CCL Reaper

CCL Reaper G
GT
T Gaming PC
• AMD Ryzen 7 2700 3.2GHz
• 16GB 3000MHz DDR4 Desktop Memory
• NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 8GB
• 256GB NVMe SSD
• 3TB Seagate BarraCuda HDD
• Corsair Carbide 275R TG Case

From £1,227.99 inc VAT

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01274 471 210 pcsales@cclonline.com Price Match

On all ccl built systems

CCL Computers Ltd, Inmoor Road, Tong, Bradford, BD11 2PS - Prices correct at time of going to publishing (18/04/2019).
 WELCOME PAGE

Contact us
Editor Madeline Bennett madeline@computershopper.co.uk
Reviews Editor James Archer james@computershopper.co.uk
Contributing Editor David Ludlow david@computershopper.co.uk
News Editor Roland Moore-Colyer roland@computershopper.co.uk
Senior Staff Writer Nathan Spendelow nathan@computershopper.co.uk
DESIGN & PRODUCTION
Design Bill Bagnall
Production Editor Steve Haines
Production Manager Daniel Stark
Production Assistant Lewis Small
Network Production Manager Kerry Lambird
CONTRIBUTORS
Jonathan Bray, Tom Bruce, Pete Clark, David Crookes, Mel Croucher,
Amy Davies, Kay Ewbank, Simon Handby, Mike Jennings, Alan Martin,
Christopher Minasians, James Morris, Edward Munn, Nik Rawlinson,
Clive Webster
ADVERTISING

G
Email ads.shopper@dennis.co.uk
Group Advertising Manager Charlotte Milligan
020 3890 3486 one are the simple days of choosing a
COVER GIFT CONTACT
Chris Wiles support@creativemark.co.uk
smartphone, when the choice used to be a
SUBSCRIPTIONS blue or yellow Nokia handset, and later
Tel: 0330 333 9493 moved on to whether to splash out on a
Email: customercare@subscribe.computershopper.co.uk
Web: ManageMyMags.co.uk BlackBerry or an iPhone.
UK £44.99, Europe £70, Rest of world £90
With the rise of Google’s Android operating system,
PHOTOGRAPHY
Michael Pheasant we’re now inundated with all manner of handsets priced
LICENSING AND SYNDICATION from under £100 to over £1,000, from a plethora of
Ryan Chambers 020 3890 4027 Ryan_Chambers@dennis.co.uk
Anj Dosaj-Halai 020 3890 3816 anj_halai@dennis.co.uk manufacturers both familiar – Sony and Samsung – and
MANAGEMENT less so – Xiaomi and Honor.
Tel 020 3890 3890
Managing Directoror John Garewal Adding to the complexity is the emergence of two
Group Advertising Director
Newstrade Director
or Julian Lloyd-Evans
or David Barker
new and fast-approaching mobile innovations: 5G and
Group CFO/COO Brett Reynolds foldable phones. Smartphone technology hasn’t gone
Chief Executive James Tye
Company Founder
under Felix Dennis through any major overhauls in the past couple of years,
PRINTING but either – or both – of these technologies has the
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Distributors Seymour 020 7429 4000
potential to be the next must-have.
LIABILITY But while 5G and folding phones are on the horizon,
While every care was taken preparing this magazine, the publishers
cannot be held responsible for the accuracy of the information or
many of us will be coming to the end of our contracts
any consequence arising from it. All judgements are based on equipment sooner than they arrive, or simply in need of a new
available to Computer Shopper at the time of review. ‘Value for money’
comments are based on UK prices at time of review. All prices include handset, leaving us wondering whether to upgrade now
VAT unless otherwise stated.
Computer Shopper takes no responsibility for the content of external
or hold off for one of these new devices.
websites whose addresses are published in the magazine. To help make your decision easier, we’ve assessed the
COMPUTER SHOPPER INCORPORATES UPGRADE SHOPPER, GAMES
SHOPPER, INTERNET SHOPPER, MOBILE SHOPPER, PC SHOPPER,
likely arrival dates and benefits of 5G-compatible and
PORTABLE SHOPPER AND SOFTWARE SHOPPER foldable phones, so you can decide if it’s worth you
A DENNIS PUBLICATION
Computer Shopper is published by Dennis Publishing Ltd,
waiting (p78). For those of you who decide it’s not, we’ve
31-32 Alfred Place, London WC1E 7DP. Company registered in England. tested and compared 18 smartphones that could merit a
All material © Dennis Publishing Limited licensed by Felden 2019, and
may not be reproduced in whole or part without the consent of the more imminent purchase. These range from £99 handsets
publishers. ISSN 0955-8578 to flagship models to premium devices that can be had at
© Copyright Dennis Publishing Limited
bargain prices now they’re a few months old.
We also look back to the golden age of space
exploration and the computers that powered the world’s
first space plane (p110). And I’ve been investigating how
artificial intelligence and drones are helping to protect
endangered species like elephant and rhino by turning the
Subscribe tables on poachers (p116), and enjoying the opportunity

and save to consider the benefits technology can offer our world.

Call us on
0330 333 9493
or see page 126 Madeline Bennett
Bennett, Edito
Editor
madeline@computershopper.co.uk

ISSUE 377 | COMPUTER SHOPPER

PPER
R | JULY 2019 3
 CONTENTS
Contents
p78
p110
Regulars
6 Letters
Your monthly missives of wit and wisdom,
tips and tricks, and moans and groans
8 Mel’s World
The nation is divided, and not only because
of Brexit. The gap between the digital haves
and have nots is enormous and growing ever
wider all the time, argues Mel Croucher
10 Kay’s Corner
A new standard that uses hardware
authentication to get around the problem of
weak passwords could help to boost online
security. Kay Ewbank prepares to rip up the
Post-it notes stuck to her monitor to celebrate
12 Rants & Raves
Facial recognition technology may help to
cut down on queues at passport control,
but what else is the data being used for?
David Ludlow is concerned that our privacy
is not being taken seriously enough
138 Zygote
At last, something for anyone who’s ever been
asleep on the job: a company that pays you
for staying in bed. Zygote hits the sack, safe
in the knowledge that he won’t get the sack
4 JULY 2019
Issue 377 July 2019
p132
p122
Features
News
All the latest news and views from the
technology world, including:
14 News Round-up
Acer unveils its new range of desktops and
laptops aimed at creative professionals;
110 It is Rocket Science, Actually
and Sony’s PlayStation 5 set to bring the Almost 40 years after the launch of the first
latest PC tech to gaming consoles Space Shuttle, Nik Rawlinson looks back at
the systems and the software that helped to
16 From The Lab power the world’s first space plane
In-depth coverage of all the latest scientific
and technological advances
17 The Lowdown: Google Stadia 116 Keeping it Wild
Google attempts to shake up the gaming Madeline Bennett
world with its new streaming service investigates how drones,
artificial intelligence and
seismic sensors are being
used to protect wildlife
Learn from poachers and other
threats on land and at sea
128 Helpfile & Business Help
Got a PC problem, app annoyance or
Windows woe? Fear not: Simon Handby 122 Retro: Inside
is here to answer all your queries the Head of
Frank Sidebottom
132 Advanced Projects David Crookes on the
Having trouble remembering all your life of Chris Sievey – punk
passwords? Fret no more – Clive Webster is pioneer, Speccy coder,
here to help you set up a secure password and the man beneath
manager, and it needn’t cost you a penny the papier mâché mask
| COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 377
 p116

p78 p132

Reviews Group Tests

18 Hot Product
The Huawei MateBook X Pro takes a familiar design and adds
new features, updated hardware and a longer-lasting battery.
ry.
The result is a great ultraportable, but there’s tough
competition from within Huawei itself

22 PCs 42 Networks 78 Smartphones

Overclockers’ latest take on an affordable and
versatile home desktop, the Gaming XVI Essential
(p24), is leagues ahead of previous attempts
26 Laptops
The HP Spectre x360 13 (2019) is a
conservative annual update; the Lenovo Yoga
C930 (p31), meanwhile, with its combined
speaker/hinge, is much more ambitious
It’s pricey, but the Netgear Orbi Outdoor
RBS50Y is effective at boosting Wi-Fi
performance at the bottom of the garden
44 Audio
The Creative Outlier Air aren’t just a
rich-sounding pair of true wireless earbuds;
they’re superb value, too
We put 18 smartphones to the test,
showing you how to get flagship specs
at a budget price, and ask if 5G and
foldable phones are the future. Plus
how to avoid the contract rip-off – and
are Huawei products safe to use?

32 Displays
Even with accurate colours, nearly £900 for
the Philips Brilliance 499P9H is a big ask
34 Components
Cheaper than the RTX 2060, the MSI GeForce
GTX 1660 Ti Gaming X 6G is a good mid-range
graphics card if you don’t need ray-tracing
36 Storage
Budget NVMe SSDs are getting better, and
the nippy WD Blue SN500 is proof
40 Printers
Brother’s MFC-J5945DW is a quick and
economical A3 printer, but there are better
options for print quality
48 Photography
For stills and video alike, the Nikon Z6
74 Your Software*
mirrorless camera manages to stand up to Ensure your deleted files are really
even the more advanced Z7 gone for good with the help of
O&O SafeErase 12 Professional
50 Wearables
It lacks GPS, but otherwise, the Garmin
Vivomove HR smartwatch is exceedingly
well equipped for the money
6 FULL
PACKAGES
54 Software
Improved colour management is just one of
several key changes in Adobe’s Premiere
Pro CC 2019 video editor
56 Best Buys
Looking for the best kit we’ve reviewed * FREE SOFTWARE
EDITION ONLY
recently? It’s all in our Best Buys section

ISSUE 377 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | JULY 2019 5

 LETTERS
Letters
We’re always open to new ideas here at Shopper – and fortunately, our
knowledgeable readers are never short of a suggestion or two
letters@computershopper.co.uk
Bang to rights
I wonder how
many of your
readers, when they’d
finished reading the
‘Design Your Dream
PC’ article in Shopper
376, did as I did and
took the data from
the CPU benchmark
results on page 83
and built a spreadsheet to calculate the
‘bang for buck’ values?
Simply dividing the benchmark numbers
by the price of each CPU gives a comparison
that might sway one’s buying choice.
Witness the image above.
Obviously the same approach could be
taken for the other benchmarks in the
article: storage on page 93, graphics cards
on pages 98 and 99, and CPU coolers on
page 103.
Star letter
Pay away
I like reading the smartphone reviews
in Shopper and use them to make a
decision when upgrading my mobile.
I currently have a Motorola Moto G5
Plus, and the review of the Moto G7
Power in Shopper 376 convinced me that
it should be my next phone.
But wait a minute – does it have NFC?
The review doesn’t say, so I went online
and found conflicting answers: the UK
version doesn’t, but the European
version might have.
NFC is a deal-breaker for me and, I
suspect, it is for the growing number of
people who use Android Pay. I rarely
have my wallet with me, but always have
my phone.
So could future reviews please
mention whether NFC is present or not?
Either in the main review or even in the
specifications panel.
Incidentally, it might be of interest
to readers that the payment maximum
is higher when using Android Pay than
6 JULY 2019
Corel grief
I am a long-time user of CorelDraw and
usually upgrade every two years.
I was recently sent an email
by Corel offering the 2019
upgrade for $199. Since I live
in the UK, I have to pay 20%
VAT on top. That should
mean the total cost is
$238.80, which at the rate
of exchange on the day of
Can I suggest that in future issues of the writing is £182.55. However,
magazine, where articles have benchmark Corel’s website is trying to charge me
comparisons, you do the calculations for us £299 for the upgrade.
and include the results in the article? Why should I have to pay more than
Steve Webb £100 extra for living in the UK?
Mike Conder
Thanks for this suggestion. We agree that
it’s a useful calculation to include to make the Vicious cycle
buying process easier for Shopper readers so I was appalled when reading the
we’ll be including that in future articles about ‘Core Blimey’ CPUs article on page
building your own PC. 80 of Shopper 376 and the description of
when paying by specs table (page 102).
contactless card: it’s The bad news, as you’ll
£50 as opposed to £30. see from the specs
Roger Bullock table, is that NFC is
not supported on
Thanks for highlighting the Moto G7 Power.
the importance of NFC to Android Pay users, Hopefully you’ll find a suitable alternative
and the maximum payment level differences. from the other 17 smartphones we’ve
We have some good and bad news for you. reviewed, 14 of which offer NFC support.
We’re running a mammoth comparison of Of these, the Vodafone Smart X9 is a great
18 smartphones as our group test in this issue low-cost option, or if you’re willing to
(page 78), which includes both a review of the splash out a bit more, we’d recommend
Moto G7 Power and NFC support as part of the the Honor View 20 or Xiaomi Mi 8 Pro.
❱❱ Write in and win
Do you wish your computer was faster when booting and loading
applications? Thanks to Crucial, you can achieve your dream of a
faster PC or laptop with a 500GB MX500 SSD. The writer of our
Star Letter will be awarded one of these solid-state devices, which
can be installed in a desktop PC or a laptop.
This SSD is 45 times more energy efficient than a typical hard STAR
drive and has sequential reads/writes up to 560/510MB/s and random PRIZE
reads/writes up to 95K/90K IOPS, making it the perfect replacement for the 500GB
SSD
ageing hard drive in your sluggish PC.
| COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 377
 LETTERS

clock speeds at the end of the ‘Thread
Lightly’ section.
Either the writer doesn’t know what
frequency is, or their English is lacking.
Describing 1MHz as one cycle per second (or
3.6GHz as 3,600 cycles per second) is plain
wrong. 1MHz is 1,000,000hz, or 1,000,000
cycles per second, and while CPU speeds are
usually quoted in GHz (1,000,000,000Hz),
000Hz),
the basic definitions have not changed. ed.
Tim
Thanks for pointing this out. What we should
have said is that each cycle is a hertz, and each
CPU can typically run one instruction per cycle.
Therefore, the higher the clock speed, the more
instructions can be run per second. It’s not
always a direct correlation, as some instructions
structions
can take more than one cycle to execute.ute.
Clock speed is only a good comparisonison
between processors of the same range,nge, as
other factors, including instruction set,
efficiency, design and number of cores, all
play their part in determining overall speeds.
Virtuous recycle
I recently found some old HD 1.44MB
floppy disks containing personal and
cricket club files from the past. Having an
old desktop in the shed with a floppy drive, I
connected it up to save the files to USB stick.
Although it worked, the old dual-core
Athlon 64-3800+ processor was slow. So I
had a look on eBay and took a punt on a
used Gigabyte P41T-D3 motherboard bundle
with a quad-core 2.5GHz Core i5 processor,
4GB of DDR3 RAM and an Nvidia Quadro FX
580 DVI graphics card. All for £40, in the
original packaging with the manual.
It was a doddle to fit with the Quick
Start Guide, and was up and running in
an hour. Following this success, I have
upgraded my Dell XPS 15 (quad-core Core
i5) along with two friends’ old and slow
laptops with new SSD drives and increased
memory running Windows 10.
They all now fly. There is life yet in the old
dog, so don’t discard your old desktop/
laptop, upgrade it. Save landfill – upcycle!
Andy Brent Cook
One forsorrow, two for joy
Yo article on the Raspberry Pi
Your
((Shopper 374) was very informative but
one glaring omission. No mention was
with o
made o of the wonderful and extensive
resource that is the MagPi magazine.
resour
Every issue, together with several
Eve
tutorials, can either be purchased or
tutorials
freely downloaded from the website
(www.raspberrypi.org/magpi/issues).
(www.ra
There are hundreds of projects, together
many articles on computer languages
with m
both ffor the beginner and the more
experienced programmer.
experi
Dave Sheppard
S

In the next issue

❰❰Echo chamber ❰❰Quantum
Our complete guide leaps
to getting the best All the latest
out of Amazon’s developments in
Alexa voice assistant, the world of
and a comparison of quantum
all the latest Echo computing,
devices to help you including efforts
choose the best one from Google, Intel
to suit your needs and IBM to turn
the technology to
real-world uses

❱❱Watchful
❱❱Build a eyes
Pi-based We put security
intelligent cameras and
speaker compact video
We show you how cameras to the
to build your own test, to see which
Raspberry Pi-powered are most worthy to
Google Assistant guard your home
using the Google (or just record
AIY Voice Kit your holidays)

COMPUTER SHOPPER ISSUE 378 ON SALE IN NEWSAGENTS FROM 13th JUNE

ISSUE 377 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | JULY 2019 7

 MEL’S WORLD
The great digital divide
With millions of UK citizens unable to access online services, the gap between the
connected and the disconnected is growing ever wider, says Mel Croucher
I HAVE KNOWN my friend
Mikey since we were little kids
at school. He is my oldest friend
in all senses, and we have shared
all the episodes of our lives: the
good, the bad and the downright
ugly. He helped me way back
when we founded the first
leisure software company in
the UK together, and then my
friend Mikey buggered off and
became a social worker.
A while back he mentioned his
MEL CROUCHER TV remote was broken, although I
Tech pioneer and all-round good egg could find nothing wrong with it.
letters@computershopper.co.uk Not long after, his text messages
got flakey, and then he stopped
responding to my emails.
In the early stages of his
mental shut-down, long before
his dementia took hold, before he
forgot his PIN or how to use a
cash dispenser, he would stroll
along to his local branch of the
Halifax to withdraw some money
for sandwiches and beer. But
then they closed the branch
down, and online banking was
never really his thing.
The poor, the old, the homeless, the phobic – these are the disconnected.
And the digital divide renders them second-class citizens
My friend Mikey had a lady
friend who worked in the library
almost next door to the Halifax,
and she would use one of the
library computer kiosks to go
online for him to pay bills and
order stuff. She spent an awful
lot of time helping him out like
that, and I suspect that once
upon a time they may have had a
bit of a thing going on.
My friend Mikey used to visit
the library a lot before they
closed that down as well. He is
part of the digital divide, the part
that is digitally divided from the
rest of society. And sad to say,
he is on the wrong side.
Because of budget cuts, even
in the libraries that are still open,
at least a thousand internet-
connected machines have been
8 JULY 2019
lost in the past year. That’s a lot
of deprivation for a little saving. A
further 400 terminals have been
withdrawn from job centres, and
that’s plain bonkers. Wi-Fi may
be everywhere, but the internet
cafés that used to occupy our
towns and cities have vanished.
ACCESS DENIED
So if people need to connect,
they need to access hardware at
home or to carry it around on the
hoof. And if they haven’t got any
hardware, they are excluded. Yet
this is at a time when government
is pushing social services online,
and at a time when banks favour
intercourse by apps rather than
human happenstance. And all for
the same reason: it’s cheaper.
Nobody really knows the
exact number of people in our
divided society who are off-grid,
or unable or simply unwilling to
embrace technology. Last time I
looked, the Office for National
Statistics reckoned that 5.3
million UK adults haven’t used
the internet this year, and most
of them have never accessed it
at all. That’s 10% of our adult
population, according to the
official figures. The Centre for
Economics and Business
Research puts the number
without access or digital skills at
7.9 million and rising.
So who knows what the scale
of the problem really is? But it’s
bleeding obvious how people who
are digitally disconnected are
unable to benefit in modern
Britain. Let us count the ways.
First of all, people on the
wrong side of the digital
divide lose out on essential
communication, not just with
the authorities or the banks,
but with friends, family and
the community in general.
Also, they are disadvantaged
in the jobs market, where nearly
all opportunities are now
brokered online.
Then, even if they can find
work, their earnings are almost
certain to be lower than folk
who do have digital skills.
And when it comes to spending
those earnings, shopping offline
is a whole heap more expensive
than clicking the button.
What’s more, the disconnected
even get robbed of their time,
because it takes way longer to
access a service or make a
transaction in person than it
does to execute it digitally.
ONLY DISCONNECT
The poor, the old, the
unbalanced, the homeless, the
phobic – these are the
disconnected. And in our brave
new world, the digital divide
renders them second-class
citizens. Soon, many of them
will become non-citizens.
Society is going cashless.
Already, anyone without a
permanent address is unable to
receive benefits, or be issued with
a touch card, and the circle of
exclusion can only grow like
gangrene, until the worst affected
among us get hurt, fester, stink,
rot and drop off. The response
to the mumbled mantra of ‘can
you spare me some change,
please?’ may soon not refer to
little bits of circular metal at all,
but to a plea to alter society.
When I visited my friend
Mikey this morning, he was
sitting in the book-lined room
that was once his home office.
The curtains were drawn, and he
was agitated, shouting at a little
black slab of plastic with a blue
light that pulsed in the gloom.
He told me he didn’t like it, but it
wouldn’t go away.
I thought about it for a
moment or two and then – in
what I hope was an act of
kindness – I got down on my
hands and knees, and pulled the
plug on his Wi-Fi hub.
| COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 377
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 KAY’S CORNER
Last words for passwords?
A new web standard means the days of using your pet’s name to log into your favourite
sites may finally be over. Kay Ewbank calls on FIDO to help her through online security
I WAS CHATTING to a woman I
used to work with, and she told
me somewhat shamefacedly that
a mutual ex-colleague had
managed to log on to the
website of a supplier our old
company used infrequently.
They’d got into the account set
up by my friend because they’d
guessed the password would be
the one she always used – which
it was. What’s more, I know for a
fact my friend still uses the same
KAY EWBANK password for nearly everything,
Software guru and Shopper legend several years down the line.
letters@computershopper.co.uk I’d like to think that this was
something rare, but it isn’t.
People choose passwords that
are easy to remember, and
therefore easy to crack, and use
the same one over and over,
which is why the World Wide
Web Consortium estimates
that stolen, weak or default
passwords are behind 81% of
data breaches.
It’s easy to see why people
use their dog’s name as a
password for every site they
register with – coming up with
new and strong passwords is a
thankless task. What’s even
People choose passwords that are easy to
remember, and therefore easy to crack
worse is when you have to
change your password regularly.
When I go into a company to
work as a consultant, I reckon I
can tell how rigid their password
policy is by the number of sticky
notes attached to monitors with
the current login password
written down. It’s a trade-off –
make people change their
password frequently, they’ll
forget what the current one is so
they write it down. This means
anyone can sit down and log on.
Data safety? What data safety?
Until now, the only sensible
solution has been to use a
password manager (see page 132).
This usually takes the form of an
10
add-in to your web browser. It
intercepts and stores passwords
you enter, so when you register
with a new site, you can use a
completely new password and
choose one complicated enough
to make it tough to crack. You
won’t have to remember it
because whenever you’re asked
to supply it, the password
manager supplies it for you.
The best password managers
synchronise passwords across
different devices, so you can log
in on your laptop or your phone
and the password manager
provides the magic word. They’ll
also update across the devices if
you change a password.
RANDOM MEMORY ACCESS
You don’t even have to think up
a good password in the first
place. Password managers come
with a built-in random password
generator. If you’re already a fan
of password managers, it’s
worth noting that most of
them have a default setting for
password length that’s too short
– the accepted wisdom is that
you should be using passwords
that are at least 16 digits long,
with a mix of upper- and
lower-case letters, digits and
non-alphabetic characters.
It looks as though all these
password problems are going to
disappear over the next few
years, however, because of
something called WebAuthn.
This is a new standard that has
been set up by the World Wide
Web Consortium (W3C), which
is the governing body for what
happens on the web.
WebAuthn is an attempt to
get around the problems of
passwords getting hacked. It’s a
browser and platform standard
that is already supported in
Windows 10 and Android, as
well as in Chrome, Firefox,
Edge and Safari browsers.
Dropbox has also announced
support for WebAuthn.
The basic idea behind
WebAuthn is that you don’t use
JULY 2019
a password; you use either
biometrics, the unique ID of your
mobile device, or something
called a FIDO2 security key.
Given the number of people who
use their dog’s name as their
default password, this does
sound as if the members of the
W3C have a warped sense of
humour, but sadly it turns out
that FIDO stands for Fast
IDentity Online. Essentially it
uses a hardware security key,
usually a USB device that you
can put into any device from
where you want to log on.
WHO GOES THERE?
It’s not clear yet which of the
different authentication
techniques will be most
popular, and none of them is
really ideal. Biometric devices
such as fingerprint scanners
and iris-recognition scanners
are fine in James Bond films,
but older versions found on
laptops were a pain to use in
reality. USB security keys run the
risk that you lose them (or put
them through the washing
machine, which tends to turn
them into ornaments).
The least intrusive method
seems to be the use of your
smartphone as a unique
identifier. Android phones that
run at least Android 7 are now
FIDO2 certified, meaning you can
use some aspect of them – either
a local pin code, a swipe pattern
that’s used to unlock the phone
or the local fingerprint scanner
on the phone – to prove you’re
who you say you are. The
important thing is that there’s
something only you can supply,
so even if you lose your phone
your logins are secure.
For the moment, I’ll be
keeping the password manager
going, because sadly we’re still
a long way from ditching
passwords altogether. I think this
standard looks as if it offers a
real alternative, however. The
days of sticky notes and tired old
passwords are numbered.
| COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 377
 RANTS & RAVES
Product names continue to become more convoluted and confusing, much to the
annoyance of James Roland Hunt Moore-Colyer
nd Mo ore - Colyer
Rola
MY FULL NAME is James Roland Hunt Moore-Colyer; I go by
Roland. For years, that stupid ‘known by my middle name’ format,
all thanks to my father having airs above his station, has caused
problems with appointments, travel bookings, banking, and pretty
much every other service where a form of your full name is needed.
I’ve sat at the dentists hearing a nurse call out ‘James’, only to
realise it’s me when some amalgamation of ‘Mr Moore-Colyer’ – I’ve
had Mr Moore, Mr Colyer, Mr Colyer-Moore – is blurted out.
Yet this is nothing compared to some of the frankly mad naming
conventions in the computing world.
Take Asus and its gaming laptop line. I use an Asus ROG Strix
GL703VM, which is a mouthful followed by a meaningless set of
letters and numbers. Asus also has the TUF, ROG Scar II, ROG Hero
II, ROG Zephyrus lines, all with a series of characters after them.
Acer is just as bad, with its monitors boasting monikers such as
the Predator XB1 XB271HUA, which is about as snappy and sensible
as a toothless crocodile.
w
David Ludlo
FLYING OUT OF Orlando airport back to the UK, there e was
something a bit different about boarding my plane. Rather than
th
having to hand over my passport for scanning, I just had to look at
a camera system (with my glasses off) in order to verify who I was.
It’s all part of a new system being rolled out by the US Customs
and Border Protection (CBP), with its plan to biometrically scan
people on the way out of the country. Simple facial recognition
should be easier and quicker than using a passport for verification,
but what good does it do to scan people on their way out, and
what is that information being used for?
I’d be a bigger fan of the technology if the CBP would also
apply it automatically on the way into the country: after suffering
12
Yet those brands aren’t a patch on Intel. Not only
does
doe it have a vast array of mobile and desktop
chips
chi at skewed points in their refresh cycle, but it
has complex names for each chip with little to no
clue
clu to the non-initiated about the differences.
If you’re building a PC, you may be familiar with all
the ch
chip names. But if you simply want a Core i7 in your
laptop, there’s
t a choice of the Core i7-9850H, i7-9760H,
i7-8559U, i7-8500Y and i7-8809G. All these CPUs have slight nuances,
but their names give no clue to their core count or performance.
AMD isn’t much better with its Ryzen 3, 5 and 7 processors all
followed by a series of numbers, but they’re at least more logical.
Graphics cards are slightly easier to understand, with Nvidia
breaking its latest Turing architecture into the high-end GeForce
RTX range and the more affordable GTX 16-series. But there’s still
the difficulty of the newest GTX line-up sporting the GTX 1660 Ti,
GTX 1660, GTX 1650 Ti and GTX 1650. You can extrapolate that the
lower the number, the lower performance but there’s no easy way
to see what the notable differences between the components are.
I’m not saying such components need to have labels like GTX
Budget or Core Top-Dog, but a more straightforward naming
convention would be easier to grasp. What’s wrong with numbering
devices as OnePlus does, or coming up with snappier names that
tell the consumer what they’re getting rather than a set of numbers
and letters that make finding the component you want a nightmare?
a thre
three-hour immigration queue, I’d sign up to
anything
any to make the task quicker. As it is, the
facial
fa data just seems to be collected, stored and
used
use without any consent.
This highlights the problem with facial data. With
fingerprints
fin or iris scans, you have to willingly put a
body
bod part close to the scanner, giving you the
opportunity
opport to opt in or opt out. With facial recognition,
you can b be scanned and tracked from a distance.
You
Yo might be surprised at the ways that facial recognition
software is being used. Many stores have trialled the use of
blacklisting software, which looks out for known shoplifters and
then warns security staff when one is spotted.
The Metropolitan Police continue to trial live facial recognition,
although data provided by Big Brother Watch has shown that up
to 98% of automated facial recognition matches by the Met
wrongly identified innocent people.
Facial recognition could be powerful and make life easier, but we
shouldn’t let governments push us into using it as a default option.
Our privacy and security deserve being taken more seriously.
JULY 2019 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 377
 Acer aims at Apple with creative professional PC line
SAY WHAT?
ACER HAS TAKEN aim at creative
professionals with the introduction of its new
ConceptD line of laptops and desktops.
At its Next 2019 New York event, Acer
revealed the ConceptD 9, a chunky 2-in-1 device
with a 4K touchscreen on a hinge. This allows it
to be orientated in an easel or canvas-like
fashion, similar to Microsoft’s Surface Studio, so
digital artists and designers can doodle on the
panel with the included digital pen.
With a Core i9 processor, GeForce RTX 2080
and up to 32GB of RAM, the ConceptD 9 packs
plenty of power into its 4.1kg frame. A suite of
ports, including HDMI 2.0 and Thunderbolt 3, take care of connectivity.
The well-specced and innovative device comes at a price: €4,999 (£4,300).
Acer also unveiled a brace of traditional laptops for creative types: the
ConceptD 7 and 5. Both models comes with 15.6in UHD displays, but the
ConceptD 7 has a more impressive spec with its ninth-generation Core i7
processor, GeForce RTX 2080 Max-Q, up to 32GB of RAM, 1TB of NVMe
storage space and a comprehensive set of ports. Be prepared to pay
anything from €2,299 (£1,982) for such a machine.
With a weight of 1.5kg and a price of €1,699 (£1,465), the ConceptD 5 is
the more affordable and lighter ConceptD family member. Yet it still offers
a solid specification, with options for a Core i5-8305G or Core i7-8705G,
Sony’s PlayStation 5 set to be a PC-like console
SAY WHAT?
SONY HASN’T OFFICIALLY revealed the PlayStation 5 yet. But in an
interview with Wired magazine, Mark Cerny, the lead architect for the
PlayStation 4, pretty much revealed what we can expect from Sony’s
next-generation games console.
In a nutshell, it will be a brand new hardware platform, rather than a
mid-generation refresh like the PlayStation 4 Pro, and
it will support 8K resolutions, 3D audio, backwards
compatibility, speedy SSD storage and, most
surprisingly, ray-tracing rendering.
The latter raises an eyebrow as it essentially involves
rendering all the paths light can take in a virtual scene,
including bouncing off objects to illuminate other areas,
in real time. This facilitates something called global
illumination, which basically means highly realistic
lighting in games and virtual environments.
This takes a lot of power, so much so that to do it
well, one would ideally need an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080
Ti – a £1,000-plus graphics card. So the PlayStation 5 will need a lot of
power to handle ray-tracing, let alone support 8K resolutions.
But Cerny said the new console will have a custom AMD chip with a
processor based on the chip maker’s 7nm Zen 2 architecture, which
promises a strong performance boost over the Zen architecture found in
first- and second-generation Ryzen processors.
14
which come equipped with AMD’s Radeon RX
Vega M GL to take care of graphics rendering.
Leading the desktop charge is the ConceptD
desktop, a machine that with its €17,999 (£15,519)
price tag is very much aimed at professionals.
The hefty price gives you a hefty spec, with
the ConceptD 900 touting dual Xeon Gold 6140
processors that offer support for up to 12 DIMM
slots to facilitate up to 192GB of DDR4 EEC
memory running at 2,666MHz.
Nvidia’s Quadro RTX 6000 handles graphics
processing, with the professional-grade GPU
offering support for workloads that include
demanding tasks such as ray-tracing. For storage, the desktop PC has
60TB of space, which should be enough for the most demanding of users.
At €2,799 (£2,413), the ConceptD 500 is a more affordable desktop. It
uses an Intel Core i9-9900K processor, matched with the Quadro RTX
4000 and up to 64GB of RAM. Storage hits 2TB and uses Intel’s Optane
memory. All those components are slotted into a neat case that’s topped
with a wood-effect panel, which incorporates a wireless charging mat.
To go with the desktops, Acer has a brace of professional displays, the
CM7321K and CP7271K P, which both come with 4K resolutions and claim
to cover 99% of the Adobe RGB gamut. The 32in CM7321K comes in at
€3,199 (£2,758) and the 27in CP7271K costs €2,099 (£1,809).
Taking care of the graphics side will be a graphics accelerator based on
AMD’s upcoming Navi architecture, also built on the 7nm process node.
Cerny mentioned nothing about the compute power the AMD chip
would offer, so there was no x-number of teraflops bandied around. But if
the next PlayStation is really set on handling 8K resolution, which with
the exception of some very high-end TVs isn’t exactly prolific at the
moment, as well as ray-tracing, then it’s likely to come
with a serious jump in power over its predecessor.
Cerny talked about support for 3D audio in order to
make games feel more immersive, and noted that the
PlayStation 5 will eschew the spinning disk storage of its
predecessor to use high-performance SSD storage,
facilitating snappy game and content loading times.
Overall, this rough specification would indicate that
Sony is building a console based very much on next-
generation parts we’ll see pop up in PCs this year.
The PlayStation 5 won’t make its debut until 2020,
and there’s no word on price. But if Sony wants to keep being a leader in
the games console world, it will need to make sure its next console offers
not only a heap of power but also remains relatively affordable.
A competitively priced console with advanced features could really
shake up both the hardware and games developer arenas, and will likely
have a knock-on effect on the PC world.
JULY 2019 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 377

SO WHAT?
ACER HAS PRODUCED decent general-
purpose laptops and Chromebooks for years,
some winning acclaim and others falling by the
wayside. But the Taiwanese hardware firm has
never truly targeted professional users to the
same extent as the likes of HP and Dell. That’s
set to change with the ConceptD line.
Acer’s line-up is squarely aimed at Apple in
terms of product appeal, and has Dell’s, HP’s
and Lenovo’s traditional professional-grade
products and workstations in its sights as well.
The firm is doing this in two ways. The first
is to offer products that have a high level of
functionality, from laptops with plenty of ports,
including the now oft-eschewed SD card reader
and DisplayPort connections, to machines that
come with carefully calibrated displays.
It’s not the first to offer such features or
screen quality, but Acer has packaged said
features in machines that come equipped with
the latest processors and graphics components,
yet remain at competitive prices.
The second is that it’s adding some degree
of innovation to its products. Aside from some
SO WHAT?
THERE ARE TWO core takeaways from this
semi-reveal of the PlayStation 5 and why PC
fans should be interested.
First, the PlayStation 5 hints at the
capabilities of AMD’s next wave of processors
and graphics cards. While the PlayStation 5 will
use custom components, the parts will still
have their heritage in the PC domain.
From that, we can extrapolate that the
third-generation Ryzen Zen 2 processors could
be serious performers, not only challenging
Intel in multicore performance but also in
single-core clock speeds.
Meanwhile, the use of a Navi-based GPU
gives a strong idea of the potential capabilities of
the next wave of Radeon graphics cards. While
Cerny didn’t say there would be any dedicated
hardware for ray-tracing as there is in the
20-series GeForce RTX cards, having the power
to handle ray-tracing at a hardware or software
level indicates Navi-based GPUs could be pretty
impressive. AMD could really start to challenge
Nvidia in terms of top-end performance.
ISSUE 377 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | JULY 2019
Microsoft Surface devices or HP’s more
out-there laptops, Acer’s ConceptD 9 stands
alone with a design that nods at the Surface
range but adds more professional power.
The ConceptD 500’s built-in wireless
charger is also quite special. It might be a tad
over the top, but some could find the feature
genuinely useful, and it’s a design flare that one
won’t find in even the best Apple desktops.
Even the monolithic ConceptD 900 stands out
as a machine with a heap of power and a lot of
potential once paired with a pro-grade monitor.
The ConceptD 7 and ConceptD 5 laptops
might have traditional clamshell designs, but
they stand out in bright white colour schemes
that don’t try to ape Apple’s MacBook Pros, but
rather offer alternatives; alternative machines
with a host more ports, it should be noted.
It will need to overcome Apple users’ huge
loyalty, but Acer has a knack of balancing price
and performance in an appealing package.
ConceptD could be a panacea to the dull
stagnation that has arguably crept into the
professional PC world.
The second noteworthy point is that a
next-generation console built on what’s
essentially PC hardware could benefit the PC
world in general. Consoles that support
ray-tracing would open the gates for more
compatible games, of which there are but a few
at the moment, as consoles have a much larger
user base. As a knock-on effect, it would mean
people who have splashed out on a new
GeForce RTX would likely have more games
available that could tap into the advanced
abilities of their graphics card.
And more potential for ray-tracing, along
with support for 8K resolutions and 3D audio,
could see developers find new ways to optimise
such features, making them less demanding
while still offering the related visual and aural
benefits. That will be good news for getting
bang-for-your-buck from PC components.
As such, the PlayStation 5 is a console
that’s exciting to more than just PlayStation
fans, and could herald the arrival of some
very interesting PC hardware.
Surface hubbub
Microsoft revealed the Surface Hub 2S,
a 50in touchscreen-cum-collaborative
computer device, with a massive 85in
version planned for 2020
Chipping away
Intel revealed its Core vPro line-up of
mobile processors aimed at professional
users, so expect a new wave of gutsy
notebooks from the likes of HP, Dell
and Lenovo soon
Let’s get digital, digital
The next Xbox console won’t be a
next-gen console, but rather an Xbox
One S that shuns a disk drive to
embrace digital game downloads only
Rays of light
Nvidia has released a GeForce patch
that brings support for ray-tracing to
its 10-series graphics cards, even
though they might struggle to power
the light-rendering tech
Fold foibles
Samsung has delayed the launch of its
£1,800 Galaxy Fold foldable smartphone,
after the screens broke on early units
AI agony
Google set up and then disbanded an
ethics board for artificial intelligence
development after the company’s staff
kicked up a fuss about the questionable
viewpoints of some members
Assange asylum
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has
finally been arrested by British police
after seven years of squatting in the
Ecuadorian embassy, which decided to
kick him out after withdrawing its offer
of asylum for the wanted whistleblower
15
 Algorithm predicts which Game of Thrones
characters have death coming
UNIVERSITY OF MUNICH students
have created an algorithm that
predicts the characters most likely to
die in hit HBO drama Game of Thrones.
With the show’s final season under
way, a team at the Technical University
of Munich (TUM) turned to basic data
science and machine learning to work
out their macabre predictions.
Their prediction for season eight
– potential spoiler alert – is that Ser
Bronn of the Blackwater is most likely
to kick the medieval bucket, with a 93.5% chance of
dying. To get this statistic, the team at TUM used
approaches similar to those used in medicine and
life-insurance calculations.
They mined statistical information about how
long people lived, along with biographical data
that might correlate to when they die. A real-life
example might include information such as
NHS reaches for the stars for portable X-rays
STAR-SCANNING TECH used to peer at stars in
distant galaxies will find its way into the NHS in the
form of a portable 3D medical X-ray machine
located in GP surgeries across the UK.
The UK Space Agency will funnel £1m
into developing equipment that lets
doctors more comprehensively scan for
tumours than existing 2D scanning
technology. The scanners will be portable
and satellite-linked, meaning patients can
be examined via X-rays in GP surgeries
instead of waiting for hospital referrals.
Using space technology, the 3D X-ray scanners
will repurpose field emitters etched on to silicon
Acer’s sliding keyboard reveals new
approach to laptop cooling
KEEPING LAPTOPS COOL has been a concern for
Acer for many years, with it working on heatpipe
and 3D fan-cooling systems. But the firm has gone a
bit leftfield with its new €2,699 Helios Predator 700.
At first glance, the machine is a chunky high-end
gaming flagship laptop. It has a 144Hz
17.3in Full HD display in a solid-
looking angular chassis, while under
the hood sits a ninth-generation Intel
Core i9 processor, with up to 64GB of
DDR4 RAM, and either a GeForce
RTX 2080 or RTX 2070 graphics chip.
To maximise cooling when the
laptop’s components are running
as fast as they can, the keyboard
deck slides forward, exposing a
16
whether someone is a smoker or how Companies
frequently they exercise. But in the that fail to
world of Game of Thrones, the more
relevant information is what house
abide by the law
a particular character belongs to, may be sanctioned
whether they’re married and who with up to 4% of
their allies are.
TUM’s data scientists combed
their global
through the lives of hundreds of turnover”
characters via the help of fan- The European Parliament is fed
maintained Wikis. In-universe data, up with online companies that
including gender and location, was don’t remove extremist content
mixed with information such as whether someone
is a major or minor character and how often Bletchley
they’re cited in fan forums.
By using this data, the team was able to reveal
Park is a
some basic truths about mortality in the Game of place where
Thrones universe, such as the fact that being male is innovative digital
more dangerous than being female; men have a 22%
death rate, compared to 11% for women.
technology was
pioneered, and
this legacy will
undoubtedly
inspire the future
wafers, used in ion thrusters, as well as X-ray generations who
optics deployed in star-mapping missions.
The NHS hopes that re-jigging this
learn here”
technology into a form that can be used in Iain Standen, Bletchley Park Trust
practical healthcare settings will save CEO, on the codebreaking estate
clinicians and patients time, as well as becoming an Institute of Technology
improve detection rates for cancer.
The scanner, built by Adaptix, is the I absolutely
first of four projects to receive a share detest
of a £4m innovation fund put forward by
the European Space Agency’s Business
modern ʻsocial
Applications and Space Solutions programme, media’ – Twitter,
a joint venture between the UK Space Agency and Facebook,
NHS England launched in June 2018.
Instagram. It’s a
disease. It seems
to encourage bad
behaviour”
Linux founder Linus Torvalds is
no fan of social networks
cooling array underneath. With the keyboard
retracted, the processor and graphics card are We estimate
automatically overclocked to squeeze as much that up to 1.5
power out of them as possible.
Dubbed the HyperDrift keyboard, it’s certainly a million people’s
different approach to cooling. But the email contacts
innovation also extends to the keys. may have been
Known as Magforce keys, the
keyboard uses linear switches that
uploaded. These
offer an analogue-like feel, such as contacts were not
those found in mechanical keyboards, shared with anyone
to reduce the time between pressing
a button and something happening.
and we are
The idea is to allow for more deleting them”
control in gaming, where precise Facebook admits to yet another
actions are needed. data gaffe
JULY 2019 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 377
 Google Stadia
Google reckons it can shake up the future of gaming
GOOGLE AND GAMING?
Well, the search giant has been
involved in the gaming world for
some time, only that has been
limited to facilitating games on
Android. But with Stadia, Google
is getting its fingers into the
wider gaming world.
Rather than try to make its
own gaming PC or console,
Google Stadia is the company’s
take on a game-streaming
service, in that it will pipe
games over the internet to
various consoles, rather than
rely on dedicated hardware.
SO A NETFLIX
FOR GAMERS?
You’re right and a bit wrong.
Much like Microsoft’s xCloud, Stadia plans to stream games to pretty
much every device around, from low-powered Chromebooks and
laptops, to smartphones, tablets and TVs.
Stadia aims to deliver those games at 4K resolutions with high
dynamic range (HDR) and surround-sound support packaged in.
Later on down the line, Google has ambitions for Stadia to
stream games at a frankly monstrous 8K resolution, which isn’t
really widely available unless you fork out several thousand pounds
on an 8K TV from the likes of Samsung. This is a statement of
Google’s gaming intent.
Google will offer a hardware element in Stadia, in the form of an
optional controller that looks like someone mashed together an Xbox
One and PlayStation 4 controller together.
The slick thing with the controller is that it connects directly to the
network that Stadia is using in someone’s home, rather than to the
device on which it’s running. That means users can move from playing a
Stadia-based game on a laptop and then switch to the service on a TV
without the fiddly need to pair the controller with a new device.
HOW ABOUT VIDEO SUPPORT?
Glad you asked. The real kicker to Stadia Game developers will be
is how it will be integrated with YouTube.
Game developers will be able to post able to post videos of their
videos of their creations on the video-
sharing site with a ‘play now’ option, creations on YouTube with a
allowing viewers to immediately dive into
the game if it’s on the Stadia service. ‘play now’ option
That sounds pretty slick. But even smarter
is the Crowd Play feature, which allows people who are watching others
stream games on YouTube – quite a big thing at the moment – to
actually join in with their chosen streamer. How exactly this will be
facilitated has yet to be seen, but the stream host will have control
over the queue of players wanting to join them.
Such a tie-up with YouTube could be quite significant indeed, as it
stands to bring games to a wider audience, who can play them without
needing to fork out for a games console or PC, or indeed have much
prior knowledge of the gaming world.
The knock-on effect could mean wider audiences for game
developers to target, meaning more interesting and diverse games
could be created. Game publishers could also have more confidence
ISSUE 377 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | JULY 2019
to fund projects with ambitious goals
and features, given there are
potentially thousands or indeed
millions more people to play their
games than previously.
At worst, Stadia could be an
additional service for gamers to
extend how they play games, as
well as introduce more people to
easily accessible high-quality
games. At best, it could be a
pretty revolutionary move for
the gaming world.
HOW IS GOOGLE GOING
TO POWER THIS?
Google will use the
massive reach of its cloud
platform, which supports
YouTube and its other services. Google should be pretty good at
that, given how it serves things such as Gmail and Google Docs to
millions of people worldwide.
The search giant will use specific hardware in its servers to power
Stadia. From what we know so far, that will involve a custom AMD
graphics accelerator and an x86-based processor clocked at 2.7GHz.
The CPU is likely to be a high-end Intel processor, probably one
from the chip giant’s Xeon line. Some 16GB of RAM will back up the
processor, and the hardware will provide over 10.7 teraflops of
computing power. There’s quite a bit of potential gaming power there,
and could suggest the type of spec future games consoles could sport.
WHAT’S THE CATCH?
Like other gaming streaming services out in the wild or currently in
the pipeline, the biggest hurdle is broadband connectivity.
Streaming games smoothly at Full HD resolution requires a decent
internet connection; doing it at 4K requires pretty beefy broadband,
to say nothing of 8K streaming.
While fibre broadband is becoming
more and more widespread, there are still
plenty of areas – urban and rural – that are
still stuck on slow connections.
However, 5G networks are going to be
rolled out with gusto across the UK in 2019,
and that new standard in connectivity is
expected to support high-bandwidth
connections that can handle demanding
streaming services and low-latency gaming.
Even so, Google has the second challenge of getting high-end
game developers on board to make Stadia a well-stocked service
to attract players, especially if they have to fork out a monthly fee
(pricing for Stadia has yet to be divulged).
Google plans to tackle this in part by setting up the Stadia
Games and Entertainment studio, which will be focused on creating
exclusive titles for the new gaming service. It’s also important to
remember that Google has a good deal of experience currying
favour with software developers.
Either way, 2019 looks to be very interesting for game streaming,
and while it’s not likely to kill off gaming PCs or consoles any time
soon, it’s definitely an exciting time for the gaming world.
17
 HUAWEI
MateBook X
Pro (2019)
WINDOWS 10 ULTRAPORTABLE
★★★★★
£1,750 • From consumer.huawei.com

VERDICT
Even if the MateBook 14 is a better deal, the
updated MateBook X Pro is a lovely high-end laptop

