Stuff UK November 2020

To borrow a football analogy, welcome to the ‘business end of the season’ for the tech world, where brands clamber for your attention in the run-up to Christmas. Traditionally, Europe’s largest gadget show provides the backdrop to the biggest launches in the back half of the year; but with Berlin’s IFA running on a reduced platform this year, most companies did their own virtual presentations – and man, were they plentiful. It felt like the newsdesk had never been busier, so we’re buzzing off a Hot Stuff section that includes the smallest Xbox ever, Nintendo’s attempt to turn your kitchen into a Mario Kart circuit, Apple’s latest must-have kit, the first ever IMAX-certified soundbars from Philips, and so much more we put together a Most Wanted Awards list on Stuff.tv. If you…

HOT SIX #1 TRUST A BLOODVESSEL Apple Watch Series 6 What has Apple got against doctors? Did Tim Cook’s GP once try to amputate a toe without offering any anaesthetic? Did Phil Schiller have a finger inserted somewhere uncomfortable without sufficient warning? Because it seems that with every new iteration of its Watch line-up, Apple adds something that seeks to make our medical friends obsolete. This year it’s SpO2, which means the Watch Series 6 can detect how much oxygen is in your blood – a good indicator of general respiratory health. Topical. That’s on top of the electrocardiogram (ECG), excess noise alerts and fall detection that were already on board, of course. Inside, its dual-core S6 processor is based on the A13 Bionic in the iPhone 11, meaning it runs up to 20%…

There’s only so much you can do to make a tablet stand out. When you break it down, they’re all just big glowing rectangles, right? Apple thought it had the right idea when it decided to give its new iPad Air a lick of paint, particularly the ‘mint choc chip’ green one, but then it went and spoiled everything by making it look almost exactly like an iPad Pro. The Air’s new 10.9in 2360x1640 Liquid Retina screen means there’s no longer any room for the Touch ID sensor down the bottom, so for the first time ever it’s been moved to the power button up top. And that’s not the only first either: the 2020 Air is powered by the new A14 Bionic chip, which Apple reckons is 40% speedier than…

Ever since TVs started getting thinner than the walls of a budget hotel, it’s presented one major problem: what to do about the sound. It’s all very well having an absurdly skinny screen, but if you might as well be listening through said hotel wall, are you really any better off than in the days of watching a whopping CRT that could sink a cross-channel ferry? Philips’ latest solution is a simple one. The OLED+ 935 comes with a 10-speaker Bowers & Wilkins 3.1.2 sound system built into the stand. Dolby Atmos Elevation speakers can provide an extra sense of scale and size to everything that comes through the Kvadrat acoustic fabric, even if it’s not Atmos content, while the new P5 processor improves Dolby Vision content using a special Dolby…

Expectation can be a terrible thing. When Motorola resurrected the Razr clamshell phone last year, the combination of its newfangled folding screen and rampant nostalgia for the Beckham-approved original meant it was always going to have a job living up to our sky-high hopes. But everyone deserves a second chance – and while the new version might look like it’s just had 5G shoehorned inside, there’s a lot more going on here than just some quicker-loading gifs. The Razr 5G has a faster Snapdragon 765G processor, 8GB of RAM and twice as much internal storage at 256GB. A larger 2800mAh battery should also address some of the previous version’s stamina issues. Both cameras have had an upgrade too: 20MP on the inside and 48MP on the back, with time-of-flight autofocus and…

There are some aspects of Mario Kart that we’re quite glad only exist in the Mushroom Kingdom – commuting can be stressful enough without having to worry about pools of lava on the dual carriageway. Mind you, when somebody cuts you up at a junction or you get held up by a lane-hogger, it’s hard not to fantasise about having a red shell to hurl at them. While Nintendo sadly hasn’t released a giant banana-skin for dropping in front of tailgaters, Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit is probably the closest you’ll get to a real-life race along Rainbow Road. The game comes with a camera-equipped plastic kart, plus a set of four gates to mark out a course on your floor – where you position them is entirely up to you…