Stuff UK May 2021

As anyone who has ever visited a Butlin’s or Center Parcs swimming pool will attest, a third wave is usually something to get excited about. But that’s not the case with a pandemic, and so while ‘time is precious’ and ‘seize the moment’ are both terrible clichés, they’re completely apt for making the most of the outdoor opportunities we’re currently being afforded. Whether it’s a fitness bootcamp on the common, a hike through an area of outstanding natural beauty or triathlon training at the Thames Barrier – OK, maybe not that last one – our 13-page al-fresco feature aims to ensure you’re in the know on the latest workout kit, GPS gizmos and nut butter to survive in the ‘wild’. If you’re not quite ready to embrace the wider world just yet,…

Aligning perfectly with the permission we’ve recently been given to leave our bunkers and gather with other humans once again, Sonos has announced a sensible-sized portable speaker, the Roam. While 2019’s Move was technically the company’s first on-the-go speaker, it was hardly easy to lug about, but its successor is decidedly easier to coax off a shelf. It might be lightweight at 430g, but Sonos promises big sound that you can customise with the app’s EQ controls. And there’s no compromising when it comes to features either. The Roam works with Bluetooth 5 and Wi-Fi, and will automatically connect to your existing Sonos network in the home and re-pair with your phone when you leave. Even cooler is Sound Swap, which lets you move the music from the Roam to another Sonos…

Like sticking a bone-rattling stereo in your Astra or hanging an 85in TV on the wall of your bedroom, some things are obviously overkill – but that doesn’t mean we don’t still want them. The smartphone equivalent is Asus’s new ROG Phone 5, an absurdly powerful blower that’ll have hardcore gamers trading in their liquid-cooled keyboards to buy one. Underneath the 6.78in 144Hz AMOLED display (which has an extra-responsive 300Hz touch sampling rate) you’ll find a beefy Snapdragon 888 5G processor and up to 16GB of RAM, which means you’ll be able to bump up the graphics settings without worrying about the phone having a breakdown. The whopping 6000mAh battery should mean you won’t find yourself in need of a charger at the wrong time… and if you do, the side-mounted…

To precisely nobody’s surprise, OnePlus has finally unveiled its long-rumoured smartwatch, with which it hopes to take on the now well-established talented tickers of Apple and Samsung. The company’s first wearable features a stainless steel 46mm case with a 2.5D curved glass AMOLED display. Naturally, you can respond to notifications and take calls on the watch, while 4GB of onboard storage can hold over 500 songs. There are more than 110 supported workout types, including automatic activity detection, and GPS is built in. As you’d expect in the age of health-guardian smartwatches, the OnePlus Watch also monitors blood oxygen, stress, breathing and heart rate, all of which can be managed in the OnePlus Health app. OnePlus says the 402mAh battery can last up to two weeks with limited use, or a week…

Dyson’s V15 Detect can see and hear invisible dust. Yes, you heard us correctly, the world’s most famous suckers have essentially helped solve Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials by fitting the humble vacuum cleaner with a green laser that shines an illuminating light on the dust you can’t see, plus an acoustic piezo sensor to calculate the size and quantity of the particles being sucked up. According to Dyson, this cord-free vac has been engineered to discover hidden dust as small as 10 microns. Developed by 370 engineers globally, it uses a 125,000rpm Dyson Hyperdymium motor to generate up to 230 airwatts of suction and a five-stage filtration system that it claims can capture 99.97% of dust particles. It also has an anti-tangle brush bar with a conical design so pet…

£1879 / fender.com Fender has invented the acoustic/electric hybrid guitar again… but this one might actually have some street cred • Tweak scene When Fender launched its latest generation of hybrid guitars in 2019, it adopted a radical new approach: making them good. The use of advanced digital modelling meant the American Acoustasonic Tele and Strat really could sound like a whole range of different acoustic guitar types at the flick of a pickup switch. But of course, the cool kids wouldn’t touch them because Teles and Strats are for dentists… and so here, with some sonic refinements, comes a version based on that icon of scuzzy alt-rock, the Jazzmaster. • Marquee boon As before, there are three pickups (a piezo, a percussive ‘body sensor’ and a normal magnetic type, this time a humbucker) and…