18
THE HUAWEI MATEBOOK X Pro was one of
the surprise best laptops of 2018. With its
incredible display, a slim, well-made chassis,
and decent performance and battery life, it
was an ultraportable with very few flaws.
Now, there’s a new model for 2019,
launching alongside the cheaper MateBook 14
(Shopper 376) and a refreshed MateBook 13.
In fact, the MateBook X Pro is close to being
more of a refresh itself: aside from a change
to the logo on the lid (from a simple logo to
a big ‘Huawei’ stencilled in plain text), the
laptop looks pretty much identical. There are
some more substantial changes, too, but it’s
much more of an iterative update than the
MateBook 14, which is a brand-new product.
The key differences are contained within:
there are a couple of eighth-generation Intel
Core processors to choose from, more RAM,
extra storage and a new Nvidia GeForce
MX250 graphics chip as well.
SHARING IS CARING
The spec options are simple, in that there are
only two: a £1,400 model containing the Intel
Core i5-8265U, 8GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD and
the MX250, and the £1,750 model we tested,
which combines a Core i7-8565U with 16GB of
RAM, a 1TB SSD and the same graphics chip.
Intriguingly, those are the same CPUs
with which you can equip the MateBook 14,
so while the equivalent MateBook X Pro
specs also offer more storage space, the
latter will need to pull out some other
advantages to justify its higher pricing.
ISSUE 377 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | JULY 2019
The general design is one such advantage:
this is a sleeker, arguably better-looking laptop
than the MateBook 14. That’s why it’s fine for
Huawei to have essentially re-used last year’s
design: it has the same barely-there bezels
surrounding the 13.9in, 3:2 aspect-ratio
touchscreen, along with identical Dolby
Atmos-powered speakers flanking the
keyboard. Additional sets of speakers pump
out sound via vents on the right and left
edges, on the underside of the chassis.
TIGHTENED UP
Despite its doppelgänger looks, however, the
2019 MateBook X Pro feels – almost
intangibly – more solidly put-together than
last year’s model. The chassis is ever so
slightly more rigid, and the keys on the
keyboard feel more softly damped. It’s a
subtly more luxurious device.
Best of all, it remains just as surprisingly
practical. While most other ultraportables are
plumping for USB Type-C connectors alone,
Huawei’s machine adds a full-size USB3.1 port
into the mix. This sits on the right edge and
complements a pair of USB Type-C ports and
3.5mm jack, which both sit on the left edge.
One is USB3.1 and the other is Thunderbolt
3-compatible, but both are usable for video
output and charging interchangeably.
Another feature inherited from the original
model is the circular power button, which sits
just above the keyboard on the right-hand
side and doubles as a Windows Hello-
compatible fingerprint reader. While facial
unlocking would be even easier – and one
thing Huawei hasn’t thought to include – this
works almost as well. We’re less keen on
the 720p webcam, however. Although its
positioning is conceptually neat – it’s hidden
beneath a key on the top row of the
keyboard, and pops up when you press it
– the quality remains poor and the up-your-
nose viewing angle is pretty unflattering.
The MateBook 14 had the exact same issue.
HOPPING GLAD
The other main difference between the 2018
and 2019 MateBook X Pro versions is the
Huawei Share sticker just below the cursor
cluster on the right. It’s not particularly nice
to look at, but don’t be tempted to peel it off
as it’s an NFC tag and enables one of the
laptop’s new features: OneHop.
As on the MateBook 14, this lets you tap
a Huawei or Honor smartphone on to the
sticker to pair it, thus enabling you to transfer
photos, videos and documents in a snap. This
is useful if you don’t have a USB cable to
hand, and if you transfer a photo containing
text, the pre-installed PC Manager software
can use optical character recognition to
turn it into editable text on the laptop. It’s all
very clever, but we wish it would work with
all NFC-capable phones and not just Huawei
and Honor handsets.
As with 2018’s MateBook X Pro, the 2019
version has a brilliantly usable keyboard. Its
square, Scrabble-tile keys are well spaced and
have a good amount of travel, and there’s a
19

nice, positive, well-damped finish to each
keystroke. Even the layout is nice and clean,
save for some slightly fiddly up/down cursor
keys, although we got used to these in time.
Likewise, the touchpad on this laptop is
an absolute triumph. It might not have the
technological advantages of, say, Apple’s
Force Touch pad, but it’s large and sensitive,
and its mechanical click isn’t heavy or
oversensitive. It’s great for all-day mousing
of any kind, from spreadsheet legwork to
photo and video editing.
PINPOINT OF VIEW
The biggest difference between the
MateBook X and the MateBook 14 is the
screen. On the MateBook X Pro, you’re
getting a slightly smaller IPS display, but a
high resolution of 3,000x2,000 pixels. It’s an
absolutely glorious thing to behold: vibrant
and crisp, with deep, inky blacks, great
contrast and wonderful colours. It’s searingly
bright, too, peaking at 531cd/m2.
It passed our technical tests with flying
colours. Not only does the MateBook X Pro’s
screen cover almost all of the sRGB colour
gamut out of the box, specifically 95.9%, but
colour accuracy in this colour space is pretty
much flawless, with an average delta-E of
0.54. On consumer laptops, a measurement
this low is almost unheard of; you normally
have to buy a professional desktop monitor
to get such good accuracy.
There is one niggle, however. Out of the
box, the MateBook X Pro employs dynamic
contrast, altering brightness (even with auto
brightness disabled) depending on the screen
content. With a lot of bright and white
colours onscreen, peak brightness is boosted;
when there’s lots of dark content, the laptop
drops the brightness by as much as half.
This can benefit battery life and it
prevents dark scenes taking on a washed-out
look, but it can also be distracting when
you’re watching a video, as the display
brightens and darkens subtly from scene to
20
The display is an absolutely glorious
thing to behold: vibrant and crisp,
with deep, inky blacks, great
contrast and wonderful colours.
It’s searingly bright, too
scene. It can also make the screen very dim in
some circumstances, which might be fine if
you could turn the setting off.
DANGER DANGER, LOW VOLTAGE
Performance is also mixed. In theory, it should
be great: the quad-core Core i7-8565U CPU
has plenty of RAM backing it up, and the
MX250 is so new it’s yet to appear in any
non-MateBook laptops that have come
through our labs.
On its own terms, this results in a
snappy-feeling laptop that boots up quickly,
launches apps very quickly and copes with
pretty much anything you fancy throwing at it
except, perhaps, 4K video editing and
rendering in Adobe Premiere.
After running a few benchmarks, however,
it became clear to us that something slightly
odd was going on. Our own 4K application
benchmarks showed that the Huawei
MateBook X Pro, with an overall score of 76
and multitasking score of 63, was performing
at around the same level as last year’s model,
not to mention lagging behind the Core i7
version of the MateBook 14.
The only clue to this difference we could
find was when we fired up the Intel Power
Gadget monitor, which revealed the TDP
package limit for the Core i7 inside the
MateBook X Pro had been set to 18W,
versus 25W for the MateBook 14.
Interrogating last year’s MateBook X Pro in
the same way reveals a TDP limit of 15W.
This is presumably to prevent overheating in
the smaller, thinner MateBook X Pro, but it
puts it in the awkward positioning of being
slower than its cheaper sibling.
This seems to have a knock-on effect on
gaming performance, too. While both the
MateBook X Pro and MateBook 14 models we
tested have the same MX250 GPU, the
MateBook X Pro produced 66fps in Dirt
Showdown (running on High settings and
720p), less than the MateBook 14’s 88fps.
It also struggled much more in Metro: Last
Light Redux: at 1080p with High quality
enabled, it averaged 33fps, but the MateBook
14 managed 45fps with the same settings.
The MateBook 14 has better battery life,
too. In our video playback test, the
MateBook X Pro lasted 9h 14m – a good
result, to be sure, but not as good as the
10h 24m of the 14in laptop.
SIBLING RIVALRY
There are two conclusions to draw from all
this. First, the new MateBook X Pro is only a
minor improvement on last year’s model:
battery life is a little better, and OneHop is a
nice extra, but you shouldn’t waste money
upgrading if you’ve already got the 2018
model. Second, of all of Huawei’s new
laptops, the MateBook 14 is the best one to
buy: it’s cheaper than the MateBook X Pro
while having higher performance, not to
mention all the same OneHop features.
However, that’s not to say that the
MateBook X Pro should be ignored
completely. In most respects it’s still a
stupendously good laptop, with a great design
and a wonderful screen. It’s practical, quick,
very slim and light considering the screen size,
and it’s great to type on. At the very least, it’s
worth waiting to see if you can get it on sale.
Jonathan Bray
SPECIFICATIONS
• RAM
PROCESSOR Quad-core 1.8GHz Intel Core i7-8565U
16GB• DIMENSIONS 304x217x14.6mm • WEIGHT 1.3kg •
SCREEN SIZE 13.9in • SCREEN RESOLUTION 3,000x2,000 •
GRAPHICS ADAPTOR Nvidia GeForce MX250 • TOTAL
STORAGE 1TB SSD • OPERATING SYSTEM Windows 10
Home • WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS consumer.
huawei.com • PART CODE GX701GX-EV016R
Windows overall 76
Multitasking 63
Battery life 9h 14m
0% -50 Reference +50 +100
See page 106 for performance details
JULY 2019 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 377
 DESKTOP GAMING PC
CHILLBLAST Fusion Ryzen 7
RTX 2070 Custom Gaming PC
★★★★★
£1,300 • From www.chillblast.com
VERDICT
An accomplished games machine and potent, extensively
connected multitasker, this PC gets almost everything right
THE RELATIVE NEWNESS of Nvidia’s
GeForce RTX graphics cards means that
there aren’t a great deal of pre-built,
RTX-based PCs to compare against each
other. Even so, it’s already clear enough that
£1,300 for a desktop with the high-end RTX
2070 could be quite the tempting prospect
– so long as the rest of it is up to scratch.
The Fusion Ryzen 7 RTX 2070 Custom
Gaming PC builds around its GPU with an
octa-core, 16-thread AMD Ryzen 7 2700 CPU,
16GB of DDR4 RAM, a 250GB WD Black SSD
(Shopper 376), a 2TB hard disk and Gigabyte’s
B450M Aorus M motherboard. It sticks to the
basics in some minor respects – the CPU is
air-cooled rather than watercooled, and that
motherboard uses the microATX form factor
– but by and large, this is a premium system.
RTX FACTOR
Nowhere else is this proven more convincingly
than in gaming performance. In Metro: Last
Light Redux, our most demanding test game,
Chillblast’s system kept pace with the £1,600
Palicomp Intel i7 Supernova (Shopper 376),
averaging a silky 90fps at
1,920x1,080 as well as
54fps at 2,560x1,440. The
usual mix of Very High
quality and SSAA proved
a little too much at
3,840x2,160, judging by
the 25fps result, but
simply disabling SSAA
bumped this up to a very
playable 50fps. There’s
hardly a drop in visual
quality either, as the high
resolution naturally
makes edges look
smoother, something
you’d normally need
anti-aliasing for.
In Dirt Showdown,
the Intel i7 Supernova
came out ahead at 1080p
and 1440p, likely due to
its overclocked Core
i7-9600K having greater
single-core heft than the
Ryzen 7 2700. Still, with
the Chillblast PC scoring
140fps at 1,920x1,080 and
130fps at 2,560x1,440,
there are already so
22
many frames in play that you’d
struggle to see much difference even if
you had a high refresh rate monitor. Its
100fps at 4K, still using Ultra quality
and 4x MSAA, is another fine showing.
Predictably, if no less impressively,
the RTX 2070 also drove this PC to a
perfect SteamVR Performance Test
result of 11. That translates into high
performance in VR games even on
their maximum graphical settings, and
like all higher-end RTX cards, there’s
another gift to VR headset owners
with the USB Type-C VirtualLink port
on the back. This lets you connect an
HTC Vive or Oculus Rift with a single
cable for both power and data, though
these particular headsets will need an
adaptor. HTC and Oculus have committed to
built-in VirtualLink support on future devices.
WORKING OUT
For now, it’s more than good enough just
to have this degree of 1440p and 4K
performance at a reasonable price. CPU
power is also sufficiently
high, even if it’s not
quite as impressive
as its GPU strength.
The Fusion Ryzen 7 RTX
2070 Custom Gaming PC
scored 137 in our 4K
benchmarks’ image test,
252 in the video test and
302 in the multitasking
test, for 258 overall.
Windows 10 flies along,
and compute-intensive
tasks such as photo and
video editing are certainly
welcome – multithreaded
workloads have always
been Ryzen’s strong suit.
While you’d be getting
respectable processing
power for the money,
however, be aware that the
Ryzen 7 2700 sits just
below the true CPU elite.
We’ve seen the Ryzen 7
2700X score considerably
higher in benchmarks, and
the Intel i7 Supernova
blasts ahead, especially in
the image test, where it
scored an incredible 197. We’d recommend
spending more if you need both an adept
gaming system and a professional-grade
workstation, but again, Chillblast’s desktop
is just fine for recreational editing.
BLACK HEARTED
There’s some very good storage in here, too.
As we found out in our WD Black review,
it’s not the very fastest NVMe SSD, but it
comes close, and here it recorded some
suitably lofty AS SSD results: a 2,694MB/s
read speed, and a 1,505MB/s write speed.
In practice, this makes for pleasingly rapid
file transfers and short loading times.
Its 250GB capacity is middling, but then
overall capacity isn’t a problem thanks to the
massive 2TB hard disk. This is a traditional
mechanical drive so won’t come close to the
SSD’s speeds, but it’s convenient for stuffing
with large video files and image folders while
freeing up the SSD’s prime storage space for
favoured games and applications.
Should you ever run out of space,
there’s also lots of room to add more drives.
One of the two 3.5in bays is left empty, and
a generous four 2.5in mounts are positioned
around the internal chassis.
LIGHTING RIG
On the outside, the case – a Corsair Carbide
Spec-06 RGB – looks nice enough. It’s all
plastic at the front but has a full-size
tempered glass side window, through which
you can peer at the humming components
and the moody red LED ring of the CPU
cooler. As the name suggests, RGB lighting
JULY 2019 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 377
is present, albeit in a more restrained manner
than most light-up cases: a single strip bends
across the front panel, and handily can be
controlled from a little three-button panel
attached to the rear of the chassis.
A few inches above sits a nicely varied
assortment of ports and connectors. With two
USB2, four USB3 and two USB3.1 ports, you’re
unlikely to run out of space for peripherals,
dongles and removable storage, especially with
another two USB3 ports on the front. Side
speaker, rear speaker and C/SUB audio outputs
beef up the usual line-in, line-out and headphone
3.5mm jacks, and a single PS/2 socket caters for
those who prefer more vintage input hardware.
You also get a choice of wired or wireless
networking, via the Gigabit Ethernet port and an
802.11n Wi-Fi card. It’s a shame this uses the
slower standard and not 802.11ac, however.
CRAMPED STYLE
Besides VirtualLink port, the graphics card
contributes one HDMI output and a healthy
three DisplayPorts. USB Type-C seems to be the
most conspicuous absence from an otherwise
well-equipped motherboard I/O port, but since
the VirtualLink port can act as a standard Type-C
port as well, you can still use any device that
connects via the reversible port as if you were
plugging it into the motherboard.
Said motherboard also happens to be the
Fusion Ryzen 7 RTX 2070 Custom Gaming PC’s
biggest weakness, besides its unwieldy name.
Maybe it’s just cost-cutting but it’s always
disappointing to see a microATX board in a case
that can support full ATX models. The fact that
the only spare PCI-E slot is a solitary PCI-E x16,
ISSUE 377 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | JULY 2019
and that there are no additional M.2 slots for
faster storage, feel like unnecessary limitations.
That said, it could be worse. There are still
a full four RAM slots, with two filled and two
going spare, as well as enough SATA ports to fill
out every single one of the empty storage bays.
For those who aren’t even inclined to mess
around with their PC’s innards, too, the
motherboard size won’t be a pressing concern.
FUSION POWER
It’s also a testament to the quality and capability
of this PC that this is the only potential issue
worth really complaining about. There might be
the odd thing where we wish Chillblast had gone
one step further – faster Wi-Fi, for instance – but
there’s almost nothing that would actively impede
your enjoyment or productivity, at least with
realistic standards for a £1,300 system.
James Archer
SPECIFICATIONS
PROCESSOR Octa-core 3.2GHz AMD Ryzen 7 2700 RAM 16GB •
• •
DDR4 FRONT USB PORTS 2x USB3 REAR USB PORTS 2x
•
USB2, 4x USB3, 2x USB3.1 GRAPHICS CARD 8GB Gigabyte
•
GeForce RTX 2070 Windforce 8G STORAGE 250GB SSD, 2TB
• •
hard disk DISPLAY None OPERATING SYSTEM Windows 10
•
Home WARRANTY Five years labour, including two years
•
collect and return DETAILS www.chillblast.com •
PART CODE Fusion Ryzen 7 RTX 2070 Custom Gaming PC
Windows overall 258
Multitasking 302
Dirt Showdown 140fps
Metro: Last Light 90fps
0% -50 Reference +50 +100
See page 106 for performance details
23
 DESKTOP GAMING PC
OVERCLOCKERS
Gaming XVI Essential
★★★★★
£700 • From www.overclockers.co.uk
VERDICT
A great CPU and SSD storage definitely help,
but gaming performance is the star here
STRAIGHT AWAY, THE Gaming XVI Essential
looks like a superior all-round desktop than
the last £700 Overclockers PC we looked at,
the Gaming Vision VR (Shopper 374). That had
a strong advantage for gaming in its GTX 1060
graphics card, but with only a Core i3-8100
CPU and 1TB hard disk, it ultimately lost out
to its hexa-core, SSD-equipped peers.
The Gaming XVI Essential is far more up to
speed. It has an overclockable, 12-threaded
AMD Ryzen 5 2600, and while there’s still a
1TB hard disk, this time it’s in reserve – the
main drive is a 240GB SATA SSD. Nvidia’s new
GTX 1660 also takes the place of the GTX 1060,
and even the case looks better, gaining dual
RGB fans with nine different colour modes.
There are two big performance gains these
specs bring to the Gaming XVI Essential: a
general speed boost from the SSD, and vastly
quicker 2D application performance from the
CPU. In our 4K benchmarks, the Ryzen 5 2600
(together with 8GB of RAM) scored 133 in the
image test, 206 in the video test, 231 in the
multitasking test and 207 overall. The Gaming
Vision VR looks lethargic next to these results
– its own highest score was 109 in the video
test, and it only managed 106 overall.
Perhaps this doesn’t put the Gaming XVI
Essential among the most compute-capable
£700 desktops – for example, the Palicomp
AMD Abyss and Chillblast Fusion Recoil (both
Shopper 374) scored 230 and 241 overall
respectively – but it’s far more competitive
than Overclockers’ previous attempt.
24
The addition of an
SSD can’t be downplayed
either. It means the
Gaming XVI Essential
boosts faster, loads
programs faster and
transfers files faster than
the Gaming Vision VR,
and probably would have
done so even if the CPU
wasn’t better as well. That’s
not to mention the greater overall capacity:
the extra 240GB of solid-state capacity comes
in addition to, not instead of, the 1TB hard disk.
The only caveat is that by SSD standards,
the drive is a pretty mediocre performer. Using
the AS SSD benchmark, we clocked a good
read speed of 498MB/s, but its write speed of
248MB/s is only about half of what SATA is
capable of. Ultimately, the SSD is a worthwhile
inclusion, but for the very best speeds (and
capacity) you’re better off with the AMD
Abyss and its breakneck 500GB NVMe drive.
PLAYING TO WIN
The area in which the Gaming XVI Essential
stands out most is also where it’s most similar
to the Gaming Vision VR. That’s because the
GTX 1660, based on its performance here, is
about the most modest upgrade to the GTX
1060 imaginable. Metro: Last Light Redux,
running on Very High quality with SSAA
enabled, produced 52fps at 1,920x1,080 and
29fps at 2,560x1,440. That’s almost exactly the
same as the Gaming Vision VR.
Dirt Showdown saw a much bigger
difference, with Overclockers’ newer system
averaging a slick 139fps at 1,920x1,080 and
114fps at 2,560x1,440 (both using Ultra
quality), but knowing how CPU-dependent
this game is, that could be down to the
Gaming XVI Essential’s better processor.
The SteamVR Performance Test, at least, put
out an improved result of 9.3, up from 8.5
on the Gaming Vision VR. This one is much
more likely down to the GPU alone.
Why, however, is the Gaming XVI
Essential’s greatest strength something that’s
only barely better than that of the Gaming
Vision VR? It’s because gaming prowess was
already the latter’s strong suit; many other
£700 systems came close, but the GTX 1060
proved the best GPU for gaming at this price.
The GTX 1660 may not be much stronger, but
even a sidegrade is just fine in this particular
context, as you’re still
getting fantastic in-game
performance for the cash.
Securing such high
performance on day one is
all the more important
when upgrade potential is
limited, and unfortunately
this applies to the Gaming
XVI Essential. The chassis may
be decked out with colourful
case fans, but it offers only three storage
bays (one 2.5in, two 3.5in). The microATX
motherboard, too, has just a single PCI-E x16
slot, two PCI-E x1 slots (one of which is
obscured by the graphics card) and two RAM
slots, although there is one unused M.2 slot.
JUST THE ESSENTIALS
External connectivity, likewise, is serviceable
but ultimately nothing special. The front of
the case has single USB2 and USB3 ports,
while the rear I/O panel combines two USB2
ports, four USB3 ports and two PS/2 sockets
with the standard three 3.5mm audio jacks.
In fairness, that’s not unduly basic for
£700, and you can at least add a single NVMe
SSD or a slim PCI-E device like a Wi-Fi card.
Since the AMD Abyss has an even faster
CPU, better storage and a more feature-rich
motherboard, it’s still our favourite do-
anything £700 desktop. Overclockers’ effort,
however, should be considered first for
gaming specifically – as vastly improved as it
is in other hardware areas, wringing out every
last frame-per-second is what it’s best at.
James Archer
SPECIFICATIONS
PROCESSOR Hexa-core 3.4GHz AMD Ryzen 5 2600 •
RAM 8GB DDR4 • FRONT USB PORTS 1x USB2, 1x USB3 •
REAR USB PORTS 2x USB2, 4x USB3 • GRAPHICS CARD
6GB Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1660 OC 6G • STORAGE 240GB
SSD, 1TB hard disk • DISPLAY None • OPERATING
SYSTEM Windows 10 Home • WARRANTY Three years
collect and return • DETAILS www.overclockers.co.uk •
PART CODE FS-1DF-OG
Windows overall 207
Multitasking 231
Dirt Showdown 139fps
Metro: Last Light 52fps
0% -50 Reference +50 +100
See page 106 for performance details
JULY 2019 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 377
 WINDOWS 10 CONVERTIBLE LAPTOP

HP Spectre x360 13 (2019)

★★★★★
£1,200 • From store.hp.com

VERDICT
A competent annual update, but there are
better ultraportables available

MUCH LIKE LENOVO’S Yoga series, the

Spectre x360 line has been at the forefront of
convertible laptops since the concept took off.
The Spectre x360 13 in particular has had many
iterations, and the 2019 model looks to be the
most drastically overhauled version yet.
Much of it is familiar: there’s the 13in
touchscreen, HP’s Active Pen stylus and the
360° rotating hinge. The internal hardware
isn’t too surprising, either: our mid-spec
review unit had an Intel Core i7-8565U
processor, 8GB of RAM and a 512GB PCI-E
SSD, along with a 1,920x1,080 display. 4K
models, and one with a dedicated GTX 1050 Ti
graphics card, are also available.

SPACE SHAVING
Similarly to last year’s Spectre x360, this new
model has a sleek, all-aluminium build. It’s
gained weight but only barely, rising from
1.29kg to 1.33kg, and is marginally thicker at
14.7mm over last year’s 13.6mm. However,
much of the extra bulk is offset by the
angular ‘gem cut’ rear edges.
Beyond looking a bit strange, these
sliced-off edges serve a practical
purpose. The back right corner now
has a Thunderbolt 3-enabled USB
Type-C data and charging port, while
the power button is located in the rear left
corner. The corner charging slot also helps
to reduce cable clutter around the laptop,
leaving a little bit more space to work.
Granted, there’s not a great deal of
connectivity elsewhere, largely thanks to
how the super-slim edges taper off to
become even thinner towards the front.
Still, HP has found space for a full-size USB3
port on the left side, as well as a 3.5mm audio
jack, a microSD card slot and a second USB
Type-C slot with Thunderbolt 3 on the right.
A webcam killswitch is located here, too.
Compared to similarly proportioned
laptops such as the Dell XPS 13 (Shopper 376)
or Lenovo Yoga C930 (page 31), the HP
Spectre x360 13’s large bezels look out of date.
It’s a diminutive display to begin with, and the
amount of dead space around the screen is
especially noticeable when the laptop is in
tablet mode. Beneath the screen is a pair of
Bang & Olufsen speakers, and they’re
supported by another pair of down-firing
speakers – also from Bang & Olufsen – on
the laptop’s underside. They’ve got some
oomph in terms of sheer volume, but
lack bass and get muddled easily.
TOUCHY SUBJECT
Folding the laptop couldn’t be
easier, as the hinge is nice and
smooth. It’s also fairly stable, not
sliding along surfaces as you
tap the screen. The hinge is
less sturdy in regular laptop
mode, however, wobbling a
tad with each touch of a
finger or stylus.
The touchscreen itself
is reliable and responsive,
with a slick layer of Corning Gorilla Glass NBT
to reduce friction and prevent smudging.
The Active Pen works well, too, and is
bundled for free, which is a minor blessing
when Apple and Microsoft are charging
£100 for their styluses. We’d have liked
somewhere to clip the Active Pen to the
laptop when the former is not in use, however.
The Spectre x360 13’s chiclet keyboard is
about as conventional as can be. The keys
have a healthy amount of travel and feedback,
and there’s a sturdy click-clack to individual
presses. We had trouble with the touchpad,
however: its smooth, wide panel gives plenty
of freedom for moving the cursor around,
but it has sensitivity issues.
Palm rejection barely works, for example,
even with the touchpad reduced to its lowest
sensitivity setting, and tapping the touchpad
to execute a click command often sends the
cursor off in a random direction. Conversely, it
sometimes refuses to move from a fixed point
when you attempt to click elsewhere. The more
accurate you try to be with the tap-to-click
function, the harder it is to control.
The fingerprint sensor also seems iffy.
Twice, over the span of two weeks, we had to
reset our fingerprint ID as the sensor
randomly began failing to accept it.

26 JULY 2019 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 377


A much more successful feature, and one
that’s new to the Spectre x360 series, is HP
Sure View. A tap of the F1 key drastically
reduces the display’s viewing angles, making it
impossible to see what’s on the screen unless
you’re looking at it straight on. If someone
sitting to the right or left of you tries to peak
at your laptop while Sure View is activated,
they’ll see a mostly blanked-out white screen.
It’s a nifty security feature, and although it
won’t stop peeping eyes if they’re looking
from above or over your shoulder, it could
well give privacy-conscious users a bit more
confidence using their laptop in public.
ON REFLECTION
The display itself is decent enough,
performance-wise. Its main issue is a relatively
low peak brightness of 292.9cd/m2, which
doesn’t help the reflective panel deal with
overbearing lights. Contrast ratio is a lot
better, at 1,334:1, and sRGB coverage of 89.2%
is reasonable. As mentioned, there are 4K
variants, but the 13in screen is a good fit for
the standard Full HD resolution.
The only issue worth mentioning is a lack
of colour accuracy. Not so much on average: a
measured delta-E of 2.72 means the Spectre
x360 generally looks fine, even if it’s not up to
ISSUE 377 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | JULY 2019
professional standards. However, a few
individual colours – dark blues, purples, pinks
and yellows – look undersaturated.
CPU performance is up on last year’s
model, but it doesn’t reach the bar set by
other laptops with the same chipset. Both
the 2019 Dell XPS 13 and the Razer Blade
Stealth 13 run on an Intel Core i7-8565U, and
have superior benchmark results.
In our 4K benchmark test, which measures
a laptop’s proficiency at image editing, video
editing and multitasking, the HP Spectre x360
13 achieved an overall score of 78. In the exact
same test, the Dell XPS 13 scored 95 and the
Razer Blade Stealth 13 managed an even better
115. Even the Lenovo Yoga C930, which runs
on a lesser Intel Core i5-8250U, managed a
score of 80 in the same conditions.
Re-running the benchmarks with
CoreTemp running confirmed our suspicions
that poor internal heat management was the
culprit. Each of the CPU’s four cores hit a
maximum temperature of 100°C while under
load, which is the processor’s safety limit –
after that, it’s forced to dial back performance
in order to cool down and reach safe levels.
Externally, it doesn’t get too hot to the
touch and, even when the CPU is working
overtime, the keyboard area is still
comfortable to use. The underside of the base
gets warmer (50°C, in some places) when the
laptop is running a demanding application.
FILES ALL ROUND
The Spectre x360 13 held its own in the AS
SSD benchmark, with the 512GB PCI-E SSD
clocking a sequential file read speed of
1,982MB/s and a sequential write speed
of 240MB/s. While the latter is low for
an NVMe drive, it’s a common enough issue
that this SSD is more or less on par with
most of its 13in rivals. Only the Razer
Blade Stealth 13 stands out as having a
significant edge, with a slightly better read
speed and a far superior write speed.
We wouldn’t recommend the non-GTX
1050 Ti models for gaming, as they’ll only be
equipped with integrated Intel UHD 620
graphics. The resulting lack of power was clear
in Dirt Showdown, a relatively undemanding
game: even with a 720p resolution enabled,
and quality settings at High instead of Ultra,
the Spectre x360 only produced 36fps.
Battery life is also fairly underwhelming.
The Spectre x360 lasted 7h 50m in our video
playback test, which is a couple of hours
shorter than the XPS 13 and the Yoga C930.
Daily recharges will therefore be essential,
although nearly eight hours is certainly an
improvement on the 2018 Spectre x360,
which only lasted 5h 17m in the same test.
ROTATE AGENT
That’s the new Spectre x360 in a nutshell:
it’s a step up from the previous version,
combining higher performance with longer
battery life, and yet it still feels dated in 2019.
Inconsistent design is partly to blame – the
bottom half is all sleek and angular, while the
top half has those chunky black bezels – as is
its sub-par heat management. Ultimately,
there’s nothing the Spectre x360 does that
another 13in laptop can’t do better.
That’s a shame, because there is some
great stuff here, including the Sure View
screen-hiding capability. For £1,200, however,
you can do a lot better.
Tom Bruce
SPECIFICATIONS
• RAM
PROCESSOR Quad-core 1.8GHz Intel Core i7-8565U
16GB • DIMENSIONS 309x218x14.7mm • WEIGHT 1.33kg •
SCREEN SIZE 13.3in • SCREEN RESOLUTION 1,920x1,080 •
GRAPHICS ADAPTOR Intel UHD Graphics 620 • TOTAL
STORAGE 512GB SSD • OPERATING SYSTEM Windows 10
Home • WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS store.hp.com
• PART CODE 13-ap0001na
Windows overall 78
Multitasking 62
Battery life 7h 50m
0% -50 Reference +50 +100
See page 106 for performance details
27
 WINDOWS 10 GAMING LAPTOP
ASUS ROG
Zephyrus S GX701
★★★★★
£3,280 • From www.ebuyer.com
VERDICT
It’s a hefty investment, but the GX701 is more
powerful and portable than most 17.3in laptops
THE ROG ZEPHYRUS family can claim to
contain some of the best gaming laptops in
the world, if also some of the most expensive.
Anyone unfamiliar with the range might also
look upon the new ROG Zephyrus S GX701
and be confused as to why the keyboard has
been shunted all the way to the front.
Besides there being a fairly mundane
answer to this (improved heat dissipation,
mainly), the up-close-and-personal keyboard
is nothing new to Asus. That said, there have
been some big changes to the GX701. It now
has a 17.3in screen, up from the previous
GX501’s 15.6in, but the bezels have shrunk
significantly to keep its dimensions similar.
This, in turn, has forced the complete removal
of the built-in webcam; instead, you now get a
wired Micro USB camera to plug in.
THINNER TAKES ALL
There are some flaws to this approach (the
included cable for the camera is very short,
but you can replace it with a longer Micro
USB cable), but it means the ROG Zephyrus S
GX701 is a pleasantly manageable size, at least
by 17.3in gaming laptop standards. It’s only
18.7mm thick, which is all the more impressive
knowing there are such high-end components
as an Intel Core i7-8750H processor, 16GB of
DDR4 RAM and an 8GB Nvidia GeForce RTX
2080 Max-Q graphics chip inside.
A magnesium alloy chassis makes it mostly
durable, although there’s a flimsy plastic plate
on the underside that elevates the laptop’s
base when the lid is opened. The idea is to
give the power centre more space to dissipate
heat, but the plate feels as if it would break all
too easily. We also got the power cable
trapped in the gap when trying to close the
lid, so caution is advised.
The display runs at 1,920x1,080 with a
smooth 144Hz refresh rate, but if you’d prefer
to connect to a desktop monitor there are
single HDMI and DisplayPort-enabled USB
Type-C ports on the left. Here, there’s also a
30
full-size USB3.1 port, with another two USB3.1
ports, one USB Type-C port and a Kensington
lock slot on the right. It’s a decent selection,
although having no SD card slot is a shame.
The keyboard position is no easier to get
used to than it was on previous Zephyrus
laptops. For a start, there are no palm rests,
which means your wrists either have to hover
above the keyboard or lie flat on the desk. The
latter feels really awkward if sitting too close
to the laptop. And, because the touchpad
takes up so much space on the right-hand
side, the keyboard is more compact than on
your average gaming laptop. Key travel is
minimal and keys have a light feel to them,
but they do produce a satisfying clack.
The touchpad’s vertical orientation also
feels counter-intuitive, although this being a
gaming laptop, a mouse is pretty much
essential anyway.
SETTING THE TEMPO
As for the screen, the refresh rate is a great
help to high fps games, and the IPS panel
mostly performs well. Brightness could be
higher – we measured it peaking at just
296cd/m2 – but the matt finish helps with
glare, and the high 1,412: contrast ratio lends
plenty of pop to images.
Colour performance doesn’t look so
good by the numbers: SRGB coverage is a
middling 86.9%, and average delta-E is 2.25.
Nonetheless, the screen looks fine in practice,
and we didn’t notice any glaring hue issues
when running games.
Crucially, the GX701 makes short work of
even highly intensive games. Using the High
quality preset in Metro: Last Light Redux
at native resolution netted us an
extremely smooth 155fps, while Dirt
Showdown hit 111fps with Ultra settings.
The SteamVR performance test also returned
a perfect score of 11, so you can plug in a
headset to the HDMI port and run any VR
game at its best settings.
The CPU performs admirably,
too, scoring 184 overall in our
benchmarks, exactly the same as the MSI P65
Creator (Shopper 375), which has the same
Intel chip. MSI’s laptop is a lot cheaper – over
£1,200 cheaper, in fact – but its GTX 1070 GPU
isn’t anywhere near as fast as the RTX 2080.
Part of that price difference is also down to
this GX701 spec’s enormous 1TB SSD. As is
frustratingly common in laptops, write speed
wasn’t as good as NVMe drives are capable of
– we recorded a 500MB/s write speed – but
at least read speeds were decent, at 1,259MB/s.
Battery life has been the downfall of many
a gaming laptop, and the GX701’s result of
3h 7m in our video playback test looks pretty
bad. Still, it’s more forgivable in the context of
the competition; the old GX501 only lasted
2h 20m, and that had a smaller screen.
Most gaming laptops rarely go much further
than four hours, so you’ll be needing to make
regular use of the charging cable in any case.
PRESTIGE ITEM
It’s easy to balk at the ROG Zephyrus S
GX701’s price, and that’s understandable. The
£2,250 Razer Blade 15 (Shopper 370) is better
value overall, even with its less powerful GPU
and smaller SSD. Even so, those lucky enough
to be able to afford this slimline powerhouse
will very much enjoy it – so long as the
keyboard positioning doesn’t feel too strange.
Tom Bruce
SPECIFICATIONS
• RAM
PROCESSOR Hexa-core 2.2GHz Intel Core i7-8750H
16GB • DIMENSIONS 399x272x18.7mm • WEIGHT 2.5kg •
SCREEN SIZE 17.3in • SCREEN RESOLUTION 1,920x1,080 •
GRAPHICS ADAPTOR 8GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Max-Q
• TOTAL STORAGE 1TB SSD • OPERATING SYSTEM
Windows 10 Home • WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS
www.asus.com/uk • PART CODE GX701GX-EV016R
Windows overall 184
Multitasking 191
Battery life 3h 7m
0% -50 Reference +50 +100
See page 106 for performance details
JULY 2019 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 377
WINDOWS 10 CONVERTIBLE LAPTOP
LENOVO Yoga C930
★★★★★
£1,354 • From www.lenovo.com
VERDICT
A high-performance speaker set helps the
Yoga C930 overcome its shortcomings
ONE OF THE best things about convertible
laptops is their flexibility, and not just in the
physical sense. The ability to quickly switch
between a productivity-aiding ultraportable
and a big-screen tablet to watch videos has
long been a strength of the format. Lenovo’s
Yoga C930, however, focuses on the
entertainment side, incorporating a Dolby
Atmos-branded speaker into the 360° hinge.
These are, by some margin, the best
speakers we’ve heard on a laptop. Besides an
impressive level of volume, there’s enough
bass kick to rival a medium-sized Bluetooth
speaker, and music comes through with power
and clarity – nothing like the tinny, muddled
playback most laptops manage. There’s also a
pair of downwards-firing woofers, which can
add an atmospheric rumbling to films and TV
shows. It’s excellent work by Lenovo and Dolby.
Sadly, the same can’t be said of the 13.9in,
1,920x1,080 display. It’s not terrible, just not
up to the standards of the speakers: take the
low maximum brightness of 322cd/m2, for
example, or the low 917:1 contrast ratio that
makes images look somewhat flat.
Colours are off, too. The Yoga C930’s panel
produces only 79.5% of the sRGB colour
gamut and has an average delta-E of 3.74,
denoting mediocre colour accuracy. In the right
lighting conditions, it can still be an acceptable
screen for watching movies, but for £1,354
(and considering the entertainment focus),
we’d expect better. You’ll also have to be wary
of reflections on the screen’s glossy finish.
PEN PUSHER
Elsewhere, the Yoga C930 maintains its series’
recognisable styling. It’s sleek and reasonably
lightweight for an almost-14in laptop, weighing
1.4kg, and has a chassis hewn from sturdy
aluminium. There’s also a conveniently
bundled stylus, which is a bit small and
ISSUE 377 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | JULY 2019
plasticky, but it’s been fully incorporated into
the laptop’s design rather than being left as
an afterthought. There’s a slot on the rear
edge in which the stylus can be stored and
charged at the same time.
The lack of connection ports is a shame.
These are limited to one full-size USB3.1 port,
two USB Type-C ports (though these support
Thunderbolt 3) and a 3.5mm audio jack.
One other neat feature is the webcam
shutter. This is a very welcome import from
Lenovo’s ThinkPad range, and easily flips over
the camera lens for greater privacy.
Dependable keyboards are another
Lenovo speciality, and the Yoga C930’s is no
exception. The chiclet keyboard is laid out
well, with plenty of space between keys.
Travel distance is minimal, which many might
struggle with, but this can also lend itself to
speedy, free-flowing typing. LED backlighting
can be turned on or off by tapping Fn and the
spacebar, though the actual backlighting isn’t
really bright enough to properly illuminate the
keys in all but the darkest ambient conditions.
PRINT PRESS
The touchpad is well executed, although again
there’s not much travel when depressing the
lower half for left and right clicks. The surface
is smooth and sensitive, and the touchpad
ideally placed; it’s practically centre-on so
there’s equal palm rest space for both
hands on either side.
To the right of the touchpad, below the
keyboard, there’s a square fingerprint sensor,
which grants a practically instantaneous
unlock. We found it reliable enough that we
never had to make multiple sign-in attempts, or
switch to a different authentication method.
Although it’s far from the most powerful
£1,354 laptop in existence, the Yoga C930 held
its own in our benchmarks. Even with the
relatively lowly 1.6GHz Intel Core i5-8250U
processor backed by 8GB of RAM – a bit
stingy considering the price – the C930 scored
80 overall, edging out the Core i7-powered
Spectre x360 13. Gaming performance is low,
as both laptops use integrated Intel UHD 620
graphics – the Yoga C930 produced 41fps at
720p, dropping to 25fps at native 1080p – and
we recorded an SSD write speed of just
427.6MB/s, although read speeds were much
more competitive at 1,764.6MB/s.
Battery life is also very good, with the
Yoga C930 only running dry after 10h 4m of
our video-looping battery test. After the
disappointment of the screen, that should
be very good news to streaming enthusiasts:
you should be able to watch several movies
in a row before needing a recharge.
SOUND INVESTMENT
At its initial unveiling at IFA 2018, the Lenovo
Yoga C930 looked full of promise and, for the
most part, it has delivered. There are some
letdowns, such as the dim display and limited
number of ports, not to mention the high
price. However, the speakers give you a degree
of quality that you generally don’t see on
laptops at all, including far more expensive
ones. As an entertainment device, then, the
Yoga C930 is worth it, even if there are
better-value convertibles for more general use.
Tom Bruce
SPECIFICATIONS
• RAM
PROCESSOR Quad-core 1.6GHz Intel Core i5-8250U
8GB • DIMENSIONS 322x227x14.5mm • WEIGHT 1.4kg •
SCREEN SIZE 13.9in • SCREEN RESOLUTION 1,920x1,080 •
GRAPHICS ADAPTOR Intel UHD Graphics 620 • TOTAL
STORAGE 512GB SSD • OPERATING SYSTEM Windows 10
Home • WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS www.lenovo.
com • PART CODE C930-13IKB
Windows overall 80
Multitasking 66
Battery life 10h 4m
0% -50 Reference +50 +100
See page 106 for performance details
31
 QUAD HD ULTRAWIDE MONITOR
PHILIPS
Brilliance 499P9H
★★★★★
£876 • From www.cclonline.com
VERDICT
Immense size and resolution make for an interesting monitor,
but its inconsistent design and performance cause problems
THE PHILIPS BRILLIANCE 499P9H is one
of the most outlandish monitors we’ve
ever seen. Its curved panel is designed
for productivity, but at 49in diagonally
with a 32:9 aspect ratio, it’s not exactly
sober and sensible.
Then again, Philips is angling it as a
replacement for a dual-monitor setup, rather
than just a show-off single screen. This is
evident in the 5,120x1,440 resolution – the
equivalent of two 2,560x1,440 displays side
by side. That’s a huge amount of screen real
estate and, unlike with dual monitors, there’s
no set of bezels running down the middle.
You can even connect two PCs or laptops in
order to run two devices using the same
monitor, keyboard and mouse, thanks to a
clever integrated KVM switch.
LOST BILLIONS
Get beyond its imposing design, however, and
this monitor is a little more ordinary. The
Brilliance 499P9H uses VA panel technology
rather than IPS, and the screen is 8-bit colour
rather than 10-bit colour. That means it can
display 16.7 million rather than 1.07 billion
colours, which rules out its usefulness for the
most demanding design work. The refresh
rate, meanwhile, tops out at 70Hz, which is
good for an office monitor but means there
are better ultrawide options for gaming.
This screen supports HDR, but it only
uses the VESA DisplayHDR 400 standard.
That’s one of VESA’s weaker standards, and
it requires a burst brightness level of
400cd/m2, a prolonged brightness level of
320cd/m2 and a black point of 0.1cd/m2.
Those are good figures for any normal
screen, of course, but they’re not particularly
outlandish for any screen at this sort of price.
32
The Brilliance 499P9H is a little inconsistent
when it comes to features beyond the screen
itself, too. For instance, it has three USB3.1
ports, a USB Type-C port and an Ethernet
connector, which is great, but they’re all
installed at the back and face downwards,
which makes them tricky to reach, given
the monitor’s size.
The two HDMI 2.0 ports and DisplayPort
1.4 connector are fine. So are the two 5W
speakers: they provide enough quality and
volume for casual media, even if the bass is a
little too aggressive. There’s a Full HD webcam
that works with Windows Hello, and it can be
hidden in the top bezel for privacy.
It looks nice, too: it has slim bezels, subtle
logos and a smart, minimalist metal stand
that nonetheless offers good adjustability.
There’s 130mm of height adjustment,
alongside side-to-side swivelling and forwards
and backwards tilting. 100mm VESA
mounting is also supported, if you can find
hardware that will support its 15.3kg weight.
This heaviness also makes it harder to stand
to keep everything steady, and as such it’s
quite easy to make the screen wobble.
DARK CORNERS
It’s at least easy to use the onscreen display
(OSD). It’s well organised and is navigated by
a row of small, snappy buttons beneath the
bottom bezel, with mode-switching and input-
switching options on several of the buttons.
Performance testing also reveals some
good news. Colours are accurate, with an
average delta-E of just 1.6 in Office mode, and
if you switch to sRGB mode this improves
even further to 1.1. A black point of 0.19cd/m2
and contrast ratio of 2,126:1 are even more
impressive, and the peak brightness of
405cd/m2 is fantastic for a desktop monitor
as well, not to mention enough to meet the
VESA DisplayHDR 400’s criteria. Lastly, we
measured the Brilliance 499P9H covering
99.8% of the sRGB gamut, which is high
enough to handle the demands of mainstream
colour work and together with the high
contrast ratio delivers excellent vibrancy.
Unfortunately, while the Brilliance 499P9H
excels in places, it falls short in others.
Despite its high sRGB coverage it could only
manage 87.4% of the DCI P3 colour gamut,
which is used for creating HDR content, and
the sheer size of the panel meant it clearly
struggled to maintain brightness uniformity.
The screen lost 32% of its backlight strength
in the top-left corner, 30% in the top-right
corner, and 17% and 22% across the top edge.
At the bottom of the screen, meanwhile, the
backlight weakened by 20% in the left corner
and 24% in the right corner.
BROAD GAME
The huge width and resolution of the
Brilliance 499P9H are undoubtedly a boon
for plenty of work scenarios: there’s lots of
space for applications, and it will be easier to
work on this panel than on an inconsistent
multimonitor setup. You get good USB
connectivity, a surprising amount of
adjustment and a fast, navigable OSD.
In many key areas, however, Philips’ vast
display doesn’t match more conventional
monitors: you’ll get better colour accuracy
and gamut coverage from the Samsung CF791
(Shopper 356), for example. What’s more, the
Brilliance 499P9H’s HDR support is entry level,
and its poor uniformity hampers its ability
for complex, colour-sensitive work.
Mike Jennings
SPECIFICATIONS
SCREEN SIZE 49in• RESOLUTION 5,120x1,440 • SCREEN
TECHNOLOGY VA • REFRESH RATE 70Hz • VIDEO
INPUTS HDMI, DisplayPort • WARRANTY Three years RTB
• DETAILS www.philips.co.uk • PART CODE 499P9H/00
CONNECTION PORTS
HDMI x2 DisplayPort USB3.1 x3
USB Type-C Ethernet
JULY 2019 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 377
ABSOLUTE CONFIDENCE.
This is the E-M1X – an all new category of OM-D for the demanding professional.

Building on unrivalled OM-D system mobility, the E-M1X is tougher, faster and smarter
with the world’s best image stabilisation* and stand out new capabilities including 50MP
HiRes handheld shooting.

Built-in vertical grip houses two batteries for extended shooting with optimal ergonomic
design for pro photographers. All new shutter mechanism is tested to 400,000 actuations.
Re-developed autofocus system takes high-speed performance to another level with twin
processors while the new MyMenu option provides the ultimate in customised operability.

