T3 January 2017

T3 XIAOMI MI MIX The future of smartphones has arrived. Xiaomi may not be a household name outside its native China, but now is the time to take the company seriously, as its latest device just transported us to the future. First and foremost, the Xiaomi Mi Mix is a serious achievement in smartphone design. Its near bezel-less front is a joy to behold, with the only protrusion away from the 6.4-inch Full HD display required to house the 5MP front-facing snapper (and provide a bit of extra space for a whole host of tasty components). We’ve been crying out for supreme smartphone style for years, and with Xiaomi now leading the way we hope it’ll encourage Apple, Samsung and co. to ditch their ample bezels for truly stunning devices. The superb styling…

Rob Carney EDITOR Rob has been driving around in an Audi R8 Spyder this month – a car capable of 0-62 in a mere 3.1 seconds. He slightly regretted parking it outside his house, as it got egged. Nick Odantzis DEPUTY EDITOR Last issue’s Gift Guide has inspired Nick to make an effort with his presentbuying, instead of hitting the garage forecourt again. Now, if only he could figure out how to do Xmas dinner. Claire Davies ASSISTANT EDITOR As Editor of T3’s shiny new Home section, Claire’s been window shopping for smart home goodies and furniture (p46). She’s also manically excited about Christmas, unlike the next person… Luke O’Neill ART EDITOR With Christmas upon us, Santa’s nemesis Luke is self-medicating by wearing three Bowie tees at once and playing The Kills on a loop. For god’s sake, nobody offer him…

T3 looks forward to an age where robot butlers are a standard smart home fixture, cooking our meals, overseeing the housework and handling all of that upkeep so we can relax and have more fun. 2017 will see us taking a big step forward in the virtual home assistant movement, thanks to the continuing evolution of Amazon Echo and (finally in the UK) the arrival of Google Home. These voice-activated speakers have the potential to enhance our lives by picking up the slack on grocery shopping, for example, or boost our productivity by managing our busy schedules. The potential with such high-powered, voiceactivated assistants is massive, and we’re only just scratching the surface. In this issue’s cover feature we look at this life-enhancing home tech to help you get a steer on…

YOUR GUIDE TO THE HOTTEST TECH, PEOPLE AND STYLES RIGHT NOW THIS MONTH… 16 HTC 10 Evo 17 Trinity Phantom Air 18 Alienware 13 20 Samsung Gear S3 22 Q Acoustics M3 25 Nintendo Switch 27 Winter-proof boots 28 Complete vinyl set-up 32 Opinion 36 Gadget Guru PIMPING YOUR RIDE Triumph offers over 150 accessories for the Bonneville Bobber, so you can tailor it to your riding preferences Vital stats 1200 The size of the engine in cubic centimetres. It’s a torque monster 10,000 The number of miles you can cover between each major service Two Seating positions: up and forward or down and backwards Four Colours to choose from, including Ironstone matt TUCKED AND TIDY Triumph has managed to make the Bobber even more aesthetically pleasing by hiding ugly features such as the catalytic converter and electrical wiring Holy moly! This is a custom one-off, right? Nope. Triumph’s latest creation might look like it was…

Vital stats 5.5-inch The 10 Evo’s sizeable screen serves up 1440 x 2560 pixels 3,200mAh The large battery will provide up to one day’s use (on average) Snapdragon 810 It isn’t the latest Qualcomm chipset, but it’s fast enough One metre The depth of water it can be submerged for 30 minutes BIG SOUND The supplied USB-C headphones contain ultrasonic sensors that detect how good your hearing is, then create a personal sound profile with boosted frequencies for a more precise listening experience THE NEW SLIM The headphone jack has been abandoned to make way for a slimmer body. The Evo measures 8.1mm at its thickest point, but feels much thinner thanks to tapered edges Hmm, this looks interesting. Yes, HTC is back, this time with a lightweight, all-metal smartphone packing brains aplenty. Oh, and it comes with a pair of USB Type-C dual…

TUNEABLE SOUND The Phantom Air uses the Trinity 5 tuning system, a set of removeable filters that screw into the earbuds to adjust bass and high frequencies Vital stats 7mm The diameter of the titanium dynamic drivers THREE HOURS The battery life (average use) per each full charge 5g The weight of each splashproof, aluminium earbud FIVE The number of tuning filters supplied here MULTI-FUNCTION A built-in mic means you can answer calls on the go. A multi-function button on the side of the earbuds enables you to power on, play or pause music, and skip tracks What’s all this, then? What you’re looking at here, buddy, is the Phantom Air, aka, the world’s first tuneable wireless earbuds. The tech crammed into each earbud enables you to tweak the bass and high frequencies to suit your taste, using Trinity’s removable tuning filters. Interesting. Tell me…