with some additional flair to boot.

You can turn on pro mode to get the full res, but I highly doubt anyone will, because with 16-in-1 pixel binning, you’re getting a lot more light to the lens and incredible clarity in every shot. Throw in CIPA 6.0 pro-grade optical image stabilization and low light shots are not a problem for this either.

But most impressive is that color temperature sensor doing some great work in understanding the vividness of what you’re shooting, while the AI color engine gives you a chance to mimic your favorite camera styles from the likes of Fujifilm.

And while the AI image-to-video is definitely more gimmick than a serious feature, I can’t deny it’s a lot of fun to use for bringing inanimate objects to life. Round the front you’ve got a 50MP shooter also produces bright, crispy, color accurate shots too.

There’s just one issue though — that 12MP ultra wide and macro camera is a bit of a letdown compared to the monster 200MP main. There’s a fair bit of edge blur and reduced sharpness that can create a slightly mushier quality to the 0.5x shots.

For those wanting versatile creativity, better balance would’ve been nicer here.

The frustrations

That being said, there were a couple of things that I missed while daily driving the Honor 600. First, that mid-range Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 chip is speedy enough for the day-to-day basics and some multitasking, but it can start to get under pressure for anything more intensive.

Thanks to the vapor chamber, it won’t overheat under that sustained load, but it will just take a while to do things like render advanced photo edits, and gaming is on the slower side until you tone the graphics settings down a bit. And given the focus on the design here, you can find similarly-priced phones like the OnePlus Nord 5 or the iPhone 17e with more bang for your buck in this area.

And second is the lack of wireless charging. This has been common for the standard number series of Honor phones for a while now, and if you are more keen to do wired charging, this can absolutely keep up with 80W charging speeds and even 27W reverse wired to keep your earbuds topped up. But as someone who dived right into the MagSafe ecosystem, this is a tough pill to swallow.

Bottom line

However, all that being said, I’m stumped. My inner voice saying “just get the iPhone” has been silenced and it’s not just about specs — it's the fact that switching no longer means losing the Mac/Apple Watch features I love. Instead of fighting it, the Honor 600 embraces that seamlessness, and it’s one of the best phones I’ve tested in a long while.

It feels like the “Pro” phone the midrange has been waiting for and maybe, just maybe, it’s the one that will make some folks consider switching. I’m definitely getting that feeling.

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Yes, I know that to the sim racers amongst you, this is a cursed image — an F1-style wheel with a gear shifter and handbrake. The layout is also cursed too, but you can blame the limited space to bolt addons to the PlaySeat Formula Instinct rig.

The big news here is that Revosim has teamed up with Aston Martin to bring this new F1 wheel add-on to the RS Pure Sim — including this flatter, wider F1-style wheel, magnetic mounting cap with the badge, driving gloves and the carbon paddles for £129. In my testing, for enhancing steering feel in these beasty cars, this definitely performs much better than the real-life team is doing right now (...that was low, apologies to the team).

But while I am very much a track racer, I want the flexibility to dip into rally and drifting too. So I got the £439 Revosim bundle with shifter, loadcell handbrake and clutch pedal too for the full experience, and while I absolutely suck at rallying right now, it’s a lot of fun with these. Let me explain.

P1 for F1 racing

So let’s talk about the Aston Martin tie in here to begin with, because this is a great attachment if track racing is your thing. For those not in the know, there are some real benefits to a formula-style wheel that fundamentally changes the ergonomics and physics of how you interact with the sim

For the 180-degree rotation range of a track car over the 360 degrees of a standard roadcar, you’ll have your hands permanently locked to the wheel in the 9-and-3 position. This is built perfectly for that with an ergonomic placement of comfortable hand grips (with the gloves adding a nice grippiness to them too).

You aren’t fighting the inertia of a larger, heavier outer ring, so my steering inputs react to the competition around me and hit that apex first much faster. For even more weight-saving, you can change those metal paddles out for carbon fiber, but I still prefer the chunky click of the originals personally.

The well-design width also ensures that the key controls are just a thumb’s reach away for managing ERS and Brake Bias on-the-fly during a qualifying lap. Throw in the magnetic Aston Martin badge (which can be taken off if you’re coping as a Ferrari fanboy…hi btw) and you’ve got a fully-branded, high quality sim racing experience with that full.

Would I have loved a standalone wheel with a built-in display for telemetry? Sure. But that’s where the bluetooth-connected app comes in, and there are already on-board lights for rev counter and whatnot. This is a solid attachment to specialize your setup.

“If in doubt, flat out”

Colin McRae said it better than anyone else could — easily one of the most legendary rally drivers in the sport’s history. Turns out when I started going flat out in Assetto Corsa Rally, I wrapped my Lancia around many, many trees.

This is seriously sim racing on hard mode (in my opinion), as there’s much more to think about from not just gear choice, but also how to approach each corner based on the surface you’re driving over, the tightness of it, whether there are small obstacles or holes on each side that could send you flying, and much more.

But while it took me a long time to get acquainted to it, I can’t blame the tools, as I absolutely love the satisfying chunk of the hybrid gear box and pressurized pull of the load cell handbrake. These feel incredibly well-built and hefty with solid handles and zero flex in the metal shells as you put them through their paces.

And when I finally managed to nail the perfect handbrake flick around a hairpin turn, it was so satisfying. It quickly became muscle memory, which is a testament to the precise readings of that handbrake, and powering out with a tactile click on every shift really amped up the immersion.

…did I end up driving off a cliff? Maybe. But it was worth it.

Outlook

If you remember my review of the RS Pure back last year, one of my main frustrations was that the ecosystem may take a while to gain steam. We still don’t have any PlayStation compatibility (yet), and these accessories are not available in the U.S. But at the very least, we’re getting the full accessory set on PC to make this the all-purpose sim setup you need.

The Aston Martin wheel attachment is a great addition for anyone looking to level-up their track racing, and the gearbox and handbrake have that satisfyingly hefty feeling that makes you feel like you’re firing a V10 monster from the 90s around a tight turn in the middle of the Welsh forest.

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