Demand the ultimate in system mobility, performance and reliability, the new E-M1X.
* Based on the CIPA standard, within system cameras, E-M1X with
Find out more at your Olympus Pro dealer or visit www.olympus.co.uk M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-100mm F4.0 IS PRO: 7.5 EV compensation, as of 1/2019.
 GAMING GRAPHICS CARD
MSI GeForce GTX
1660 Ti Gaming X 6G
★★★★★
£300 • From www.scan.co.uk
VERDICT
Jettisoning full ray-tracing and DLSS for a
cheaper card is almost a winning strategy,
but the RTX 2060 is ultimately better
IT WAS ALWAYS likely that Nvidia’s Geforce
RTX graphics cards wouldn’t entirely kill off
the older GTX series – RTX cards are defined
by their baked-in support for ray-tracing and
DLSS anti-aliasing, but these still require at
least fairly beefy GPUs to pull off, so cheaper
cards without these features would still be
likely unless Nvidia wanted to abandon the
budget market completely.
What we didn’t expect was that there
would be a GTX successor to the mid-range
GTX 1060 (Shopper 345), something that’s
already been replaced by the RTX 2060
(Shopper 375). There are two, in fact: the GTX
1660 and the slightly faster GTX 1660 Ti.
Surprise aside, this makes a certain sense.
As good as the RTX 2060 is, it’s pricey for a
mid-ranger, and the lack of games with either
ray-tracing or DLSS integration means these
features alone aren’t yet worth splashing out
more for. Notably, Nvidia has recently enabled
very basic ray-tracing functionality on most
GTX cards via a driver update, although they
won’t be able to run, say, Metro: Exodus’s
global ray-traced illumination while
maintaining playable performance.
TI FIGHTER
Either way, there’s still room for a more
affordable mid-range Nvidia card for PC
builders who can live without those two key
RTX features, and we’ve been testing this
MSI-built version of the GTX 1660 Ti to see
whether this is it. At £300, it’s one of the
more expensive partner card models available
(others start at as little as £260), but it’s nicely
made, with a sturdy aluminium backplate and
some tastefully positioned RGB lighting strips.
Crucially, it’s also £29 cheaper than the RTX
2060 Founders Edition.
However, it’s also £70 more than the XFX
Radeon RX 590 Fatboy 8GB (Shopper 374).
While we don’t recommend this particular
34
card, largely thanks to its horrendous coil
whine, there are lots of other RX 590 models
with similar performance, so the GTX 1660 Ti
will need to clearly outperform, and not just
match, its most recent AMD rival.
Dirt Showdown gives it a poor start,
however: at 1,920x1,080, the GTX 1660 Ti
Gaming X 6G only managed 99fps – 16fps
behind the RX 590 – and its 93fps at
2,560x1,440 was 15fps slower. Only at 4K
(3,840x2,160) did the Nvidia GPU have an
advantage, with 76fps to the RX 590’s 67fps.
As always, these results were recorded in our
test PC, with an Intel Core i7-4770K processor
and the highest Ultra graphics quality setting.
RECOVERY MODE
In our other games tests, the GTX 1660 Ti
Gaming X 6G did considerably better. In
Metro: Last Light Redux, running on Very
High settings with SSAA enabled, its 64fps
result at 1,920x1,080 manages to do what the
RX 590 couldn’t: break 60fps in this very
taxing game. Its 36fps at 2,560x1,440 is also
moderately better than the RX 590’s 30fps –
at these lower counts, every frame matters
– although we’d recommend turning SSAA
off at this resolution. At 4K, it’s an absolute
must, as the GTX 1660 Ti Gaming X 6G only
produced 15fps – a scant 3fps more than the
RX 590 – with all settings on maximum.
Tomb Raider allowed the GTX 1660 Ti
Gaming X 6G to open up larger leads,
especially at 1,920x1,080. Using this resolution,
with Ultimate quality settings and FXAA, it
scored 150fps, a huge win over the RX 590’s
116fps. The differences weren’t so gigantic at
2,560x1,440 and 4K, with the GTX 1660 Ti
Gaming X 6G averaging 95fps and 47fps
respectively (the RX 590 managed 79fps and
39fps), but it’s still very impressive that a
£300 graphics card can run so smoothly at
even extreme resolutions.
MSI’s card is cooler and more efficient, too.
Perhaps not when idling – its core temperature
here, 42°C, is relatively high – but under load it
tends to stay around 63°C, with a 64°C peak.
The RX 590, by contrast, went up to around
70°C under load, and peaked at 74°C, all
while using as much as 255W of power. We
measured the GTX 1660 Ti Gaming X 6G creep
up to 102% of its stated 130W TDP, but that’s
still miles off the RX 590’s consumption.
Despite the price difference, then, this is a
better mid-range graphics card than the RX
590, but there’s also the issue of how the GTX
1660 Ti compares to the RTX 2060, its most
immediate Nvidia superior. While it is a bit
warmer and thirstier for power, the RTX 2060
outperforms the GTX 1660 Ti in all situations.
To use the former’s 2,560x1,440 results as a
guide, it managed 116fps in Dirt Showdown,
46fps in Metro and 105fps. Maybe that
doesn’t represent a whole generation’s worth
of difference, but for just £29 more, it’s hard
to turn down this higher core performance
while also getting full ray-tracing and DLSS
support, even if just for future-proofing.
WILD CARD
We still need to test out a GTX 1660, but for
now the RTX 2060 remains your best bet for
mid-range gaming. Not that the GTX 1660 Ti is
a failure; it’s a respectably speedy GPU, and this
MSI version is cool, quiet and nicely designed.
James Archer
SPECIFICATIONS
GPU Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti • MEMORY 6GB GDDR6 •
GRAPHICS CARD LENGTH 247mm • WARRANTY Three
years repair and replace • DETAILS www.msi.com •
PART CODE GTX 1660 Ti Gaming X 6G
Dirt Showdown 99fps
Metro: Last Light 64fps
Tomb Raider 150fps
0% -50 Reference +50 +100
See page 106 for performance details
JULY 2019 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 377
ALL-IN-ONE LIQUID CPU COOLER
SILVERSTONE
Tundra TD02-RGB
★★★★★
£60 • From www.scan.co.uk
VERDICT
No other watercooler matches the
TD02-RGB’s balance of low pricing and
high performance
ANOTHER MONTH, ANOTHER all-in-one
(AIO) watercooler with RGB lighting.
The TD02-RGB is a little more interesting
than most, however: it’s only £60, at a
time when 240mm, RGB-equipped AIO
coolers are still new enough to occupy the
£100-plus range. That could potentially
make it a great budget option, so long as
build quality and cooling performance are
up to the task.
First impressions don’t exactly scream
cheapness and corner-cutting. The dual
120mm fans and rubbery tubes are
impressively robust, and a huge range of
AMD and Intel sockets – both old and new –
are supported. The only noteworthy
omission is the TR4 slot used by AMD’s
gigantic Threadripper chips, although the
far more common AM4 slot is catered for
out of the box.
PARTS AND CRAFTS
There’s no printed manual, so you’ll have to go
online to download the instruction guide, but
putting the TD02-RGB together is easy
enough. It’s slightly similar to the Cooler
Master MasterLiquid ML240R RGB (Shopper
366) in that the only fiddly bit is securing the
mounting screws to a plate that sits behind
the motherboard’s CPU socket, although this
can be done separately before sliding the
whole thing into place.
ISSUE 377 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | JULY 2019
It’s the same process for AMD sockets and
mainstream Intel sockets, and the Intel 2011
and 2066 sockets make things even easier:
you just need to screw in a set of four
standoffs. In any case, the water block – which
has an integrated mounting bracket – can be
easily attached with some thumbscrews.
While thermal paste isn’t pre-applied, a small
tube is included, and in a way this is better as
you can adjust how much you put on
according to the size of your CPU.
The TD02-RGB also avoids one of the most
irritating mistakes made by AIO coolers: short
SilverStone’s AIO is in the very strong position of being
thriftier and better at cooling than many of its rivals
cables. It’s easy to connect up either of the
two fans to a 4-pin cooling header even at the
opposite end of a full-size ATX motherboard,
which isn’t as common a quality as we’d like.
However, as useful as longer power cables
are, the abundance of separate RGB cables
end up making a mess. This is partly down
to the lack of a dedicated RGB controller,
as you get with the MasterLiquid ML240R
RGB or Deepcool Castle 240 RGB (Shopper
368). Instead of all the wires needed for fully
customisable lighting being directed to hub,
the water block and each fan need to be
daisy-chained together (the requisite
connectors are at least included) before
being plugged into a single 12V RGB header
on the motherboard.
If you don’t have a motherboard with an
RGB controller (and thus no RGB header), you
can still make the fans and pump glow a solid
blue by hooking up all those wires directly to
the PSU instead. Nonetheless, the absence of
a dedicated controller both limits the systems
in which RGB lighting – a key feature – will
work, and makes for an incredibly long and
difficult-to-manage chain of cables dangling
within the PC’s case. It’s the first and starkest
reminder of the TD02-RGB’s low-cost nature.
COMFORTABLY NUMB
Performance, however, is anything but low
end. Cooling an Intel Core i7-4770K at
stock speeds, it managed to outperform
the £110 MasterLiquid ML240R RGB by
keeping core temperatures between 45°C
and 51°C when under the heavy load of our
4K benchmarks. Its absolute peak temperature
of 53°C also beats the MasterLiquid’s 56°C,
although idle performance was about even,
with the TD02-RGB keeping things within
the 27-34°C range.
With the CPU overclocked to 3.9GHz, the
TD02-RGB still asserted itself, producing idle
temperatures between 27° and 35°C, and load
temperatures between 50° and 56°C. The peak
temperature only rose to 58°C, an excellent
result for such an affordable 240mm cooler.
It’s not among the very best, as the
NZXT Kraken X62 (Shopper 348) and
Asus ROG Ryuo 240 (Shopper 375) both
kept temperatures even lower, especially
under load. That said, these are significantly
more expensive coolers than the TD02-RGB,
and neither of them has addressable RGB
lighting as a focus. SilverStone’s AIO is
therefore in the very strong position of being
both thriftier and better at cooling than the
likes of the MasterLiquid ML240R RGB,
Castle 240 RGB and the Thermaltake Floe
Riing RGB 240 TT Premium Edition.
CHEAP FREEZE
It is, therefore, a fantastic addition to any
sufficiently sized PC, especially if that PC has a
motherboard with a built-in RGB controller. If
not, the TD02-RGB is still inexpensive enough
that it can be run with simple blue lighting (or
no lighting at all – we tried leaving the RGB
cables completely unplugged and it still
works fine) without the sense that you’ve
wasted your cash. Still, check for that little 12V
header if you want to make the most of it.
James Archer
SPECIFICATIONS
TECHNOLOGY Closed loop • FANS 2x 120mm • SOCKET Intel
LGA 2066/2011/1151/1150/1155/1156/1366/775, AMD AM4/
AM3/AM2/FM2+/FM2/FM1 • RADIATOR DIMENSIONS (NO
FAN) 120x274x32mm • WARRANTY One year RTB• DETAILS
www.silverstonetek.com • PART CODE SST-TD02-RGB
35
 500GB SSD
WD Blue SN500
★★★★★
£70 • From www.wd.com
VERDICT
Newly upgraded to NVMe, the cheap Blue SN500 will make you cheerful
WD BLUE IS a sub-brand that’s produced
some excellent storage hardware. WD Blue
internal hard disks are some of the best
around, and WD Blue SSDs have typically
followed the same path of delivering good
speeds despite relatively low pricing.
However, there has been one issue with
M.2-based Blue SSDs in particular: they’ve
always used SATA instead of NVMe. That
means despite using a motherboard port
that can handle four-figure MB/s transfers,
they’ve never been any faster than their
larger, 2.5in counterparts.
This finally changes with the WD Blue
SN500, which switches to the NVMe
specification, bringing huge speed boosts
while keeping in line with the Blue family
history of budget-friendliness. The 500MB
model we tested, for instance, comes in at
just 14p per gigabyte, and while the 250GB
model isn’t quite such good value at 20p
per gigabyte, it’s still very affordable.
KEEPING IT SMALL
While this might sound as if the Blue SN500
has a clear path to success, there are a few
limitations that come with being so cheap.
Although switching to NVMe has produced a
big speed upgrade, its stated maximum read
speed of 1,700MB/s and maximum write
speed of 1,450MB/s are, by NVMe standards,
middling at best. That’s just for the 500GB
model, too: the 250GB drive is only given a
peak write speed of 1,300MB/s.
There’s also the lack of larger capacities,
such as 1TB, effectively forcing the purchase
of an additional hard disk for anyone
building a PC from scratch, as well as tough
competition from the Crucial P1 (Shopper 373).
This has its own drawbacks, such as (in a
reversal of fortunes) there being no smaller
capacity options below 500GB, but in our
file-transfer benchmarks the P1 at least
managed to keep pace with much more
expensive NVMe SSDs. The 500GB model is
36
also slightly cheaper than the Blue SN500,
working out at 12.7p per gigabyte (albeit
having had a few months for prices to drop;
it launched at 16p per gigabyte).
Interestingly, CrystalDiskMark revealed
these two budget drives trade blows when
running at their best possible speeds. In the
easygoing sequential tests, the Blue SN500
recorded a read speed of 1,771MB/s and a
write speed of 1,454MB/s, so it’s slower at
reading data than the P1 (which recorded a
1,910MB/s read speed) but also much faster
at writing data, considering the Crucial SSD’s
981MB/s write speed result.
The P1 was a little quicker overall in
CrystalDiskMark’s tougher 4K sequential
test. The Blue SN500’s write speed result
of 261MB/s is about 3MB/s faster than that
of the P1, but its read speed of 299MB/s is a
full 38MB/s slower.
Despite our own file transfer tests working
a lot differently to straight sequential tests,
the Blue SN500 continued to show off a
write speed advantage. In the huge file test,
for example, it averaged a read speed of
953MB/s, which is decent but not particularly
fast, and a write speed of 1,063MB/s, which
easily tops the P1’s 999MB/s.
CLOSE AT NAND
It wasn’t as competitive in the large files test,
as the Blue SN500’s read speed of 941MB/s
and write speed of 965MB/s both fall behind
the P1’s equivalent results, but the WD came
out on top in both parts of the most difficult
small files test, averaging a 376MB/s read
speed and a 475MB/s write speed. That latter
result is particularly strong – even one of the
fastest overall SSDs we’ve tested, the
Samsung 970 Evo Plus (Shopper 375), only
produced a write speed of 440MB/s.
In the end, the Blue SN500 and Crucial P1
come incredibly close on performance.
Calculate the average overall speeds for the
huge, large and small file tests, then find the
average of those as well, and the Blue SN500
comes out with 792MB/s, a practically
insignificant difference to the P1’s 789MB/s.
If there are distinctions worth mentioning,
they would probably be how the SN500 often
has faster write speeds, while the P1 is faster
at reading. An argument could be made that
the P1 is therefore better for gaming systems
or applications that take a long time to load,
but frankly we’re not convinced you’d notice
a meaningful difference between these two
SSDs in everyday use. The Blue SN500 is also
somewhat more durable, its 500GB model
being rated for 300 terabytes written (TBW)
– twice that of the 500GB P1’s 150TBW – so it
might be better suited to workstations.
BLUE BLAZES
Otherwise, however, there’s very little in it.
That’s no bad thing: both of these drives
are cheap yet fast, offering performance in
the most common file transfer tasks (rather
than purely sequential tests) that’s just a
couple of steps down from the very best
consumer SSDs, and far higher than you
might expect from a budget device. It’s a
shame there’s no 1TB option for the Blue
SN500, but then it does fill a gap left empty
by the P1 – so you can have the 250GB Blue
SN500 if you only want a small SSD, or the
P1 if you’d prefer a larger 1TB drive.
James Archer
SPECIFICATIONS
CAPACITY 500GB • COST PER GIGABYTE 14p •
INTERFACE NVMe • CLAIMED READ 1,700MB/s •
CLAIMED WRITE 1,450MB/s • WARRANTY Five years RTB •
DETAILS www.wd.com • PART CODE WDS500G1B0C
Huge files 1,008MB/s
Large files 953MB/s
Small files 426MB/s
0% -50 Reference +50 +100
See page 106 for performance details
JULY 2019 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 377
 EXTERNAL HARD DISK
TOSHIBA Canvio
Premium 4TB
★★★★★
£133 • From www.lambda-tek.com
VERDICT
It has some nice extra features, but the
Canvio Premium is barely faster than much
cheaper alternatives
BETWEEN FALLING SSD prices and
Thunderbolt 3 catching on as an enabler of
ultra-fast external drives, it’s understandable
that the Canvio Premium 4TB has been met
with mumbles rather than cheers. External hard
disks aren’t dead – they’re still much cheaper
than SSDs, especially if you directly compare
capacities – but this is ultimately the largest
version of a drive that’s been around since
2016. What is there to get excited about?
One answer might be value: while the new
4TB model is more expensive than the existing
3TB, 2TB and 1TB versions, it has the lowest
cost per gigabyte of all four: a paltry 3.3p. The
3TB model isn’t far behind at 3.7p per
gigabyte, but the 2TB model leaps up to 4.5p,
and the 1TB model is 7p. With that in mind,
however, it’s also expensive for a 4TB hard
disk; most WD and Seagate alternatives sit
within the £80-£100 bracket.
At least this also carries over all the design
qualities of its smaller predecessors, which still
stand up today. Measuring 78x109x18mm, it’s
a few millimetres thicker than older Canvio
Premiums but still small enough to comfortably
fit in a pocket – something that’s not always a
given with large-capacity external hard disks,
which need to include multiple platters stacked
on top of one another. It also weighs just 225g,
and maintains the smart-looking aluminium
top and sides, with reflective edges that set it
apart from cheaper Toshiba stablemates such
as the Canvio Basics and Canvio Ready series.
C HERE
It connects via a USB3 cable, which again
sounds downright geriatric by 2019 standards,
but since this is mechanical storage we’re
dealing with, USB3.1 speeds wouldn’t help
anyway. It’s not all old hat, either. Included in
the box is a USB3-to-USB Type-C adaptor,
which allows the Canvio Premium to work
with recent ultraportable laptops that ditch
full-size USB ports in pursuit of slimness. Of
course, it won’t magically upgrade the hard
disk to Type-C transfer speeds, but it’s an
38
appreciably practical
bonus. Not the only one,
either: you also get a suede
carrying case and the option to use
Toshiba’s automatic backup and password-
protection software, which cheekily doesn’t
work with the cheaper Canvio Basics drives.
So far, the Canvio Premium lives up to its
name, but performance unfortunately doesn’t
carry this on. Toshiba claims a maximum
transfer rate of 5Gbit/s, which is 625MB/s,
but we couldn’t reach such speeds in
CrystalDiskMark’s standard sequential test, a
benchmark that typically shows storage drives
The inconvenient truth with new hard disks such as this is
that the core technology simply hasn’t advanced
at their very best. We recorded a write speed
of 153MB/s, which is still pretty good, but read
speeds only came out at 138MB/s.
CRAWLER GEAR
Furthermore, the 4K sequential test utterly
hammered the Canvio Premium, with read and
write speeds dropping to just 0.6MB/s and
7.6MB/s respectively. In fairness, these aren’t
too unusual for a USB3-based hard disk –
Toshiba’s own Canvio Connect II only managed
a 0.5MB/s read speed and a 1.4MB/s write
speed – but they do show the weakness of the
format compared to even a basic solid-state
drive. The WD My Passport SSD, for instance,
was more than 30 times faster in both tests.
Our own file transfer tests continued the
theme: the Canvio Premium performed well
enough for a mechanical hard disk, but not to
the extent that it stands out. Take its results
in the huge file test: an average read speed of
126MB/s and a write speed of 125MB/s are a
step down from its fastest sequential speeds,
as is always the case, but they’re hardly
pushing the limits of the hardware.
The only surprise was that switching
to the large file test, which should be
tougher, didn’t produce a clear fall in
speeds – in fact, the average write speed
rose slightly, to 126MB/s. The average read
speed in this test, coincidentally,
also turned out to be 126MB/s.
Finally, the small file test produced a
109MB/s average read speed and a 118MB/s
average write speed. This was one instance
where the Canvio Premium did significantly
outperform a rival, as the iStorage DiskAshur
Pro2 only reached a write speed of 55MB/s,
although that drive’s built-in encryption was
likely slowing it down.
JUST LIKE OLD TIMES
The inconvenient truth with newly launching
hard disks such as this – even if they’re just a
larger version of an older line – is that the core
technology simply hasn’t advanced in the past
few years, at least not to the extent that SSD
storage has. Paying more for a ‘Premium’
external HDD therefore only makes sense if it
offers functionality beyond straightforward
transfer speeds, as this is unlikely to vary
much between products.
To the Canvio Premium’s credit, it does
make an effort, what with its USB Type-C
connectivity and bonus software compatibility.
Still, if a faster SSD is really out of the
question, we’d rather save £50 and have
the 4TB mechanical version of the WD My
Passport, which also has automatic backup
and password-protection features.
James Archer
SPECIFICATIONS
CAPACITY 4TB • COST PER GIGABYTE 3.3p • INTERFACE
USB3 •CLAIMED READ 625MB/s • CLAIMED WRITE
625MB/s • WARRANTY Three years RTB • DETAILS www.
toshiba-storage.com • PART CODE HDTW240EB3CA
Huge files 126MB/s
Large files 126MB/s
Small files 114MB/s
0% -50 Reference +50 +100
See page 106 for performance details
JULY 2019 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 377
 MULTIFUNCTION PERIPHERAL

BROTHER
MFC-J5945DW
★★★★★
£324 • From www.printerland.co.uk

VERDICT
Brother’s MFC-J5945DW is a fast and
economical choice for A3 printing

IT’S NO SECRET that inkjets have been

slowly replacing laser printers in small and
home offices, and Brother’s MFC-J5945DW
demonstrates why. One of a new range of
single-function and multifunction office
inkjets, this MFP can print, scan, copy and fax
one- or two-sided A4 pages. It can also print
single-sided A3 pages, though not A3+. It has
two 250-sheet input trays in the base and a
100-sheet multipurpose feed at the back, all
This is an impressively fast inkjet, printing black text at
of which support A3. There’s also a 50-sheet
automatic document feeder (ADF) on top,
20ppm, colour graphics at 10.2ppm, and managing a heady
although that’s only A4.
The MFC-J5945DW supports wired and
5.0 images per minute when duplexing colour graphics
wireless networks, and is controlled via a
colour touchscreen. It’s an easy printer to become untidy, and can occasionally overrun dingy, but acceptable for most uses, while
install and use, but setting up involves a the stop. Having two output positions, photos aren’t really this printer’s forte.
one-off nine-minute wait for ink priming, manually selected, partially undermines the
and a 300MB download of Brother’s benefit of such flexible paper inputs. ECONOMY RUN
iPrint&Scan software on each PC. On the plus side, this is an impressively The MFC-J5945DW’s results may be closer
fast inkjet, printing black text at 20 pages per to decent than spectacular, but its running
GROWING PAINS minute (ppm), colour graphics at 10.2ppm, costs are impressively low: we calculated
The MFC-J5945DW’s A3 capability is certainly and managing a heady 5.0 images per minute just 3.7p per A4 page, which is about half
welcome, but it’s not perfectly executed. (ipm) when duplexing colour graphics. Each that of Epson’s competing WorkForce
The main paper trays need to be extended A3 page of black text took about 10 seconds, WF-7710DWF (Shopper 369).
to accept A3, but if you only expand the and even a page of rich colour graphics The MFC-J5945DW is a comprehensively
bottom tray then its paper becomes completed in 16 seconds. Connected via quicker device as well, though the WorkForce
partially exposed to dust. You need to Ethernet, all but one of our scan tests took WF-7710DWF generally matches or beats it
extend the output tray fully to receive A3 10 seconds or less, and even scanning our for quality: it also supports A3+ prints, A3
pages, but leave it there and A4 prints postcard photo at 1,200 dots per inch (dpi) scans, and duplex A3 prints and copies, yet
took just 25 seconds. it costs around £200 less. For quality and
This MFP can multitask, flexibility, we’d choose either the WorkForce
too, for example scanning WF-7710DWF or its two-tray variant, the
to one PC while printing WF-7720DTWF. Brother’s MFC-J5945DW is
from another one. a good effort, but we’d really only prefer it
We’ve seen better scan where its high speed and low running costs
results than those from are more important.
the MFC-J5945DW, but Simon Handby
while photos were too
dark and suffered a slight SPECIFICATIONS
aqua tint, documents
were more than adequate
TECHNOLOGY Piezo inkjet • MAXIMUM PRINT
for office purposes.
RESOLUTION 4,800x1,200dpi • MAXIMUM OPTICAL
SCAN RESOLUTION (OUTPUT BIT DEPTH) 1,200x1,200dpi
The ADF can scan both (24-bit)• DIMENSIONS 376x545x436mm • WEIGHT
sides in a single pass, so 20.9kg • MAXIMUM PAPER SIZE A3 • WARRANTY One
duplex scans and copies year RTB • DETAILS www.brother.co.uk • PART CODE
MFCJ5945DWZU1
are fast, and come with
less chance of a paper
Mono speed 20ppm
jam; this is a good
Mixed colour 10.2ppm
device for archiving speed
lots of paperwork. Mono page cost 0.9p
Print quality was generally Colour page cost 2.8p
good, with impressive 0% -50 Reference +50 +100
⬆ The MFC-J5945DW is an easy printer to install and use, once you’ve black text in particular. See page 106 for performance details
downloaded Brother’s iPrint&Scan software Photocopies were a little

40 JULY 2019 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 377

Monitors

Vivid, true-to-life colours

in an elegant design
276E7QDSW

CCL
COMPUTERS
 WI-FI MESH EXTENDER
NETGEAR Orbi Outdoor RBS50Y
★★★★★
£250 • From www.amazon.co.uk
VERDICT
A fast, if expensive, mesh satellite, the RBS50Y is a great
way to extend your wireless network outside your home
MESH SYSTEMS HAVE largely been focused
on solving the problem of poor Wi-Fi inside
your home. After all, that’s where you use
your wireless system the most. Still, there’s
a growing number of outdoor wireless
applications, from security cameras to
devices enabling you to use your laptop or
phone in the garden. That’s where the
Netgear Orbi Outdoor RBS50Y comes in.
As you can tell from the name, this
product integrates into the excellent Orbi
mesh system, extending your mesh system
outside your home. It can also operate in
Extender mode, connecting to any other
router to boost your Wi-Fi.
FULL CIRCLE
The RBS50Y is a better product when
connected to an Orbi router, as it gives you
all of the main benefits of a mesh system: a
single network name and seamless roaming,
where your devices are pushed to connect to
the strongest Wi-Fi satellite. The RBS50Y is
also part of the Disney Circle network, so you
can use this integrated app for parental
controls. Then again, it’s nice to have options,
42
so it’s good that the
RBS50Y can work with
non-Orbi mesh systems.
Although the Orbi
Outdoor looks similar
to other Orbi satellites,
there are some key
differences. First, bar
the weather-sealed
power input, there are
no ports on this model.
That’s because the
satellite has to be
weather-proof, which
adding Ethernet
ports would prevent.
Second, the
RBS50Y requires a little
effort to get it where you want. Rather than
just having feet to stand it on, the satellite
has a mounting bracket that lets you screw it
to a wall or the optional stand.
Wall-mounting is the better permanent
option, but using the stand is handy if you
temporarily want to place the satellite on a
table or you have a bench you want to put it
on. You’ll need a protected all-weather
outdoor power socket to plug the Orbi into.
Getting it plugged in and turned on isn’t
hard, although it would have been nice if the
power cable was a little longer: 2m is OK for
wall-mounting in some locations, but a bit
more flexibility would help, particularly if
your outdoor socket’s not that close to
where you want the RBS50Y to go.
IN SYNC
Once turned on, the Orbi Outdoor needs
to be synchronised to your home network.
In the case of an existing Orbi system, it’s a
matter of using the app and then hitting the
Sync button on the back of the RBS50Y.
The connection should be fairly quick to
make, although we found that we had to
update the RBS50Y’s firmware before we
could get a stable connection.
Once connected, the Sync button on the
back is disabled. That’s for security reasons,
to prevent someone else from hijacking
the connection and joining your network.
You’ve also got a bit of configuration to do.
In the app, you’ll see that there’s an option
to set the Orbi Outdoor to Indoor or Outdoor
mode. This setting isn’t mentioned in the
manual but is there for compliance. In the UK,
5GHz channels 36 to 64 are locked for indoor
use only, and channels 100 to 140 are allowed
to be used indoors or
outdoors. In Outdoor
mode, the RBS50Y
switches to dual-
band mode, removing
the standard 5GHz
client channels. It’s
entirely up to you
which mode you pick.
LIGHTEN UP
The next option for
the Orbi Outdoor is
how you want the light to
work. As well as showing you
status information, you can turn on the
satellite’s down-firing LED to act as an
outdoor light. You can even set a schedule for
it in the app, and adjust the brightness, or just
turn it off completely. It’s just a little thing,
but one that makes the Orbi Outdoor feel
more like a proper outdoor product.
Even more important is performance.
The RBS50Y has the same specs as the
top-end Orbi RBK50 system, which means
that you get tri-band Wi-Fi with 400Mbit/s
2.4GHz and 866Mbit/s 5GHz channels for
clients, as well as a dedicated 1,733Mbit/s
5GHz backhaul channel for communication
with other Orbi devices.
Testing with the Orbi placed in the
back garden, we saw upload speeds of
459Mbit/s and download speeds of
304Mbit/s. That’s a good 100Mbit/s faster
than we’ve previously managed outdoors,
using an Orbi placed in the kitchen window
to boost range. Outside, on the side street,
we could still get a strong signal, showing how
powerful this system really is.
With its excellent performance and neat
integration into the Orbi system (not to
mention that it can work in extender mode
with other networks), the Orbi Outdoor is a
brilliant way to extend your wireless network
outside, even if it is a little expensive.
David Ludlow
SPECIFICATIONS
•
WI-FI STANDARD 802.11ac STATED SPEED 1x 866Mbit/s
(5GHz), 1x 1,733Mbit/s (5GHz), 1x 400Mbit/s (2.4GHz) •
•
USB PORTS 0 WALL MOUNTABLE Yes WARRANTY •
•
Two years RTB DETAILS www.netgear.co.uk •
PART CODE RBS50Y
5m 381.5Mbit/s
0 100 200 300 400
See page 106 for performance details
JULY 2019 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 377
 WIRELESS IN-EAR HEADPHONES
CREATIVE
Outlier Air
★★★★★
£75 • From uk.creative.com
VERDICT
These fully wireless headphones are a superb bargain,
sounding better than much more expensive sets
CREATIVE KNOWS A thing or two about
digital audio, having been making headphones,
speakers and sound cards for over 30 years.
The Outlier Air, however, are its very first
attempt at true wireless earbuds.
The ‘true’ part means that, as with Apple’s
AirPods or the Samsung Galaxy Buds (Shopper
376), there’s no neckband tethering the two
in-ear headphones together, let alone a cord
that trails down to your phone or laptop.
What makes them different to these other
true wireless earbuds is the price: at £75,
They produce a wide, dynamic sound that’s every bit as
lively and absorbing as the best earbuds on the market
they’re more affordable than most rivals, yet
they don’t skimp on quality or features either.
For one thing, the Outlier Air support the
aptX Bluetooth codec, something we’ve only
previously seen on Sennheiser’s Momentum
True Wireless earbuds, which cost over three
times as much. If your source device supports
it (most Android phones do), this means you’ll
get better audio quality than using either of
the more common SBC or AAC codecs.
Qualcomm’s aptX chip also guarantees
that, when watching videos, you’ll get perfect
synchronisation between what you hear and
what you see on your smartphone’s display,
with no lip-sync issues.
READY STEADY
The Outlier Air impressed us with the stability
of their wireless connection, too. When testing
the RHA TrueConnect and Mobvoi TicPods
Free (Shopper 375), we experienced occasional
dropouts, but there was none of that here.
The left and right earbuds also stayed
44
perfectly synchronised, something the
Samsung Galaxy Buds struggled with.
Battery life is excellent by wireless standards.
The Outlier Air will last 10 hours on a single
charge, while the charging case provides an
additional 20 hours. That means you can enjoy
30 hours of music away from the mains, with
occasional charging breaks – more than any
other set of true wireless earbuds we’ve used.
The charging case itself can’t be charged
wirelessly, but its USB Type-C connector allows
it to be fully refuelled from empty in less than
two hours. The only downside is that this case
is a little bigger than most competitors’,
particularly Samsung’s compact design.
The earbuds themselves are, design-wise,
most reminiscent of Sennheiser’s Momentum
True Wireless earbuds. That means they’re not
particularly attractive, and sit somewhat
conspicuously in your ears. Their size also
means they’re not great for wearing while
cycling, as they’ll channel a lot of wind into
your ear canals, creating unwanted noise.
There’s a physical button embedded into
the outside of each earbud, which you can use
to control your media, answer calls or trigger
your smartphone’s virtual assistant. Generally,
we prefer actual buttons to touch controls, but
these ones are rather stiff, which makes them
fiddly and uncomfortable to use.
FEAST FOR THE EARS
Still, the Outlier Air are pleasant enough to
wear, with some thoughtful design touches:
they’ll automatically turn off when you pop
them in their charging case, they won’t vanish
from your phone’s Bluetooth list and they
can be used independently from each other.
On all three counts, these are improvements
over Sennheiser’s earbuds.
Best of all, the Outlier Air sound
astonishingly good. With thanks in part to
the aptX codec, they produce a wide,
dynamic sound that’s every bit as lively and
absorbing as the best earbuds on the market.
For the price, that’s an amazing feat.
Their soundstage and imaging are
particularly commendable. Instrument
separation is handled with ease, and songs
sound gloriously wide and deep.
Frequency response is very agreeable, too.
The sub-bass is sublime, with an ear-pounding
bass rumble in the sub-60Hz region. There’s a
bit of wobble between the 60Hz and 250Hz
region, but it doesn’t ruin the effect, and
there’s plenty of energy in the mid-range that
helps the vocals in pop tracks sound punchy
and alive. In contrast, many other wireless
earbuds push back the vocals and create a
warmer sound signature.
Finally, the high tones extend with vigour,
providing plenty of sparkle, and there’s less
sibilance than with the Mobvoi TicPods Free or
the RHA True Connect. There is, however, a
slight softening at the top end, whereas the
Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless maintain
a fluid, untainted high-end extension.
AIR TRADE
In the field of true wireless earbuds, the
Creative Outlier Air are up against competitors
costing two, three or even four times the price.
Yet they hold their own and, in some ways,
even better those rivals, offering a perfectly
stable wireless connection, incredible battery
life and absolutely fantastic sound.
For £75,
£7 therefore, they’re astonishingly
good value.
va If you have £280 to splash out on
the Sennheiser
Sennh Momentum True Wireless,
those remain
rem the pinnacle of cable-free
audio quality.
qua But for everyone else, Creative’s
Outlier Air
A should be your first call.
Christopher Minasians
SPECIFICATIONS
SPECIF
HEADPHONES SUBTYPE In-ear
HEADPH • PLUG TYPE None •
WEIGHT 10g •CABLE LENGTH N/A • WARRANTY Two
RTB • DETAILS uk.creative.com •
years RT
PART CO
CODE Outlier Air
JULY
JUL 2019 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 377
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 IN-EAR SWIMMING HEADPHONES
JBL Endurance Dive
★★★★★
£90 • From www.amazon.co.uk
VERDICT
A comfortable pair of waterproof headphones
with a built-in MP3 player, but they’re let
down by fiddly controls
BLUETOOTH HEADPHONES HAVE made it
easier to listen to music while running, cycling,
climbing, rowing or indeed performing
practically any kind of exercise. Why should
swimming be any different?
Swimming headphones, which use built-in
music players to overcome the technical
challenges of wireless streaming, are not as
uncommon as you might think. JBL has now
joined in with the Endurance Dive, a pair of
earphones it claims function just as well in the
pool as they do on dry land.
These sit at the upper end of JBL’s
Endurance range of in-ear sports headphones,
at least in terms of price, with only the £130
Endurance Peak true wireless earphones
costing more. Still, they do fill a more specific
niche, and as such are waterproof to the IPX7
specification (meaning they can survive
immersion at depths of up to one metre for
up to 30 minutes) while being designed with
underwater comfort in mind. Specifically, they
use JBL’s TwistLock earbud design to ensure
they stay snugly in place with a vacuum seal,
if mainly through good ergonomics rather
than an actual locking mechanism. For the
best possible fit, three different tip set sizes
are included.
LOCAL LISTENING
Most interesting is the built-in MP3 player
with 1GB of storage, enough to store 200
songs on the headphones themselves. When
you’re not in the pool, they can also connect
to any compatible device via Bluetooth, and a
single touch button on the right earbud allows
you to control both music and phone calls.
46
One tap plays or pauses music, two taps skips
forward and three taps jumps back a track.
During a call, on the other hand, it takes one
tap to answer or hang up and two to reject.
In practice, the Endurance Dive’s various
design quirks generally work well. The
TwistLock system is easy to use – you
essentially place each earbud in your ears at
an angle, then twist them downwards to
form the seal – and we didn’t have any issues
with them coming loose while swimming.
Water seepage was virtually non-existent, too.
We also appreciated the PowerHook
system. The hook on each earpiece is designed
to attract magnetically to the main earbud
when you’re not wearing the headset,
The built-in MP3 player has 1GB of storage, enough to store
200 songs. When you’re not in the pool, they can also
connect to any compatible device via Bluetooth
automatically powering off in the process.
It’s a neat design that should save you a
good chunk of battery life.
Speaking of which, you can expect eight
hours of music playback from these
headphones, which is reasonable enough,
although using the hands-free calling
functionality will drain the battery faster
than just listening to music.
DRAG RACING
Getting music on to the integrated MP3 player
is easy: simply connect them to a PC using the
provided USB cable, and you can drag and
drop songs directly on to the local 1GB
storage. However, besides tapping to skip,
you have no control over the order in
which tracks are played; it isn’t possible
to create, say, a custom playlist.
There’s also no offline support for
Spotify or other streaming services,
which might be offputting to those
who prefer such subscriptions to
having a fully paid-for library of
music. Using Bluetooth
connectivity (rather than local
storage) while you’re in the pool
might seem like a solution, but
when we tried this the connection
proved too unreliable, and the music
repeatedly cut out. Of course, this is
more a limitation of physics than the fault
of JBL’s – consumer Bluetooth devices
typically have a maximum range of 10 metres,
so in all but the tiniest of pools you’d
eventually swim out of range.
Sound quality, although not outstanding,
remained consistent whether underwater or
out in the open air. Given that these earphones
are designed with swimmers rather than
audiophiles in mind, they deliver the audio
quality that could feasibly be expected.
However, what lets the Endurance Dive
down is their fiddly and unresponsive controls.
Strangely, this issue flares up when using MP3
playback in particular: when connected via
Bluetooth, it was easy enough to flick through
songs or adjust the volume using the control
button on the right bud, but when playing
stored MP3s, it was a struggle just to skip a
track using the same method.
Tellingly, JBL advises you to lock the
Endurance Dive’s controls before getting into
the pool, but even this proved to be a struggle.
WATER SHAME
The Endurance Dive are a comfortable pair of
sport earphones that offer better-than-average
sound quality. It’s a shame that they’re so
difficult to control.
We can’t help but think that these
headphones would be easier to use if they
used multiple responsive buttons, rather than
a single touch-sensitive button. Considering
that the Sony NW-WS413 and Finis Duo both
have these physical buttons, not to mention
four times as much MP3 storage space and
prices that are either equal to or lower than
the Endurance Dive’s, either of these would
make for better swimming headphones.
Pete Clark
SPECIFICATIONS
HEADPHONES SUBTYPE In-ear • PLUG TYPE None •
WEIGHT 272g •CABLE LENGTH N/A • WARRANTY
One year RTB • DETAILS www.jbl.co.uk •
PART CODE JBLENDURDIVEBNL
JULY 2019 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 377
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 MIRRORLESS CAMERA
NIKON Z6
★★★★★
RECOMMENDED £2,540 • From www.amazon.co.uk
VERDICT
Nikon’s ‘mainstream’ mirrorless camera gets
just about everything right
NIKON’S DYNAMIC MIRRORLESS duo,
the Z6 and the Z7, were announced
simultaneously last year. The Z6 is the
cheaper, lower-resolution model, designed to
attract a wider range of potential users, while
also bringing a couple of advantages beyond
the lower price. The result is a superb, capable
camera that demonstrates just how serious
Nikon is about its new range – and which
might be the most appealing camera of the
past 12 months.
The Nikon Z6 houses a 24.5-megapixel,
full-frame sensor, making it just shy of half
the resolution of the 45.7-megapixel Z7.
The build and handling of both models is,
to the millimetre and gram, identical, with
the same tilting screen, high-resolution
electronic viewfinder and controls.
There are other key differences, however,
including a faster frame rate on the Z6 (12fps
to the Z7’s 9fps), and a slightly different AF
system that still leaves you with a very
capable 273 points.
The biggest difference between Nikon’s
two models is the price. You can pick up
the Z6 for a little over £2,500, or the Z7
for £3,699, both with the same 24-70mm
f/4 lens. Neither is small change, but the
Z6 falls more squarely into the realm of
enthusiast affordability.
TAKING HOLD
The Z6 also demonstrates how Nikon has
distilled the best features from cameras such
as the D850 DSLR and made them available
on a smaller, lighter body. That said, it’s still
chunky and robust enough to be pleasant to
use, with a decent-sized grip and buttons
48
that are easy to hit, unlike what you see on
cameras such as the diminutive Sony A7 III.
There’s a decent array of dials and buttons,
most of which are within easy reach of your
right thumb. That leaves your left hand free to
comfortably hold the lens. A useful display on
top of the camera shows key settings such as
aperture, drive mode, battery level and card
space remaining. A joystick protrudes from
the back of the camera and is extremely
handy for changing the autofocus point when
shooting through the viewfinder.
The dual control wheel setup is
reminiscent of DSLRs, while there are direct
access buttons for ISO and drive mode.
Pressing the ‘I’ button gives you swift
access to all your personal favourite
settings, and the quick menu can be
customised via the main menu.
THE CARD YOU’RE DEALT
Both the Z6 and Z7 have the same fantastic
electronic viewfinder, which is made up of
3,690,000 dots and is extremely bright and
clear. It’s accompanied by a tilting, 3.2in
touchscreen. The variable-angle screen is
useful for shooting from low and high angles,
but is slightly less useful than a fully
articulating screen for shooting video or
portrait-format images.
Also identical to the Z7 is the single XQD
memory card slot. Professionals will have
plenty of gripes about the lack of twin
memory card slots for on-the-go backup, but
for enthusiasts, not being able to back up
your shots as you go is less disastrous than
it could be. However, the XQD format is still
relatively expensive and, although you’ll
soon be able to also use CF Express cards
when a firmware upgrade rolls out, it’s
something you may need to add to your
budget when picking up a Z6.
Auto-focusing is where the two cameras
diverge. The Z6 has a 273-point hybrid
autofocus system, which sounds like a lot,
until you consider the Z7’s 493 points. Still,
the Z6’s points cover almost the whole frame
and should satisfy most photographers.
JULY 2019 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 377
LESS IS MORE
The lower-resolution sensor brings a couple of
benefits. First, it facilitates a faster frame rate
than the Z7, giving you a pro-level 12fps to
work with for moving subjects. Having fewer
pixels crammed on to the sensor should also
make the Z6 slightly better equipped for
low-light shooting, too, although judging
from our time with the Z7, the pricier
camera can hardly be improved upon.
If you already own Nikon lenses, you can
use them with the Z6 via its FTZ mount
adaptor. We’ve tried with a variety of different
lenses and it maintains full autofocus and
usability. Expect to pay around an additional
£270 for the adaptor or a little less if you get
one with your Z6 as a bundle.
The Z6 has the same level of weather-
sealing as the Nikon D850, which makes it
well equipped to face the perils of shooting
outdoors. It feels extremely well built and
more than up to the task of brutalising
outdoor shoots.
Although there are many advantages to
mirrorless cameras, battery life is an area
where they still struggle to compete with
DSLRs. The Z6 has a fairly paltry official rating
of 310 shots. In real-world usage, you’ll
probably get more, especially with careful
power management, but it’s worth investing
in a second battery if you tend to get
particularly snap-happy. The Z6 can be
charged via USB, so carrying a power pack
with you is another option.
NIGHT OWL
Unless you crave a super-high resolution,
the Z6 arguably makes more sense than
the Z7, not least because image quality
remains superb in a wide range of different
shooting conditions.
Dynamic range is excellent, while colours
directly from the camera are natural but
well saturated. Detail might not be on a par
with the Z7, but it’s still very good: unless
you’re pixel peeping at 100%, or have a
penchant for extreme crops, you’ll probably
be hard-pushed to spot the difference at
normal printing sizes.
ISSUE 377 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | JULY 2019
In fact, in low-light situations, the Z6 puts
in a slightly better performance, so if you’re
somebody who does a lot of shooting in the
dark, it’s certainly something to think about.
Focusing is swift and accurate, locking on
to most subjects with ease. As light levels
drop, the Z6 will hunt a little more, but it’s
rare for it to miss altogether. Shooting moving
subjects revealed the Z6 to be pretty
competent, keeping up with fairly easy-to-
follow subjects moving predictably. It might
not be the top choice for sports
photographers, but for all-rounders who
shoot the occasional action event, it should
be more than enough.
Having image stabilisation baked in is
helpful for getting handheld sharp shots at
relatively slow shutter speeds; another bonus
for low-light shooters. Using automatic white
balance resulted in generally accurate colours,
while leaving the Z6 in all-purpose (matrix)
metering did a good job of producing
well-balanced exposures.
MOUNT UP
For now, Nikon has a very limited set of
proprietary lenses for the Z mount. The
24-70mm f/4 is the obvious partner for the Z6
and produces lovely,
sharp images; 50mm
and 35mm prime
lenses, both at f/1.8,
are also available.
Later this year
should see the
14-30mm and a
50mm f/0.95 Noct
lens, but compared
to Sony’s much
more diverse
offering, the Z6
suffers for its
youthfulness.
However, if you
have another Nikon DSLR lens, you can use it
via an adaptor, which isn’t so bad.
As is now pretty much the norm, the Z6
shoots video in 4K. You can opt for 30fps,
25fps and 24fps, or there’s up to 120fps slow
motion available if you switch to 1080p.
There’s also the option to attach an external
recorder to output 10-bit 4K footage; do this
and you’ll be able to shoot N-LOG footage as
well, in the name of more flexible grading.
Video shooters will be pleased to see both an
external microphone and a headphone socket.
BUTTING ZEDS
The Z6 is one of the standout releases of
the past year. The Nikon Z7 is quite possibly
the best camera on the market right now,
but the Z6 comes a very close second for
significantly less cash.
It’s a great all-round performer for
advanced enthusiasts who shoot lots of
different subjects, and would even make a
good second camera for professionals
shooting with other Nikon models, including
the Z7, or DSLRs such as the D850 or the D5.
There are a couple of drawbacks to
consider, such as limited battery life and a
single XQD card slot, but overall, the Z6 is a
very capable and extremely desirable camera.
Amy Davies
SPECIFICATIONS
SENSOR RESOLUTION 24.5 megapixels • SENSOR SIZE
35.9x23.9mm CMOS •
FOCAL LENGTH MULTIPLIER 1x •
VIEWFINDER Electronic (3,690,000 dots) • LCD SCREEN
3.2in (2,000,000 dots) • VIEWFINDER MAGNIFICATION
(35mm-EQUIVALENT, COVERAGE 0.80x, 100% •
LENS MOUNT Nikon Z • WEIGHT 1,175g • DIMENSIONS
134x101x68mm • WARRANTY One year RTB •
DETAILS www.europe-nikon.com
Battery life 310 shots
0% -50 Reference +50 +100
See page 106 for performance details
49
 FITNESS SMARTWATCH

GARMIN Vivomove HR
★★★★★
RECOMMENDED £149 • From www.amazon.co.uk

VERDICT
There’s no GPS, but the Garmin Vivomove
HR delivers a highly appealing mix of
affordability and features

FITNESS TRACKERS AREN’T to everyone’s

taste. They deliver neat insights into your
health and overall activity levels, but for many
people, even the best-looking tracker doesn’t
offer the appeal of a good old-fashioned
watch with real moving parts.
Garmin’s Vivomove HR is one of a growing
list of hybrid smartwatches that aims to fix
this by bringing fitness-tracking features to
something that more closely resembles a
traditional wristwatch. It’s a watch you can
wear wherever you go, with a pared-down
design that looks great whether you’re
wearing it in the gym or on an evening out.
Don’t be fooled by that low-key design,
however. The Vivomove HR packs in far
more than mere step and calorie counting.
It logs your heart rate and stress levels
throughout the day, and tracks your sleep
quality when you wear it at night. Thanks to
its built-in altimeter, it will also keep tabs on
how many stairs you climb.

LIGHT RELIEF
The hidden OLED screen also displays
smartphone notifications and lets you
control music playback on your phone.
There’s multi-sport tracking, too, allowing
you to manually log walks, runs, weightlifting
and cardio workouts. If you forget to start
logging, it can even detect what kind of
exercise you’re doing automatically, via
Garmin’s Move IQ technology.
Lastly, the Vivomove HR estimates your
VO2 max and can also be used to broadcast
your heart rate (via ANT+) to compatible
devices during workouts. Although the watch
is waterproof to a depth of 50 metres, sadly
there’s no dedicated app for swim tracking,
and there’s no built-in GPS either.
Still, what we have here is a
respectable feature set
for only £149. There’s
also a Premium variant,
with a more formal
look and leather strap,
but it’s a lot more
expensive at £230.
This cheaper ‘Sport’
version of the Vivomove
HR holds the advantage
of being considerably
lighter than the Premium
version, tipping the scales
at 40.8g including its silicone
strap and 26g without it. That’s
two grams lighter than the Fossil Sport
(Shopper 376), which was already the lightest
smartwatch we’d tested in recent memory.
Thanks to this superlatively lightweight
design, and the totally flush optical heart-rate
sensor on the underside, the Vivomove HR
is also among the most comfortable
smartwatches. If you want something you can
keep on day and night, it fits the bill much
better than most of Garmin’s chunkier sports
watches. When using it to track our sleep, we
never once woke with the urge to take it off.
That’s not all the Vivomove HR does well.
It’s also a great-looking watch, at least to our
eyes. We were sent the black model and,
although it’s undoubtedly more
Swatch than Rolex as far as
design ethos is concerned,
that’s no bad thing. There
are no physical buttons
to clutter up the look,
just a minimalist black
watch face accompanied
by two hands.
HIDE AND PEEK
So pared down is the
Vivomove HR’s design
that, at first glance, it’s
not obvious it even has a
digital display. It’s only when
you firmly double-tap the screen
or lift your wrist that its small 9.6x19.2mm
panel springs to life, and the watch’s hands
move smoothly around to the 10 and two
o’clock positions to avoid obscuring the
interface. This is a really neat feature, and one
that you’re sure to want to show off.
Although this display is one of the smaller
touchscreens you’ll find on a smartwatch, it
works well for the most part. Like Garmin’s
Vivosport tracker, you have to tap one side of
the display to step back a screen, which can
feel fiddly, but it’s responsive to taps and
swipes, and the interface is clear enough that
you can quickly work out what you’re doing.
That said, the Vivomove HR would benefit
from a single physical button, such as the one
on the Garmin Vivoactive 3 (Shopper 362).
Long-tapping and double-tapping the watch’s
screen to open the app list and start an
activity feels a bit clunky, and having a
button would surely make this quicker and
easier. It would also stop the screen from
becoming smeared with fingerprints, which
can be a bit of a problem.
DEEP DIVE
Still, you can get to most of what the
Vivomove HR does with only a few swipes.
From the main screen, which shows the
time and date, swiping left brings up your
core metrics, including step count, stairs
climbed, intensity minutes, calories burned,

50 JULY 2019 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 377

heart rate and stress. Among these, there
are also screens for music control,
weather and notifications.
Tapping any of these displays
typically reveals a deeper layer of
information. In most cases, this
means the watch shows you your
stats for the previous day, but
with the weather app, for
example, it lets you check the
forecast for the next few days.
To activate functions such as
logging an activity manually, enabling
Do Not Disturb mode, checking your
VO2 max or using Find My Phone, you
need to long-press the display. The
Vivomove HR lets you record walks, runs,
cardio and weights sessions manually, but
again it’s disappointing that there’s no GPS,
nor apps for swim tracking or cycling.
The latter two are at least recognised by
Garmin’s Move IQ auto-detection feature, but the
benefit to logging activities manually is that there
are many more details to pore over when the
watch syncs to the Garmin Connect mobile app.
After a run, for example, the app delivers
estimates on distance, pace and calories burned,
as well as displaying a chart for your heart rate
during the workout. The distance and pace
numbers logged by the Vivomove HR were a
little over what they should have been, but if
you’re running on a treadmill you can easily edit
it to match the real figures. On some watches,
this edited information would be used to
recalibrate future estimates, but it’s unclear if
the Vivomove HR works in this way.
Heart-rate accuracy is mixed. On a treadmill
run, the numbers were mostly spot on, but on a
crosstrainer, the Vivomove HR only started
logging realistic heart-rate data after the first five
minutes of exercise. At four minutes in, for
instance, it was showing a pulse of only 80bpm.
RINGING TRUE
We suspect the lack of GPS might be a deliberate
decision on Garmin’s part to keep its lifestyle
products and more serious sports wearables
separate. At least Garmin’s TrueUp continuity
feature allows you to switch seamlessly from the
Vivomove HR to a more fitness-focused wearable.
Indeed, providing your other device supports
TrueUp, it will sync information such as steps,
calories burned, intensity minutes and floors
climbed between the devices. That’s perfect if
you have, say, a Fenix 5 Plus, but want to wear
something less chunky (such as the Vivomove
HR) when you’re not seriously exercising: all of
your metrics will be a swipe away on both devices.
With limited screen space to display stats on
the watch itself, however, you’re still better off
looking at insights into your health and activity
on the Garmin Connect smartphone app. On its
homescreen, it has a well-presented summary of
all your data for the day, including heart rate,
steps, floors climbed, stress and sleep. Swipe
further up and it also displays your health stats
and workouts for the last week.
If even this comprehensive selection of
data leaves you wanting more, you can drill
ISSUE 377 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | JULY 2019
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down further into any particular area simply by
tapping. From its sidebar, Garmin Connect also
organises your personal data by category,
including activities, health stats, performance
stats and more.
One perk of the Vivomove HR’s tiny display, at
least in theory, is that it should last much longer
than smartwatches with larger OLED screens.
However, although Garmin’s estimate of five days
in smart mode is considerably more than you’ll
get with an Apple Watch Series 4 (Shopper 371),
it’s still some way behind its immediate rivals.
For example, we got well over a week out of
the Withings Steel HR Sport (Shopper 371), and it
can go even longer with lighter use. Garmin’s own
Vivoactive 3 can also last seven days between
charges. However, as you’d hope for a watch with
analogue hands, the Vivomove HR also has a
low-energy mode that it reverts to when the juice
is running low. In this mode, which extends
battery life for up to two weeks, the hands
continue to display the time but both the OLED
screen and tracking features are disabled.
GET A MOVE ON
Slightly underwhelming battery life isn’t reason
enough to dismiss the Garmin Vivomove HR,
however. If you’re looking for a hybrid
smartwatch that logs your steps, sleep, heart
rate and stress in a package that both looks
great and is fairly priced, it’s an obvious choice.
Thanks to Garmin’s TrueUp feature, it’s an
even easier decision to make if you own another
Garmin device for running or cycling and want
something more lightweight and comfortable
for everyday wear. The flip side to that is that
if you need just one watch that does it all, the
Withings Steel HR Sport holds the advantage.
Edward Munn
WWW.CYBERPOWERSYSTEM.CO.UK
WWW.
WWW.CY
W.CYBE
CYBERP
BERPOW
RPOWER
OWERSY
ERSYSTEM
SY EM.CO.UK
SPECIFICATIONS
PEDOMETER Yes • HEART-RATE MONITOR Yes • DISPLAY Follow Us!
•
SIZE 0.9in RESOLUTION 128x64 • OS SUPPORT Android, iOS
• BATTERY LIFE Five days • WARRANTY One year RTB •
DETAILS www.garmin.com • PART CODE 010-01850-06
@CYBERPOWERUK
@CYBERPOWER_UK 51
 FITNESS TRACKER
FITBIT Inspire HR
★★★★★
BEST BUY £90 • From www.amazon.co.uk
VERDICT
The Inspire HR’s simplicity, stylishness and superb app
make it a great fitness tracker for more casual users
FITBIT ISN’T THE fitness band dominator it
once was, but devices such as the Inspire HR
show why the firm was so successful in the
first place. It’s a well-balanced blend for
people who want to get fitter, but don’t want
to spend hours analysing their form.
The design will be pretty familiar to
anybody who has used a Fitbit band from
the past few years. A small plastic lozenge
is the brain of the device, and it clips in
between two silicone rubber straps. Rather
neatly, two bands come in the box, so you
don’t have to figure out whether you qualify
as having large wrists or not. You can also
buy separate straps, ranging from £20 to £60,
to make the Inspire HR look as smart or as
sporty as you like, depending on whether
you want rubber, leather or steel.
As for the brain part, it may look a little
cheaper than the old Fitbit Alta (Shopper
It’s a well-balanced blend for people who want to get
fitter, but don’t want to spend hours analysing their form
343) – its predecessor was constructed from
aluminium, whereas this is plastic – but
there’s not much in it. Indeed, we quite like
the curvy elegance of the Inspire HR, and the
display looks a little sharper, too.
HOT STEPPER
The Inspire HR is mainly controlled via its
touchscreen, which is rarely a great idea for a
fitness tracker, given that sensitivity drops
when they come into contact with
moisture – something that
makes a touchscreen
difficult to use when
running in rain, or simply
with sweaty fingers. It’s
even harder when the
screen is so tiny, although
to Fitbit’s credit, this one
works well; even better
than the Charge 3, in fact.
There’s a single button on
the left-hand side, but this
mainly functions as a
back button, or as a way
of lighting up the screen
if it doesn’t detect the fact
that you’ve raised your wrist.
Less useful is the charger,
which is yet another proprietary
52
Fitbit design. At this point,
it’s pretty clear that unless
Fitbit has a designer on the
payroll who just really loves
designing chargers, the only
reason for this is the huge
markups it can make from
selling replacements.
Still, the Inspire HR does
nail the rest of the basics,
step-counting in particular.
You can set your desired step
target in the app (the default is
10,000, or around five miles for
most people), and the little OLED
screen dutifully keeps track, occasionally
buzzing to tell you to get up for a walk if
you’ve been static for too long.
The sleep tracking has come on quite a
long way since the early days, and the app
now claims to be able to tell the difference
between light, deep and REM sleep. This is
difficult to prove from our end, what with
having to be asleep for testing, but
anecdotally the charts seem to match up
from what we remember – spikes during
unexpected 3am wake-ups and the like.
AIR TIME
The other features are equally well thought
out. The guided breathing app, for
example, has you focus on a circle
that grows and shrinks for two
or five minutes to help you
pace your breathing while the
Fitbit monitors your heart
rate. It will even give you an
estimate of VO2 Max to
help you judge your overall
fitness level and, more
importantly, track your
improvement over time.
In true Fitbit style, this
information is presented in
a very user-friendly way,
giving you a rating rather
than a raw set of numbers to
decode. And this is, of course,
where Fitbit really shines: the
app is not just user-friendly and
accessible to people who may find
a full Garmin-style stat-fest daunting, it also
has a huge userbase, meaning you’ll likely find
plenty of friends and family to compete with.
Nobody comes close to matching Fitbit’s
sense of friendly competition, and it’s a world
away from the overwhelming sense of elite
athleticism that other apps try to instil.
However, this simplicity cuts both ways.
Frankly, we found the Inspire HR too small and
fiddly to use as a running watch; the teeny
display means only one stat can appear
onscreen at a time and swiping while running
is distinctly awkward. You can use connected
GPS (allowing the band to use the GPS on
your phone), but it’s not built in, so you’d
have to carry your phone out on runs.
Not that it’s incapable of recording your
performance, which is fundamentally what
a fitness tracker should do; it’s just less
capable than others at letting you assess
that data on the fly.
GOT HEART
For £90, however, the Inspire HR doesn’t
necessarily have to compete with the best
high-end fitness trackers and hybrid
smartwatches. What it actually does, it
generally does very well, so if all you’re after
is a smart fitness band to track your steps,
sleep and general fitness level, the Fitbit
Inspire HR is easy to recommend.
Alan Martin
SPECIFICATIONS
PEDOMETER Yes • HEART-RATE MONITOR Yes •
DISPLAY SIZE 0.7in •
RESOLUTION 128x72 • OS
SUPPORT Android, iOS • •
BATTERY LIFE Five days
WARRANTY One year RTB •
DETAILS www.fitbit.com •
PART CODE FB505RGPK-EU
JULY 2019 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 377
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 VIDEO-EDITING SOFTWARE
ADOBE Premiere
Pro CC 2019
★★★★★
£20 per month •
From www.adobe.com
VERDICT
Integration with Rush, data-driven graphics
and deeper Lumetri Color controls combine
to make this a decent upgrade
WE ALL KNOW that non-professional video
production is shifting from camcorders to
smartphones, but it’s even happening in the
professional space.
The 2018 Turner Prize winner, a half-hour
single-screen video shot on a phone, is a
perfect example. In recognition of this trend,
Adobe launched a special cut-down version of
Premiere Pro in October 2018 called Premiere
Rush. Initially, this arrived on iOS, but the
desktop version soon followed.
Why mention it now? Well, while Rush has
specialised tools for creating video that’s been
shot on smartphones, or destined to be
viewed on smartphones, your edited files are
stored in the cloud via your Adobe account.
That’s fine if all you want to do is edit in
vertical and square aspect ratios, add titles and
voiceovers, then publish directly to YouTube,
Facebook or Instagram, but to take your work
further you need Premiere Pro CC 2019.
CLEVER BY HALF
Whereas the desktop Rush saves changes
back to the cloud, Premiere Pro CC 2019
saves changes locally, and with that capability
comes more sophisticated effects that aren’t
compatible with Rush.
What’s clever, however, is that you can
start your project in Rush – and push it a long
way down the path, including publishing a
version straight to the web – and then add
finesse via Premiere Pro.
Another future-facing format that
Premiere Pro CC 2019 can now handle is
VR180, which (as its name suggests) is
basically half of the full 360° spherical field
of view. Interest is growing in this format
⬆ Adobe has added a set of powerful audio tools into the Premiere Pro Essential Sound panel
54
⬆ You can start your video project on your smartphone using Adobe Rush, then add finesse in Premiere Pro
because it fits better with conventional
storytelling techniques than VR360.
Files in over-under, side-by-side and
monoscopic formats can be imported, and you
can tell Premiere Pro to reinterpret footage if
settings aren’t detected automatically or
correctly. You can then export in side-by-side
or over-under VR, with support for
monoscopic or stereoscopic output. This
conforms to Google VR180, but annoyingly,
there’s no specific encoding preset for this.
DATA MINING
Adobe is keeping its eye on other trends, too.
In particular, there are exciting new tools for
anyone who needs to present data via video.
You still need to create graphics templates in
After Effects or download them from Adobe
Stock, but once imported there are plenty of
fine-tuning options available. Many of the
design parameters of the underlying vector
graphic can be edited via the Essential Graphics
or Video Effects panels, although you can’t
keyframe these so they change over time.
Best of all, with data-driven templates, you
can link to a spreadsheet in CSV or TSV
format, then map the columns and rows to
parameters in the infographic. If you change
the values in the underlying file, the Premiere
Pro CC 2019 graphic will update dynamically.
The downside is that, in practice, we found
this buggy, with tab-separated spreadsheets
not imported correctly – just comma-
separated ones – and the controls didn’t
always appear in the Essential Graphics panel
for editing. Hopefully this will improve in time.
Many other enhancements for Premiere
Pro CC 2019 revolve around the concept of
colour grading, which has become increasingly
important in video production.
More Lumetri-powered tools are being
embedded directly within Premiere Pro CC
2019, perhaps in response to the popularity of
Blackmagic’s DaVinci Resolve. Using the Lumetri
Color Curves panels, you can select colours in
the frame and grade them individually.
It’s also possible to add multiple Lumetri
colour effects layered on top of each other,
toggle them on and off, and edit them
separately. There’s also a setting for toggling
Display Colour Management, but this requires
GPU acceleration. However, if you have a
professional-grade monitor with a calibrated
Rec. 709, P3 or Rec. 2020 colour space,
Premiere Pro will display your video correctly.
Powerful audio tools are available if you
export your sound into Audition, but Adobe
has now added a subset into the Premiere Pro
Essential Sound panel. There are sliders for
intelligently reducing reverb and noise. These
tools are nowhere near as capable as those
available in Audition, but they’re great for
those who don’t have the dedicated app.
BRIGHTER FUTURE
As always, a new version of Adobe Premiere
Pro CC brings with it support for new file
formats. Now you can import and export ARRI
Alexa LF, import Sony Venice X-OCN V2 and,
on macOS 10.13.4 or later, edit the High
Efficiency Image File Format (HEIF) of Apple’s
iPhone 8 and iPhone X. There are performance
and stability improvements for RED digital
cinema camera media as well.
While there’s no single killer feature in this
release, Adobe has included enough to make
this a welcome update. Rush integration is
useful, and while the data-driven graphics
capabilities are still heavily tied to After Effects
for original design, the expanded Lumetri
Color capabilities might make you think twice
about switching to DaVinci Resolve.
James Morris
SPECIFICATIONS
OS SUPPORT Windows 10 version 1703 or later; macOS
•
10.12 or later (10.13 required for hardware acceleration)
MINIMUM CPU Intel 6th-gen or later (or AMD equivalents) •
MINIMUM GPU Integrated graphics • MINIMUM RAM 8GB
• HARD DISK SPACE 8GB • DETAILS www.adobe.com •
PRODUCT CODE Premiere Pro CC
JULY 2019 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 377
 Choosing a... PC system
01 A basic PC costing around £350 will
be able to run everyday office,
multimedia and education software and will
easily cope with surfing the internet. It might
even be able to run some modern games.
Many PCs can be sold either with or
without a monitor. If you don’t like the
display the manufacturer is offering, you
can always use your current one, or buy
another one separately.
03 All modern PCs come with at least
a dual-core processor and are
capable of most tasks. Anyone who
peripherals attach to these ports. Most new
PCs come with USB3 or the latest USB3.1
ports, which provide faster data transfers
regularly undertakes demanding tasks when used with supported devices than the
such as video editing and encoding older USB2 standard.
should consider a hexa-core or even
an octa-core processor.
06 Most new PCs now come with
Windows 10 pre-installed. Don’t be
04 There are plenty of good reasons to
upgrade the PC’s memory or hard
disk. If you’ll use your PC for gaming, video
too easily swayed by the inclusion of other
software, though, as it may be that you’ll
never use it.

02 If you want to play games, you’ll

have to upgrade the graphics card.
Budget cards such as the Nvidia GeForce GTX
1050 will cope well with many 3D games, but
to play the latest 3D games smoothly (and
enjoy the best-quality graphics) it’s worth
upgrading to a more powerful card such as
the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070.
editing or other demanding tasks, you’ll
need at least 8GB of RAM and a large hard
disk; 1TB should suffice. Many new PCs have
an SSD, which speeds up the time it takes for
your PC to boot and for programs to load.
05 Having plenty of USB ports is
always useful, as most computer
07 While most PCs come in cases of
a similar size, some have more
compact mini tower or mini PC cases.
These smaller PCs will fit under your TV
or on your desk more easily, but bear in
mind that they’re significantly harder to
upgrade than full-size machines.

PCs
RASPBERRY Y PI LENOVO IdeaCentre 620S
LE
3 Model B+ ★★★★★
★★
★★★★★ £579
£57 • wwww.currys.co.uk
£28 • uk.rs-online.com
m
Mini PCs can be overpriced, slow
ow
The ultimate or even sold without RAM and
micro
ro PC gets storage, but the IdeaCentre 620S
0S
even better is a complete system that’s both reasonably
with faster CPU clock speeds and dramatically improved powerful
pow and pleasantly affordable. The quad-core
core
Wi-Fi performance. The diff
differences between
b this
th and the
th Intel
el Core i5-7400T handles office work well
standard Pi Model 3 probably won’t be enough to be worth enough, while an Intel Optane Memory drive gives
ves
a direct upgrade, but since this is no more expensive, it’s the the hard disk a speed boost, and there’s even a
best choice for new projects. GeForce GTX 1050 Ti for extra graphical capability.
ty.
PROCESSOR Quad-core 2.4GHz Intel Core i5-7400T • RAM 8GB • FRONT USB PORTS None •
PROCESSOR Quad-core 1.4GHz Broadcom BCM2837 • RAM 1GB • USB PORTS 1x Micro USB REAR USB PORTS 4x USB3 • TOTAL STORAGE 1TB hard disk, 16GB Intel Optane Memory drive •
(power), 4x USB2 • TOTAL STORAGE MicroSD card slot • DISPLAY None • OPERATING GRAPHICS CARD 4GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti • DISPLAY None • OPERATING SYSTEM
SYSTEM Raspbian • WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS www.raspberypi.org • PART CODE Pi 3 Windows 10 Home • WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS www.lenovo.com • PART CODE
Model B+ • FULL REVIEW Jun 2018 90HC0011UK • FULL REVIEW May 2018

MSI Trident 3 Arctic PALICOMP AMD Abyss

★★★★★ ★★★★★
£1,390 • www.chillblast.com £700 • www.palicomp.co.uk
This white-and-silver version of the Trident 3 crams At this price, you’d
Intel Core i7 power into a PC no larger than a games seriously struggle to find
console. Unlike a games console, however, you can a more comprehensively
open this up to customise the components, not that the SSD and capable desktop system than Palicomp’s
hard disk duo will need imminent upgrading. At this price it’s AMD Abyss. It can multitask with
expensive for a GTX serious applications just as well as it
1060 system, but can run games, and with its large, fast
compared to most NVMe SSD, it won’t be slowed down
compact PCs it’s a by storage. There’s a lot of room for
real powerhouse. future upgrades, too.

PROCESSOR Hexa-core 3.2GHz Intel Core i7-8700 • RAM 16GB • FRONT USB PORTS 2x USB3.1,
1x USB Type-C • REAR USB PORTS 4x USB2, 1x USB3.1, 1x USB Type-C • TOTAL STORAGE 128GB
SSD, 1TB hard disk • GRAPHICS CARD 6GB MSI GeForce GTX 1060 Aero ITX •
OPERATING SYSTEM Windows 10 Home • WARRANTY Two years RTB •
DETAILS www.msi.com • PART CODE 9S6-B92012-061 • FULL REVIEW Feb 2019
PROCESSOR Hexa-core 3.6GHz AMD Ryzen 5 2600X • RAM 8GB • FRONT USB PORTS 2x USB2,
1x USB3 • REAR USB PORTS 2x USB2, 2x USB3, 2x USB3.1, 1x USB Type-C • TOTAL STORAGE
512GB SSD, 1TB hard disk • GRAPHICS CARD 8GB AMD Radeon RX570 Armor 8GB OC •
OPERATING SYSTEM Windows 10 Home • WARRANTY Three years RTB • DETAILS
www.palicomp.co.uk • PART CODE RYZ6 • FULL REVIEW Apr 2019

56 JULY 2019 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 377

Choosing a... Laptop
01 A basic laptop costing around £300
will run everyday office, multimedia
and education software, but it won’t be
suitable for 3D gaming or processor-intensive
tasks such as video editing. Many laptops at
this price have a 15.6in screen and weigh over
2kg, so they’re best used around the house
and for occasional journeys.
04
portability, buy one that has a 13.3in or 14in
screen. In general, the smaller and lighter the
laptop, the more expensive it is, especially if
it has plenty of processing power.
Battery life is extremely important
for a laptop, particularly if you’ll be
carrying it around. We’d expect all but the
biggest and heaviest to last for at least
want better performance, you should
look for an Intel Core i5 or Core i7
model instead. We recommend a
minimum of 4GB of RAM, although 8GB
is better for multitasking.
06 Most budget and mid-range laptops
use a mechanical hard disk for
storage. You’ll want at least 500GB, but

02 If you want to play modern games,

you’ll need a laptop with a dedicated
graphics chip such as the Nvidia GeForce GTX
1060M. Good gaming laptops tend to have
large 15.6 or 17in screens and weigh around
3kg, so they’re best suited to use at home.
five hours on a single charge, but for an
ultraportable that you carry everywhere,
eight hours and above is more desirable.
1TB or more is better. Solid-state drives
(SSDs) have faster performance, making
your computer quicker to boot and more
responsive. They have lower capacities,
05 Laptops use mobile versions of
processors to conserve power,
though. You’ll need at least 128GB.

03 If you want a laptop that you can

take everywhere, look for a model
that weighs less than 2kg. For the best
and these lag behind desktop chips
when it comes to performance. For a
budget Windows laptop, an Intel Core i3
07 Convertibles and 2-in-1 laptops can
change from laptop mode to tablet
mode. We’ve listed our favourite models later
processor will do the job, but if you on in this guide in the Tablets section.

LAPTOPS
APPLE MacBook Pro 13in (2018) ACER Aspire 5
★★★★★ ★★★★★
£3,599 • www.apple.com/uk £690 • www.amzn.to/2MS5lqc
2MS5lqc

Just like its The Aspire

pire 5 is the
bigger 15in epitomee of the
brother, sensible mid-range
the latest MacBook Pro laptop. It’s not ultra-stylish
ish
is as expensive as it is and it doesn’t have a
powerful, but powerful professional-quality
it most certainly is. This is an incredibly potent laptop, with an display, but for the
excellent display and blazingly fast storage, all within a thin and price it offers reliable performance
rformance in a
attractive chassis. variety of workloads, and it will last a full day on battery power
without much trouble.
PROCESSOR Quad-core 2.7GHz Intel Core i7-8559U • RAM 16GB • DIMENSIONS 304x212x14.9mm
• WEIGHT 1.37kg • SCREEN SIZE 13.3in • SCREEN RESOLUTION 2,560x1,440 • GRAPHICS PROCESSOR Quad-core 1.6GHz Intel Core i5-8250U • RAM 8GB • DIMENSIONS 382x263x21mm •
ADAPTOR Intel Iris Plus 655 • TOTAL STORAGE 2TB SSD • OPERATING SYSTEM macOS • WEIGHT 2.2kg • SCREEN SIZE 15.6in • SCREEN RESOLUTION 1,920x1,080 • TOTAL STORAGE
WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS www.apple.com/uk • PART CODE MacBook Pro 13in • 256GB SSD • OPERATING SYSTEM Windows 10 Home • WARRANTY One year RTB •
FULL REVIEW Dec 2018 DETAILS www.acer.com • PART CODE A515-51-50YS • FULL REVIEW Oct 2018

HUAWEI MateBook 14 NEW DELL XPS 15 2-in-1

ENTRY
★★★★★ ★★★★★
£1,500 • consumer.huawei.com
m £1,599 • www.amzn.to/2AV36P7
36P7

The MateBookook 14 This is everything

ything
is the biggest and that’s great about
best of Huawei’s
ei’s the XPS serieses –
2019 ultraportables. Like the more the massive power, the lengthy thy
expensive MateBook X Pro, it battery life, the sleek design – given
can be equipped with a even more flexibility with a fully
ully
Core i7 processor, but an rotatable hinge and touchscreen.
reen.
airier chassis means that That’s not the only improvement, either: this is the first XPS laptop
performance isn’t compromised to prevent heat build-up. Other with Dell’s ‘maglev’ keyboard design, which gives the keys a lovely
highlights include long battery life and Nvidia’s updated MX250 GPU. pseudo-mechanical feel.

PROCESSOR Quad-core 1.8GHz Intel Core i7-8565U • RAM 16GB • DIMENSIONS 308x224x15.9mm
• WEIGHT 1.5kg • SCREEN SIZE 14in • SCREEN RESOLUTION 2,160x1,440 • GRAPHICS ADAPTOR
Nvidia GeForce MX250 • TOTAL STORAGE 512GB SSD • OPERATING SYSTEM Windows 10 Home •
PARTS AND LABOUR WARRANTY Two years RTB • DETAILS consumer.huawei.com • PART CODE
KLV-W29 • FULL REVIEW Jun 2019
PROCESSOR Quad-core 2.8GHz Intel Core i5-8305G • RAM 8GB • DIMENSIONS 354x235x16mm •
WEIGHT 2kg • SCREEN SIZE 15.6in • SCREEN RESOLUTION 1,920x1,080 • GRAPHICS ADAPTOR
Radeon RX Vega M GL Graphics • TOTAL STORAGE 256GB SSD • OPERATING SYSTEM Windows
10 Home • PARTS AND LABOUR WARRANTY One year onsite • DETAILS www.dell.com/uk •
PART CODE XPS 15 9575 • FULL REVIEW Oct 2018

ISSUE 377 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | JULY 2019 57

 Choosing an... Internal hard disk
01 A basic 1TB internal hard disk should
cost around £40. This will be fast
enough for general use and will provide
enough storage for most users.
Make sure the hard disk you choose has
the appropriate interface type for your PC.
Most hard disks and solid-state drives
(SSDs) use the SATA3 interface, which
enables faster speeds than the older SATA2.
Pretty much every motherboard released in
recent years will have multiple SATA3 ports,
allowing you to connect several storage
drives at once.
to provide less capacity than mechanical
hard disks, they’re significantly faster. More
expensive SSDs use the NVMe standard,
which is even faster than SATA3, but require
an M.2 slot on the motherboard.
03 Buy a hard disk that provides more
capacity than you think you need, as
your storage requirements are likely to grow.
A 2TB disk strikes the best balance between
capacity and low cost per gigabyte.
04 If you want more disk space or you
want to protect your data against
duplicate your data for better protection.
RAID arrays require hard disks of the same
size. In theory, they can be from different
manufacturers, but it’s better to buy identical
disks if you can.
05 A hard disk’s spindle speed
determines how quickly it can
transfer data. A spindle speed of 7,200rpm
is common in desktop drives and is fast
enough for most purposes. Desktop hard
disks with 5,400rpm spindle speeds are
quite slow but use less power and generate
less heat and noise.

02 SSDs can make the most of SATA3’s

high bandwidth for fast file transfers.
They use flash memory similar to that found
in USB flash drives, and although they tend
disk failure, think about buying several hard
disks to create a RAID array. These use
multiple hard disks to create one large
To strike the best balance between
speed and storage capacity, use an SSD as
your system disk and store your files on a
logical disk with better performance, or to larger mechanical disk.

STORAGE
SYNOLOGY DiskStation DS418j INTEL Optane Memory 32GB
★★★★★ ★★★★★
£281 • www.broadbandbuyer.com £55 • www.scan.co.uk
When a tiny two-bay NAS An interesting twist
won’t cut it, the fast, on M.2 SSDs,
high-capacity DiskStation DS418j Optane Memory isn’t
sn’t
is an excellent upgrade, especially as it can automatically convert old so much a dedicated storage drive as a
hard disks to be compatible with this NAS’s hardware and features. large cache for your existing hard disk,
isk
accelerating its read speeds to NVMe levels at a much lower price.
3.5in HARD DISK BAYS (FREE) 4 (4) • NETWORKING 1x 10/100/1,000 Ethernet • DLNA MEDIA
SERVER Yes • PRINT SERVER Yes • DIMENSIONS 184x168x230mm • WEIGHT 2.21kg •
WARRANTY Two years RTB • DETAILS www.synology.com • PART CODE DS418j • CAPACITY 32GB • PRICE PER GIGABYTE £1.72 • INTERFACE M.2/NVMe • WARRANTY Five years
FULL REVIEW Jan 2018 RTB • DETAILS www.intel.com • PART CODE MEMPEK1W032GAXT • FULL REVIEW Sep 2017

ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro 1TB WD Red 6TB

★★★★★ ★★★★★
£154 • www.cclonline.com £170 • www.amzn.to/2nEZIAQ
The Adata XPG This is pricier than most 6TB
SX8200 Pro hard disks, even those created
is outrageously specifically for NAS drives, but the
good value for the performance it delivers. It’s as fast as or faster WD Red’s performance makes it a worthwhile investment. Despite its
than top-tier SSDs from Samsung and WD, but costs far less 5,400rpm spin speed it manages to outperform 7,200rpm drives such
across all its capacity options. as the Toshiba N300 in read/write tests.
CAPACITY 6TB • COST PER GIGABYTE £0.03p • INTERFACE SATA3 • CLAIMED READ 175MB/s •
CAPACITY 1TB • COST PER GIGABYTE £0.15p • INTERFACE M.2/NVMe • WARRANTY Five years CLAIMED WRITE 175MB/s • WARRANTY Three years RTB • DETAILS www.wdc.com •
RTB • DETAILS www.xpg.com • PART CODE ASX8200PNP-1TT • FULL REVIEW Apr 2019 PART CODE WD60EFRX • FULL REVIEW Nov 2017

SAMSUNG Portable SSD X5 1TB SAMSUNG 970 Evo Plus 500GB

★★★★★ ★★★★★
£423 • www.amzn.to/2DNc17x £108 • www.amzn.to/2CrstZB
For when you A significant
absolutely need to write speed
shift files as quicklyy upgrade helps make the 970 Evo Plus a superlatively
as possible, there’s the X5. Its use of speedy M.2 SSD, and at prices much lower than the original 970 Evo’s
the Thunderbolt 3 interface makes it equivalent capacities.
the fastest external SSD ever.
CAPACITY 1TB • COST PER GIGABYTE £0.42p • INTERFACE Thunderbolt 3 • CAPACITY 500GB • COST PER GIGABYTE £0.22p • INTERFACE M.2/NVMe • CLAIMED READ
WARRANTY Three years RTB • DETAILS www.samsung.com/uk • 3,500MB/s • CLAIMED WRITE 3,300MB/s • WARRANTY Five years RTB • DETAILS
PART CODE MU-PB1T0B/WW • FULL REVIEW Dec 2018 www.samsung.com/uk • PART CODE MZ-V7S500BW • FULL REVIEW May 2019

58 JULY 2019 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 377

Choosing a... Graphics card
01 You don’t have to spend much to buy
a decent graphics card that can drive
multiple monitors. The AMD Radeon RX 550
costs about £100, for example, and while it
isn’t suited to playing the latest games in Full
HD, it is perfect for watching videos,
browsing the web and playing basic games.
03 Check that your chosen card has
the graphics outputs you need.
Only low-end cards now have VGA
on a tight budget, get a card with 4GB of
RAM, as this should allow you to select the
highest-quality textures in games.
outputs, but many come with a DVI-to-VGA
adaptor. Depending on your monitor, you
may also want an HDMI output or even
DisplayPort connection.
05 A card’s size, noise output and
power requirements are the final
considerations. Make sure your PC’s case
Bear in mind that AMD’s Eyefinity has enough room to accommodate your

02 You’ll need to spend more money if

you want to play the latest games.
A good mid-range gaming graphics card is
the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060, which is
powerful enough to play all modern games
at Full HD resolution.
High-powered cards tend to be more
expensive, so expect to pay over £400 if
you want to play games in Ultra HD at the
highest quality settings.
triple-monitor gaming mode requires at
least one DisplayPort monitor, which
means your AMD graphics card must have
at least one DisplayPort output. Nvidia’s
Surround three-monitor mode needs only
DVI and HDMI ports.
04 The amount of memory a card has
is important if you want games to look
their best at high resolutions. Unless you’re
chosen card. Double-slot cards with large
fans tend to be quieter than single-slot
cards with small fans but will block other
expansion slots on your motherboard.
Also check that your power supply
can provide the power the card needs
and that it has the right connectors.
Many cards require a six-pin PCI Express
power connector, and some also need an
additional eight-pin connector.

COMPONENTS
INTEL Core i9-9900K MSI GeForce RTX 2070 Armor 8G
★★★★★ ★★★★★
£470 • www.amzn.to/2KYuQtF £450 • www.ebuyer.com
Intel’s 9th-gen chips see it Whereas the RTX 2080
finally joining the octa-core and RTX 2080 Ti charge
club, including the flagship exorbitant amounts for their fancy ray-tracing and
Core i9-9900K. With Turbo Boost speeds hitting 5GHz anti-aliasing tech, the RTX 2070 delivers the same features at a much
straight out of the box, it’s just as potent in single-core gaming as it more reasonable price. It can also handle 4K gaming without much
is in serious multithreaded workloads. fuss, and MSI’s version stays very cool under load.
SOCKET LGA1151 • CORES 8 • FREQUENCY 3.6GHz • INTEGRATED GRAPHICS Intel UHD Graphics GPU Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 • MEMORY 8GB GDDR6 • GRAPHICS CARD LENGTH 155mm •
630 • WARRANTY Three years RTB • DETAILS www.intel.com • PART CODE BX80684I99900K • WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS www.msi.com • PART CODE RTX 2070 Armor 8G •
FULL REVIEW Jan 2019 FULL REVIEW Mar 2019

AMD Ryzen 7 2700X THERMALTAKE View 37

★★★★★ ★★★★★
£281 • www.amzn.to/2JvaEyCk £108 • www.ebuyer.com
AMD’s second generation of A spacious, feature-rich chassis
Ryzen processors gets off to for both ATX- and EATX-based
an auspicious start with the builds, the View 37 comes with a
mighty Ryzen 7 2700X. It’s faster than Intel’s gull-wing side window that’s perfect for showing
equivalent Core i7-8700K at stock speeds, despite being cheaper, off your handiwork.
and temperatures stay low even when overclocking.
CASE TYPE Mid-tower • MOTHERBOARD TYPE ATX, EATX, microATX, Mini-ITX • SUPPLIED
SOCKET AM4 • CORES 8 • FREQUENCY 3.7GHz • INTEGRATED GRAPHICS None • FANS 2x 140mm • MAX DRIVE BAYS 7x 3.5in, 11x 2.5in • DIMENSIONS 525x261x538mm •
WARRANTY Two years RTB • DETAILS www.amd.com • PART CODE YD270XBGAFBOX • WEIGHT 11.8kg • WARRANTY Three years RTB • DETAILS www.thermaltake.com •
FULL REVIEW Aug 2018 PART CODE CA-1J7-00M1WN-00 • FULL REVIEW Dec 2018

HYPERX Alloy Elite MSI MPG Z390 Gaming

g Edge
g AC
★★★★★ ★★★★★
£96 • www.currys.co.uk £140 • www.scan.co.uk
This is a brilliant do-it-all gaming From built-in 802.11ac Wi-Fi
keyboard; the agile Cherry MX Red and Bluetooth to high-end audio
udio
key switches provide a strong foundation, connectivity, the MPG Z370 Gaming Edge
upon which HyperX has built a comfortable, detachable AC is stuffed with features. Add in a good price, easy overclocking and
wrist rest, dedicated media keys and customisable red backlighting. a well-designed BIOS, and it’s perfect for premium Intel-based builds.
The USB pass-through port is handy, too.
PROCESSOR SOCKET LGA1151 • DIMENSIONS 305x244mm • CHIPSET Intel Z390 • MEMORY
KEYBOARD SHAPE Full size • NUMBER PAD Yes • CONNECTION 2x USB2 • MEDIA KEYS Pause/ SLOTS 4 • PCI-E x16 SLOTS 3 • PCI-E x1 SLOTS 3 • PCI SLOTS 0 • USB PORTS 2x USB2, 2x USB3,
play, mute, skip, volume • USB PORTS 1x USB2 • WARRANTY Two years repair and replace • 1x USB3.1, 1x USB Type-C • VIDEO OUTPUTS 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort • WARRANTY One year RTB
DETAILS www.hyperxgaming.com • PART CODE HX-KB2RD1-UK/R1 • FULL REVIEW Mar 2018 • DETAILS www.msi.com • PART CODE MPG Z390 Gaming Edge AC • FULL REVIEW Apr 2019

ISSUE 377 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | JULY 2019 59

 Choosing a... Custom PC spec
01 Building your own PC is often cheaper
than buying a pre-made system, and
gives full control over the components. You
don’t need any special computer knowledge:
just a few spare hours, a screwdriver and
your choice of parts. Even things such as
liquid-cooling systems can be found in
user-friendly, easy-to-install packages, and
for the most part it’s as simple as inserting
each component into a particular slot.
02 Arguably the most important
component is the CPU. These days
you can get a quad-core chip even on a tight
budget, which should provide more than
enough brainpower for simple tasks such as
web browsing, but hexa-core and octa-core
chips are better for tougher jobs such as
media editing, gaming and content creation.
The CPU will also determine which
motherboards you can choose from.
Intel CPUs will only work with boards that
use an Intel chipset, like Z390, Z370 and
B360, while AMD processors need AMD
chipsets, such as X470 and B450.
03 When choosing a motherboard, think
about both the size of the PC’s
chassis (smaller cases won’t fit larger ATX or
EATX boards, for instance) and how many
BUDGET PCs
AMD Ryzen 3 2200G
G A
★★★★★
£84 • www.amzn.to/2TImlHh
This plucky quad-core
chip is decently fast,
comes bundled with its
own cooler and – unlike most Ryzen chipss
– includes integrated Radeon RX Vega graphics.
aphics.
It’s therefore particularly ideal if you don’tt need
d the
th added power
of dedicated graphics.
SOCKET AM4 • CORES 4 • FREQUENCY 3.4GHz • INTEGRATED GRAPHICS AMD Radeon RX
Vega 8 • WARRANTY Three years RTB • DETAILS www.amd.com • PART CODE YD2200C5FBBOX
• FULL REVIEW Jul 2018
THERMALTAKE Versa H18
★★★★★
£40 • www.kustompcs.co.uk
Budget PC cases are often
lacking in both features and
capacity for upgrades.
The Versa H18 isn’t entirely exempt, and is
limited to smaller motherboards, but it can easily
cope with basic components and ambitious
water-cooled builds alike.
CASE TYPE Mini-tower • MOTHERBOARD TYPE MicroATX, Mini-ITX • SUPPLIED FANS 1x 120mm
• MAX DRIVE BAYS 2x 3.5in, 2x 2.5in • DIMENSIONS 390x205x380mm • WEIGHT 4.5kg •
WARRANTY Three years RTB • DETAILS www.thermaltake.com • PART CODE CA-1J4-00S1WN-00
• FULL REVIEW Nov 2018
60
additional components you’ll want to install.
For systems with a lot of expansion cards
(such as graphics cards, sound cards or Wi-Fi
06 Every PC requires RAM and a PSU.
Performance doesn’t vary much
between specific models, but generally you
cards), it’s best to go with ATX motherboards should aim for 8GB of RAM for a basic build
and larger. For simpler builds, microATX or and 16GB for higher-end systems, and at least
Mini-ITX boards could well provide all the a 550W, Bronze-certified PSU. It’s better to
connectivity you need. Keep in mind, too, buy a higher-wattage PSU than you strictly
that if you want to try overclocking, only need, as it will allow you to add more
certain Intel chipsets will support it, such as components in the future. Also, check which
Z370 and Z390. AMD is more relaxed, RAM is compatible with your motherboard
enabling overclocking on all its Ryzen- before buying, although for all current
compatible chipsets, except A320 and A300. models it’s probably going to be DDR4.
04 While CPU integrated graphics will
suffice for everyday browsing, a
dedicated graphics card is essential for
07 Our recommended storage setup
comprises both an SSD and a larger
mechanical hard disk. By installing Windows
high-quality gaming. These can be installed in (and a few choice applications) on the SSD,
a PCI-E x16 slot on your motherboard, and you can ensure fast booting and loading
have the bonus of adding more display times, while the HDD is a cost-effective way
outputs to use – just make sure the card of storing lots of files. Alternatively, you
will fit inside your chosen case. could buy a hard disk, and then install an
Intel Optane Memory module to accelerate
05 On the subject of cases, personal
taste will factor highly here: nobody
wants an ugly PC. That said, picking a chassis
its write speeds to SSD levels, although since
SSDs are barely more expensive than Optane
drives, this is perhaps better for situations
with adequate space for components is vital. when you want to upgrade from an existing
As already mentioned, an ATX motherboard
likely won’t fit in a mini-tower case, and if
you want to install a lot of hard disks, you’ll
hard disk, rather than when you’re building a
whole new system. In the latter case, an SSD/
HDD combo is better all round. See page 58
need a case with sufficient drive bays. for our recommended storage drives.
ASROCK Fatal1ty AB350
350
Gaming-ITX/ac
G
★★★★★
★★
£95 • www.cclonline.com
Tiny it may be, but the AB350
350 makes
mak the
most of what space it has available. Multiple display
outputs, a rear-mounted M.2 port and onboard Wi-Fi
mean it almost has the specs of a respectable ATX model.
PROCESSOR SOCKET AM4 • DIMENSIONS 170x170mm • CHIPSET AMD B350 • MEMORY
SLOTS 2 • PCI-E X16 SLOTS 1 • PCI-E X1 SLOTS 0 • PCI SLOTS 0 • USB PORTS 2x USB2, 2x USB3,
1x USB Type-C • VIDEO OUTPUTS 2x HDMI • WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS www.asrock.
com • PART CODE 90-MXB5P0-A0UAYZ • FULL REVIEW Jul 2018
ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Mini
★★★★★
£140 • www.amzn.to/2Qi7bG7
An optional purchase,
ase,
thanks to the Ryzen
en
CPU’s onboard
graphics, but if you’d like a spot of
1080p gaming capability, the GTX 1050 Ti
is the best budget GPU around. Zotac’s
compact design will allow it to easily
ily fit in
small cases, too.
GPU Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti • MEMORY 4GB GDDR5 • GRAPHICS CARD LENGTH 145mm •
WARRANTY Five years RTB • DETAILS www.zotac.com • PART CODE ZT-P10510A-10L • FULL
REVIEW Nov 2017
JULY 2019 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 377
 MID-RANGE PCs
AMD Ryzen 7 1700 MSI B350M Mortar
M rtar
★★★★★ ★★★★★
★★
£149 • www.amzn.to/2RhQGHp £100
£10 • www.amzn.to/2zuBbF1
Both AMD and Intel A near-perfect
have recent mid-range
nge motherboard forr
chips, but with the AMD Ryzen-based sed
erstwhile high-end Ryzen 7 1700 dropping
ropping microATX systems. It’s remarkably
bly well
below £200, it’s a great way of adding equipped for connectivity and upgradability, and comes close to
octa-core power to a PC that might otherwise much more expensive mobos in performance benchmarks.
have had to make do with six cores.
PROCESSOR SOCKET AM4 • DIMENSIONS 244x244mm • CHIPSET AMD B350 • MEMORY
SOCKET AM4 • CORES 8 • FREQUENCY 3.0GHz • INTEGRATED GRAPHICS None • SLOTS 4 • PCI-E X16 SLOTS 2 • PCI-E X1 SLOTS 2 • PCI SLOTS 0 • USB PORTS 2x USB2, 3x USB3.1,
WARRANTY Three years RTB • DETAILS www.amd.com • PART CODE YD1700BBAEBOX • 1x USB Type-C • VIDEO OUTPUTS 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort, 1x DVI-D • WARRANTY One year RTB •
FULL REVIEW Jul 2017 DETAILS www.msi.com • PART CODE B350M Mortar • FULL REVIEW Jul 2018

NVIDIA GeForce RX 2060

060 COOLER MASTER MasterBox K500
Founders Edition ★★★★★
★★★★★ £75 • www.scan.co.uk
£329 • www.nvidia.com Great looks, a full set of
pre-installed fans, high build
This is expensive for a
quality and a spacious interior:
mid-range GPU, but it’s
the MasterBox K500 is a commendable
also very powerful for a
all-rounder. It’s not the best on storage capacity,
mid-range model. Besides borderline
but you can still add at least a couple of SSDs
4K-ready core performance, this comes with the same ray-tracing
and hard disks each.
and DLSS bells and whistles as Nvidia’s premium RTX cards, so it’s
still pretty good value in the end. CASE TYPE Mid-tower • MOTHERBOARD TYPE ATX, microATX,
Mini-ITX • SUPPLIED FANS 3x 120mm • MAX DRIVE BAYS 3x 3.5in,
GPU Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 • MEMORY 6GB GDDR6 • GRAPHICS CARD LENGTH 229mm • 2x 2.5in • DIMENSIONS 260xx190x280mm • WEIGHT 6.2kg •
WARRANTY Three years repair and replace • DETAILS www.nvidia.com • PART CODE GeForce WARRANTY Two years RTB • DETAILS www.coolermaster.com •
RTX 2060 Founders Edition • FULL REVIEW May 2019 PART CODE MCB-K500D-KGNN-S00 • FULL REVIEW Jan 2019

PREMIUM PCs
INTEL Core i9-9900K MSI MPG Z390 Gaming
g Edge
g AC
★★★★★ ★★★★★
£470 • www.ebuyer.com £140 • www.scan.co.uk
Intel’s 9th-gen chips see From built-in 802.11ac
it finally joining the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to
octa-core club, including high-end audio connectivity,
ity,
the flagship Core i9-9900K. With Turbo the MPG Z370 Gaming Edge AC is stuffed with
Boost speeds hitting 5GHz straight out of features. Add in a good price, easy overclocking and a well-designed
the box, it’s a just as potent in single-core gaming as it is in BIOS, and it’s perfect for premium Intel-based builds.
serious multithreaded workloads.
PROCESSOR SOCKET LGA1151 • DIMENSIONS 305x244mm • CHIPSET Intel Z390 • MEMORY
SOCKET LGA1151 • CORES 8 • FREQUENCY 3.6GHz • INTEGRATED GRAPHICS Intel UHD Graphics SLOTS 4 • PCI-E x16 SLOTS 3 • PCI-E x1 SLOTS 3 • PCI SLOTS 0 • USB PORTS 2x USB2, 2x USB3,
630 • WARRANTY Three years RTB • DETAILS www.intel.com • PART CODE BX80684I99900K • 1x USB3.1, 1x USB Type-C • VIDEO OUTPUTS 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort • WARRANTY One year RTB
FULL REVIEW Jan 2019 • DETAILS www.msi.com • PART CODE MPG Z390 Gaming Edge AC • FULL REVIEW Apr 2019

THERMALTAKE View 37 MSI GeForce RTX 2070 Armor 8G

★★★★★ ★★★★★
£108 • www.ebuyer.com £450 • www.ebuyer.com
A spacious, feature-rich Whereas the RTX
chassis for both ATX- and 2080 and RTX 2080
EATX-based builds, the View Ti charge exorbitant
37 comes with a gull-wing side window that’s amounts for their fancy ray-tracing
perfect for showing off your handiwork. and anti-aliasing tech, the RTX 2070
delivers the same features at a
CASE TYPE Mid-tower • MOTHERBOARD TYPE ATX, EATX,
much more reasonable price. It can also handle 4K gaming without
microATX, Mini-ITX • SUPPLIED FANS 2x 140mm • MAXIMUM much fuss, and MSI’s version stays very cool under load.
DRIVE BAYS 7x 3.5in, 11x 2.5in • DIMENSIONS 525x261x538mm •
WEIGHT 11.8kg • WARRANTY Three years RTB • DETAILS www. GPU Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 • MEMORY 8GB GDDR6 • GRAPHICS CARD LENGTH 155mm •
thermaltake.com • PART CODE CA-1J7-00M1WN-00 • WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS www.msi.com • PART CODE RTX 2070 Armor 8G •
FULL REVIEW Dec 2018 FULL REVIEW Mar 2019

ISSUE 377 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | JULY 2019 61

 Choosing a... Display
01 A basic 24in LCD monitor costs
around £100. It will be fine for typical
Windows work but is likely to have poor
Many DVI and all HDMI connections
support HDCP, which lets you watch
protected video content, such as Blu-ray
cable or either HDMI or DisplayPort to use a
monitor at these resolutions.

viewing angles, so you’ll need to sit straight

on for the best picture quality. Its colour
accuracy may not be very good, either.
movies. DisplayPort is becoming more
popular, but you’ll need a graphics card with
a DisplayPort output (mini or full-size) to
04 If you want better picture quality,
look for a monitor with a high
contrast ratio. The higher the ratio, the
use this input on your monitor. whiter the whites and the blacker the blacks.

02 A VGA input lets you use the monitor

with any PC, but the quality may not
be as good as it is over DVI or HDMI. Both
are digital connections and require a
compatible graphics card but they avoid the
need for digital-to-analogue or analogue-to-
digital conversions, which can reduce image
quality. A digital connection achieves the
best picture automatically, so you won’t have
to adjust clock or phase settings as you do
with analogue connections.
03 A larger monitor will be easier on the
eye and may have a higher resolution.
Most monitors have a resolution of at least
1,920x1,080 (1080p), which provides lots of
room for working with multiple windows at
the same time. For even higher resolutions,
you’ll need a larger display. Some 27in and
30in screens have 2,560x1,600 or even 4K
resolutions. You’ll need a graphics card with
a dual-link DVI output and a dual-link DVI
You’ll also be able to see more fine detail in
images with high contrast levels. Viewing
angles are important, as wider angles mean
you don’t have to sit directly in front of the
monitor to get the best picture. Wider
viewing angles also allow more people to
view the screen at the same time.
Fast response times reduce ghosting,
but don’t be dazzled by the numbers. A
response time of 25ms or quicker is fine
for all applications.

DISPLAYS
LG 34GK950F NEW IIYAMA G-Master Black
ENTRY
★★★★★
£1,150 • www.overclockers.co.uk
o.uk Hawk G2530HSU-B1
★★★★★
LG’s curved £124 • www.box.co.uk
ultrawide monitor
is as versatile as it A fine alternative monitor to the AOC G2460VQ6,
is vibrant. HDR is supported (if only to the DisplayHDR 400 standard), also with a 75Hz refresh rate as well as FreeSync
colours are accurate, and both AMD FreeSync and Nvidia G-Sync can support for tear-free gaming on AMD graphics cards.
smooth out games. The slim-bezel design is good for the money, too.
SCREEN SIZE 34in • RESOLUTION 3,440x1,440 • REFRESH RATE 144Hz • SCREEN TECHNOLOGY SCREEN SIZE 24in • RESOLUTION 1,920x1,080 • SCREEN TECHNOLOGY TN • VIDEO INPUTS
IPS • VIDEO INPUTS HDMI, DisplayPort • WARRANTY Three years collect and return • DETAILS HDMI, DisplayPort, VGA • WARRANTY Two years onsite • DETAILS www.iiyama.com •
www.lg.com • FULL REVIEW Jun 2019 PART CODE G2530HSU-B1 • FULL REVIEW Mar 2019

EIZO ColorEdge CG279X AOC Q3279VWF

★★★★★ ★★★★★
NEW
£1,699 • www.wexphotovideo.com ENTRY £199 • www.amzn.to/2BjxUGC
This professional-quality
quality We never thought
monitor benefits from you could get so
automatic calibration, much monitor for this
ensuring practically perfect colour accuracy
cy little cash: a vast 31.5in MVA panel, with
and wide coverage of the sRGB, DCI-P and Adobe RGB gamuts. Quad HD resolution, good colour accuracy and high contrast. That’s
It’s a worthwhile investment for editing photos and videos. not to mention its 75Hz refresh rate and AMD FreeSync support.
SCREEN SIZE 27in • RESOLUTION 2,560x1,440 • SCREEN TECHNOLOGY IPS • REFRESH RATE SCREEN SIZE 31.5in • RESOLUTION 2,560x1,440 • SCREEN TECHNOLOGY MVA • REFRESH RATE
60Hz • VIDEO INPUTS VGA, HDMI, DisplayPort, DVI, USB Type-C • WARRANTY Five years RTB • 75Hz • VIDEO INPUTS HDMI, DisplayPort, VGA • WARRANTY Three years collect and return •
DETAILS www.eizoglobal.cpm • FULL REVIEW Jun 2019 DETAILS aoc-europe.com • FULL REVIEW Mar 2018

PHILIPS Brilliance 241B7QPJKEB

Q J SAMSUNG C34F791
1
★★★★★ ★★★★★
£182 • www.uk.insight.com £675 • www.amzn.to/2n1Nb9V
IPS monitors generally look With its Quantum Dot ot
great, but it’s hard to find one display, the C34F791 can
at a low price. Enter the achieve pristine colour
ur coverage
Brilliance 241B7QPJKEB: a colour-accuate IPS and superp accuracy. Its Ultra HD resolution and 34in curved screen
display for well under £200. It’s well designed, make it ideal for multitasking, but a 100Hz refresh rate and AMD
too, with a collapsible webcam and a greatly adjustable stand. FreeSync support ensure it’s even better for 4K gaming.
SCREEN SIZE 24in • RESOLUTION 1,920x1,080 • SCREEN TECHNOLOGY IPS • REFRESH SCREEN SIZE 34in • RESOLUTION 3,840x1,440 • SCREEN TECHNOLOGY VA •
RATE 60Hz • VIDEO INPUTS HDMI, DisplayPort, VGA • WARRANTY Three years RTB • REFRESH RATE 100Hz • VIDEO INPUTS DisplayPort, HDMI • WARRANTY Two years RTB •
DETAILS www.philips.co.uk • FULL REVIEW Jun 2018 DETAILS www.samsung.com/uk • FULL REVIEW Oct 2017

62 JULY 2019 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 377

Choosing an... Inkjet printer
01 You should be able to buy a decent
inkjet printer for less than £40.
High-quality printing is possible on such a
03 If photos are your priority, speed is
less important. Choose a printer that
reproduces subtle tones well. You can’t
sided) printing or A3 capabilities are now
much more affordable.

printer, but it will be slow. The actual print

speed of an inkjet can be half the quoted
(maximum) speed for text documents,
and even slower when printing graphics.
Budget inkjet printers such as these are
designed only for light use and can be
expensive to run.
determine this by looking at the
specifications – only hands-on testing will
do, so remember to check our reviews
before you buy.
Borderless printing (up to the edge of
the paper) should also be possible. Pay
particular attention to running costs:
photos use three times as much ink as
05 Pricier photo printers let you print
from memory cards plugged straight
into the printer, so you don’t need to use a
PC. An LCD preview screen offers greater
control for this method of printing. Many
inkjet printers now have a PictBridge USB
port, which you can use to print images
directly from most digital cameras.

02 For £80 to £90 you can buy a more

capable printer that’s either faster and
regular colour documents.

06 If you’re really serious about

better built or better at reproducing photos.
If documents are your priority, you’ll want a
high minimum speed and low print costs.
04
Look for inkjets that can handle all your
office media, such as envelopes and labels.
Heavy-duty office inkjets can cost
up to £1,000 and their build quality
is improving. They use large individual ink
tanks, which can cut running costs.
Printers with automatic duplex (double-
photography, consider buying an
inkjet that can produce borderless prints
up to A3 size. The best devices can print
photos that look nearly as good as those
from professional labs.

PRINTERS & SCANNERS

EPSON WorkForce XYZPRINTING da Vinci Minimaker
★★★★★
WF-7710DWF £177 • www.xyzprinting.com
★★★★★
£162 • www.amzn.to/2JVaD3B It’s not as fully featured as the da
Vinci Jr 1.0w, but the Minimaker
The WorkForce WF-7710DWF allows you to print at prints at identical speed and
the larger A3+ paper size, as well as fax and scan at quality, and costs much, much less. In fact, it’s the
he
A3, so it’s great for home office users who require a most affordable 3D printer we’ve ever used.
bit more flexibility from their MFP.
TECHNOLOGY Fused Filament Fabrication • MAXIMUM PRINT RESOLUTION 100 microns •
TECHNOLOGY Piezo inkjet • MAXIMUM PRINT RESOLUTION 4,800x2,400dpi • DIMENSIONS MAXIMUM BUILD SIZE 150x150x150mm • DIMENSIONS 390x360x335mm • WEIGHT 11.5kg •
340x567x452mm • WEIGHT 18.7kg • MAXIMUM PAPER SIZE A3+ • WARRANTY One year RTB • FILAMENT 1.75mm PLA • WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS eu.xyzprinting.com •
DETAILS www.epson.co.uk • PART CODE C11CG36411 • FULL REVIEW Nov 2018 PART CODE 3FM1XXEU00D • FULL REVIEW Apr 2017

HP OfficeJet Pro 7720 CANON Pixma TS3150

★★★★★ ★★★★★
£134 • www.ebuyer.com £36 • www.ebuyer.com
The OfficeJet Pro 7720 If you only print or scan
strikes a fine balance infrequently, you probably
between price, performance and features, making it don’t need a load of fancy features. The Pixma TS3150
ideal for home offices and small businesses – especially those that does the job for hardly any money – it’s a bit slow, but the results are
could use A3 printing. of a higher quality than we’d expect from a budget MFP.

TECHNOLOGY Thermal inkjet • MAXIMUM PRINT RESOLUTION 4,800x1,200dpi • TECHNOLOGY Thermal inkjet • MAXIMUM PRINT RESOLUTION 4,800x1,200dpi •
SCANNER RESOLUTION 1,200x1,200dpi • DIMENSIONS (HXWXD) 307x445x585mm • SCANNER RESOLUTION 600x1,200dpi • DIMENSIONS 126x373x315mm • WEIGHT 3.9kg •
WEIGHT 15.5kg • MAXIMUM PAPER SIZE A3 (print only) • WARRANTY Three years RTB • MAXIMUM PAPER SIZE A4/legal • WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS www.canon.co.uk •
DETAILS www.hp.co.uk • PART CODE Y0S18A • FULL REVIEW Dec 2017 PART CODE 2226C008 • FULL REVIEW Jan 2018

CANON imageFormula EPSON EcoTank ET-7750

DR-C230 ★★★★★
£479 • www.jessops.com
★★★★★
£322 • www.ebuyer.com Like all EcoTank MFPs, the
This sheet-fed document scanner
nner ET-7750 offsets its high
is perfect for getting through stacks
ack off documents
d price with low running
without having to manually scan each page. It’s costs, and this specific model delivers sharp,
pleasantly fast and pairs with Canon’s powerful CaptureOnTouch Pro solid colours that suit photo printing well.
software, which does a fine job of processing your scans.
TECHNOLOGY Piezo inkjet • MAXIMUM PRINT RESOLUTION 5,760x1,440 •
TECHNOLOGY Dual CIS sheet-fed scanner • SCANNER RESOLUTION 600x600dpi • DIMENSIONS SCANNER RESOLUTION 1,200x2,400dpi • DIMENSIONS 168x526x415mm • WEIGHT 10.5kg •
231x291x530mm • WEIGHT 2.8kg • MAXIMUM PAPER SIZE A4/legal • WARRANTY One year RTB MAXIMUM PAPER SIZE A3 • WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS www.epson.co.uk •
• DETAILS www.canon.co.uk • PART CODE 2646C003 • FULL REVIEW Feb 2018 PART CODE C11CG16401CE • FULL REVIEW Sep 2018

ISSUE 377 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | JULY 2019 63

 Choosing a... Wireless router
01 Wireless routers each use a number
of Wi-Fi standards, so you shouldn’t
have any trouble connecting your computer
or phone wirelessly if you get an 802.11n or
802.11ac router. Nearly all routers support
802.11n, so even a cheap model should
provide decent performance.
You can expect a transfer speed of around
40Mbit/s at a distance of 10m from any
modern 802.11n router. The very latest
routers use the 802.11ac standard, which
provides tremendously fast transfer
speeds. Some devices still don’t support
the 802.11ac standard, so check the
specifications before you buy.
a wireless router that has a built-in ADSL
modem. This will cost more than the
equivalent cable router, but it allows you
to connect your router directly to your
broadband connection without having to
use a separate modem.
03 Most 802.11n wireless routers use
the 2.4GHz frequency band. This has
good range but it can be prone to
interference if it’s positioned close to a lot
of other 2.4GHz devices, such as other
routers and baby monitors. If you have
trouble getting a consistent signal or you
want faster speeds for video streaming, for
example, it’s worth buying a dual-band
Alternatively, a high-gain antenna can
boost signals and improve ranges and
throughputs to the entire house. You can
also add a high-gain antenna to a PC’s
network adaptor. If wired network speeds
are a priority, you should look for a router
with a Gigabit Ethernet connection.
04 Many routers come with built-in USB
ports that let you connect a USB drive
and use the router as a network storage
device. If you want to share a USB printer
over your network, look for a wireless router
that has a USB print server.
Finally, if you’re interested in making voice
calls over the internet, buy a router with

02 If you subscribe to an ADSL

broadband service, you should buy
router that can use both the 2.4GHz and
5GHz bands.
built-in VoIP support (and phone sockets)
because this can save you money.

NETWORKS
BT Complete TP-LINK Archer C5400
400
★★★★★
Wi-Fi £240 • www.currys.co.uk
★★★★★
£5 per month • www.bt.com Although this isn’t
There are the fastest £200-plus
better-featured
red router, it’s still speedy,
mesh systems available,
ailabl but the Complete
C l Wi-Fi is
i and comes with an impressive array of
decently quick on both the 5GHz and 2.4GHz bands, and is well features, from parental controls and
worth it for BT Plus customers in particular. filters to BT YouView support and smart home integration.
WI-FI STANDARD 802.11ac • STATED SPEED 1,733Mbit/s (5GHz), 385Mbit/s (2.4GHz) • MODEM Gigabit Ethernet • WI-FI STANDARD 802.11ac • STATED SPEED 2x 2,167Mbit/s (5GHz),
USB PORTS 1 • WALL MOUNTABLE No • WARRANTY Under rental co contract • 2x 1,000MBit/s (2.4GHz) • USB PORTS 1x USB2, 1x USB3 • WALL MOUNTABLE Yes •
PART CODE BT Complete Wi-Fi • FULL REVIEW Mar 2019 WARRANTY One year RTB • PART CODE C5400 • FULL REVIEW May 2018

YUBICO YubiKey 5 NFC T

TP-LINK Deco M5
★★★★★ ★★★★★
£38 • www.yubico.com £180 (triple pack) • www.amzn.to/2L05qMi
5qMi

Like the YubiKey 4 Provided you’re willing

before it, this USB stick to tinker with a few
conveniently stores all the cryptographic
ographic settings, the Deco M5 is
data you need to add two-factor authentication to a PC or the most feature-rich mesh Wi-Fi system around,
laptop; and this time, there’s NFC, allowing you to use it with even if it’s not strictly the fastest. Get the triple
mobile devices via a single tap. pack for the best coverage throughout the house.
he house
USB TYPE Type-A • OS SUPPORT Windows 10, macOS, iOS 11 and later, Android • MODEM Gigabit Ethernet • WI-FI STANDARD 802.11ac • STATED SPEED 867Mbit/s (5GHz),
WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS www.yubico.com • PART CODE YubiKey 5 NFC • 400Mbit/s (2.4GHz) • USB PORTS 0 • WALL MOUNTABLE No • WARRANTY Three years RTB •
FULL REVIEW Apr 2019 DETAILS www.tp-link.com • PART CODE 210380 • FULL REVIEW Dec 2017

D-LINK DIR-895L NETGEAR Orbi RBK50

★★★★★ ★★★★★
£255 • www.ebuyer.com £320 • www.currys.co.uk
If you can stomach This is an expensive
the price, D-Link’s mesh Wi-Fi system,
DIR-895L will make but also one of the
it worth your while with staggeringly fast speeds and exceptionally very fastest – perfect for ensuring that
long range. It also lets you connect to your home network remotely, a high-speed connection keeps up its
via an L2TP VPN. performance at range.
MODEM Gigabit Ethernet • WI-FI STANDARD 802.11ac • STATED SPEED 2x 2,166Mbit/s (5GHz), MODEM Gigabit Ethernet • WI-FI STANDARD 802.11ac • STATED SPEED 3,000Mbit/s •
1,000Mbit/s (2.4GHz) • USB PORTS 1x USB2, 1x USB3 • WALL MOUNTABLE Yes • USB PORTS 1 • WALL MOUNTABLE No • WARRANTY Two years RTB •
WARRANTY Two years RTB • PART CODE DIR-895L • FULL REVIEW Dec 2017 PART CODE RBK50-100UKS • FULL REVIEW Dec 2017

64 JULY 2019 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 377

Choosing a... Smart thermostat
01 A smart thermostat can save you a
lot of money by intelligently
controlling your heating.
02 Want smart hot water control?
If you want to remotely set
schedules and disable hot water while
This option is more expensive to install but
will provide you with greater savings.

Most smart heating devices are designed

to be used with hot water central heating
systems, with the boiler directly controlled
by the system. These typically require a relay
to be wired into your boiler, with a wireless
thermostat giving you direct control.
Smartphone apps then tie into the system to
give you remote control. While it’s possible
to fit controls yourself, you may want to pay
an experienced plumber to do the job: expect
to pay around £150 for a typical installation.
If you have electric heating, there are
very few choices, and the big names (Nest,
Honeywell and so on) do not directly
support these systems.
you’re away, choose your smart system
carefully, as many don’t have this option.
Hot water control usually requires a second
04 Do you use a smart personal
assistant? Make sure that your smart
thermostat supports the one that you use.
relay to be wired into the boiler. Amazon Alexa, powered by the Echo and
Echo Dot, is the best-supported system;
03 What kind of heating system do
you want? There are two main
choices: a central system and one with
Apple’s HomeKit, powered by Siri, isn’t so
well supported; Google Assistant, built into
Google Home, is just gaining traction and
individual radiator controls. The former supports Nest only.
replaces your existing thermostat, and
lets you set one temperature for your
entire house. The latter requires each
radiator valve to be replaced with a
05 If you want your smart heating
system to do more, look for IFTTT
support. With this handy system, you can set
smart valve so that each room and automatic rules, such as turning the heating
radiator can have its own individual control. off if the outside temperature rises.

SMART HOME
AMAZON Echo 2nd Generation NEST Cam IQ Outdoor
door
★★★★★ ★★★★★
£70 • www.amzn.to/2DxFEuQ £329 • nest.com/uk
The updated Echo is both While this is an expensive
nsive
smaller and cheaper than replacement for the oldld Nest
the original, and while the souped-up Cam Outdoor, its image
mage quality
£140 Echo Plus is better for listening to music, this is without equal. Facial and sound recognition
ecognition
model’s blend of value and all-round quality makes it have also been improved, and it’s now w much
a better buy. harder for thieves to remove the camera mount.
era from its mount
DRIVERS 2 • RMS POWER OUTPUT Not stated • WEIGHT 921kg • NETWORKING Bluetooth, VIDEO RESOLUTION 4K sensor, 1080p recording • CLOUD STORAGE Yes (subscription required) •
802.11n Wi-Fi • WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS www.amazon.co.uk • PART CODE Echo NETWORKING 802.11ac • WARRANTY One year RTB • PART CODE Nest Cam IQ Outdoor •
2nd Generation • FULL REVIEW Mar 2018 FULL REVIEW Jul 2018

TADO Smart Thermostat NEOS Smartcam NEW

ENTRY
★★★★★ ★★★★★
£153 • www.amzn.to/2ZxwIfZ £20 • shop.neos.co.uk
A flexible and stylish-looking The Smartcam is a tremendous
mendous
smart heating system, the Tado bargain of an indoor security
Smart Thermostat distinguishes camera. In many ways, it’s not all
itself with a clever geolocation feature that turns on your that advanced – footage is only shot at up to
heating when you enter a room and switches it off, saving 15fps, for instance – but the 1080p resolution,
olution,
money, when you leave. night-vision mode and free cloud storagerage make
ake
for a nifty little package.
REMOTE THERMOSTAT Yes • HOT WATER SUPPORT Yes • INDIVIDUAL RADIATOR CONTROL
Yes • VOICE ASSISTANT SUPPORT Alexa, Google Assistant, Siri • APPS iOS, Android and web • VIDEO RESOLUTION 1080p • CLOUD STORAGE Yes (free)
ree) • NETWORKING 802.11n •
FULL REVIEW Jan 2018 WARRANTY One year RTB • PART CODE NS-CAM-02 • FULL REVIEW Jun 2019

GOOGLE Home Hub RING Video Doorbell 2

★★★★★ ★★★★★
£99 • www.currys.co.uk £149 • www.box.co.uk
The first truly excellent This is the best of the new
smart screen, Google’s breed of smart, camera-
Home Hub is both a equipped doorbells: it’s easy
multitalented smart home controller and a very clever device in itself, to install, comes with a bundled chime, and
jumping seamlessly between providing mapped-out travel routes, has fairly low subscription costs for storing
playing YouTube videos and showcasing photo albums. footage in the cloud.
DRIVERS 1 • RMS POWER OUTPUT Not stated • DOCK CONNECTOR None • WIRELESS 802.11ac VIDEO RESOLUTION 1080p • CLOUD STORAGE Yes •
Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0 • DIMENSIONS 118x179x67mm • WEIGHT 480g • WARRANTY One year RTB NETWORKING 802.11n • WARRANTY Two years parts and theft
• PART CODE Home Hub • FULL REVIEW Feb 2019 protection • PART CODE 8VR1S7-0EU0 • FULL REVIEW Dec 2018

ISSUE 377 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | JULY 2019 65

 Choosing a... Smartphone
01 A smartphone’s operating system
(OS) dictates its basic features and
which third-party software you can install.
and watch Full HD videos. Don’t worry too
much about built-in media players or Office
document editors; you can always install apps
a variety of custom onscreen keyboards so
you can find one that suits you.

There are three main contenders: Apple’s

iOS, which is found on the iPhone, Google’s
Android, which is used by various handset
manufacturers, and Windows Phone, which
has few options, especially since Microsoft
has discontinued support for its OS.
Apple iOS and Google Android both have
thousands of apps available.
to replace these with better versions later.
The image quality of smartphone
cameras has improved tremendously in
recent years, and resolutions have
increased to as high as 20 megapixels.
03 Very few modern smartphones have
a physical keyboard for entering text;
they almost exclusively use touchscreens
04 Be careful when choosing a contract.
Look for one that includes a large data
allowance if you want to use the internet
regularly or you’ve set your phone to
synchronise your contacts, calendar and
email through online services.
Built-in Wi-Fi can help you avoid high data
charges by connecting to the internet
through wireless hotspots when you’re out,

02 All smartphones have colour screens,

but their resolutions vary. Basic models
have 1,280x720 pixels, but text can be
indistinct. Look for a display that has at least
1,920x1,080 pixels so it’s easier to read text
now. Physical keyboards can aid heavy
emailing, but today’s touchscreen
keyboards work just as well.
Android smartphones and iPhones
running iOS 9 or above allow you to install
or your router when you’re at home. Android
and iPhone handsets can operate as wireless
hotspots, letting you connect your laptop to
the web over your mobile data connection.
There may be an extra charge for this.

SMARTPHONES
MOTOROLA Moto G7 Power ONEPLUS 6T
★★★★★ ★★★★★
£180 SIM-free, £15-per-month contract • NEW £499 SIM-free; £48-per-month contract www. •
www.carphonewarehouse.com
ENTRY oneplus.com (SIM-free); www.o2.co.uk (contract)
There’s no shortage of Moto G7 variants
ria OnePlus’s handsets no longer surprise,
to choose from, but the Moto G7 Power but they’re still great phones that cost
is easily the best value. It focuses on less than a Samsung or Huawei
battery life and is thus one of the longest-lasting equivalent. The 6T comes with a top-tier processor,
smartphones ever - and its performance, display and rear in-display fingerprint sensor and excellent battery life.
camera are all rather good for the price, too.
PROCESSOR Octa-core 2.8GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 • SCREEN SIZE 6.4in • SCREEN
PROCESSOR Octa-core 1.8GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 632 • SCREEN SIZE 6.2in • SCREEN RESOLUTION 2,340x1,080 • REAR CAMERA 16 megapixels, 20 megapixels • STORAGE 128GB •
RESOLUTION 1,520x720 • REAR CAMERA 12 megapixels • STORAGE 32GB • WIRELESS DATA 4G • WIRELESS DATA 4G • DIMENSIONS 158x75x8.2mm • WEIGHT 185g • OPERATING SYSTEM
SIZE 159x76x9.3mm • WEIGHT 193g • OPERATING SYSTEM Android 9.0 • WARRANTY One year Android 9.0 • WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS wwww.oneplus.com
eplus.com • PART CODE SOnePlus
RTB • DETAILS www.motorola.co.uk • PART CODE PAE90019GB • FULL REVIEW June 2019 6T • FULL REVIEW March 2019

HONOR 7X GOOGLE Pixel 3

★★★★★ ★★★★★
£199 SIM-free; £27-per-month contract • £589 SIM-free; £37-per-month contract •
www.amzn.to/2UUsvVg (SIM-free); store.google.com (SIM-free);
www.three.co.uk (contract) www.mobilephonesdirect.co.uk (contract)

Don’t fancy paying tons of cash for an Pure Android quality on a powerful
owerful
edge-to-edge, 18:9 display? The Honor handset with one of the best
7X is affordable but has a vast, vibrant smartphone cameras ever. The larger
screen, and comes with a great dual-camera array. display is also the best-looking of any Pixel phone ye
yet.
t.
PROCESSOR Octa-core 2.36GHz HiSilicon Kirin 659 • SCREEN SIZE 6in • SCREEN RESOLUTION PROCESSOR Quad-core 2.8GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 • SCREEN SIZE IZE 5.5in • SCREEN
2,160x1,080 • REAR CAMERA Dual 16 megapixels • STORAGE 64GB • WIRELESS DATA 4G • RESOLUTION 2,160x1,080 • REAR CAMERA 12.2 megapixels • STORAGE 64GB • WIRELESS DATA
DIMENSIONS 157x75x7.6mm • WEIGHT 165g • OPERATING SYSTEM Android 7.0 • WARRANTY 4G • DIMENSIONS 146x68x7.9mm • WEIGHT 148g • OPERATING SYSTEM Android 9.0 • WARRANTY
One year RTB • DETAILS www.hihonor.com • PART CODE 51092ADQ • FULL REVIEW Apr 2018 One year RTB • DETAILS store.google.com • PART CODE Pixel 3 • FULL REVIEW Feb 2019

APPLE iPhone XR XIAOMI Pocophone F1

★★★★★ ★★★★★
£709 SIM-free; £45-per-month contract • £280 SIM-free; £22-per-month contract www.ebuyer. •
www.debenhamsplus.com (SIM-free); com; www.mobilephonesdirect.co.uk (contract)
www.tescomobile.com (contract) The Pocophone F1, one of Xiaomi’s
first smartphones to get a proper
It’s still expensive, but the XR matches
UK release, is a phenomenal bargain:
the performance of the iPhone XS and
it has the same Snapdragon 845 chip as a lot of
XS Max, despite costing hundreds of
premium handsets, plus dual rear cameras, 64GB of
pounds less, and it has a fantastic camera and display.
storage and a 6.2in screen, all for a mid-range price.
PROCESSOR Hexa-core Apple A12 Bionic • SCREEN SIZE 6.1in • SCREEN RESOLUTION 1,792x828 PROCESSOR Octa-core 2.GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 • SCREEN SIZE 6.2in • SCREEN
• REAR CAMERA 12 megapixels • STORAGE 64GB • WIRELESS DATA 4G • DIMENSIONS RESOLUTION 2,246x1,080 • REAR CAMERA 12 megapixels, 5 megapixels • STORAGE 64GB •
151x76x8.3mm • WEIGHT 194g • OPERATING SYSTEM iOS 12 • WARRANTY One year RTB • WIRELESS DATA 4G • DIMENSIONS 156x75x9mm • WEIGHT 180g • OPERATING SYSTEM Android
DETAILS www.apple.com • PART CODE iPhone XR • FULL REVIEW Mar 2019 8.1 • DETAILS www.mi.com/uk • PART CODE MZB6715EN • FULL REVIEW Mar 2019

66 JULY 2019 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 377

Choosing a... Tablet
01 All tablets rely on an operating system
(OS) to run apps. You have three main
choices: Apple’s iOS, which runs on the iPad;
Android, which Google licenses to various
manufacturers; and Windows 10, which has
become common in hybrid tablets and
convertibles. If you own an Apple or Google
smartphone, you can download your apps,
music and so on to a tablet that runs the
same OS, so it makes sense to stick with a
compatible device.
starting to see tablets that have even higher
screen resolutions. Some are as high as
2,560x1,600 or even 4K. Entry-level tablets
04 Tablets rarely include a SIM card
slot. This means you’ll have to rely
on Wi-Fi to get online, although some
typically use TN panels, which don’t have tablets let you access the internet through
particularly good viewing angles. The viewing your smartphone. If you want mobile access
angles of IPS panels are much better. to the internet, look for 3G- and 4G-ready
devices. These almost always cost more
03 If you want to listen to music, watch
films and play games, make sure your
tablet has plenty of storage. Many tablets
than Wi-Fi-only models, but they’re great
if you use your tablet while commuting
or travelling.
come with 8GB or 16GB of internal storage,

02 It’s important to pick a tablet that has

a good-quality, high-resolution screen.
Many budget tablets have 1,280x800-
resolution displays, but better tablets have
Full HD 1,920x1,080 panels, and we’re
although some budget models have less.
You’ll typically pay more for a higher storage
capacity. Many tablets also have microSD
05 Your choice of tablet determines the
apps you can use on it. You may find
that some of the apps you want are available
slots that let you add extra storage, although on iOS but not Android, and vice versa.
you won’t find one on an iPad. This is a cheap Windows 10, meanwhile, runs traditional
way of boosting storage capacity. desktop applications.

TABLETS
SAMSUNG Galaxy Book 10.6in APPLE iPad (2018)
★★★★★ ★★★★★
£639 • www.amzn.to/2A9hljh £319 • www.apple.com/uk
Good budget 2-in-1s are rare, but Apple has recalibrated its focus
Samsung hits the mark with itss for the latest iPad, keeping the
10.6in Galaxy Book. The Full HDD existing design but turning it
touchscreen display looks great and, unlike with into an education aid with Apple Pencil support
the iPad Pro or Surface Pro ranges, the excellent keyboard and stylus and the Smart Annotation software feature. Even if you’re not a
peripherals come included in the box. teacher or in education, it’s still a powerful tablet at a decent price.
PROCESSOR Dual-core Intel Core m3-7Y30 • SCREEN SIZE 10.6in • SCREEN RESOLUTION PROCESSOR Quad-core Apple A10 Fusion • SCREEN SIZE 9.7in • SCREEN RESOLUTION
1,920x1,280 • REAR CAMERA None • STORAGE 64GB • WIRELESS DATA No • DIMENSIONS 2,048x1,536 • REAR CAMERA 8 megapixels • STORAGE 32GB • WIRELESS DATA None •
261x179x8.9mm • WEIGHT 650g • OPERATING SYSTEM Windows 10 Home • WARRANTY Two years DIMENSIONS 240x170x7.5mm • WEIGHT 469g • OPERATING SYSTEM iOS 11 • WARRANTY One
RTB • DETAILS www.samsung.com/uk • PART CODE SM-W620NZKAXAR • FULL REVIEW Nov 2017 year RTB • DETAILS www.apple.com/uk • PART CODE iPad • FULL REVIEW Aug 2018

APPLE iPad Pro 10.5in MICROSOFT Surface Go

★★★★★ ★★★★★
£600 • www.amzn.to/2Cq42f3 £509 • www.microsoft.com
While it’s still stuck with a If you’ve been craving a
mobile OS, rather than the tablet with the flexibility
productivity-friendly macOS, of a Surface Pro, without
there’s no arguing with the latest iPad Pro’s raw the usual expense, the Surface Go is a
power. An A10X Fusion chip makes it much faster than the 9.7in perfect fit. It’s smaller and uses a less powerful
werful Intel Pentium CPU,
model in both multitasking and single-threaded applications. but it’s still a much more work-ready 2-in-1 than any Android slate.

PROCESSOR Hexa-core 2.36GHz Apple A10X Fusion • SCREEN SIZE 10.5in • SCREEN RESOLUTION PROCESSOR Dual-core 1.6GHz Intel Pentium 4415Y • SCREEN SIZE 10in • SCREEN RESOLUTION
2,224x1,668 • REAR CAMERA 12 megapixels • STORAGE 64/256/512GB • WIRELESS DATA 4G (cellular 1,800x1,200 • REAR CAMERA 8 megapixels • STORAGE 128GB • WIRELESS DATA No •
version) • DIMENSIONS 251x174x6.1mm • WEIGHT 469g • OPERATING SYSTEM iOS 11 • WARRANTY DIMENSIONS 245x175x8.3mm • WEIGHT 522g • OPERATING SYSTEM Windows 10 S • WARRANTY
One year RTB • DETAILS www.apple.com/uk • PART CODE 9.7in iPad Pro • FULL REVIEW Oct 2017 One year RTB • DETAILS www.microsoft.com • PART CODE MCZ-00002 • FULL REVIEW Jan 2019

SAMSUNG Galaxy Tab S3 AMAZON Kindle Oasis (2017)

★★★★★ ★★★★★
£399 • www.amzn.to/2syXCFl £230 • www.amzn.to/2iz8Cge
Yes, it’s incredibly expensive for an The premium instalment
ment of
Android slate, but the Galaxy Tab S3 Amazon’s eReader line
ine is
is pure luxury: the AMOLED display back with a bigger screen,
reen,
looks exquisite, the stereo speakers sound great, and ambient light sensor and IPX8 waterproofing,
roofing,
Samsung’s S Pen stylus is included as standard. though its most interesting improvement ent is
the ability to play Audible Audiobooks.
ks.
PROCESSOR Quad-core 2.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 • SCREEN SIZE 9.7n •
SCREEN RESOLUTION 2,048x1,536 • REAR CAMERA 13 megapixels • STORAGE 32GB • PROCESSOR Not stated • SCREEN SIZE 7in • SCREEN RESOLUTION 300dpi • REAR CAMERA None
WIRELESS DATA None (4G optional) • DIMENSIONS 2937x169x6mm • WEIGHT 429g • • STORAGE 8GB • WIRELESS DATA Optional 3G • DIMENSIONS 159x141x8.3mm • WEIGHT 194g •
OPERATING SYSTEM Android 7.0 • WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS www.samsung.com/uk OPERATING SYSTEM Kindle OS • WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS www.amazon.co.uk •
• PART CODE SM-T820 • FULL REVIEW Aug 2017 PART CODE Kindle Oasis (2017) • FULL REVIEW Mar 2018

ISSUE 377 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | JULY 2019 67

 Choosing a... Soundbar
01 If you don’t have space in your home
cinema setup for a set of surround-
sound speakers, a soundbar is the next best
thing. Whether you opt for a soundbar
(which typically sits in front of your TV
stand) or a soundplate (which sits
underneath your TV), you’ll be getting
significantly better audio than the weedy
03
speakers today’s flatscreen TVs provide.
boxes to your TV and run all audio through a
single cable. Also look for phono inputs for
connecting older devices and 3.5mm audio
Most soundbars now include Bluetooth as
standard but, if your device supports it, it’s
worth looking for a mobile soundbar that
jacks for tablets or smartphones. includes aptX. This less-lossy codec is
capable of higher-quality streaming than
As with any speaker, the number of
speaker drivers inside a soundbar
should give a good indication of its audio
the standard A2DP profile.
AirPlay streaming is less common, but
iPhone owners should keep an eye out for it.
capabilities. Although this won’t tell you

02 If you want to cut down on cable

clutter, look for a soundbar with
multiple HDMI inputs and outputs as well as
Audio Return Channel (ARC). Not all
soundbars use HDMI, with many making do
with digital optical audio connections
instead. This means you’ll have to connect
Blu-ray players, games consoles and set-top
04
everything about sound quality, you should
still look out for separate mid-range drivers
and tweeters, as these should be able to
deliver a wider frequency range than
full-range drivers alone.
Bluetooth support is a must if you
want to listen to music from a
smartphone or tablet without wires.
05 For a little extra bass, be sure to
look for a soundbar with a separate
subwoofer. Many soundbars include a
wired sub, but for extra convenience you
should look for a model with a wireless
subwoofer instead. These can be placed
anywhere in a room near a power socket,
without having to run a cable back to the
soundbar itself.

HOME CINEMA
PHILIPS 55PUS6753/12
53/1 SAMSUNG HW-N850
-N850
★★★★★ ★★★★★
£499 • www.ao.com £899 • www.box.co.uk
This Philips set There’s no
doesn’t have ultra-high-
the best tech trickery
implementation of HDR we’ve here: just a soundbar, subwoofer and their combined
seen on a TV, but otherwise, the 14 drivers blasting out pristine-quality audio, with Samsung’s usual
55PUS6753/12 is a fantastic 4K screen for a relatively low price. high standards for connectivity.
SCREEN SIZE 55in • NATIVE RESOLUTION 3,840x2,160 • VIDEO INPUTS 3x HDMI, 5x component • SPEAKERS 14 • RMS POWER OUTPUT 372W • DIMENSIONS 1,230x83x136mm (soundbar),
TUNER Freeview HD • DIMENSIONS 781x1,244x266mm • WARRANTY One year RTB • 203x400x416mm (subwoofer) • NETWORKING 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth • WARRANTY One year
DETAILS www.philips.co.uk • PART CODE 55PUS6753/12 • FULL REVIEW Dec 2018 RTB • DETAILS www.samsung.com/uk • PART CODE HW-N850 • FULL REVIEW Feb 2019

SONY PANASONIC DMP-UB900

KD-55XF9005
★★★★★
£999 • www.johnlewis.com
Direct-lit backlighting, excellent upscaling and
beautifully smooth motion make the KD-55XF9005 a
worthy alternative to high-end OLED TVs, even though
it only has a VA panel.
SCREEN SIZE 55in • NATIVE RESOLUTION 3,840x2,160 • VIDEO INPUTS 4x HDMI •
TUNER Freeview HD • DIMENSIONS 771x1,228x258mm • WARRANTY One year RTB •
DETAILS www.sony.co.uk • PART CODE KD-55XF9005 • FULL REVIEW Aug 2018
★★★★★
£319 • www.hifonix.co.uk
Together with the
Samsung UBD-K8500, this forms the
vanguard of a new breed of Ultra HD Blu-ray players.
Samsung’s model is cheaper, but the DMP-UB900 has superior
features, particularly where audio delivery is concerned.
BLU-RAY PROFILE 6.0 • 3D CAPABLE Yes • DIMENSIONS 435x199x68mm •
NETWORKING Ethernet, 802.11ac Wi-Fi • WARRANTY One year RTB •
DETAILS www.panasonic.co.uk • PART CODE DMP-UB900EB • FULL REVIEW Aug 2016

PHILIPS 65OLED803
03
3 SONOS Beam
S NEW
★★★★★ ★★★★★
★★ ENTRY
£2,299 • www.currys.co.uk £399
£39 • www.sonos.com
If you’ve got the budget
get The Beam could join
for an OLED TV, this is a a home cinema
great pick. The panel technology’s built-in setup on sound quality alone, but it’s loaded
strengths, such as perfect blacks and wide viewing angles, are with smart features, too. It can adjust sound output to the size
aided by Philips’ exemplary image processing engine, resulting in and layout of a room, for example, and form a multiroom system
truly wonderful picture quality. with other Sonos speakers.
SCREEN SIZE 65in • NATIVE RESOLUTION 3,840x2,160 • VIDEO INPUTS 4x HDMI, 1x Component SPEAKERS 5 • RMS POWER OUTPUT Not stated • DIMENSIONS 651x100x69mm • WEIGHT
• TUNER Freeview HD • DIMENSIONS 824x1,449x280mm • WARRANTY One year RTB • 2.8kg • DOCK CONNECTOR None • NETWORKING 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Ethernet • WARRANTY One
DETAILS www.philips.co.uk • PART CODE 65OLED803/12 • FULL REVIEW Apr 2019 year RTB • DETAILS www.sonos.com • PART CODE BEAM1UK1 • FULL REVIEW Apr 2019

68 JULY 2019 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 377

Choosing a... Bluetooth speaker
01 Bluetooth speakers come in all shapes
and sizes, so you’ll need to decide
what you want to do with the speaker before
you buy. If you don’t plan to take your music
outdoors or around the house, look for a
wired speaker. These are typically cheaper
than speakers with built-in batteries.
If you do want a portable speaker,
however, pay particular attention to how
much it weighs. Ruggedised models should
be able to survive accidental drops, water
spills and unexpected rain showers.
03
It’s hard to tell the difference when listening
to pocket-sized speakers, but if you’re
looking for a speaker to fill a room, an
Single-driver speakers with larger driver
cones can be just as capable of producing
fantastic audio, however.
aptX-compatible device is a better option.
This Bluetooth protocol retains more detail
than the A2DP profile, although you’ll need
to use it with a compatible smartphone in
04 Most Bluetooth speakers have at
least one auxiliary input for a wired
3.5mm audio jack, in case you want to
order to get the benefits. listen to music from a device that doesn’t
have Bluetooth.
As with any audio product, the
number and size of speaker drivers
can have a significant impact on the quality
There are other extra features to look out
for, though. Speakers with built-in batteries
may have a USB port for charging your
of sound you get from a Bluetooth speaker. smartphone, or a built-in microphone to turn

02 Many of the cheapest Bluetooth

speakers use the lossy A2DP
Bluetooth protocol, which is prone to
compressing your music and discarding
detail compared with the original recording.
Typically, the presence of multiple drivers
enables the manufacturer to tune each one
for specific frequencies, directing high-end
sounds towards a tweeter and sending the
mid-range frequencies to the main driver.
it into a speakerphone when a paired
smartphone receives a call. Not all speakers
have physical controls; many rely on your
paired device’s controls for adjusting the
volume or muting playback.

AUDIO
SENNHEISER HD 660
60 S SONY WH-1000XM3
★★★★★ ★★★★★
£360 • www.hifix.co.uk £280 • www.amzn.to/2HHUG1J
While they’re inspired by Bose’s QuietComfort
classic Sennheiser headphones have at last
headphones such as the been toppled from the ANC
HD 580 Precision, the HD 660 S bring a throne. The WH-1000XM3 headphones
more modern, bassy sound of their very own. don’t just sound outstanding, with very effective noise cancellation,
Being open-back, they’re best used at home. but they’re smartly designed and come with a host of extras.
HEADPHONES SUBTYPE Over-ear headset • PLUG TYPE 6.3mm/4.4
mm/4.4 jack plug • WEIGHT 260g • HEADPHONES SUBTYPE Over-ear headset • PLUG TYPE 3.5mm jack plug (optional) •
CABLE LENGTH 3m • WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS en-uk.sennheiser.com • PART CODE WEIGHT 255g • CABLE LENGTH 1.2m • WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS www.sony.co.uk •
HD 660 S • FULL REVIEW Oct 2018 PART CODE WH-1000XM3 • FULL REVIEW May 2019

Q ACOUSTICS 3010i CREATIVE Muvo 2c

★★★★★ ★★★★★
£179 • www.amzn.to/2xi4CsE £30 • www.amzn.to/2wzSxB8
Louder and more Considering it’s both
precise than the 3010, pocket-sized and dirt
these bookshelf speakers cheap, the Muvo 2c’s
are worth the money. You’ll just need to plug them into an external bass presence and sheer loudness come e
amplifier, like a hi-fi amp or AV receiver. as a pleasant surprise, and it’s water- and
d
dust-resistant as well.
SPEAKERS 4 • RMS POWER OUTPUT 125W • WEIGHT 4.1kg per speaker • NETWORKING None • SPEAKERS 1 • RMS POWER OUTPUT Not stated • DOCK CONNECTOR None • NETWORKING
WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS www.qacoustics.co.uk • PART CODE 3010i • FULL REVIEW Bluetooth 4.2 (SBC) • DIMENSIONS 93x38x67mm • WEIGHT 159g • WARRANTY Two years RTB •
Nov 2018 DETAILS uk.creative.com • PART CODE 51MF8250AA011 • FULL REVIEW Jul 2018

NEW
UE Boom 3 BOWERS & WILKINS 607 ENTRY
★★★★★ ★★★★★
£130 • www.amzn.to/2ThounT £399 • www.weybridge-audio.co.uk
This IP67-rated Bluetooth Inspired by the classic
speaker is a comprehensive 600 series, the wired
upgrade on the Boom 2: it’s 607s deliver an exciting
more durable, looks better, has longer wireless and enthusiastic sound profile that reveals
range and sounds even better. the tiniest details in every recording.

SPEAKERS 4 • RMS POWER OUTPUT Not stated • DOCK CONNECTOR

None • NETWORKING Bluetooth (SBC) • DIMENSIONS 184x73x73mm • SPEAKERS 4 • RMS POWER OUTPUT 125W • WEIGHT 4.7kg per speaker •
WEIGHT 608g • WARRANTY Two years RTB • DETAILS www. NETWORKING None • WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS www.bowers-wilkins.eu •
ultimateears.com • PART CODE 984-001360 • FULL REVIEW Jan 2019 PART CODE 607 • FULL REVIEW Jun 2019

ISSUE 377 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | JULY 2019 69

 Choosing an... Action camera
01 Action cameras are typically much
smaller than a regular camcorder, as
they are designed to be mounted to a bike,
Keep an eye out for 4K/30, 4K/60,
1080p/60 and 720p/120 models for the
widest possible choice of resolutions
If you want to be able to see exactly
what you’re pointing the lens at, keep an
eye out for cameras with companion
board or car, or worn on your person. As the and frame rates. smartphone apps, or wrist-mounted
name suggests, they are designed primarily viewfinders that also let you start and
for shooting action footage, but because of
their small size they are ideal for strapping 03 Most action cameras rely on flash
memory for storing your video,
stop shooting remotely.

on to your pet’s collar or your children’s toys

for a different perspective.
letting you swap out memory cards on the
fly when you fill one up with clips. More
expensive devices can have integrated
05 Action cameras typically have a huge
range of accessories, with specific
mounts and harnesses for different activities

02 Even basic action cameras will shoot

Full HD video, and many will even
shoot 4K, but frame rate is arguably more
important than resolution when it comes to
action video. Higher frame rates will mean
smoother clips, and super-high frame rate
videos can be played in slow motion to
emphasise exciting shots.
04
flash memory as well as a card slot, but
it’s typically cheaper to buy the basic
version of a camera and pick up memory
and sports. If the camera itself isn’t water
resistant, a weatherproof case will protect it
from the elements, while a tripod mount will
cards separately. let you lock it firmly in place.
Spare batteries are essential for longer
Not all action cameras have LCD
displays; in fact, many don’t include a
sceen in order to extend battery life.
shoots, and some decent video-editing
software will help you to produce a more
polished result.

VIDEO
AMAZON Fire TV Stick 4K DJI Osmo Pocket
★★★★★ ★★★★★
£50 • www.amzn.to/2Y6q8wh £329 • www.amzn.to/2vl53Ba
From set-top box to dangling dongle A cleverly made alternative to action
and now an ultra-compact stick, cameras, the DJI Osmo Pocket isn’t
Amazon’s 4K media streamer gets intended for extreme sports, but its
sleeker with every generation. It’s also been updated with a new mechancial stabilisation ensures smooth, great-looking
remote, which includes a microphone for Alexa voice commands. footage for life-logging videos.

VIDEO OUTPUTS HDMI 2.0 • NETWORKING 802.11ac Wi-Fi • DIMENSIONS 108x30x14mm • SENSOR 1/2.3in CMOS • SENSOR PIXELS 12 megapixels • MAXIMUM RECORDING RESOLUTION
STREAMING FORMATS UPnP, AirPlay, DLNA, Plex • INTERNET STREAMING SERVICES Amazon 4K (60fps) • AV CONNECTIONS USB Type-C • DIMENSIONS 122x37x38mm • WEIGHT 116g •
Video, Netflix, BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub, All 4, My5 • WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS www.dji.com • PART CODE CP.ZM.00000097.01 •
www.amazon.co.uk • PART CODE Fire TV Stick 4K • FULL REVIEW May 2019 FULL REVIEW Apr 2019

NVIDIA Shield TV (2017) GOPRO Hero 7 Black

★★★★★ ★★★★★
£189 • www.johnlewis.com £319 • www.slrhut.co.uk
A good media streamer/ The Yi 4K+ is cheaper, but
Android games console hybrid made even better by a no other action camera
more comfortable controller, a wider range of comes close to the video
streaming sources and smart home integration. quality of the Hero 7 Black. That’s largely down to its new electronic
image stabilisation, which keeps footage looking unbeatably smooth.
VIDEO OUTPUTS HDMI 1.4 • NETWORKING 802.11ac Wi-Fi, 10/100/1,000 Ethernet, Bluetooth 4.1
• DIMENSIONS 159x98x26mm • STREAMING FORMATS Plex, Kodi • INTERNET STREAMING SENSOR 1/2.3in CMOS • SENSOR PIXELS 12 megapixels • MAXIMUM RECORDING RESOLUTION 4K
SERVICES Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, Google Play Movies and TV, Google Play Music, YouTube, (60fps) • AV CONNECTIONS Micro HDMI • DIMENSIONS 45x62x32mm • WEIGHT 116g •
BBC iPlayer • WARRANTY Two years repair and replace • DETAILS www.nvidia.co.uk • PART WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS www.gopro.com • PART CODE CHDHX-701-RW •
CODE 945-12897-2505-000 • FULL REVIEW May 2017 FULL REVIEW Feb 2019

APPLE TV 4K SAMSUNG Gear 360 (2017)

★★★★★ ★★★★★
£179 • www.apple.com/uk £140 • www.amzn.to/2wesOMX
This big update adds 4K content (including, for the Samsung’s updated 360º camera
first time, Amazon Video support). The best part is improves on the original in every way: it’s
that if there’s a 4K version of content you’ve more portable, supports live video stream,
am,
previously purchased in HD, Apple will upgrade it free of charge. and is no longer limited to Samsung Galaxy phones. Bestt
of all, it’s cheaper than the previous model was at launch.h.
VIDEO OUTPUTS HDMI 2.0a • NETWORKING 802.11ac Wi-Fi, 10/100/1,000 Ethernet •
DIMENSIONS 35x98x98mm • STREAMING FORMATS AirPlay, others via apps • SENSOR RESOLUTION Dual 8.4 megapixels • SENSOR SIZE Not disclosed • VIEWFINDER None •
INTERNET STREAMING SERVICES iTunes, Apple Music, Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, LCD SCREEN 0.5in 72x32 PMOLED • DIMENSIONS 100x46x45mm • WEIGHT 130g •
Now TV, BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub, All 4 • WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS www.apple.com/uk • WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS www.samsung.com/uk • PART CODE SM-R210NZWABTU •
PART CODE Apple TV 4K • FULL REVIEW Jan 2018 FULL REVIEW Oct 2017

70 JULY 2019 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 377

Choosing a... Compact system camera
01 If you’re ready to step beyond the
basic controls of a compact camera,
or you want greater flexibility than an
ultra-zoom can offer, a compact system
camera (CSC) is the next logical upgrade.
With interchangeable lenses, manual controls
and stellar image quality, these cameras give
proper digital SLRs a run for their money.
Sony’s E-Mount has a slightly wider
range, but Micro Four Thirds offers the
widest variety. Both Panasonic and Olympus
budget. Most come with at least one kit
lens, but if you already have lenses for a
particular CSC mount, you can buy the body
cameras use this mount, and the lenses are on its own and save money.
interchangeable between manufacturers.
03 Micro Four Thirds cameras are
typically more compact than other
05 Once you’ve settled on a particular
mount, you should pay attention to a
camera’s features. Articulating screens and
types of CSC because the image sensor is integrated viewfinders will help you compose

02 There are three competing types of

CSC mount, and the one you buy
determines the number of compatible lenses
and accessories you have available.
Samsung’s NX-mount is arguably the most
limited in terms of lens selection, and the
company has confirmed that it’s shutting
down its European camera business, so it’s
best to avoid these altogether if possible.
physically smaller – with a 22mm diagonal,
it’s roughly 30% smaller than an APS-C
sensor. The APS-C sensors that Sony and
Samsung use in their CSCs are the same size
as those in traditional digital SLRs.
04 Like digital SLRs, CSCs come at a
wide range of prices. Available from
as little as £200, there’s a CSC to suit every
shots, while extra physical controls and a
hotshoe mount will give you flexibility for
manual shooting.
Touchscreens are great, but they’re no
replacement for physical dials when it comes
to changing shutter speed and aperture. An
integrated flash is much more convenient
than a detachable one, as you can never
forget to take it with you.

PHOTOGRAPHY
SONY RX100 V FUJIFILM X-T3
★★★★★ ★★★★★
£740 • www.slrhut.co.uk £1,699 • www.amzn.to/2Fccak5
It may be small, but the RX100 A fantastically versatile
V is seriously fast, and because mirrorless camera, capable of
it also captures a surprising taking perfect stills as much as it is recording
amount of light, image and video quality are both top-notch. high-quality video. There are plenty of pro-level features, too.

SENSOR RESOLUTION 20 megapixels • SENSOR SIZE 13.2x8.8mm (1in) • FOCAL LENGTH
MULTIPLIER 2.7x • VIEWFINDER Electronic (2,400,000 dots) • LCD SCREEN 3in (1,228,800 dots) •
OPTICAL ZOOM (35mm-EQUIVALENT FOCAL LENGTHS) 2.9x (24-70mm) • 35mm-EQUIVALENT
APERTURE f/4.9-7.6 • WEIGHT 298g • DIMENSIONS 60x104x41mm • WARRANTY One year RTB
• DETAILS www.sony.co.uk • FULL REVIEW Apr 2017
SENSOR RESOLUTION 26.1 megapixels • SENSOR SIZE 23.5x15.6mm (APS-C) • FOCAL LENGTH
MULTIPLIER 2.7x • VIEWFINDER Electronic (3.69 million dots) • LCD SCREEN 3in (1.04 million
dots) • VIEWFINDER MAGNIFICATION (35mm-EQUIVALENT, COVERAGE) 0.75x, 100% •
WEIGHT 539g • DIMENSIONS 93x133x59mm • WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS
www.fujifilm.com • FULL REVIEW May 2019

NIKON D3400 POLAROID Originals OneStep 2

★★★★★ ★★★★★
£385 • slrhut.co.uk £99 • www.amzn.to/2DQhr05
A collection of minor The OneStep 2 brings
improvements to battery life, back the simple joys of
shooting speed and stills quality
ity instant photography.
add up to make the D3400 the best entry-level DSLR available. Although the stock can get quite pricey,
your shots will look just as they would on
SENSOR RESOLUTION 24 megapixels • SENSOR SIZE 23.5x15.6mm (APS-C) • VIEWFINDER a classic Polaroid – perfect for sharing or
Optical TTL • LCD SCREEN 3in (921,000 dots) • OPTICAL ZOOM (35mm-EQUIVALENT FOCAL
simply sticking to the fridge.
LENGTHS) 3x (27-82.5mm) • 35mm-EQUIVALENT APERTURE f/5.25-8.4 • LENS MOUNT Nikon F
Mount • WEIGHT 655g • DIMENSIONS 99x124x135mm • WARRANTY One year RTB • PHOTO SIZE 3.1x3.1in • BATTERY LIFE 15-20 packets of film • PORTS 1x Micro USB •
DETAILS www.europe-nikon.com • FULL REVIEW Jun 2017 WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS www.polaroidoriginals.com • FULL REVIEW Jan 2018

H5
PANASONIC Lumix GH5 MC G80
PANASONIC Lumix DMC-G80
★★★★★ ★★★★★
£1,399 • www.wexphotovideo.com £699 • www.jessops.com
This update to the brilliant The G80 is ahead of the pack
GH4 can take great photos, when it comes to video quality, y,
but it’s video capture where the GH5 truly excels. Its and its stills look great as well.. It’s
4K, 60fps footage is crisp enough for serious indie filmmaking, and it more expensive than the preceding G7, but includes
ludes a
supports 10-bit recording and an optional flat colour profile as well. superior 12-60mm kit lens, among other improvements.

SENSOR RESOLUTION 20 megapixels • SENSOR SIZE 17.3x13mm • FOCAL LENGTH SENSOR RESOLUTION 16 megapixels • SENSOR SIZE 17.3x13mm • FOCAL LENGTH MULTIPLIER
MULTIPLIER 2x • VIEWFINDER Electronic (3,680,000 dots) • LCD SCREEN 3.2in (1,620,000 dots) • 2x • VIEWFINDER Electronic (2,360,000 dots) • LCD SCREEN 3in (1,040,000 dots) •
LENS MOUNT Micro Four Thirds • WEIGHT 725g (with kit lens) • DIMENSIONS 98x146x88mm • LENS MOUNT Micro Four Thirds • WEIGHT 715g with kit lens • DIMENSIONS 79x137x130mm •
WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS www.panasonic.com/uk • FULL REVIEW Sep 2017 WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS www.panasonic.com/uk • FULL REVIEW Jul 2017

ISSUE 377 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | JULY 2019 71

 Choosing a... Wearable
01 Wearable tech can include anything
from chest-strap heart-rate monitors
to augmented reality glasses, but the two
03 Fitness trackers are much more
dedicated to healthy pursuits.
Step counters, heart-rate monitors and
a single charge, so you can wear it to bed
and benefit from sleep tracking.

most common types are smartwatches and

fitness trackers. Both are designed to sit
unassumingly on your wrist, and are almost
always meant to be used in tandem with a
paired smartphone.
even sleep tracking are all common, and
the data collected is fed back to you so
you can see how your workout routine
05 Look out for waterproofing as well.
Wearables that don’t mind a few
lengths of the pool can be used for
or calorie intake is going. swimming or just timekeeping, and at the
Many smartwatches also contain very least we expect a fitness tracker to be
health-tracking features, but fitness- able to deal with rain or sweat.

02 Smartwatches are typically more

complex and expensive, though
more closely resemble a traditional
wristwatch. You can use them to receive
and reply to text messages and emails,
quickly check maps and even play
games – like a smartphone, most
smartwatches allow you to install your
own choice of apps.
specific wearables tend to be cheaper,
smaller and lighter.
06
04 When it comes to battery life, it’s
important for any wearable to
last a full day, but if it’s a smartwatch
then you can get away with having to
charge it overnight. With fitness trackers,
it’s better if it lasts for several days off
Different smartwatches use
different operating systems, which
determine which apps you can install on
your device, as well as compatibility with
smartphones. Android Wear and Tizen
smartwatches will work with both Android
and iOS phones, but Apple’s watchOS will
only pair with an iOS handset.

WEARABLES
GARMIN Vivosmart 4 APPLE Watch Series 4
★★★★★ ★★★★★
£99 • www.amzn.to/2UYdj4M £399 • www.apple.com/uk
Comfortable, accurate and not too The latest Apple Watch is
expensive, the Vivosmart 4 is a fine the sleekest and slickest
fitness tracker, albeit one without wearable the company has
onboard GPS. It’s particularly suited to those who ever made. An edge-to-edge screen and
don’t already exercise but are looking to improve haptic feedback in the crown are just two
their overall fitness. of the many enhancements.
PEDOMETER Yes • HEART-RATE MONITOR Yes • DISPLAY SIZE 0.7in • RESOLUTION 48x128 • PEDOMETER Yes • HEART-RATE MONITOR Yes • DISPLAY SIZE 1.78in • RESOLUTION 448x368 •
OS SUPPORT Android, iOS • BATTERY LIFE Seven days • WARRANTY One year RTB • OS SUPPORT iOS • BATTERY LIFE 18 hours • WARRANTY One year RTB • DETAILS www.apple.
DETAILS www.garmin.com • PART CODE 010-01995-04 • FULL REVIEW Apr 2019 com/uk • PART CODE Apple Watch Series 4 • FULL REVIEW Jan 2019

POLAR Vantage M HUAWEI Watch 2 Sport

★★★★★ ★★★★★
£203 • www.amzn.to/2HEqMLJ £165 • www.amzn.to/2qLo7qo
A much-improved design It’s worth shelling out
sees the Vantage M for the premium version of
become a sleeker and more this sporty Android Wear
comfortable running watch than the smartwatch: it includes built-in 4G connectivity,
preceding M430, and multisport tracking which when combined with GPS tracking means you can
goes a lot deeper, too – there’s even swim tracking. safely leave your smartphone at home.
PEDOMETER Yes • HEART-RATE MONITOR Yes • DISPLAY SIZE 1.2in • RESOLUTION 240x240 • PEDOMETER Yes • HEART-RATE MONITOR Yes • DISPLAY SIZE 1.2in • RESOLUTION 690x690 •
OS SUPPORT Android, iOS • BATTERY LIFE 30 hours • WARRANTY One year RTB • OS SUPPORT Android, iOS • BATTERY LIFE Two days • WARRANTY Two years RTB •
DETAILS www.polar.com • PART CODE Vantage M • FULL REVIEW May 2019 DETAILS consumer.huawei.com • PART CODE Huawei Watch 2 Sport • FULL REVIEW Jul 2017

FITBIT Versa MOBVOI TicWatch E2

E
★★★★★ ★★★★★ NEW
£179 • www.currys.co.uk £146 • www.mobvoi.com ENTRY
The Versa is a much more At this price, there’s simply
imp
imply
successful smartwatch/fitness no better smartwatch/fitnessness
tracker hybrid than Fitbit’s tracker hybrid than the
previous attempt, the Ionic: this is pleasantly TicWatch E2. Built-in GPS, IP67 waterproofing
oofing
lightweight, highly customisable and backed up p and an upgraded battery are all on board, and it’s
by an active (and competitive) community of Fitbit users. more responsive than most Wear 2100 wearables.
PEDOMETER Yes • HEART-RATE MONITOR Yes • DISPLAY SIZE 1.3in • RESOLUTION 300x300 • PEDOMETER Yes • HEART-RATE MONITOR Yes • DISPLAY SIZE 1.4in • RESOLUTION 400x400 •
OS SUPPORT Android, iOS • BATTERY LIFE Four days • WARRANTY One year RTB • OS SUPPORT Android, iOS • BATTERY LIFE Two days • WARRANTY One year RTB •
DETAILS www.fitbit.com • PART CODE FB505RGPK-EU • FULL REVIEW Jul 2018 DETAILS www.mobvoi.com • PART CODE TicWatch E2 • FULL REVIEW Jun 2019

72 JULY 2019 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 377

 SOFTWARE

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ADOBE Premiere Pro CC 2018 KASPERSKY Security Cloud

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★★★★★ ★★★★★

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• • www.kaspersky.co.uk

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£20 per month www.adobe.com £50

There’s a lot to love in this update, especially the It’s just as effective as Kaspersky Total Security, but
improved support for collaborative editing and a host Security Cloud goes a step further by learning your
of new tools for producing VR-ready 360° content. bad security habits and warning you about them.
OS SUPPORT Windows 7/8/10, OS 10.11/macOS 10.12, Android 4.1 and later, iOS 10/11 •
OS SUPPORT Windows 7/8.1/10, OS X 10.11, macOS 10.12 and later • MINIMUM CPU Multicore •
MINIMUM CPU 1GHz • MINIMUM GPU None • MINIMUM RAM 1GB (32-bit), 2GB (64-bit) •
MINIMUM GPU Integrated graphics • MINIMUM RAM 8GB • HARD DISK SPACE 8GB •
HARD DISK SPACE 1,020MB (Windows), 1,110MB (Mac) • DETAILS www.kaspsersky.co.uk •
DETAILS www.adobe.com • FULL REVIEW Jun 2018
PRODUCT CODE Security Cloud • FULL REVIEW Jan 2018

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NORDVPN MICROSOFT Windows 10

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★★★★★ April 2018 Update

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£9 per month • www.nordvpn.com ★★★★★
There are cheaper VPN services available, but
Free • www.microsoft.com
none has the flexibility and multi-level security Besides some subtle visual tweaks, the latest major
features of NordVPN. It’s become much faster update for Windows adds some genuinely useful
than previous versions, too. features, such as Focus Assist and Timeline.

OS SUPPORT Windows 10 • MINIMUM CPU 1GHz or faster • MINIMUM GPU DirectX 9 or later
OS SUPPORT Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, DD-WRT router • DETAILS www.nordvpn.com • with WDDM 1.0 driver • MINIMUM RAM 1GB (32-bit), 2GB (64-bit) • HARD DISK SPACE 16GB (32-
PRODUCT CODE NordVPN • FULL REVIEW Sep 2018 bit), 20GB (64-bit) • DETAILS www.microsoft.com • FULL REVIEW Aug 2018

McAFEE Internet Security 2019 APPLE macOS 10.14 Mojave

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★★★★★ ★★★★★
£8 • www.amzn.to/2X5sQBL Free • itunes.apple.com
Impressively, the 2019 version takes McAfee Internet Mojave’s small UI improvements and minor added
Security from an industry damp squib to one of the features would disappoint on their own, but together
most reliable security suites on the market. Malware they add up to a great update. It’s free, too, so
detection is vastly improved and performance is better, too. there’s no reason not to make the switch.
OS SUPPORT Windows 7/8/8.1/10, macOS 10.12 and later; Android 4.1 and later, iOS 10 and later • OS SUPPORT OS X Mountain Lion or later • MINIMUM CPU Not stated • MINIMUM GPU
MINIMUM CPU 1GHz • MINIMUM GPU DirectX 9 • MINIMUM RAM 1GB • HARD DISK SPACE Integrated graphics • MINIMUM RAM 2GB • HARD DISK SPACE 12.5GB • DETAILS www.apple.
500MB • DETAILS www.mcafee.com • FULL REVIEW Apr 2019 com • FULL REVIEW Jan 2019

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XBOX One S OCULUS Go
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£189 • www.amzn.to/2ylWNCV £194 • www.overclockers.co.uk

HDR support is great, No longer do you need
eed
but it’s the 4K Blu-ray player a decked-out PC or
that makes this sleeker, premium smartphone to enjoy VR. The Oculus Go
smaller Xbox One really stand out against crams all the hardware you need into the headset itself, making virtual
the competing PS4 Slim. reality entertainment as immediate and accesible as it’s ever been.
PROCESSOR Octa-core 1.75GHz Jaguar • RAM 8GB DDR3 • FRONT USB PORTS 1x USB2 • DISPLAY LCD • RESOLUTION 2,560x1,440 • REFRESH RATE 72Hz • PROCESSOR Octa-core
REAR USB PORTS 2x USB2 • STORAGE 500GB/1TB/2TB • WARRANTY One year RTB • 2.4GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 • RAM 3GB • WEIGHT 467g • DETAILS www.oculus.com/go •
DETAILS www.xbox.com • PART CODE Xbox One S • FULL REVIEW Dec 2016 PART CODE Go 32GB • FULL REVIEW Sep 2018
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£60 • www.very.co.uk £250 • www.argos.co.uk

Nintendo’ss Labo Sony has made the PlayStation
almost defies
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explanation:
on: it’s a neater chassis and superior
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tive ever been as well.
rewarding and great fun.
PROCESSOR Octa-core 1.6GHz AMD Jaguar • RAM 8GB GDDR5 • FRONT USB PORTS 2x USB2 •
AVAILABLE FORMATS Nintendo Switch • DISK SPACE Not stated • DETAILS labo.nintendo.com • REAR USB PORTS None • STORAGE 500GB/1TB/2TB • WARRANTY One year RTB •
PART CODE Nintendo Labo • FULL REVIEW Aug 2018 DETAILS www.playstation.com • PART CODE B01GVQVQH2 • FULL REVIEW Jan 2017

ISSUE 377 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | JULY 2019 73

 Free software guide
It’s easy to access your free software. Just go to www.shopperdownload.co.uk/377 and
register with the code from the card insert. Please be aware that you need to have
bought the ‘Free Software Edition’ and not the ‘£4.50 Edition’ to access the downloads
GETTING STARTED
The download instructions on the card
insert (opposite) show you how to
connect to the download site. Make
sure you type in the web address exactly
as shown. You’ll need your coupon code
the first time you log on to the site.
ANY PROBLEMS
If you need help with any of the
software this month, please send an
email to support@creativemark.co.uk.
We check this inbox regularly. Please
include the issue number of the
magazine and your coupon code.
WHY DOWNLOADS
In order to provide us with free
software, publishers now require us to
offer the applications as a download
and require online registration. You
need to use the unique code printed in
the box on the card insert to register
and download the software in this
issue. The unique code means we
stop the deals leaking online, so only
Shopper readers get the software.
NO CODE?
If you don’t have the card insert with the
unique code, you must buy the £4.99
‘Free Software’ print version of the
magazine. If you have this edition and
still don’t have a card, please contact
letters@computershopper.co.uk.
REGISTER YOUR SOFTWARE
BY 20th JUNE 2019
REQUIREMENTS Windows 7, 8 or 10;
30MB hard disk space
WEBSITE www.wisecleaner.com
NOTES No need to register: serial code built
into the software
74
O&O SafeErase 12
Professional
WHEN YOU DELETE a file
from your PC, it’s not gone
forever: Windows simply
marks the file as deleted,
which means its header is
overwritten and its space is
marked as available. However,
until that space is physically
overwritten by other data, it
remains retrievable.
That’s good if you want to
recover an accidentally
deleted file, but worrying if you want to scrub
sensitive data completely. O&O SafeErase Professional
is designed to ensure the data you want deleted
really is deleted beyond the point of no return.
SafeErase doesn’t just erase files. It also includes
tools for securely wiping clean all traces of your
internet browsing, from cookies and downloaded
REQUIREMENTS Windows 7, 8 or 10; 100MB hard disk space
WEBSITE www.oo-software.com
NOTES safeerase12.disc.computershopper.co.uk
WiseCleaner
Wise Hotkey
IF YOU WANT to use your computer to get tasks
done swiftly, the easiest way in which most
professionals save time is by assigning keyboard
shortcuts to common tasks.
These can include various routines, from
opening an app or a particular folder to launching
a website from your favourite web browser.
Wise Hotkey is a simple tool that can be used
to set up these hotkey functions. It assumes you’ll
files to the pages you’ve
visited. Edge, Chrome, Firefox
and Opera are supported.
There’s also a component for
wiping insecure Windows
and program files, such as
temporary files and Flash
Player cookies.
As for those files you’ve
previously ‘deleted’, SafeErase
can finish the job by wiping all
that supposedly free space
where the remnants of past files still reside. Rather
than just wipe all the free space on your PC, however,
SafeErase will search for what it considers are unsafe
deleted files to speed up the process. You can also
securely delete entire partitions and hard disks.
All of this raw power is wrapped up in a single,
simple-to-use user interface. Click Start analysis, and
O&O SafeErase goes to work. You can then review
its findings and clean up your PC with a single click, or
opt to work with specific tools such as the SafeErase
files and folders option for deleting selected files.
want to control everything from the Alt key, so all
the Alt-number combinations are preconfigured for
you. You just need to choose what you want to
launch. Click on a hotkey option and you can
choose from a list of installed applications, or
alternatively, you can choose individual files or
folders to open with the selected shortcut.
The final option is a predefined website URL.
Choose the URL you want to open from a particular
hotkey and, once selected, your
browser window will open and go
straight to the site.
That’s about it: this isn’t a
massively complex piece of software,
although that also makes it easier to
understand and use. Wise Hotkey
simply aims to make using your
computer a swifter process, and it
does a respectable job of it.
JULY 2019 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 377

REQUIREMENTS Windows XP SP3, Vista, 7,
8, 10; 150MB hard disk space
WEBSITE www.backup4all.com
NOTES www.backup4all.com/
creativemarkb19-promo.html
Abelssoft Undeleter 2019
UNDELETER 2019 IS a free tool
for recovering accidentally
deleted files. Whereas O&O
SafeErase aims to permanently
wipe data from the state of
semi-deleted limbo that
Windows places files in,
Undeleter’s job is to go in
there and bring data back.
A clear and straightforward
interface gets you started right
ISSUE 377 | COMPUTER SHOPPER
Softland Backup4all 7.4 Lite
BACKUP4ALL IS AN easy-to-use
but very capable backup tool,
which is available in three
different editions: Lite,
Standard and Professional.
The Lite edition – which is
the one you’ll get with your
free registration code – is
aimed at home users, but
still offers all the core
functionality most people
will need. You can specify
the files and folders you’d like
to back up; these can be saved
to local, external or network
drives. There are options to
compress your archives, or
password-protect them for security, while a
simple scheduler can automatically run your
backup jobs every day, week or month.
Restoration is just as straightforward, because
your backups are just mirrors of the original files
and folders, stored in regular Zip files. Simply open
an Explorer folder and you’ll be able to find and
recover what you need in seconds.
away. Just point the program at
the drive or device containing
your lost files, optionally choose
the file type (images, audio,
documents and so on) and click
Next to begin.
Abelssoft Undeleter 2019
supports two scanning methods.
Smart Scan is fast (it usually
checks your drive in seconds),
but may miss some files; Deep
| JULY 2019
The 7.4 update brings lots of changes, especially if
you upgrade to the Professional version: this offers
features such as block level incremental backups,
and Azure and Amazon S3 support. Every edition
benefits from the revamped, more customisable and
easier-to-user interface. You can now suspend, cancel
or stop all backup jobs, too. The program is able to
run scheduled jobs it might have missed, and there
are new tools both to test and repair your backups.
Scan finds every remaining
fragment of your data, but it
could take much longer.
Select your preferred option,
click Start, and scanning begins.
Any recoverable files are listed as
they’re found, so even if scanning
the whole drive takes a while you
won’t necessarily be kept in
suspense as to whether a desired
file has been located.
The final report
can be lengthy, but
fortunately there’s a
Search box to help
you drill down to
your lost files.
Once you’re
ready, manually
select one or more
target files, or press
Ctrl-A to select
them all. Then
choose your
destination folder,
and Abelssoft
Undeleter 2019
recovers the lost
files for you.
Double-click any file
to open that folder
REQUIREMENTS Windows 7, 8, 10;
in an Explorer 50MB hard disk space
window, and it’s WEBSITE www.abelssoft.net
ready for further NOTES Get your registration code within
the application
examination.
75

REQUIREMENTS Windows 10;
50MB hard disk space
WEBSITE engelmann.com
NOTES Get your registration code within
the application
REQUIREMENTS Windows 7, 8, 10;
100MB hard disk space
WEBSITE audials.com
NOTES Register within the application
after installation
76
SecuPerts Anti-Spy
for Windows 10
AS CENTRAL AS Move on to the
Windows 10 is to everyday Synchronization section
PC usage, it’s not shy and you can turn off
about hoovering up your automatic synchronisation
personal information. of your data, such as your
Lots of pre-configured web browser settings,
settings within Windows browser passwords and
will readily feed that even access settings
information back to you’ve configured on a
Microsoft, as well as particular computer
its partners. (which you may not want
Anti-Spy is a small to be synchronised on
commercial tool you can other computers).
use to disable these Within the Network
settings. On a basic level, settings you can also stop
you can use Anti-Spy to automatic network search,
protect your privacy. turn off the visibility of
For example, Windows 10 your computer on your
apps will automatically network and disable
report crash and other automatic Windows 10
data to the developer, but network updates.
now you’ll be able to There are other areas,
switch this function off. including the Services
You can stop your ID from module, which enables
being used for potential in-app advertising, prevent you to quickly switch off Windows Defender (which
apps from accessing your personal information Microsoft has made hard to achieve in newer
from Windows, stop geolocation being available to versions of Windows 10), deactivate membership to
apps by default, and much more. Microsoft SpyNet and stop error reporting.
Audials MusicTube 2019
THERE ARE COMPOSITIONS we remember from Audials MusicTube 2019 is a module for
youth or in passing that are simply too hard to find, Audials One that will enable you to find tracks
however hard we want to buy the track. This is online, stream them and, if you want, download
particularly true with rare tracks, live performances them to your computer. Of course, you’re not
from our favourite bands and similar. limited to streaming services, as Audials
More often than not, you’ll find that the track MusicTube will also bring together various
has been uploaded to YouTube by a fellow other sources, including tracks stored on your PC,
enthusiast. You can stream as often as you like, iTunes and other locations.
but what if you want to store the track locally? You can search by audio track or music video.
It’s tricky, as there’s no way of downloading Once you find the track you want, you can play it as
audio from streaming sources. you would with any other music player, add the song
to your collection
(for playback later)
or download it to
your PC. You can
even use MusicTube
to download your
favourite videos,
which will be
converted to a
format you can play
on your computer.
It’s worth
repeating that
MusicTube is a
component of the
Audials One software
suite, so you’ll need
that installed first.
JULY 2019 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 377
 Resources
Chat and Communication
Evernote 6.17.6.8292 Store your notes,
ideas and plans in the cloud, and
synchronise them between computers.
UPDATED Mailbird 2.5.39.0
A free desktop email client for Windows.
Miranda IM 0.10.80
Chat with friends across multiple
messaging platforms, including AIM,
Facebook, IRC and MSN, all from one
simple interface.
Customisation
UPDATED iolo System Mechanic Free 18.6
Speed up your system with iolo’s
PC optimisation suite.
UPDATED Rainmeter 4.3
Customise the desktop with your choice
of tools and shortcuts.
Windows 8 Transformation Pack 9.1
Emulate the look of Windows 8 on an
earlier version of the operating system.
General
Genie Timeline Free 2017 10.0.1.100
Protect your most valuable files with this
easy-to-use backup tool.
Paragon Partition Manager 16 Free
Create, format, split, merge and reorganise
all your hard disk’s partitions.
UPDATED PeaZip 6.7.1 A tremendously
powerful archive-management tool.
Internet and Network
CarotDAV 1.15.5
Manage all your online storage services
with one simple application.
Cyberduck 6.9.4
A powerful but easy-to-use FTP client for
uploading and downloading your files.
Glasswire 2.1.152
Keep tabs on your network usage with this
simple monitor.
Tweaking and Performance
UPDATED CCleaner 5.56 Remove unwanted
information, temporary files, browsing
history, huge log files and even the settings
that uninstalled software leaves behind.
Defraggler 2.22 Ensure that your system
is defragmented properly and improve
its performance.
Finestra Virtual Desktops 2.5.4501 Set up
four or more virtual desktops on your PC.
ISSUE 377 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | JULY 2019
UPDATED Skype for Windows 8.42.0.60 Make
internet voice and video calls for free, and buy
credit to make calls to mobiles and landlines.
UPDATED Telegram 1.6.13 This free IM app
synchronises your conversations across
multiple devices, and can spruce up chats
with stickers and GIFs.
WhatsApp Desktop 0.3.2386 A free PC and
Mac version of the popular messaging app,
letting you chat from your desktop.
Windows 8 UX Pack 9.1
Get a glimpse of the Windows 10 UI without
committing to a full OS upgrade.
Windows 10 Transformation Pack 7.0
Bring some of Windows 10’s new features
to your current operating system.
NEW VERSION Winstep Xtreme 19.2
Freshen up your system with this suite of
desktop and UI replacement applications.
Screenshot Captor 4.31.2 Create and manage
screenshots the easy way.
UpdateScanner 2.2.0.0 Scan all the software
on your PC, find out if an update is available,
then install it immediately.
ZipGenius 6.3.2.3116 A flexible file-
compression tool with support for a huge
number of compressed file formats.
FileZilla 3.41.1 A fast and reliable FTP client
with lots of useful features.
NetBalancer 14.1.18533
Make the most of your internet connection
by assigning download and upload priorities
to web applications.
UPDATED TeamViewer 14.2.2558
Remotely control your computer from
anywhere in the world.
UPDATED IObit Advanced SystemCare Free
12.3.0.329 A complete computer security,
maintenance and optimisation suite.
Revo Uninstaller Free 2.0.6 Remove installed
applications completely, including all their
folders, system files and Registry entries.
Simple Performance Boost 1.0.5 Tweak the
Windows Registry to give your PC a
performance boost.
77
 GET A BETTER
SMARTPHONE
WITHSOMANYHANDSETSANDCONTRACT
DEALSTOCHOOSEFROM,ITCANBEHARD
TOWORKOUTIFYOURDEVICEISOFFERING
YOUTHEBESTPACKAGEORWHETHERTO
FOR LESS
MAKESUREYOU’REGETTINGTHE BESTDEALFROMYOUROPERATOR
WHENIT’SBETTERTOBUYYOURDEVICEOUTRIGHT
SWITCHTOADIFFERENTPROVIDEROR THEBASELINEFEATURESYOUSHOULDAIMFORINAHANDSET
PHONE.READONFOROURGUIDE 18OFTHELATESTTOPSMARTPHONESTESTEDANDCOMPARED

78

It’s tempting to max out all the features for your smartphone
give you the best value. David Ludlow helps you get the right contract at the right price
B
uying a new phone contract can be a
daunting prospect. Looking through
all the available options, you need to
make sure that you buy one that will give
you enough data, SMS messages and phone
calls. Often, the easiest solution is to just
max out everything as far as your budget
will go and hope for the best.
Throw in buying a new phone on contract,
and the choices vary hugely again: should you
put down a massive lump sum, or go for the
longer pay-off? The truth is that the right
answer varies from person to person, but
lumping for the most expensive contract that
you can afford is rarely the right idea; going
too cheap is often a false economy, too, as
you’ll end up topping up every month.
HOW TO GET OUT OF A CONTRACT
If you end up on the wrong mobile network but are locked into a long contract, it can be frustrating. High cancellation
fees mean many people are stuck with a company they don’t want to be with – but it doesn’t have to be that way
CANCELLING FOR FREE
If you’ve bought your handset online or over
the phone, then you have 14 days after
receiving your phone or SIM to cancel. You
may get charged for any additional services
that you’ve used, or if you’ve damaged your
handset. However, if you’re careful, the
golden rule is, return your phone within the
14 day period if you’re not happy: poor
reception won’t get fixed after that time.
Buying in-store doesn’t afford you the
same protection. However, many phone
networks will offer you a similar returns
policy. Check before you buy, and if you’re
not getting at least 14 days’ protection,
buy online or over the phone.
DEALING WITH
POOR SERVICE
If you’re out of your returns period, then
you cann go
g down the complaint route if
you suffer from poor service. The most
important thing is to start making any
complaints
com as early as you can.
If you get poor reception,
then
the make complaints from all
of the key areas where you
don’t
don get service. Make notes
of where and when you were
when calls dropped or you
martph contract,
t but
b that won’t
Here, we’ll take you through all the choices and
help you find the right phone contract for you.
PAYG OR CONTRACT?
The first question to ask is whether you should
choose pay as you go (PAYG) or opt for a
contract. The answer will depend on how you
use a phone. On the one hand, PAYG can be
attractive, as you don’t have any lock-in period
and are free to switch networks as you want.
For light users, PAYG can work out well,
as you spend the minimum every month but
top up for those times that you need extra
data or calls. The main downside is that you
need a handset to work with PAYG, which
invariably means buying your own. Of course,
once you come to the end of a contract and
couldn’t get data services. If you can get
data access but it’s slow, download and use
Speedtest (www.speedtest.net/apps) to
record how fast your connection was, but
make sure you’re not on a Wi-Fi network.
At home, move to the area where you
get the worst reception before calling to
complain. That way, if your network runs a
speed test against your phone, they’ll see
there’s a problem. Take your own speed
results using the Speedtest app.
When you have a number of complaints,
you can then argue that you should be
allowed to leave your contract early, as the
network is below reasonable expectations.
Some mobile networks will offer
additional hardware to boost your signal
at home. These devices plug into your
home network and boost the mobile signal,
solving most problems. Increasingly, mobile
networks are forgoing additional hardware,
relying on the built-in Wi-Fi calling features
of modern phones.
With Wi-Fi calling, your phone can use
your internet service to make and receive
phone calls. This is handy for areas of poor
reception, but given the reliability of Wi-Fi, it
is a poor substitution for an actual 4G signal.
Not all phones or networks support Wi-Fi
calling, so many mobile providers have their
SMARTPHONES
you own your handset, you can switch to
PAYG and keep running your smartphone for
another year or two.
A phone contract ties you in for a set
period, typically one or two years. By doing
this, you can get a network’s best deals,
including bigger data packages or unlimited
phone calls and text messages. Contracts tend
to make sense for heavier users.
Contracts can be SIM-only, where you
provide your own phone, or you can include
the purchase of a handset in the monthly
cost. The downside of contracts is that you
can’t leave early, except under a limited set
of circumstances (see ‘How to get out of a
contract’, below). In most cases, leaving
your contract early requires you to pay a
own apps that let you make calls and send
texts. These are universally awful and
duplicate features available on your phone.
In our opinion, these apps are not a fair
alternative to proper mobile coverage.
With both Wi-Fi calling and the mobile
app, it’s fair to argue that neither is a
good alternative to a good-quality phone
reception and that you should be allowed
to leave your contract.
There’s a good chance that the mobile
network won’t want to let you leave, so at
this point, it’s worth stating that you’ll be
making an official complaint to an
ombudsman. There are two ombudsmen
for mobile service providers, Cisas and
Ombudsman Services: Communications.
You can ask which one handles complaints
about your mobile network. In our
experience, this usually gets things
moving quickly and results in an offer.
If the mobile provider won’t budge, you
can carry out your threat. The first thing to
do is ask your mobile network for a letter
of deadlock, which states that there’s no
resolution to your issue. You’ll need this
letter to complain to the ombudsman.
These instructions are no guarantee of
escaping a contract early, but they should
help in a lot of situations.
79

penalty fee, and you may need to pay off the
remainder of your phone costs.
BALANCING ACT
Getting the right deal means working out how
much you’ll need of everything. It’s worth
going through old phone bills to work out how
much you use in a typical month, including
voice calls, texts and SMS messages.
For voice calls, more expensive contracts
will give you unlimited minutes, but cheaper
ones will limit how many calls you can make
(incoming calls are free). Make sure that you
have enough minutes for a typical month, as
out-of-allowance calls are charged by the
minute and can get expensive.
Typically, it’s data that’s the biggest charge,
as we do more online with our smartphones.
How much you need depends on how often
you use your phone away from your
broadband connection or other Wi-Fi
ARE FOLDABLE PHONES THE FUTURE?
E ven someone living on the moon would
have seen the deluge of foldable phones
that have been announced this year. It’s
early days yet, but are they really the future,
or should you just buy a current handset
and be done with it? We look at the options.
WHAT IS A FOLDABLE PHONE?
A foldable phone is exactly what it says.
It looks like a regular handset, but can be
unfolded to reveal a larger, more tablet-like
display. The Samsung Galaxy Fold, for
example, has a 4.6in screen on the outside,
but once opened there’s a larger 7.3in
screen on the inside.
The Huawei Mate X takes a different
approach, using a single screen. When folded,
you use part of the screen, with a large
6.38in display; unfolded, you get to use the
entire screen, which is a whopping 8in.
In many ways, these phones are offering
the best of both worlds, giving you a tablet
80
⬅ Check out roaming deals
from different operators if
you often travel abroad
networks. Check your
current phone contract to
see how much you use.
Be very careful of data
calculation sites, which
assume that you do
everything over your
mobile network, so tend
to exaggerate how much
data you’ll really need.
Realistically, you’ll use
broadband more, using your
home connection to
download music and apps,
storing them for offline use.
If you use your phone
for tethering, make sure that your new
contract doesn’t have any restrictions on
this use, or even an outright ban.
ROAMING
If you travel abroad a lot, then look out for
roaming costs. At the moment, in the EU,
roaming is free; post-Brexit, Three has said it
won’t add new charges, but keep an eye out
for any changes on other networks.
Outside of the EU, roaming charges vary by
network. With Three’s Go Roam, which is
available on its Advanced Plans, you can use
your allowances in 71 countries, including the
US, Australia and New Zealand. Three also
offers the Data Pass, which costs £5 per day
and gives you unlimited data in 89 countries.
EE has the Go Further add-on (£10 a month
for six months minimum), which gives you
your UK allowance to use in the US, Canada,
Mexico, Australia and New Zealand. Vodafone
when you need it, but the convenience of a
phone for all other times. Who wouldn’t
want that? When you’re away from home
and want to watch a film, play a game or
browse the internet, having a full-size
tablet to do all of that is probably
something we’ve all wished for.
WHAT ARE THE LIMITATIONS?
Adding in the fold gives these phones
another point of failure. According to
Samsung, the Galaxy Fold can withstand
up to 200,000 folds, which equates to over
five years’ use if folded 100 times a day.
However, these are laboratory tests, and we
haven’t seen phones in the wild yet.
The main question that remains
unanswered is how durable are these
handsets when used for real. If you’re a
little bit too enthusiastic when opening one,
will a foldable phone break? What happens
when you drop it – is it more or less likely to
has free roaming in 77 countries for anyone on
its Red Entertainment tariffs, with a £6 charge
per day for other countries. Other Vodafone
users get roaming in 48 countries (mostly in
the EU), otherwise it’s £6 per day. O2 gives
free roaming for people on its Travel Inclusive
Bolt-On (available on selected tariffs), and
includes the US, Australia and New Zealand.
Don’t go for cheap roaming above all else,
as you should prioritise your at-home usage.
Also remember that, if you have an unlocked
handset, you can always buy a PAYG SIM –
including a local one for the country you’re
visiting – to save on roaming charges.
COVERAGE
Most important of all is being able to use
your phone in the places you most often are,
including at home. The Ofcom coverage
checker (checker.ofcom.org.uk/mobile-coverage)
gives you an idea of coverage in your home,
but doesn’t go into the finer details.
OpenSignal (www.opensignal.com) has an
app for Android and iOS that uses real user
data to show you coverage in your area.
It also has a handy tool that shows you
which direction to move in to get a signal.
Even with these tools, you may find that
your home performs badly on some networks.
There are helping techniques to boost
coverage, such as Wi-Fi calling on some
newer phones and networks that let you
make and receive calls and use SMS
messaging over a wireless network. This is a
great way to boost coverage in areas where
you wouldn’t otherwise have reception.
We recommend trying your mobile
network in the places you use your phone
the most and going with the network that
gives you the best service. See ‘How to get
out of a contract’ for more on this.
break than a traditional phone? Tests so far
have indicated that foldable screens are not
reliable, with early models breaking.
For most of us, the biggest drawback
is the price. The Samsung Galaxy Fold
will cost somewhere around £1,500 at
current exchange rates (the US price is
$1,980), and the Huawei Mate X is around
£1,970 ($2,299). Given that Samsung’s
Galaxy S10+ costs £899, you’re paying a
lot more for new technology.
SHOULD I WAIT?
Given the massive price difference and the
fact that we’re only on the first generation of
handsets, folding phones aren’t something
we’d rush out and buy. While the technology
is likely to be the future of all handsets (as
we said, who wouldn’t want a bigger display
when you need it?), for today, these
handsets remain an interesting technological
development, rather than must-haves.
JULY 2019 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 377

⬆ The Motorola Moto G7 Power (right) works
out cheaper on a contract, while it’s better to buy
Samsung’s Galaxy S10+ (left) outright
EXTRA FEATURES
All mobile networks have other options, which
may be of use. Wi-Fi calling is handy if you
want to boost coverage where you don’t get
reception. Check if it’s supported on your
chosen network and phone: Three, for example,
doesn’t support Wi-Fi calling on the Google
Pixel 3, but does for the iPhone 5S or later.
Some mobile networks will throw in
additional sweeteners, such as a six-month
Spotify subscription. Ask yourself if you
really need this kind of add-on; if you don’t,
you may find a better deal elsewhere.
SHOULD YOU BUY OUTRIGHT?
Whether or not you should buy your phone
outright or on contract depends on how much
your phone costs, how much you can put down
up front and often the phone itself. We’ll look at
two examples. If you were to buy the Motorola
Moto G7 Power on EE, a 24-month contract
including 1GB of data and unlimited calls and
texts would cost £21 a month, a total of £504.
If you bought the unlocked phone, it would
cost you £180. On EE, a pay-monthly SIM-only
deal with 1GB of data (the closest we could
find) and unlimited calls and texts would cost
£14 a month, or £336. That gives a total of £516.
Buying on contract, then, would work out better.
Conversely, in the case of a newer, high-end
phone such as the Samsung Galaxy S10+, it
ends up cheaper to buy the phone outright and
then get a SIM-only contract. On a 1GB data
contract on EE, you have to pay £100 up front
for the phone, then £54 per month for 24
months for a total of £1,396. If you bought the
Galaxy S10+ SIM-free, it would cost £899. Add
the cost of EE’s 1GB SIM-only contract over 24
months, and you’d ultimately pay £1,235.
It’s therefore worth doing your own
research to see which option works best, as
one isn’t always cheaper than the other.
WHAT ABOUT PHONE INSURANCE?
Phone insurance is something that all networks
offer. Whether it’s worth it depends on
circumstances. If you’re paying off your phone
monthly, or you’re particularly clumsy, it could
be worth it. Likewise, if you own an expensive
ISSUE 377 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | JULY 2019
WHAT ABOUT5G?
2 019 should be the year that the first 5G
services come online. Promising faster
and more reliable data connections, is it
something that you should wait for, and
what will you need to use it?
While we’ve been talking about 5G since
2013, the mobile telecoms industry standards
group – the 3GPP – only finalised the 5G
standard last year. It comes in two variants:
a non-standalone version that uses parts of
the existing LTE network, and a standalone
version that uses all-new components.
Qualcomm, Huawei, Intel, Ericsson,
Nokia and others have been working on the
standards and hardware that support 5G,
while the world’s mobile network operators
have been working with them to test and
eventually roll out 5G services.
Ofcom has auctioned bands of the radio
spectrum for use by the big four network
operators (O2, Vodafone, Three and EE)
and further auctions are expected in 2019.
IS HUAWEI TECH SAFE?
The current decision to include Chinese
company Huawei as a 5G supplier in the UK
is causing plenty of controversy, with the
prime minister seemingly ignoring her
security advisers’ advice.
The US and Australia have blocked
Huawei from working on their own
networks due to security concerns, and the
former is urging the UK government to take
similar action. This is down to fears over
inadvertently giving the Chinese
government access to UK communications
systems via Huawei’s involvement.
So far, there is nothing to indicate that
individual users should be throwing out
their Huawei smartphones, as this is more
about state secrets than your own privacy.
HOW FAST IS 5G?
The key thing about 5G is that it’s designed
to support a wider range of devices. It will
go beyond smartphones and tablets to
serve PCs, laptops, media devices, drones,
driverless cars and a whole bunch of
handset, insurance might be worth the cash. If
you’ve bought a cheaper phone outright, then
putting aside the insurance costs could go a
long way towards your next handset.
Be careful of any exceptions when taking
out insurance. Common things that policies
don’t include are unattended phones getting
stolen, high phone bills from calls and data
used on unlocked phones, and water damage.
Look at how much the insurance will
cost versus the total cost of the phone.
Shop around, too, as you may find insurance
cheaper away from your mobile network.
Going back to those examples on EE, a
Galaxy S10+ full cover policy (theft, loss and
SMARTPHONES
Internet of Things (IoT) devices, from
intelligent lighting and heating systems to
smart, connected industrial machines. It
should make it easier and faster for these to
connect both to the internet and to each
other, potentially transforming the way
conventional networks work altogether.
The specifications are relatively vague,
but where current 4G speeds top out at a
theoretical 100Mbit/s, 5G speeds should
reach a theoretical 10Gbit/s. According to
Qualcomm, it predicts average speeds of
490Mbit/s speeds on the 3.5GHz and
1.4Gbit/s on the 28GHz band.
Almost as important as speed is latency.
This is the time between a request being sent
and the response coming in. Latency isn’t a
huge factor in something like streaming
video: once the data starts arriving, it
comes at a continuous rate, but in real-time
applications such as web browsing, it can be
frustrating if there’s a delay between clicking
a link and a website loading. 5G is promising
latencies as low as 1ms, which is on par with
a good wireless broadband network.
The UK’s first 5G services should roll out
later this year, following trials that began in
late 2018. Every major UK network operator
has now announced plans, with EE expected
to roll out its initial services first. O2 is
running trials and aims to roll out services
in 2019 to London, Belfast, Cardiff and
Edinburgh. Three plans to start commercial
deployment from the end of 2019, following
upgrades across its mobile network.
Vodafone began its trials in October 2018
and will launch in 2019 in 19 cities.
SHOULD YOU WAIT FOR 5G?
As promising as 5G is, the technology is as
much about delivering high-speed data
services without wires to homes and
businesses as it is mobile phone users.
Currently, there are no major 5G handsets
for sale anyway, so it’s not as if you have
much choice. Just as with 3G and 4G, the
truth is that you’re best off waiting for 5G
networks to mature and for prices to drop.
accidental damage) costs £14 per month, or
£336 over the two-year contract. With the
Motorola Moto G7 Power, the same coverage
is still £14 a month (£336) – that’s almost
double what the phone costs.
Damage-only cover is cheaper at £10 per
month, although over the contract life of the
G7 Power, you’ll still pay more than the phone
is worth. Ultimately, the price of your phone,
how often you’ve broken handsets in the past
and how many devices you’ve lost or had stolen
is likely to affect your decision. In all cases,
check around to see if you can get a cheaper
deal elsewhere, or if you can add your phone
insurance on to your household insurance.
81
 DUTY CALLS
Smartphones
2019 has already seen a flurry of new smartphones, from record-breaking
flagships to heaps of refreshed budget handsets. In this guide we’ll see how they
shape up, against each other and other great smartphones from recent months

CONTENT REVIEWS THE FIRST FEW months of the year are

always the prime time for new smartphones.
BUDGET MID-RANGE PREMIUM
Even besides the twin-pronged trade
Page 84 Page 90 Page 96 shows of CES in Las Vegas and MWC in
HUAWEI Mate 20 Lite HONOR View 20 APPLE Barcelona, both of which are used as
Page 91
iPhone XR launchpads for dozens of handsets, big
Page 85
manufacturers such as Samsung and Huawei
MOTOROLA MOTOROLA Page 97
are in the habit of revealing their new wares
Moto G7 Play Moto Z3 Play GOOGLE Pixel 3
in February and March respectively.
Page 86 Page 92 Page 98 This is clearly good news if you’re in the
MOTOROLA PALM Phone HUAWEI P30 market for a new phone, as not only will you
Moto G7 Power Page 93 Page 99
have a wider range to choose from, but
you’ve got a much better chance of finding
Page 87 SONY ONEPLUS 6T
something with the most up-to-date hardware,
NOKIA 7.1 Xperia 10 Plus Page 100 features and design. At the same time, there’s
Page 88 Page 94 SAMSUNG no shortage of quality devices from 2018 that
SAMSUNG XIAOMI Mi 8 Pro Galaxy S10+ are yet to be replaced (in typical annual
Galaxy J6+ Page 95 Page 101
update fashion) – indeed, many of the newer
releases will have been crafted to compete
Page 89 XIAOMI SONY with them directly.
VODAFONE Smart X9 Pocophone F1 Xperia XZ3 With foldable smartphones some way off
being accessible and affordable for most, and

82 JULY 2019 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 377


5G only slated for a very partial rollout in 2019
at the earliest, don’t worry about holding off
on a new smartphone. Simply read on for our
buying guide, as well as our reviews of the 18
top devices available now. With the latest
low-cost, mid-range and premium handsets
tested and ranked, there will surely be one
that’s right for you, whatever your budget.
SLIMMING LESSONS
Smartphone designers have the unenviable
job of making a device that’s all things to all
people. A good phone should be thin and light,
to make it easier to fit in pockets and sit
comfortably in the hand, but it also needs to
be tough and robust, capable of surviving
knocks, drops and scratches.
How well a phone achieves these ideals will
often depend on how much it costs. Pay more
and you’re more likely to get a slimmer
handset that’s made with tougher, damage-
resistant materials such as aluminium, whereas
cheaper phones might favour plastic. This isn’t
a hard rule, however: metal unibodies are
increasingly common on mid-range and
entry-level smartphones, and many high-end
models opt for glass backplates. This can
provide a more plush look and feel, but you’ll
have to be more careful about dropping it
than you would with a metal chassis.
While smartphones have become thinner
over the years, they’ve also become taller
and wider, thanks to a trend towards larger
displays. This is partly compensated for by
the thinning of bezels, to the point that even
budget handsets can offer almost borderless
designs, but if you’re used to using something
with less than 5in of screen space, there might
be some adjusting to do.
ISSUE 377 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | JULY 2019
JACK LACK
5G may not become the norm for some time,
but you don’t have to worry about whether
you can get the fastest current-gen data
connectivity, as 4G support comes on virtually
every smartphone as standard. Dual-band
802.11ac Wi-Fi is also common, with mainly
lower-end phones such as the Motorola Moto
G7 family using the slower 802.11n standard.
NFC support is a bit patchier. This is
something we’ve come to expect on higher-
end phones in particular, although it’s also
not a no-brainer feature like 4G and Wi-Fi.
You should therefore check the specs if you
know you’ll want to make contactless
payments with your smartphone, which is
one of NFC’s most common uses.
Elsewhere on the connectivity front, it’s
preferable to have a USB Type-C port over
Micro USB, as the former can both recharge
and transfer data faster than the latter.
Internal storage capacity can vary wildly (more
on this later), but it’s also helpful to have
removable microSD card compatibility, as this
can massively increase available storage space.
Unfortunately, 3.5mm headphone jacks are
rarer than ever. Many manufacturers cite
superior waterproofing as a reason to get rid
of them, and this can be a benefit should your
phone ever fall in a puddle or a bath, but if
you’ve got wired headphones then you’ll either
need to make use of a USB port adaptor
(often this is bundled in with the phone) or
replace them with Bluetooth headphones.
PLAYBACK IN ACTION
Back on the subject of displays, the good thing
about them becoming bigger on average – 6in
diagonally would have been considered
preposterously vast a few years ago, now it’s a
very common size – is that phones in general
have become better for reading long articles
and watching films and TV.
However, larger screens also require higher
resolutions to keep them looking sharp.
Unless you’re on a tight budget, you should
therefore try to stay above 1080p, and
potentially even above 1440p for top-tier
models. Exact resolutions will differ a lot, as
the standard 16:9 aspect ratio isn’t so standard
these days, either. Taller 18:9 screens are now
commonplace, for instance, and benefit from a
better shape for dual-app multitasking.
There are also all the usual quality aspects
to consider with a phone display: vibrancy,
contrast, brightness and so on. We’ve run our
usual display benchmarks on all of the tested
handsets to see how they compare.
TASK MANAGER
Processing performance might not seem as
important on a smartphone as it would be on,
say, a desktop PC, but each handset’s SoC
(system on a chip – a combination of CPU,
GPU and RAM) has a very direct effect on how
quickly and responsively the device runs, so
it’s worth making sure you’re not getting a
dud. Too little power, and you might find that
web pages stutter as you scroll through them,
SMARTPHONES
Android slows down as you open more and
more apps, or games don’t run at a
comfortable, playable frame rate.
To test each phone’s muscle, we use the
freely available Geekbench 4 and GFXBench
Manhattan benchmarks. Geekbench gives us
an overall indication of single-core and
multicore performance, the latter being
especially useful if you keep a lot of apps
running at once, while GFXBench Manhattan
shows how well the phone would run a
graphically intensive 3D game. It provides an
onscreen result, which takes into account the
native display resolution, and an offscreen
result, which assumes a 1,920x1,080
resolution, giving us a figure to compare GPU
capability with other devices, even if they
have a different resolution.
WHAT THE CELL
Our battery testing, meanwhile, is the same as
in our laptop-testing regimen. We measure
how long a smartphone can continuously loop
a full-screen video with flight mode engaged
and brightness set to 170cd/m2. Any phone
that lasts at least 10 hours should get through
a full day of normal, everyday use, but you
should ideally aim for more. Many phones get
to almost double that, and the longest-lasting
handset covered here – Motorola’s Moto G7
Power – lasted an astonishing 26h 22m.
GET THE PICTURE
Some smartphones focus more on their
camera setup than anything else. This
approach can have some fabulous results –
Google and Huawei in particular produce
some excellent photography technology –
though approaches typically vary. Some, like
the Google Pixel 3, only have a single rear lens.
Others adopt dual-lens or even triple-lens
cameras, the idea being that each lens can be
dedicated to a distinct function, such as
optical zoom or depth of field effects, and
can thus result in better pictures when the
images from each lens are combined.
Frankly, however, it’s not the case that
more lenses are always better, just as higher
megapixel counts don’t necessarily make for
superior images. That’s why we take a variety
of test shots with each phone, and discuss
how well each camera setup works in their
respective reviews.
ON THE UPSIZE
With storage, on the other hand, more is
always better. An onboard capacity of 32GB is
the least you should settle for unless you’re
paying absolute pennies, although it’s possible
to get 64GB for less than £200.
In the middle and at the top, onboard
storage can stretch all the way up to 256GB,
although 128GB is more than enough for
most users. If you’re worried about running
out of space, look for a phone with microSD
card support: besides adding capacity for
relatively little cash, using removable storage
also makes it easy to transfer files and
contacts between phones.
83
 BUDGET SMARTPHONES

HUAWEI Mate 20 Lite

★★★★★
£250 • From www.carphonewarehouse.com

VERDICT
The Mate 20 Lite is a respectable all-rounder,
with cuts mostly in the right places

WE’VE OFTEN EXTOLLED the virtues down with regards to softness, losing
of saving big money by buying previous- what software we some edge detail in a
generation (but still good) smartphones. could download smeary sheen. It’s
The Huawei Mate 20 Lite, however, makes from the Google still a very good
for an even better deal: it’s only a few Play Store, which camera setup for the
months old, but has already plummeted meant we couldn’t price, although if you
from its £380 launch price to just £250. see how Huawei’s specifically want
That’s incredibly tempting, as the Mate 2.2GHz octa-core great photography
20 Lite’s status as a stripped-back Mate 20 Kirin 710 chip stands on a budget, the
gives it a sleek look and some features you up to its Qualcomm Moto G7 Power is
don’t really see on others phones this cheap. equivalents. However, just as effective and
Unlocking via facial recognition is one: there’s anecdotally, it’s fine: costs even less.
a fingerprint sensor on the rear as well, but the Mate 20 Lite There are also
unlocking by simply looking at the front makes short work some niggles with
camera works well. of day-to-day the camera’s
Despite containing a large 6.3in screen, the Android tasks and optional features.
Mate 20 Lite’s 19.5:9 aspect ratio and 7.5mm has no issues with One is, awkwardly,
thickness make sure it still feels nicely slight. multitasking either. the top-billed AI
This focus on thinness has compromised the In fact, unlike most feature, which can
camera housings, however – they’re left to Android phones, it tell what you’re
poke outwards from the back, and the edges can show three shooting (be it a cat
are sharp enough that they might scratch apps onscreen at or a landscape
delicate surfaces if you’re not careful. once, not just two. scene) and tag it
There’s no wireless charging, nor any Performance in accordingly. This
officially rated dust or water resistance. On games is good, too. Again, we couldn’t run sounds cool and is impressively accurate in
the bright side, you can expand the built-in GFXBench, but instead tried playing the its labelling, but it’s the next part that’s
64GB of RAM by an extra 256GB if you relatively intensive Real Racing 3 and PUBG bothersome, as it automatically adjusts
splash out on a microSD card, and a 3.5mm Mobile, and both ran well. It defaulted to settings to take what it thinks will be the best
headphone jack is included on the bottom medium graphics settings in the latter, but shot it can muster. The results of this just
edge, next to the USB Type-C port. manually pushing things up to the high tend to make photos look oversaturated.
graphical setting in PUBG was still playable. There are other little issues, too: toggling
MATERIAL CHANGES However, the Mate 20 Lite’s performance HDR mode, for example, is done on most
One of the main differences between this and in our battery life test – which we could phones by flicking a virtual switch on your
the high-end Mate 20 is the display: here, it’s actually install – was middling, with a final main camera screen. Not here: it’s hidden
a simple LCD panel, not OLED. This typically time of 11h 22m. That’s not terrible, but away as a whole separate mode along with
means lower contrast ratios and blacks that we’ve seen Huawei phones do a lot better. panoramas, filters and timelapse. Such a vital
don’t look quite as deep tool in the photography arsenal shouldn’t be
and inky, but it’s not SEEING DOUBLE ditched here like an afterthought.
bad overall. The Mate Unsurprisingly, the Video recording is another area that
20 Lite’s display Mate 20 Lite’s rear indicates the new Kirin 710 processor may not
manages a respectable camera (which, as on be all that hot. While you can record at 1080p
88.9% sRGB gamut the front, is arranged at 60fps, you’ll have to drop the frame rate or
coverage, while offering in a dual-lens setup) the resolution if you want to use stabilisation.
a sharp 1,279:1 contrast isn’t quite as good That’s an unfortunate payoff to have to make.
ratio. Peak brightness is the P20 Pro’s, but it’s We also found that, while recording video, the
a little disappointing for an impressive system Mate 20 Lite struggled to focus a lot of the
LCD at only 405cd/m2, in its own right. In time, leading to often blurry footage. Even
but you should still favourable lighting, when it did lock on, it would distractingly hunt
find it perfectly usable the composition, detail back and forth before doing so.
in all but the brightest and colour capture
sunshine. The display’s are all excellent. CHEAPER AGENT
resolution comes in at It’s a similar story This lack of polish holds the Mate 20 Lite
2,340x1,080, so it’s also in tricky low-light back from Recommended award status,
visibly sharper than, conditions, with far less although we’d be reluctant to grant that
say, the Motorola chroma noise than most honour without full benchmark results
Moto G7 Power. smartphone cameras anyway. There’s a lot to like here, and at a
Annoyingly, the when zoomed in. newly affordable price. If you want something
handset Huawei Unfortunately, it also a bit smarter and sharper than the Moto G7
provided us was locked adds a little too much Power, the Mate 20 Lite could prove suitable.

84 JULY 2019 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 377

 BUDGET SMARTPHONES

MOTOROLA Moto G7 Play

★★★★★
£150 • From www.amazon.co.uk

VERDICT
The cheapest Moto G7 variant is also the least
powerful, but it’s still a likeable budget handset

OF ALL THE new 7th-gen Moto handsets palette, apart from better choice. This
launched this year – the Moto G7, the Moto slightly oversaturated lightweight version
G7 Power, the Moto G7 Play and the Moto G7 red, green and purple of Google’s OS is
Plus – the Moto G7 Play is arguably the least tones. The Moto G7 designed specifically
interesting. It’s not the ‘main’ Moto G7, and it Play is also capable for low-power
doesn’t have standout hardware like the of reaching a smartphones, and
Moto G7 Power’s massive battery or the sunlight-friendly uses smaller, lighter
Moto G7 Plus’s upgraded processor. peak brightness versions of core apps
What, then, does the Moto G7 Play have of 465cd/m2. to boost performance.
to offer? For one thing, it’s the cheapest, There are three There is one area
coming in at a wallet-friendly £150, and it colour modes to where the Moto G7
achieves this without losing out on hardware choose from – Play performs well,
all that much. Its Qualcomm Snapdragon 632 Boosted, Saturated and that’s battery
processor, chiefly, is both a major upgrade on and Natural – life. The G7 Play
last year’s Moto G6 Play and the same chip although strangely lasted for a total of
found in the Moto G7 and Moto G7 Power. It’s they all delivered 20h 19m in our video
also got a large 5.7in display, although there is identical results in rundown test, which
one drawback compared to its Motorola testing. It’s unclear equates to a 29%
stablemates: it only has 2GB of RAM. whether this is a bug improvement over
The phone itself is constructed almost or an oversight from the Moto G6 Play.
entirely from plastic, it weighs 149g, and is Motorola, but what As for more recent
available in either Deep Indigo or Fine Gold you see is what you competition, the only
finishes. There’s a rear-mounted fingerprint get with this phone’s screen. handset that does significantly better is its
reader on the back, which sits just beneath As mentioned, powering the Moto G7 Play own brother, the Moto G7 Power.
the camera housing and single LED unit, and (as well as the Moto G7 Power variant and Rather than following the dual-camera
the 3,000mAh battery is topped up via a USB regular Moto G7), is Qualcomm’s latest trend, the rear of the Moto G7 Play
Type-C connection at the bottom. budget chipset, the Snapdragon 632 incorporates a single 13-megapixel camera
processor. This 14nm architecture chip is unit, complete with a rather-narrow f/2.0
SINGLED OUT clocked at 1.8GHz and improves on the Moto aperture. That might not sound very
There are a few issues with the design, G6 Play’s performance by up to 78%, impressive, but the camera at least benefits
however. While the lack of IP-rated dust or according to Geekbench 4’s single- and from phase-detection autofocus for super-
waterproofing is tolerable for a phone this multicore CPU tests. In these, the Moto G7 snappy captures, and is capable of shooting
cheap, what’s less excusable is that the G7 Play scored 1,199 and 4,265 respectively. 30fps footage at a maximum Full HD
Play doesn’t have NFC support. This means resolution. An 8-megapixel f/2.2 selfie
you won’t be able to use your phone for SHORT MEMORY camera sits on the front of the phone.
contactless payments. This clearly represents a significant bump in The quality of the images is actually rather
It also doesn’t support dual-band Wi-Fi, performance over last year’s phone, but the impressive. Placed side by side with pictures
and can only connect to measly 2GB of RAM captured on last year’s Moto G6, the quality is
the 2.4GHz bandwidth. inside the Moto G7 Play just as good: there’s plenty of detail, the
This is far from ideal, and is still a major hindrance. colour palette is nice and neutral, and the
you’ll likely suffer from This year’s budget HDR mode does an effective job at lifting up
congestion and sluggish smartphone doesn’t dark, shadowy areas of an image.
download speeds when feel quite as rapid in
connecting to public operation, and slows GONE DARK
Wi-Fi networks. down noticeably when It’s not quite the same story when used indoors
The screen is better. juggling multiple in low-light conditions, however. There simply
It only has a standard operations. It’s also less isn’t the same level of detail in pictures
HD resolution of suited for graphically snapped with the Moto G7 Play’s camera, and
1,512x720, and there’s a intensive games, judging the resulting image is filled with visual noise.
chunky notch at the top by its GFXBench That said, the actual outcome is still rather
for the camera along Manhattan scores of good by budget standards; lesser low-cost
with some noticeable 20fps in the onscreen smartphones will almost invariably fare worse.
bezels, but it’s still a test and 10fps in the Ultimately the Moto G7 Power is a slightly
rather good-looking offscreen test. better buy, as its 4GB of RAM ensures more
budget display. We While it’s nice to have reliable multitasking performance, and the
measured a high the latest Android 9.0 superior camera and battery life don’t hurt
contrast of 1,724:1, and version installed, we either. If, however, you’re determined to
colour reproduction wonder if Android Go spend as little as possible, the Moto G7 Play
looks decent across the would have been a is a sensible alternative.

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 BUDGET SMARTPHONES

MOTOROLA Moto G7 Power

★★★★★
£180 • From www.carphonewarehouse.com

VERDICT
Cheaper than the Moto G7 and packing superlative battery life,
the Moto G7 Power is the new budget phone to beat

OF THE FOUR new Moto smartphones, 481cd/m2 brightness of the other Moto G7
the Moto G7 Power sits around the lower- and a contrast ratio variants even come
middle in both specs and price. of 823:1. The Moto G7 particularly close.
It has the same Qualcomm Snapdragon Play achieves a higher Finally, we come to
632 processor as the standard Moto G7 contrast, but has the camera, another
and the Moto G7 Play, but importantly has lower brightness. key point of difference
more RAM (4GB) than the Moto G7 Play Performance, on between the Moto G7
and its 2GB of memory, not to mention a the other hand, is and the Moto G7
larger 6.2in display. more or less identical Power. While the
However, this screen has a lower to the Moto G7, Moto G7 Power has a
resolution (1,520x720) than the Full HD something to be single 12-megapixel
Moto G7. Where the Moto G7 Power expected with both camera with an f/2.0
stands out, however, is its battery: it’s a handsets having the aperture, the G7 has
massive 5,000mAh unit, dwarfing even the same CPU and RAM. a brighter f/1.8
Moto G7 Plus’s 3,500mAh battery. Likewise, it slips in aperture and a
just ahead of the second, 5-megapixel
BIG BROTHERS Moto G7 Play, depth-sensor lens for
Despite all these internal differences, the thanks to having arty shots with
Moto G7 Plus looks virtually identical to the double the amount blurred backgrounds.
Moto G7, and that’s no bad thing: both of RAM. Specifically, On paper, that
phones give the passing impression of costing the Moto G7 Power gives the Moto G7
at least twice what they actually do, with 6.2in scored 1,258 in two clear advantages.
displays that adopt a long 19:9 aspect ratio. Geekbench 4’s single-core test and 4,540 in In practice, the pictures these two phones
The polycarbonate backplate is the most the multicore test, which also happens to be produce are only barely distinguishable,
noticeable hint that this is a budget device, just a tiny bit behind the most expensive and certainly don’t represent £60’s worth
but it is joined by a fingerprint reader. Moto G7 Plus and its Snapdragon 636. of difference. Moto G6 owners will be
There’s also a microSD slot and a 3.5mm unsurprised to learn that both snappers
headphone jack, making the Moto G7 Power STAYING POWER are extremely good for the money, and while
even more convenient. Another win for the Moto G7 Power comes the standard Moto G7 shoots better photos
Stretching a standard HD resolution over the Galaxy J6+, which only managed 644 on the whole, the G7 Power isn’t far behind
over 6.2 inches may sound ill-advised, but in the single-core test and ,1,815 in the considering the price difference.
the Moto G7 Power’s display isn’t a bad multicore test – a particularly hard drubbing The narrower aperture doesn’t make a
performer for the in the latter’s case. great deal of difference, either. In our low-light
price. Colours are The Moto G7 Power test shots, there’s very little in it, with the
bright and punchy, and is much better for Moto G7’s shots looking only slightly brighter.
things look decidedly games, too, even if it
crisp even with the can’t quite handle SHOT DOWN
drop below Full HD. the toughest 3D titles. The one area where the Moto G7 does have a
Because it’s IPS Its GFXBench clear advantage is video. While the Moto G7
technology, contrast Manhattan onscreen Power is limited to 1080p footage at 30fps,
isn’t perfect, coming and offscreen results, the Moto G7 can capture 4K video with the
in at a decent but of 20fps and 18fps same 30fps speed. This is puzzling: there’s
uninspiring 914:1. respectively, easily no technical reason why this should be the
It reaches a high trounce those of the case as they both have the same processor.
peak brightness of Galaxy J6+. Both of It’s possible that Motorola wanted to hold
506.9cd/m2, however, these phones have back a premium feature to justify the price
and covers 90% of the 720p resolutions, so hike, but if 4K footage is important to you,
sRGB colour gamut in the difference is then the Moto G7 has the edge.
the most accurate entirely down to We’re used to the main Moto G model
Boosted mode. There processing power. being a budget champion, but this time it’s
are better screens in The Moto G7 one of the cheaper versions that steals the
this price bracket, but Power is without show. The Moto G7 Power may have a
there are much worse equal on battery life. lower-resolution screen, a (slightly) weaker
ones as well, such as Lasting an incredible camera setup and video recording limited
that of the Samsung 26h 22m, only the to 1080p, but the 66% bigger battery is
Galaxy J6+, and it is discontinued Lenovo certainly hard to argue with, and you’re
actually slightly better P2 has gone on for getting the same general performance for
than the Moto G7, longer, and neither £60 less. Even compared to the cheaper
which only reached the Galaxy J6+ nor any Moto G7 Play, the Moto G7 Power is a steal.

86 JULY 2019 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 377

 BUDGET SMARTPHONES

NOKIA 7.1
★★★★★
£189 • From www.amazon.co.uk

VERDICT
It’s nicely designed and has a great camera,
but otherwise this is an uninspired handset

LIKE THE HUAWEI Mate 20 Lite, this is The Nokia 7.1’s a hit to both battery
another smartphone that’s quickly shed a chip, a Qualcomm life and onscreen
mid-range price to become much more Snapdragon 636, is a gaming performance,
affordable. At £189, it’s only slightly more step up from the but then there are
expensive than the Motorola Moto G7 Power, Snapdragon 632 used devices with many
and the same price as the Samsung Galaxy by Motorola’s Moto more pixels to push
J6+, but since it launched late in 2018 at £299, G7 Play and Moto G7 that can keep going
you can expect a somewhat more plush Power. As a matter of for far longer, so it’s
design and more potent internals. fact, it’s the same most likely an
Indeed, even for its original price, the chip that powers undersized battery
Nokia 7.1 looks lovely. As with the rest of the mid-range that’s to blame.
Nokia’s recent phones, it’s crafted from a Moto Z3 Play, and As for the Nokia
single piece of aluminium, with attractive as such performs 7.1’s photographic
chamfered edges that also make it sit snugly just about identically capabilities, it features
in the hand. It’s also well equipped for in most tasks a dual-camera
connectivity, with both USB Type-C and and benchmarks. arrangement on the
3.5mm audio ports, a combined nano-SIM and Nokia’s handset rear: one is a regular
microSD card tray, and Bluetooth 5.0 support. scored 1,344 in 12-megapixel
Conversely, the single speaker on the Geekbench 4’s wide-angle sensor,
bottom edge is a bit of a let-down. Of course, single-core test and while the other is a
phone audio is never going to be the last 4,906 in its multicore 5-megapixel depth-
word in hi-fi, but the Nokia 7.1’s output feels test, both of which sensing lens for
particularly limited and sounds rather flat are within 23 points of the Moto Z3 Play. bokeh-effect portrait shots. On the front is
across a range of genres. However, while that represents a somewhat an 8-megapixel selfie snapper.
mediocre showing for a £380 handset like the Outdoors and in good light, the Nokia’s
STREAM POWERED Moto Z3 Play, the Nokia 7.1’s price drop makes camera performance is rather good. In these
Front and centre is the 5.8in, 2,244x1,080 IPS it one of the more powerful smartphones you conditions, our test shots were bursting with
display, complete with a rather chunky bezel can buy for less than £200. Perhaps Nokia crisp details, and colours were both neutral
underneath and a narrow iPhone XS-like realised that this phone couldn’t compete and accurate. The HDR mode also worked
notch digging into the top of the screen. with more powerful mid-range phones, very well, equalising bright and dark areas
It’s capable of handling HDR content, with such as the Xiaomi Pocophone F1, and effectively without making everything look
support for YouTube, Amazon Prime Video slashed the 7.1’s price so that it would unnaturally candy-coloured.
and Netflix. attract more favourable comparisons. In low light, the Nokia 7.1 achieves the
Rest assured, this is perfect balance of grain to noise suppression,
a high-quality screen, GAME OF PHONES with the camera retaining an impressive
especially for the price. It’s certainly true that amount of detail and colour. This camera
We found it covered gaming performance holds up to the quality of the Moto G7
99.4% of the sRGB has more in common Power’s, and that’s saying something.
colour gamut, with with cheaper handsets
lovely-looking colours than the best AIM LOWER
across the entire mid-rangers; the Nokia We initially thought of the 7.1 as a dull
palette. The screen 7.1 managed only 15fps smartphone; a competent one, sure, but one
resolution translates to in the GFXBench that offered little compelling reason to buy
a dot pitch of 432ppi, Manhattan 3 onscreen when there were so many better mid-range
and everything from test, plus 16fps in the phones. The situation has changed now that it
text to images looks offscreen test. costs a more agreeable £189, and there’s no
pin-sharp as a result. Battery life is denying how hard it is to find an all-metal
Brightness isn’t too similarly humdrum, as smartphone with a great camera at this price.
shabby, either. We the Nokia 7.1 lasted Nonetheless, we still wouldn’t count it
measured a maximum only 10h 11m in our among the very best budget smartphones.
of 524cd/m2, which is video rundown test. It’s relatively powerful, and that rear camera
fine for outdoor use, It’s not an awful result, does some good work, but battery life
though you may have but the Moto G7 underwhelms and gaming performance
to squint on the Power embarrasses it doesn’t stand up as well as more general CPU
sunniest of days. A by lasting more than performance. We prefer the Moto G7 Power:
polarised coating helps twice as long. It could despite a lower screen resolution, it’s a more
cut down on glare, as be argued that the 7.1’s exciting device than the Nokia 7.1, with
does the high contrast higher-resolution competitive performance, a similarly capable
ratio of 1,373:1. display is worth taking rear camera and the best battery life around.

87
 BUDGET SMARTPHONES

SAMSUNG Galaxy J6+

★★★★★
£190 • From www.carphonewarehouse.com

VERDICT
A serviceable budget phone, but below-
average performance hurts it

SAMSUNG’S GALAXY RANGE isn’t entirely running two apps at you can’t remove
composed of its premium S-series handsets. once is likely to feel Samsung’s own
The Galaxy J6+ is still recognisably related to sluggish, and you’re preinstalled
those high-end models, but squeezes the also unlikely to be applications. Even if
price to £190. running the best- you choose to use
Understandably, this has meant cutbacks. looking games at their Google’s apps, you’re
For instance, while the J6+ has a familiar top graphical level. stuck with Samsung’s
Galaxy shape, there are none of the fancy The GFXBench inferior calendar, web
curved edges that have been a Galaxy S Manhattan 3 onscreen browser and gallery
mainstay for years now. test returned an apps taking up space
Still, it’s a fairly modern design. There’s no average frame rate of on your phone as well.
physical home button, and the fingerprint only 6fps, as well as At the rear of the
reader takes up a new residence on the side just 3fps in the Galaxy J6+ is a
of the phone. It’s a very comfortable way to offscreen test. 13-megapixel camera,
unlock the phone – as long as it’s already in The best thing plus a separate
your hand, and not down on a table. about the Galaxy J6+’s five-megapixel depth
hardware is its sensor, which can be
MICRO MANAGEMENT stamina. It managed to used for adding
As has proven common with budget phones, last 17h 50m in our artistic bokeh effects
there’s no IP-rated dust or waterproofing, but continuous video to your shots. It’s
that’s a small quibble compared to the lack of playback test, which impressive to see a
USB Type-C. Instead, Samsung has included a might not be on a par dual-sensor array on
Micro USB port, so you can’t take advantage with the Moto G7 Power but is still an a phone at this price: it wasn’t so long ago
of faster charging or data transfers. excellent display of battery longevity. You that such things were the preserve of
The screen is huge, at 6in diagonally, should easily be able to cruise through the handsets costing three times as much.
though this is another 720p device: 1,480x720, day without worrying about having to top up, In good light, it does an excellent job.
to be exact. That means it’s far from the which considering you’d be doing so over Pictures come out with plenty of detail,
sharpest display, and with sRGB gamut Micro USB is definitely a good thing. colour reproduction looks top-notch, and the
coverage of 83%, it could be more vivid as HDR mode effectively fills in shadowy areas.
well. However, with a good contrast ratio of SKIN TIGHT Even notoriously tricky objects such as tree
1,109:1 and a maximum brightness of The Galaxy J6+ runs Android 8.0, rather foliage, building brickwork and wispy cloud
493cd/m2, this display has its upsides too. than the newer 9.0 version, but Samsung’s layers are captured well.
The J6+’s big screen is also ideal for custom skin is generally clean and close We like the ‘live focus’ camera setting, too,
multitasking, although making the most of enough to stock Android. It isn’t quite as which allows you to use an onscreen slider to
this usually requires a powerful CPU – and slick as Google’s own launcher, and some adjust the degree of background blur before
that’s something this smartphone sorely of the app icons look a bit child-like, but capturing your image. It’s easy and intuitive to
lacks. Rather than using the experience feels use, and the results look great.
one of its own Exynos responsive and snappy. As the light dims, however, the Galaxy J6+
chips, Samsung has One feature that struggles, with noise and compression
opted to power the J6+ Samsung seems artefacts marring our low-light test scene.
with Qualcomm’s ageing particularly pleased with
Snapdragon 425 chipset, is the Dual Messenger NONPLUSSED
dating back to 2016 and option, which lets you The Galaxy J6+ makes a good first impression,
clocked at just 1.4GHz. add multiple accounts but after using it for a while we became a tad
As a result, the to your ‘favourite disappointed. It’s decent enough: the screen is
Galaxy J6+ is distinctly messenger apps’. This fine, the camera takes nice shots and there’s
behind the curve on means your personal enough power here to run Android smoothly,
performance. Its message threads are as long as you keep your expectations
Geekbench 4 scores, of kept separate from realistic and your operations basic.
664 in the single-core your professional ones. However, Samsung’s J-series phones once
test and 1,814 in the It’s pretty convenient rivalled the absolute best of Motorola’s, and
multicore test, make this if you’re ever nervous this particular handset simply isn’t strong
clear: the Nokia 7.1 and about accidently enough to carry on that tradition. The Moto
entire Moto G7 family sending an G7 range shows that it’s possible to create a
roll over it in both tests. inappropriate message truly desirable phone (several, in fact) on the
Navigating the to the wrong recipient. cheap; here it just feels as if Samsung has
menus and playing The only annoying failed to find the magic ingredient, resulting
around with apps is thing about Samsung’s in a phone that’s not awful for the price, but
smooth enough. But OS modifications is that not an irresistible bargain either.

88 JULY 2019 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 377

 BUDGET SMARTPHONES

VODAFONE Smart X9
★★★★★
£99 • From shop.vodafone.co.uk

VERDICT
The Smart X9 is the best kind of budget phone: dirt-
cheap yet more capable than the price suggests

WHILE THE IDENTITY of Vodafone’s 762 in the Geekbench rarity, so Vodafone

hardware manufacturer partners remains a 4 single-core test deserves credit for
mystery, it’s a partnership that’s produced and 3,858 in the managing to achieve
some marvellous budget phones, such as the multitasking test. that here. It’s a
Vodafone Smart N8 (Shopper 356). The latest It beats the Galaxy 16-megapixel primary
Smart X9 costs a few pounds more, but it still J6+, however, so camera with an f/2
provides a great entry-level option. despite being the aperture supported
It says a lot about how smartphone design cheapest smartphone by a 5-megapixel
has progressed that the Smart X9 could here, it’s not the secondary camera
feasibly pass for a recent flagship. A 5.7in, weakest. The same for adding depth
18:9 display is encased in thin bezels, with no goes for gaming to your shots.
ungainly notch in sight, and the rear side is performance, too: The results aren’t
pleasingly minimalist. The dual-camera array averaging 9fps in amazing, but they’re
is neatly contained in the top left-hand corner, both the onscreen an awful lot better
and the circular fingerprint reader sits near and offscreen than you might
the top in the middle. A Vodafone logo is portions of GFXBench expect for the price.
barely visible near the bottom. Manhattan, the Smart Our test shots
X9 can’t top the Moto managed to pack in
PUT IN PRINT G7 Power (which, it an impressive degree
This is, however, the first indicator that you’re should be noted, has of detail, to the point
not dealing with an expensive model. Not only a lower resolution), where the Smart X9
is the back panel a magnet for fingerprints, but it beats the could even match the
but it’s quite clearly plastic, not glass or metal. Galaxy J6+ quite handily. It’s still not powerful Moto G7 Power in certain conditions.
This is a fair cop for £99, and plastic does help enough to run the toughest games on high In low light, it even managed to surpass
keep the weight down compared to more or probably even medium settings, but more Motorola’s handset by capturing more detail
premium materials, but we wish Vodafone had basic 2D titles will run fine. when zoomed in; by comparison, the Moto G7
done something about the smudging issue. Power’s pictures came out a bit softer.
A microSD card slot is available to beef up BEARER OF AD NEWS You can’t have everything, however, and
the limited 32GB of internal storage space, It helps that the Smart X9 is practically the front-facing camera shows significantly
and there’s also a 3.5mm headphone jack on bloatware-free. There are just three bundled greater weakness than that of the Moto G7
the top edge, which is always welcome. Vodafone apps when you first switch it on: Power. What you have here from the
The 2,160x1,080 IPS display is surprisingly Start, Tips and My Vodafone (the last of 8-megapixel front-facing camera is shots
nice as well. Not only does it have a sharper which was amusingly trying to sell us the that lack depth and are thoroughly
resolution than the Moto G7 Play, Moto G7 Samsung Galaxy S10 on the homescreen, just overprocessed, especially if you crank up
Power and Samsung Galaxy J6+, but it in case you feel like trading in your new the ‘beauty’ settings.
outdoes them all on colour performance, handset for a phone that’s seven times more Video footage could also be better. The
covering 99% of the expensive). Regardless, Smart X9 can only record at a maximum
sRGB gamut. Such navigation feels snappy 1080p resolution at 30fps, and there’s no
vibrancy is aided by a enough, but you will stabilisation to speak of, so videos tend to
high 1,436:1 contrast notice some slowdown look unappealing shaky.
ratio, and the peak compared to more
455cd/m2 brightness expensive handsets. THE SMART CHOICE
isn’t half bad either. Battery life is fine, Even with these odd flaws, the Smart X9
Processing power is if unspectacular repeatedly punches well above its
where the Smart X9’s compared to some of featherweight pricing. You’re getting far
ultra-budget nature is the other smartphones more here than any previous £100-ish
most apparent. on test here. The Smart smartphone has offered, from the capable
Internally, it’s equipped X9 has a 3,100mAh rear camera to the Full HD display.
with a Qualcomm battery, which kept If at all possible, it’s worth spending
Snapdragon 450 fuelling it for 13 hours in more to get the Moto G7 Power, which offers
processor and 3GB of our looped video test. both better overall performance and a much
RAM, an identical That’s better than the longer-lasting battery. It costs another £80,
setup to the Motorola Huawei Mate 20 Lite which is nearly a whole second Smart X9, but
Moto G6 – a previous- and Nokia 7.1, but miles that’s not a vast amount of money in the
generation handset. behind the Galaxy J6+ grander scale of smartphones.
Unsurprisingly, then, it and Moto G7 Power. Otherwise, if £100 really is your limit –
falls behind the more A £99 smartphone and you’re willing to buy on PAYG, with
recent Moto G7 models with a dual-camera Vodafone being the only mobile network
in benchmarks, scoring array is something of a provider – then you could do a lot worse.

89
 MID-RANGE SMARTPHONES

HONOR View 20
★★★★★
£489 • From www.ebuyer.com

VERDICT
Not just a superb pseudo-flagship, the View 20’s design
makes it one of the most exciting smartphones in ages

HONOR MIGHT NOT be known for world- slight blue tint when phone’s camera app
firsts, but it’s nabbed one with the View 20: you’re viewing the gives you the option
this is the first smartphone with an in-display display from the side. of shooting in both
front-facing camera, tucked away in a little Much more 48MP and 48MP AI
hole-punch section in the top left-hand exciting is the Ultra Clarity modes.
corner. Besides doing away with any kind of processor: Huawei’s Both produce images
notch, this also allows for a design that, save Kirin 980, the same of the same
for a tiny sliver of black at the bottom, is octa-core chip that resolution, but
almost entirely bezel-free. powers the flagship judging from our
To make it even less obtrusive, the camera Mate 30. It’s here in test shots, the latter
lens width has been shrunk from 6mm (like a much cheaper can capture finer
on most smartphones) to 4.6mm. This handset, and pushes detailing. The
attention to detail also extends to the rear the View 20 to trade-off is that
panel, where there’s a gorgeous laser-etched fantastic Geekbench pictures take a little
‘V’ pattern. All in all, the View 20 is one of the 4 scores of 3,259 in longer to capture, so
best-looking smartphones around. the single-core test you’ll need good
It’s practical, too. On the top edge is both and 9,729 in the lighting or a perfectly
a 3.5mm headphone jack and an IR blaster, multicore test. That still subject.
which allows you to control TVs, air makes the Kirin 980 Generally
conditioners, projectors and other appliances even more powerful speaking, the Mi 8
through the pre-installed Smart Remote app. than the Snapdragon Pro takes even
There’s no expandable storage, but with 845, which in turn sharper shots,
128GB built in, this isn’t such a big omission. makes the View 20 the fastest Android especially in low light, where the View 20’s
NFC, dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth phone you can buy for less than £500. resulting photos look noticeably noisy. Things
5.0 are all supported, too. can be greatly improved on Honor’s handset
A little less convincing is Honor’s claim SMOOTHING OVER by turning on HDR, however, and you can
that the View 20’s internals are water- Gaming on the Mali-G76 MP10 GPU is electric, shoot 4K video at 60fps, something the Mi 8
resistant. There’s no official IP rating for dust too: the View 20’s GFXBench Manhattan Pro can’t do. The forward-facing camera isn’t
or water, so we’d suggest playing it safe and results of 59fps in the onscreen test and quite as absurdly high-res as the rear one, but
keeping it well clear of puddles and pools. 85fps in the offscreen test put it on about it’s still a 25-megapixel sensor and thus takes
equal footing with the OnePlus 6T, and ahead some impressively detailed portraits.
BOLD MOVES of the Xiaomi Pocophone F1. In addition to the View 20’s regular
The 6.4in display is IPS, not OLED, but with an Battery life is also pretty decent, if nothing cameras, there’s also a rear-facing Time-of-
aspect ratio of 19.5:9 and a sharp 2,310x1,080 special. The View 20’s 4,000mAh battery Flight (TOF) sensor for 3D scanning, and a
resolution, it makes a good first impression. lasted 14h 41m in our video playback test, centre-weighted IR sensor for depth. These
However, once we a little behind the allow you to scan small objects from around
started taking more Xiaomi Mi 8 Pro as well one metre away, and then apply 3D
detailed measurements, as the Pocophone F1. animations to your digital captures.
the results were slightly The good news is that
disappointing. In if you’re running low SCAN ARTIST
Standard mode, peak on juice, the View 20 Right now, this is mostly a bit of fun –
brightness reaches only can be fast-charged to animating re-creations of figures and toys,
a middling 387cd/m2, 55% in just 30 minutes, for example – but its potential is exciting.
while contrast ratio is an and fully charged in Honor has indicated that in the future,
underwhelming 969:1, around an hour. the sensor could be used to scan entire
and sRGB gamut The View 20’s rear buildings and visualise large-scale projects in
coverage is 90.2%. camera isn’t as small real time through the use of AR.
Switching to the as the front-facing For now, the View 20 is still a great
Vivid mode makes one, but it’s still smartphone. It’s about as expensive as you
improvements across noteworthy thanks can get without tipping into outright high-end
the board, with to its staggering territory, which means it’s not a mid-range
410cd/m2 peak 48-megapixel bargain in the same vein as the Pocophone F1,
brightness, 1,035:1 resolution. This but then it’s also capable of competing with
contrast and 97.4% represents a total of handsets costing £800 and more. Its
sRGB coverage, but this 8,000x6,000 pixels, the processing power is truly top-tier, and the
comes at the cost of highest we’ve ever seen notchless, ultra-modern design is a thing of
colours looking less from any smartphone. beauty. If its display and battery life were
accurate and more To make the most better, it could even go toe-to-toe with the
saturated. There’s also a of all those pixels, the outstanding OnePlus 6T.

90 JULY 2019 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 377

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MOTOROLA Moto Z3 Play

★★★★★
£380 • From www.amazon.co.uk

VERDICT
Motorola’s modular phone is back, but mediocre performance
and a dodgy camera make it an uneasy return

WE’VE ALWAYS LIKED the Moto Z Play edge-to-edge display, F1, for instance, can
series. Its attachable Moto Mods could have which isn’t strictly be had for less than
been a silly gimmick, but many of them are true; there are quite £300, and still crushes
genuinely useful, and underneath this clearly defined the Snapdragon 636
modular functionality has always been quality, bezels on all sides with its high-end
reliable core hardware that would make each and, while they’re Snapdragon 845.
phone a good buy even if you couldn’t whack slim, it is by no Battery life
a magnetic power pack directly on the back. means an edgeless presents more bad
The Moto Z3 Play is the third in this line. It phone. The display news, as this phone
looks similar to the Z2 Play (Shopper 357), and still hits the 18:9 appears to be a
can use the same Moto Mods, but is a touch aspect ratio, downgrade on the
bigger at 157x77x68mm, thanks to the display however, and with Moto Z2 Play. That
growing by 0.5in. It’s also 11g heavier, at 156g. both a Super phone lasted for a
Moto Mods work by clipping on to the AMOLED panel and superb 19h 33m in our
rear. In addition to a bigger and longer-lasting a high 2,160x1,080 video test, but the
battery power pack, you can add hardware resolution, it looks Moto Z3 Play only
that can vary the phone’s capabilities: there’s very good indeed. managed 16h 10m. We
an insta-share projector that will blow up your Coverage of the say ‘only’ – that’s still
phone’s display to 70in; a Polaroid-style sRGB gamut hit a full a good result by most
printer that can produce real, physical 100% in our tests, standards – but a step
photographs taken by your phone’s camera; a but be warned, the back nonetheless.
gaming pad accessory; and a variety of cases Vibrant screen The rear-facing
that double up as JBL Bluetooth speakers. setting massively oversaturates the screen. camera on the Moto Z3 Play comprises two
At first glance, the Moto Z3 Play appears We’d suggest leaving it in Standard mode. lenses, one 12-megapixel with f/1.7 aperture
not to have a fingerprint reader, but it’s just in and one 5-megapixel with a depth sensor. This
an unusual position. Instead of sitting at the MILD THING setup can shoot video at an impressive 2160p
back or bottom of the phone, it resides on the The Moto Z3 Play is equipped with a at 30fps or 1080p at 60fps. The 8-megapixel
right side of the phone beneath the volume Qualcomm Snapdragon 636, a direct upgrade f/2.0 aperture selfie camera is no throwaway
button, a place usually reserved for the power from the Moto Z2 Play’s Snapdragon 626, effort either, also capturing 1080p footage at
button, which has been moved to the left. It’s along with 4GB of RAM. In Geekbench, the 30fps. However, the footage is not
unusual, but it works – when we picked up the Moto Z3 Play scored an uninspiring 1,330 in electronically stabilised, so the outcome
phone, our thumb was always naturally drawn the single-core test and 4,929 in the multicore tends to be on the shaky side.
to the sensor. Left-handed users can easily test. These are nearly identical to the Nokia There are a number of fun photo modes
use their index finger, too. 7.1’s scores, which isn’t surprising as they to play around with in the Moto Z3 Play’s
share a processor, although the 7.1 also camera software, the best of which is the
DEAF METAL happens to be less than half the price. cutout filter. This excels at capturing photos
In less positive news, Motorola’s phone of household pets, which can then be quickly
the Moto Z2 Play’s also matches the 7.1 on juxtaposed with either a stock background or
3.5mm headphone jack gaming performance, any photo off your phone, often to hilarious
has been culled, leaving which is to say it effect. There are loads of face filters and video
you with just a USB underwhelms for the modes to choose from, and the software is
Type-C port and an price. In the GFXBench well labelled and simple to navigate.
unwieldy 3.5mm-to- onscreen test it ran at
Type-C adaptor. What’s 15fps, only rising to SAVED BY THE CELL
worse is that this 16fps in the offscreen Camera quality is another letdown, however.
adaptor didn’t work for test, so while it can Details are often blurred and dull when on
us: no matter which handle basic 2D titles superior smartphone cameras they might
wired headphones we without issue, it’s really appear crisp and defined. Even outdoors, it
used, plugging in the not suitable for playing was hard to even vaguely make out the
adaptor did nothing to the most demanding brickwork patterns on nearby buildings.
stop audio being played Android games. Luckily for Motorola, the Moto Z3 Play’s
from the phone’s It’s problematic display quality, versatility through Moto Mods
speakers instead. enough that the Moto and long battery life (even if it is a downgrade)
Bluetooth headphones Z3 Play is only as fast as go some way to make up for its performance
worked fine, but still, a £189 handset, but and camera problems. Even so, there are far
this is a fairly serious then there’s also the better-value choices in the mid-range: the
technical mishap. matter of what else you Pocophone F1 is unbeatably powerful for its
Motorola claims that can get for the money: price, and the Honor View 20 delivers flagship
the Z3 Play has a 6in the Xiaomi Pocophone features without the usual £500-plus outlay.

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PALM Phone
★★★★★
£350 • From shop.vodafone.co.uk

VERDICT
Intriguing but flawed, this utterly tiny smartphone
isn’t the comeback device Palm needs

PALM, BEST KNOWN for the PalmPilot PDA despite being used Otherwise, it
from the mid-1990s, is back with a most to bigger handsets. looks and behaves
peculiar smartphone: it’s an Android handset, The onscreen like any other
but with a tiny 3.3in screen it looks almost like keyboard can feel Android phone.
a humorous parody of a modern handset. cramped, however. With full Android
It’s no joke, though, and makes a certain In Geekbench 4’s app support, you
sense: with display sizes having exploded in CPU benchmark, shouldn’t encounter
recent years, there could be room for a much the Palm Phone any issues installing
smaller device on the market, even if it is achieved a applications, and the
mainly intended as a backup phone for leaving single-core score of phone’s settings
in the car or taking on holiday. It’s fairly well 684 and a multicore menu functions as
equipped, too, with an octa-core Snapdragon score of 2,849, you’d expect. You
435 chip, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of storage and while the GFXBench can also add widgets
support for microSD cards up to 256GB. A Manhattan gaming such as Google
12-megapixel camera sits on the rear, with an test saw it average calendar and
8-megapixel snapper on the front. 12fps onscreen. weather information
Alas, the Palm Phone’s availability is a bit Don’t get too hung to the right of the
of a hurdle. First of all, it’s exclusive to up on those homescreen, and
Vodafone in the UK for £350 with a £10 numbers, however: Google Assistant
pay-as-you-go SIM. Two-year contracts, on despite the slow can be accessed if
the other hand, start at a whopping £27 a boot times, most you swipe from the
month for just 500MB of data, with £129 up Android applications ran left edge of the display.
front, accruing a total cost of £777 at the without a hitch, and we didn’t experience any On the back of the Palm Phone, a small
end of 24 months. That’s flagship money. noticeable stutter or lag while navigating bulge houses a solitary 12-megapixel rear
menus or dropping in and out of apps. camera, with a single LED flash sitting
SHRUNK SOUL BROTHER The Palm Phone is also capable of running underneath the lens. That’s a pretty basic
It might take some getting used to if you’re most Android games, but there’s one real set of specs, but the camera software allows
familiar with big, bulky smartphones dragging problem here: because the touchscreen is you to adjust the camera’s shutter speed,
your pockets down, but the Palm Phone’s tiny so small, your thumbs will cover up good focus and ISO mode.
size gives it a certain appeal in spite of this chunks of it when using touch controls, The interface is very well implemented and
high price. Slightly smaller than a credit card, making games more difficult to play. didn’t feel sluggish or laggy when switching
the Palm Phone is capable of fitting in most That issue pales in comparison to battery between various settings. There are a handful
wallets. It looks pretty swish, too, with a life. Lasting a mere 3h 37m in our video test, of other shooting modes on offer, too,
glossy rear and rounded gun-metal grey this is a major problem for the Palm Phone’s including panorama, light tracing, instant
edges. The rear camera arrangement is quite hopes of being a viable holiday phone. In more collage and a face-softening beauty mode.
iPhone-like, with the solitary snapper situated general use, we struggled to get a full day’s The Palm Phone is capable of taking some
on the right corner, and Palm branding in the use out of a full charge. good snaps, and the 8-megapixel selfie
centre of the phone. It’s also IP68 dust- and camera on the front captures decent images,
water-resistant, though seemingly at the ROLL CALL too. Surprisingly, the results are just as good
expense of a headphone jack. The software experience here is slightly as pictures taken with the excellent Moto G6
That tiny screen uses different to most other Plus, especially outdoors, although the Palm
an IPS panel, and has a Android phones. The Palm Phone’s HDR mode was overly aggressive at
resolution of 1,280x720. phone runs a tweaked times, producing washed-out images.
That sounds low, but it version of Android 8.1
only needs to cover 3.3in out of the box – not the HAND ME DOWN
of space, so the Palm most recent version of The Palm Phone’s headline feature is clearly
Phone still looks nicely Google’s ever-popular its size but, most importantly, its diminutive
sharp. Other than mobile operating stature doesn’t really restrict you to a
relatively low sRGB system – and includes pared-down experience. This pint-sized –
coverage of 82%, it’s also a new version of the nay, shot-glass-sized phone – functions, for
a respectable performer: homescreen to get used the most part, almost as you’d expect from
peak brightness stretches to. This functions like any 2018 smartphone.
up to 518cd/m2, and the Apple’s watchOS: slide The big exception is battery life, which is
1,654:1 contrast ratio is your finger up and down sadly unforgivable, and the contract price is
nice and high, too. the screen and you’ll very hard to justify. It might be in a class of
Surprisingly, we found scroll through a list of its own – and if you did want a phone of
it easy to navigate application icons, this size, there simply aren’t any alternatives
Android with such a which are arranged – but as it stands, the Palm Phone seems a
diminutive touchscreen, honeycomb-style. half-baked first effort.

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SONY Xperia 10 Plus

★★★★★
£350 • From www.very.co.uk

VERDICT
The adoption of a 21:9 aspect ratio is intriguing, but
favouring this over the competition is a tall order

IN SHARP CONTRAST to the Palm Phone, getting an arguably sensor, the Xperia 10
the Xperia 10 Plus is as tall as smartphones budget-tier chip in a Plus uses a 12-megapixel
come; both it and the smaller, generally £300-plus mid-range camera supported by an
lower-specced Xperia 10 are fitted with 21:9 smartphone – just like 8-megapixel 2x optical
aspect ratio screens. In the Plus model’s the Moto Z3 Play, down zoom lens. This
case, it’s an enormous 6.5in diagonally, to them using the exact essentially gives you a
although it has the same 2,520x1,080 same chip. As such, choice: would you
resolution as the standard Xperia 10. Sony’s phone scored rather be able to take
Happily, the aspect ratio actually makes similarly disappointingly pictures from further
the Xperia 10 Plus easier to hold than the in Geekbench 4, with away, or be able to add
other 6.5in handset we’ve used recently, the 1,351 in the single-core blur effects to selfies?
iPhone XS Max: while it’s taller, it’s also not test and 4,909 in the We suspect the former
as wide, so the whole thing is a bit easier to multicore test. will be more practical.
grip. The downside is that you might have It’s true that In terms of image
to reposition your thumb to reach to the these results don’t quality, the Xperia 10
top or bottom corners. point towards the Plus is quite good at
The idea, according to Sony, is that since Xperia 10 Plus being taking still images in
the majority of Netflix films are shot in 21:9, slow and clunky, but bright, sunny
the new Xperia family is better for watching it’s nowhere near as conditions. Colours are
films. The added height also lets you see more fast as you can get reproduced as you see
of each app in a split-screen multitasking view. for the cash; the them, there’s plenty of
Pocophone F1 is proof detail even with objects
SHADE DEGRADE of that. The same goes for gaming, as hidden away in the background, and it seems
However, there is a problem with this screen, according to its 13fps result in the GFXBench to do a decent job at handling noise
and it will absolutely affect how films and TV Manhattan onscreen test (and 16fps in the suppression. The HDR mode successfully
look. Our colorimeter recorded sRGB offscreen test), the Xperia 10 Plus will brightens shadowy areas, although there’s a
coverage of just 77%, not to mention an struggle to play more demanding 3D games. rather brown-looking tinge to images taken
average delta-E of 2.72, reflecting quite a few with HDR enabled.
colour inaccuracies across the palate, most BIGGER IS BETTER The same can’t be said about the Xperia 10
notably with undersaturated red, pink and There’s also not an awful lot to shout about Plus’s low-light capabilities. A wider aperture
green tones. Anecdotally, we found the when it comes to battery life: the Xperia 10 would have helped here, as darker shots lose a
display somewhat dull and washed-out. Plus lasted 13h 2m in our video playback lot of detail and vibrancy.
There are a few positives to be found, benchmark, which, like many phones in this
however. A searing test, suggests functional AND ACTION
maximum brightness of yet uninspiring longevity The Xperia 10 Plus is capable of capturing
577cd/m2 is well suited in everyday use. 4K resolution footage at either 16:9 or 21:9
for sunny conditions, The one upside is that format with Sony’s excellent SteadyShot
and the contrast ratio of the Plus version’s larger stabilisation tech. Sadly, both of these
1,492:1 ensures text and battery capacity has recording formats are limited to 30fps, so
images look pin-sharp. improved the phone’s you’ll have to turn the resolution down to
It’s a shame those stamina over its smaller 1080p to enable silky-smooth 60fps capture.
iffy-looking colours put a sibling. Where sub-par Sony’s object-tracking feature is restricted to
downer on what could battery life was the lower-resolution recordings, too.
have been a big and Xperia 10’s biggest Luckily, video quality is top notch.
brilliant display. drawback, the Xperia 10 Slow-panning footage looks nice and stable,
Another difference Plus lasted four hours almost as though you’re using a professional
between the two Xperia longer than the standard gimbal. Everything looks crisp and clear, even
10 phones is power. The Xperia 10, so the higher in low light conditions.
Plus is equipped with capacity proves to be a Tally everything up and it’s clear that the
the Qualcomm worthy upgrade. Xperia 10 Plus is a vastly superior smartphone
Snapdragon 636 As for the camera, to the Xperia 10. Still, compared to the rest of
processor and 4GB of there’s a dual-lens setup the mid-range market, you’re better off
RAM, compared to the on the back, much as looking outside Sony’s range entirely; the
Xperia 10’s Snapdragon there is on the smaller Pocophone F1 is better in almost every way,
630 and 3GB. Xperia 10. But whereas from performance and display quality to
Unfortunately, even if that comes with a battery life. Sony might well be on to
you go for the more 13-megapixel camera, something with the 21:9 design, but it’s going
powerful Xperia 10 Plus, supported by a to need to try harder with the rest of its
this means you’re 5-megapixel depth hardware in the future.

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XIAOMI Mi 8 Pro
★★★★★
£484 • From www.ebuyer.com

VERDICT
It’s not as outrageously good value as the Pocophone F1,
but this is another well-priced phablet from Xiaomi

AS WITH THE Honor View 20, this is another 431.3cd/m2 makes it Cameras are
smartphone that pushes the definition of eminently usable often a weak point
‘mid-range’, but blame the makers and sellers outdoors, and as for cheaper phones,
of high-end smartphones for shifting long as you turn off but the Mi 8 Pro
standards and prices ever upwards for that. adaptive contrast starts out strongly. It
Xiaomi has already shown it can make and eye comfort, the has a dual-camera
excellent handsets for less, mainly with the screen is reasonably setup on the rear,
Pocophone F1. With its Qualcomm colour accurate. with both capturing
Snapdragon 845, dual-lens camera and huge Another highlight photographs at 12
6.2in display for less than £300, you might be is the Snapdragon megapixels. The
wondering how the Mi 8 Pro – which has all 845, which – again, primary camera
three of the same features, but costs £200 like the Pocophone has a nice, bright
more – could be worth it. F1 – propels the Mi 8 aperture of f/1.8, big
Pro to very high 1.4um pixels and
ALL CLEAR performance for its optical image
For starters, it has one of the most unusual price. With scores of stabilisation. The
designs we’ve seen on a smartphone in ages. 2,432 and 8,917 in secondary camera
The rear glass panel isn’t textured or coloured, Geekbench 4’s adds a 2x optical
but translucent bordering on transparent, so single- and multicore zoom with an
you can ogle the phone’s exposed processor tests, this phone is aperture of f/2.4, but
and circuit board. It may not be to everyone’s pretty much even on slightly smaller 1um
tastes, but it’s certainly a striking departure performance with pixels with less
from the norm. the OnePlus 6T, if by virtue of having the light-gathering ability. On the front is a single
The front is less eye-catching, but still very same chip. The 6T is a bit more expensive, 20-megapixel camera with an aperture of f/2.
high-spec. The tall 6.2in display, which unlike however, at a minimum of £499. Performance-wise, it impresses in low light,
the Pocophone F1 uses an AMOLED panel, It’s a similar story with gaming where its large sensor and sympathetic
fills almost the entire front, save for the notch performance, with both phones scoring handling of noise mean slightly cleaner, less
eating into the top edge. The volume rocker 59fps in the GFXBench Manhattan 3 muddy images than on the View 20. In
and power button sit on the right, there’s a onscreen test, although the OnePlus 6T better-lit outdoor shots, the Mi 8 Pro didn’t
USB Type-C socket on the bottom between a somehow beat the Mi 8 Pro’s offscreen test offer quite the same advantage: pictures often
pair of speaker grilles, and the dual SIM tray is score of 71 by 12 points. looked softer and, with HDR on, oversaturated,
on the right. You also get an in-screen but we’d still say it shoots slightly nicer-
fingerprint reader and an infrared face-unlock ALTERNATIVE VIEW looking pictures than the View 20.
front camera that works in the dark. There’s also the View 20 to consider. Huawei’s For video, we’d recommend paying more
There’s no dust or water-resistance rating, Kirin 980 chip was slighter faster than the for the OnePlus 6T. This can shoot 4K footage
however, and the Mi 8 Pro doesn’t have a Snapdragon 845 in general CPU performance at 60fps, whereas the Mi 8 Pro can only
3.5mm headphone jack. Most disappointingly, and gaming, and since the View 20 costs handle this resolution at 30fps. Xiaomi’s video
there’s no storage about the same as the stabilisation isn’t the best, either.
expansion, but with Mi 8 Pro, it looks a better We’re also not keen on how Xiaomi’s
128GB of storage on choice if you’re seeking a MIUI Android skin cuts out the apps drawer,
board as standard, powerful phone without forcing all your app icons onto the home
that’s less of an issue having to spend so much screen. As is the case with the Pocophone F1,
than it might otherwise on the top flagships. the redesigned icons for all the core Android
have been. NFC is also Battery life is apps have just made them ugly. It is, at least,
supported, in contrast respectable but not quick and responsive; there’s never the sense
to the Pocophone F1. class-leading. That that MIUI is slowing down Android, even if it
The 2,280x1,080 means, crucially, it isn’t does muck up the UI design.
AMOLED screen is also as good as the OnePlus
a step up from the 6T. Still, in our video EIGHT BLOOMER
Pocophone F1’s IPS rundown test, it lasted These gripes aside, the Mi 8 Pro is powerful
panel, which was already 15h 40m, which and affordable enough to be another welcome
good to begin with. The translates to a addition to the growing number of lower-
Mi 8 Pro reproduced an comfortable day of priced flagship alternatives. As to whether it’s
excellent 97.7% of the moderate use (not to better than the View 20, that comes down to
sRGB colour gamut in mention a few minutes what you find most important in a phone: the
our tests, along with the more than the View 20 performs better, and its lack of screen
perfect contrast ratio Pocophone F1, and bezels makes it even more stylish than the Mi
that AMOLED is famed almost exactly an hour 8 Pro, but Xiaomi’s phone has a better camera
for. A peak brightness of longer than the View 20). and slightly longer battery life.

94 JULY 2019 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 377

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XIAOMI Pocophone F1
★★★★★
£280 • From www.ebuyer.com

VERDICT
For flagship performance at an affordable
price, nothing beats the Pocophone F1

XIAOMI MIGHT NOT be a name you’re use, although you 5-megapixel

familiar with. Pronounced ‘shh-OW-mee’, may have to squint depth-sensing lens
the Chinese tech company is the fourth at the screen in for fancy bokeh-
most popular smartphone maker in the direct sunlight. effect photos. Neither
world, but has only recently started selling The real star, sensor is optically
products in the UK. however, is the stabilised, but the
Nevertheless, it’s made the strongest of Snapdragon 845 main camera benefits
first impressions, as the Pocophone F1 – one processor. Together from effective
of its very first UK-launched smartphones – is with 6GB of RAM, it dual-pixel phase
phenomenal value. By including the makes the Pocophone detection autofocus
Snapdragon 845, the same CPU currently F1 a true match for for speedy shots.
powering most of the world’s flagship phones, the current crop of Bokeh or no
it’s a mid-range handset in price alone. flagships: its bokeh, the
Well, perhaps not entirely: some corners Geekbench 4 Pocophone F1 is
have been cut, most noticeably in the benchmark results, capable of capturing
uninspired all-plastic chassis. Still, silver-tinted 2,454 in the single- some truly stunning
chamfered edges add a dash of class, and the core test and 8,427 in images. Our test
rounded corners and sides ensure that it fits the multicore, are as shots were bursting
comfortably in the palm. The rear-mounted close as you’d hope with crisp details,
circular fingerprint reader is easy to reach, too. to other Snapdragon accurate colours and
845 models such as a very neutral palette,
TAPPED OUT the OnePlus 6T and with the HDR mode
You even get a 3.5mm headphone jack on Google Pixel 3. successfully lighting up shadowy areas. Still
the phone’s top edge, which is quite Graphics performance is equally potent. images hold up very well under scrutiny,
refreshing, and the 4,000mAh battery is The Pocophone F1 reached a fantastic score especially in low-light conditions, with minimal
topped up via a USB Type-C charging port of 59fps in the GFXBench Manhattan noise grain and unnatural processing.
on the bottom edge. The dual-SIM slot on onscreen gaming test, as well as 68fps in Video capabilities are just as good, even if
the left edge allows for storage expansion the offscreen test, so this phone will the recording modes are rather limited. You
up to 256GB in capacity, and the volume effortlessly run any current Android game can only capture 4K footage at a maximum
rocker sits next to a slightly rounded you care to throw at it. frame rate of 30fps, for instance, and the lack
rectangular power button on the right. Compared to most other mid-range of sensor stabilisation does hamper the
There’s no dust or waterproofing, however, phones, the Pocophone F1 is incomparably quality somewhat, but video quality remains
and an even bigger issue is the lack of NFC. quick. The Moto Z3 Play, Palm Phone and impressive. There are also other shooting
This renders the Pocophone F1 unable to be Sony Xperia 10 Plus can’t hope to keep up, modes on offer, such as super-slow-motion
used with contactless payment systems like and although the Honor View 20 and footage at 120fps and time-lapse capture.
Android Pay, which could be a pain if you Xiaomi’s own Mi 8 Pro are much closer on The only questionable aspect of the
were used to such services on your old phone. performance, they both cost a lot more. Pocophone F1, besides the plasticky chassis,
The display, on is the MIUI 10 Android overlay. The app
the other hand, BUILT TO LAST icons, for one thing, are offputtingly child-like,
is wonderfully All this power typically and navigating the settings menu is trickier
uncompromised. It’s a comes at a cost to the than on stock Android; we simply couldn’t
large 6.2in, 2,246x1,080 phone’s overall battery find how to disable screen timeout.
IPS panel, matching the life. Thankfully, the App notifications don’t always show up
current trend of 18:9 Pocophone F1 has taken at the top of the screen, either.
smartphone screens. no such hit, and was These issues can be remedied by installing
It covers a respectable capable of reaching 15h a third-party launcher of your choice,
91.7% of the sRGB 29m in our continuous thankfully, but that doesn’t stop the
colour space, with an video playback test. Pocophone F1 feeling that little bit less slick.
excellent average delta-E That’s not quite as
of 1.27. The contrast long-lasting as the Moto POC SOLID
ratio of 1,371:1 also does Z3 Play, but is still more Xiaomi has mostly crafted a brilliant
justice to the images than satisfactory for a smartphone, planting its flag in UK soil with a
captured with the £280 smartphone, device that delivers utterly astonishing value.
Pocophone F1’s rear especially one with The physical design and dodgy UI aren’t ideal
dual-camera higher-end components. – this isn’t quite a OnePlus 6T-style handset,
arrangement. Lastly, The dual-camera fully replicating the flagship experience at a
a peak brightness of setup consists of a main lower price – but on performance, battery life
446cd/m2 is high 12-megapixel sensor, and camera capability, it can keep up with
enough for outdoor with a secondary rivals that cost twice as much or even more.

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APPLE iPhone XR
★★★★★
£709 • From www.debenhamsplus.com

VERDICT
The iPhone XR is not the best-equipped iPhone, but
it’s nearly as good as the XS and is far cheaper

IT WAS A frustrating wait for the iPhone XR, single-core test and Its 93% coverage
the cheapest of Apple’s latest round of iOS 11,338 in the of the sRGB gamut is
smartphones. Apple was clearly hoping to multicore test, very good too, and
focus attention on the more expensive the XR is no less the display also
iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max (Shopper 371) powerful than the supports both
before launching this, by far the most XS or XS Max, and HDR10 and Dolby
affordable handset in the range. that puts it above Vision content, so
Not that’s it’s all that cheap – in fact, it’s any existing Android compatible video
still very expensive, costing on a par with smartphone as well. content (like Netflix
high-end Android smartphones even after It’s the same story Originals) will look
dropping from its original £749 launch price. with gaming: the absolutely spiffing.
Still, at least it doesn’t hit the £1,000 mark, iPhone XR managed The camera is
like its XS-branded stablemates. 60fps in GFXBench the same as you get
It’s also tough to spot many physical Manhattan’s on the XS and XS
differences between the XR and the XS onscreen test Max: a 12-megapixel
models. The iPhone XR’s tiny bezels are only and 109 in the snapper with an
very slightly thicker than on the iPhone XS, offscreen test. aperture of f/1.8,
and the frame is matt-finish aluminium Battery life, optical image
instead of shiny stainless steel. thankfully, is much stabilisation and
Look a little closer and you’ll see that better than last 1.4um pixels,
the camera housing at the rear is circular, year’s iPhone X, giving you more
rather than oval, in shape. The iPhone XR also something that’s light-gathering
has two fewer antenna bands around the largely thanks to the more efficient 7nm capabilities over last year’s iPhone X.
edges, giving away the fact that this phone processor. It also sits exactly in the middle You don’t get the XS’s second camera, of
has only a 2x2 MIMO antenna array and can’t between the XS and the XS Max, lasting course, but you can expect better dynamic
reach the same Gigabit download speeds as 13h 29m in our video test. This isn’t exactly range in video than last year’s iPhones,
the XS and XS Max. amazing, but it should comfortably get you alongside super-smooth 60Hz stabilised 4K
The iPhone XR is slightly less water- through a moderately demanding day of use. footage. And, despite this lack of a second
resistant than the iPhone XS, rated at IP67 camera to add depth mapping, Apple’s
instead of IP68, although it will still shrug off a PANEL SURFING portrait mode is still in evidence, and it
light shower. Otherwise, the XR feels every bit The big difference between the iPhone XR has the same adjustable bokeh as on the
as good to hold and to use as Apple’s top-end and its more expensive siblings is the screen iPhone XS. The key difference here is that
iPhones, and has most of the same features, tech, which Apple is calling Liquid Retina. the iPhone XR shoots portrait images at a
including the front-facing True Depth Face ID Don’t be bamboozled by the marketing speak, wider, less flattering angle than the XS
camera. This takes however. It’s just an and XS Max, and you don’t get as many
the place of any kind IPS screen with studio-lighting effects. The results are still
of fingerprint sensor, rounded corners. extremely impressive, however.
so it’s the only Despite having a The main camera, too, is outstanding.
choice if you want nominally lower pixel It’s capable of capturing stunning images in
to unlock your density than the XS both good and poor light, aided by Apple’s
phone biometrically. (326ppi vs 458ppi), it new Smart HDR algorithm, which captures
doesn’t look at all and combines eight frames in a fraction of a
UP TO SPEED fuzzy or pixellated, second to deliver lag-free, full-range
For its core and colour accuracy photography. Although it isn’t quite a
performance, the is as you’d expect match for the Huawei Mate 20 Pro in
iPhone XR employs from an Apple terms of its stills photography, the
Apple’s latest iPhone, which is differences are small.
hexa-core mobile to say pretty
chip: the A12 Bionic. unimpeachable. BEARING FRUITS
This 7nm chip is the Brightness reaches a The iPhone XR might not be the most highly
fastest in the mobile sunny-day-friendly specced iPhone, and £709 still feels like a big
industry right now 684cd/m2, and the ask, but if you absolutely refuse to pick up a
and, backed by 3GB contrast ratio is better-value Android handset then it’s easily
of RAM, it powered unbelievably good at the best option of the current Apple crop.
the iPhone XR to an 1,736:1. While it isn’t Even if features such as the display and
impressive set of quite up to the level waterproofing are better on the iPhone XS
benchmark results. of the OLED displays and XS Max, the XR is still more than good
Scoring 4,817 in on the XS and XS enough in these areas, and even matches its
Geekbench 4’s Max, it’s not far off. more expensive siblings on pure performance.

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GOOGLE Pixel 3
★★★★★
£589 • From store.google.com

VERDICT
The Pixel 3 is Android’s standard-bearer, and
the best in its class for photography

SOMETIMES A SMARTPHONE doesn’t this only affected the Other firms may
need fancy hardware gimmicks to achieve larger phone and not be pushing out
greatness. The Pixel 3 is a perfect example: it the main Pixel 2, but phones with
represents no major departure for handheld the lack of a similar dual-camera
technology, but with just some well-executed issue on either of the arrangements, and in
core features and a single camera, it instantly new Pixel 3 devices some cases four, but
became one of our favourite phones of 2018 was a relief. the Pixel 3 launches
– and it still stands up a few months later. with only a single
The 3 is the smaller of Google’s current Pixel YOU AGAIN 12.2-megapixel rear
duo, with a 5.5in display to the Pixel 3 XL’s Unsurprisingly, the camera. This might
6.3in screen. Since the Pixel 3 XL costs £719, Pixel 3 is powered seem old hat, but
the Pixel 3 is also a lot cheaper, and benefits by the ubiquitous Google has suggested
from a much cleaner notch-less design, even Qualcomm that its HDR+
if the two have similar internals. They’re also Snapdragon 845. algorithms have
the same on the back, with an unusual but Working in tandem improved, thanks
pleasant-feeling mix of glossy and matt-finish with 4GB of RAM, to the slightly
glass and a circular fingerprint reader. this octa-core chip better image signal
propelled the Pixel 3 processor working
DRY ANOTHER DAY to scores of 2,430 and on things behind
These are the first Pixel phones to support 8,007 in Geekbench the scenes.
wireless charging, via the Qi standard, though 4’s single- and There is, however,
you can still top up the Pixel 3 with the USB multicore tests a dual-camera
Type-C port on the bottom edge, where the respectively. arrangement on the front of the phone.
SIM tray now resides. The whole thing meets That’s a 27% improvement on the Pixel 2, One is a regular 8-megapixel RGB-capturing
the IP68 specification for dust- and water- and the Pixel 3 is neither noticeably slower unit, while the other is a wide-angle lens.
proofing, too, so don’t fret about accidentally nor faster than any other Snapdragon 845 It’s very good at bokeh-like portrait
introducing it to shallow water. There’s no phones out there, although there are newer photography too, offering even better-defined
3.5mm jack, but both a Type-C adaptor and a processors that make for slightly faster portrait shots than Apple’s iPhone XS.
pair of wired Pixel earbuds are included. phones. The Huawei P30’s Kirin 980 and the The rear camera is the real star, however.
Thinner bezels mean that compared to Samsung Galaxy S10+’s Exynos 9820 both The Pixel 3 captures images with superb
the Pixel 2 (Shopper 359), the Pixel 3 has room allow their respective handsets to outperform dynamic range and colour saturation, and
for a larger 5.5in, 18:9 aspect ratio display the Pixel 3, but you’d be paying significantly the HDR+ algorithms work as well as ever,
without drastically increasing the device’s more than £589 for either of them. effectively capturing tricky areas such as
overall size. It’s also Google’s best screen yet: Things are a lot more even on the gaming cloud layers and tree foliage, while lighting
besides the higher front: in GFXBench up darker, shadowy areas.
2,160x1,080 resolution, Manhattan 3, the Pixel Low-light performance is just as good. In
we measured sRGB 3 produced 60fps in our test shots, the relatively wide f/1.8
gamut coverage at a the onscreen test and aperture camera managed to brighten dark
high 94% and delta-E 79fps in the offscreen images nicely, capturing pictures with oodles
at just 1.25. At least, we test. There won’t be a of detail. Objects looked crisp, and colour
did with the Natural game on the Google reproduction was slightly more accurate than
screen profile – all the Play Store that should images captured on the iPhone XS.
others oversaturate pose a challenge,
things. Contrast ratio is performance-wise. PROCESSED FOR SUCCESS
a perfect infinity:1, and The downside of The Pixel 3’s camera is a cut above everything
maximum brightness the upgraded else, although it could have been even better.
hits 398cd/m2. That’s processor and larger The lack of a secondary telephoto lens really
still not quite enough screen is that battery dampens the Pixel 3’s photographic versatility,
to counteract direct life is down from the and the lack of support for 4K video recording
sunlight completely, Pixel 2. Whereas at 60fps is a shame. Nevertheless, Google’s
although a circular Google’s 2017 model algorithms make this a fantastic phone for
polarising layer helps lasted 14h 17m in our taking photos.
reduce screen glare. battery benchmark, It’s clear that Google is sticking to a
Crucially, the Pixel 3 the Pixel 3 only formula with its smartphones – making a few
doesn’t suffer from the reached the 12h 22m key tweaks, without radically altering the
same blue-tinted mark. While that’s blueprint – but this hasn’t resulted in
screen-flickering issues not abysmal by any humdrum handsets. In fact, the Pixel 3 is one
that afflicted the old means, a downgrade of the best Android devices of its generation,
Pixel 2 XL. Granted, is still a downgrade. and it certainly has the best camera.

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HUAWEI P30
★★★★★
£699 • From www.amazon.co.uk

VERDICT
It’s not quite Huawei’s most exotic phone, but the
P30 still packs in lots of luxury-level hardware

THE FIRST THING to know about the P30, equally capable of yellow, blue) filter to
Huawei’s new premium smartphone, is that it running intensive impart colour to
isn’t just a smaller version of the P30 Pro. The games, according to images instead of the
two have the same processor, the Kirin 980, its GFXBench usual RGB (red,
and both have triple-lens rear cameras, but Manhattan onscreen green, blue) filter.
these are fundamentally different phones. test result of 59fps There’s also a
For a start, the Huawei P30 has a smaller and its 85fps in the 16-megapixel
screen, at 6.1in versus 6.5in, although the offscreen test. ultra-wide lens and
2,340x1,080 resolution is the same. It lacks This is, in other an 8-megapixel
the 5x optical telephoto lens of the P30 Pro, it words, one of the telephoto lens, which
isn’t as water-resistant, doesn’t have curved most powerful provides the 3x zoom.
screen edges and the battery is smaller Android smartphones Having used both
(3,450mAh versus 4,200mAh), and it also out there, although the P30 and the P30
lacks wireless charging. don’t forget that the Pro, the longer zoom
Straight away, it sounds like there’s no way Honor View 20 has makes a clear
that the P30 can reach the same highs as the the same processor, difference in
P30 Pro. However, at £699, the standard P30 and is more than £200 long-range shots, but
is a full £200 cheaper, and even without cheaper. It’s therefore for most snaps
curved screen edges we’d say it looks just as better value than the there’s not a lot in it.
good. In fact, the only thing we don’t like P30 if you’re primarily The standard P30
about the sleek, plush design is how the rear concerned with still takes very fine
camera sticks out a little further than on the performance. In the photos: outdoors,
old P20 (Shopper 365), making it prone to opposite direction, you may wish to consider colours are reproduced accurately, and fine
rocking when placed on a flat surface. the Samsung Galaxy S10+, which is £200 details such as foliage and brickwork is seldom
The P30’s inclusion of a headphone jack more expensive but a lot more powerful. lost. Low-light performance is also serviceable,
actually gives it an advantage over the P30 The P30 has much better battery life than even for the high price. A wider aperture would
Pro, which doesn’t have one, and although the View 20, however. Its time of 18h 32m in have helped sharpen things up in darker
there’s no microSD support, you can still our video playback benchmark is a fantastic conditions, but the results are still decent.
expand on the 128GB integrated storage with result. The OnePlus 6T and Galaxy S10+ still The rest of the camera setup is a touch
Huawei’s proprietary nano memory cards. come out ahead, though with leads that are a less impressive. The P30 has a 32-megapixel
lot narrower here than compared to phones f/2 selfie camera, but much of the detail this
MAXED OUT such as the Pixel 3 and Sony Xperia XZ3. is capable of capturing is smoothed away by
The 6.1in display performs brilliantly: This is a result that translates to a good day Huawei’s over-aggressive image processing.
brightness peaks at an incredible 824cd/m2 and a half of moderate use without having to 4K video capture also remains an Achilles
in auto-brightness mode, and HDR10 is recharge the P30, and if you’re careful with it, heel for Huawei. Although image stabilisation
supported for compatible content (you can the battery can go on for even longer. is much improved over previous smartphones,
find this easily enough on YouTube, Netflix you’re still unable to shoot 4K at 60fps. And
and Prime Instant SHORTER STUFF although it would be nice to use the optical
Video). Coverage of the It’s unfortunate that the zoom in video mode, there’s no way to move
sRGB gamut reaches a P30 Pro’s 5x optical smoothly from one zoom level to the next –
respectable 93.8% in the telephoto capability is there’s lots of skipping and jumping around.
display’s Normal mode; replaced by a lower 3x That’s not to mention the crazily complex
if you prefer a more zoom on the P30, but camera app, which, for instance, forces users
vibrant, if less neutral the triple-lens setup on who want to use the 40-megapixel camera at
colour palette, you can this cheaper handset is native resolution to switch to 10 megapixels
switch to Vivid mode to still great. The primary before making the ultra wide-angle and
push this up to 100%. camera has a telephoto modes available.
Since the P30 uses 40-megapixel sensor,
the same octa-core Kirin just like the P30 Pro, and NO PRO
980 as the P30 Pro, that sensor measures The P30 is a sufficiently high-quality
there’s no need to spend the same 1/1.7 in and smartphone to compete with the more fully
more for performance. employs the same featured P30 Pro. Perhaps more importantly,
It’s faster than the Google whizzy SuperSpectrum it also outperforms and lasts longer than the
Pixel 3 and OnePlus 6T technology for Pixel 3 and Xperia XZ3, two of its close rivals,
by considerable margins, supposedly improved and its display is one of the best on any
scoring 3,261 in the low-light performance. handset. It’s also relatively expensive, which is
single-core Geekbench 4 SuperSpectrum, if you’re a potential issue when the Pixel 3 and OnePlus
test and 9,587 in the unfamiliar, refers to the 6T are both below £600, but if you can spare
multicore test, and is use of an RYB (red, the cash you’re unlikely to be disappointed.

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ONEPLUS 6T
★★★★★
£499 • From www.oneplus.com

VERDICT
Even putting aside its multiple improvements on the OnePlus
6, the 6T’s core performance, design and camera are brilliant

ONEPLUS HAS BEEN flying the flag for S10+ manage to go OnePlus has
flagship-killing Android smartphones for even faster, thanks to touted software
several years now, with the OnePlus 6 their newer chips, but improvements to the
(Shopper 367) setting the benchmark for these are also a lot camera, but we
delivering high-end smartphone features for a more expensive. struggled to see any
price that significantly undercuts some of the As is the norm for difference between
finest handsets out there. Snapdragon 845 photos taken on the
With each new generation of OnePlus phones, gaming is no 6T and the 6. That’s
phone, the Chinese firm creates a ‘T’ version, bother: in GFXBench no bad thing, as the
offering a suite of nips and tucks to improve Manhattan, the OnePlus 6 produced
on the earlier OnePlus model. The OnePlus 6T OnePlus 6T achieved very nicely detailed
is, unsurprisingly, the exact same story. excellent scores of and colour-rich
At first glance, there aren’t many major 59fps in the onscreen photos, and the 6T
differences between the 6T and its test and 83fps in the does the same.
predecessor. The rounded rectangular design offscreen test, high It can’t quite
is immediately familiar, only this time it enough for any game compete with the
squeezes in a 6.4in display, which is up a on the Play Store. quality of the Pixel 3,
slither compared to the OnePlus 6’s 6.3in Although OnePlus especially when
screen. The front camera notch is smaller, too. has touted software zoomed in. But that
However, not all the changes are cosmetic. improvements to its is a more expensive
The 6T ditches the 6’s headphone jack, and OxygenOS user device, and the 6T still
the rear fingerprint sensor has been removed, interface (currently does a sterling job for
though at least in this case, it’s also replaced on its ninth generation) to optimise anyone who’s not obsessed with getting the
by a more modern in-display sensor. There’s background processes and improve very best in smartphone photography.
also facial unlocking, which works well. performance in Android, there wasn’t any The front-facing 16-megapixel camera also
Overall, the OnePlus 6T is a good-looking, noticeable difference between the 6T and the performs admirably and can handle portrait
well-built phone, and with Gorilla Glass 6 on 6. It does, however, have one of the neatest photos with blurred backgrounds for bokeh
the front and Gorilla Glass 5 on the rear, it’s and smoothest implementations of gesture effects with decent aplomb.
likely to withstand a good bit of wear and tear. control we’ve seen on an Android phone. Video performance is as solid as the
Besides the size increase, the 2,340x1,080 OnePlus 6, with 4K 60fps video capture, as
AMOLED display remains largely unchanged. GO LONG well as an impressive slow-motion mode.
That’s not a complaint: the OnePlus 6T’s OnePlus has pumped an extra 400mAh into When it comes to extras, OnePlus has
display is sharp and colourful, covering 99.6% the 6T’s battery pack, bringing it up to always erred on the side of less is more, and
of the sRGB gamut. Contrast also reaches a 3,700mAh. That’s a much-appreciated that’s the case with the 6T, too.
perfect infinity:1. upgrade, as the OnePlus 6’s main weak point There’s no IP water-resistance rating,
was a slightly disappointing battery life. although the 6T comes with silicone rings and
DEEP BREATHS In our tests, the 6T managed to last sealant to prevent occasional liquid splashes
Under the hood, the 21h 40m, outlasting the from ruining it. Nor will you find any capabilities
OnePlus 6T has the same OnePlus 6 by four hours, to turn the 6T into a pseudo-desktop
Snapdragon 845 and marking itself out as experience with an adaptor, or any dedicated
processor as its the high-end phone to AI assistant, as is the case with Samsung
predecessor and most beat on sheer longevity. Galaxy handsets. Still, these omissions are the
other flagship Android In practical terms, that closest things to cut corners you’ll find on the
phones. That chip is translates to a full OnePlus 6T; it really does feel like a top-flight
matched with 6GB or working day of power for phone with an almost mid-range price.
8GB of RAM; our review everything from web
unit had the latter. browsing and email to CHEAP THRILLS
And much like the watching videos. We’d be tempted to call the OnePlus 6T an
OnePlus 6, the 6T’s The 6T’s camera array incremental update, but that would be doing
performance is stellar. remains the same as its it a disservice. It may not be perfect, but you
In Geekbench 4, the older sibling, albeit in a can spend a lot more to get a slightly better
octa-core processor slightly slimmed-down camera and sharper screen and not
scored 2,326 in the module. The dual-camera necessarily notice the difference.
single-core test and 8,815 rear setup has a The little changes to the design and the
in the multicore test, 16-megapixel lens with a under-screen fingerprint scanner add up to
which is about as good f/1.7 aperture and a make the OnePlus 6T one of the very best
as any flagship 2018 20-megapixel lens for Android phones around, and a handset
phone. The Huawei P30 depth sensing and aiding we’d urge you to consider as your next
and Samsung Galaxy low-light photography. smartphone for work and play.

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SAMSUNG Galaxy S10+

★★★★★
£899 • From www.currys.co.uk

VERDICT
Fantastic hardware meets refined usability; the
Samsung Galaxy S10+ is absolutely sublime

THE GALAXY S10+ is a phone of rare perfect 100% SRGB Galaxy S9+, but
distinction. Not because it’s the biggest gamut coverage in what’s new is the
smartphone launch of 2019 so far, but Vivid mode (94.7% in third, 16-megapixel,
because it’s the first device we’ve tested in Standard) and contrast ultra-wide-angle lens,
ages that feels as if it brings together a wealth hitting infinity:1. with a field of view
of new features without compromising Suffice to say, this equivalent to a 12mm
anything else. Except, perhaps, the price. is a screen that is full frame lens.
In typical Samsung style, it looks great and spectacularly good for Image quality is
feels suitably opulent in the hand, with Gorilla watching video. What’s absolutely superb,
Glass on both the front and back. There’s an less likeable is that its with colour
Honor View 20-style ‘hole-punch’ camera in curved edges are a reproduction a
the top-right corner, complete with facial- little oversensitive to particular highlight.
unlocking capability, and we love the little accidental activation: if This is also one of
detail of a spinning, snake-like graphic around you’re reaching across the few smartphones
this black dot when it’s searching for a face to with your thumb, for that can compete
scan. There’s also an in-display fingerprint instance, your palm with the Google
reader, if you’d prefer. This works faster and can contact the screen Pixel 3’s rear camera
more reliably than other in-display sensors and prevent the thumb on capturing fine
we’ve used, but facial unlocking is faster. successfully pressing details, and the
Samsung has also managed not just to an onscreen control. wide-angle lens –
include a headphone jack and microSD slot, niche as it may be –
but to do so while remaining compliant with FASTER CLASS makes Samsung’s handset more flexible.
the IP68 standard for dust- and waterproofing. Thankfully, that’s a rare occurrence. What The Galaxy S10+ excels for video capture,
There’s also wireless charging and reverse you’ll notice with more regularity is that the too. It’s able not only to shoot smooth,
wireless charging, meaning the Galaxy S10+ performance of the Galaxy S10+ is impeccable, stabilised footage in 4K at 60fps, but can also
can act as a power bank – hold, say, a friend’s thanks to Samsung’s new Exynos 9820, record HDR10+ clips for video with improved
wireless charge-compatible smartphone backed up with a hefty 8GB of RAM. Even the dynamic range and ultra slow-motion footage.
against the back, or even certain accessories Huawei P30 wasn’t as fast in our benchmarks, On the front, a dual-lens approach is
such as the Galaxy Buds (Shopper 376), and with the Galaxy S10+ scoring 4,461 in taken: you get a regular 10-megapixel lens and
you can provide an emergency top-up. Geekbench 4’s single-core and 10,391 in the an 8-megapixel depth-sensing lens, although
multicore test. Only Apple’s A12 Bionic-power this can also provide a slightly wider angle of
DYNA-MIGHT iPhones are faster overall. This translates into view for group shots. It’s a decent enough
Dominating the front is the 6.4in, 19:9 aspect beautifully smooth day-to-day operation. camera for selfies, but quality does dip
ratio AMOLED display. It can run at Gaming performance is as high as you’d significantly in low light: skin tones, in
3,040x1,440 but defaults to 2,280x1,080, like as well. In GFXBench Manhattan 3, the particular, are prone to turning ghostly pale.
which could well be the better choice for Galaxy S10+ scored 56fps in the onscreen test
performance and battery life. and a monster 107fps in the offscreen test. ONE LOVE
Besides Samsung’s ‘Infinity O’ camera, The Exynos 9820 is a remarkably efficient Also deserving of a mention is the Galaxy
what’s interesting about this screen is the chip, too. Despite all that brawn and the huge S10+’s revamped interface. Dubbed One UI,
‘dynamic’ OLED tech display, the Galaxy S10+ this has to be the best software Samsung has
within it. This amounts to kept going for 21h 17m, ever put on any of its smartphones. It’s
a collection of new making it one of the few packed full of nice little details, from the
features, namely a claimed high-end phones capable animated highlighting that surrounds the
peak brightness of of challenging the front-facing camera momentarily when you
1,200cd/m2, 10-bit colour, OnePlus 6T on battery life. switch to the front-facing camera to the sheer
support for HDR10+ To be clear, that’s with the customisability of the interface. There are
content and reduced blue default 1080p resolution some less-than-useful pre-installed apps, but
light emission (without setting: go up to 1440p otherwise One UI has a cleaner look and a
having to enable eye and you’ll see a big drop, better sense of immediacy and snappiness
comfort mode). but you’ll still get more than Samsung’s previous Android skins.
According to our than enough endurance Put simply, the Galaxy S10+ is a joy to use.
measurements, the S10+ to last for a day’s use. It’s not a joy to buy, as even the cheapest
didn’t quite reach the The rear camera 128GB version is £899. That alone might be
1,200cd/m2 mark, but its adopts an increasingly enough to put potential buyers off and point
1,057cd/m2 in automatic common triple-lens them in the direction of a more affordable
brightness mode is still layout. There’s a main top-tier Android phone such as the Pixel 3.
preposterously high. It 12-megapixel lens and a There’s a difference between being expensive
delivers the goods 12-megapixel, 2x zoom and being a rip-off, though, and the exquisite
elsewhere, too, hitting a lens, as on the preceding Galaxy S10+ feels like it’s worth every penny.

100 JULY 2019 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 377

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SONY Xperia XZ3

★★★★★
£700 • From www.currys.co.uk

VERDICT
Sony’s first OLED-equipped smartphone is a success,
but it still has a tough time standing out

SMARTPHONE INNOVATION IS a mixed bag. rather than a not bad, but the
For every attractive full-body display and dealbreaker, but it’s a OnePlus 6T kept going
triple (or quadruple) camera arrangement, shame when Sony gets for hours longer, in the
there’s some gimmick like side-squeezing so close to smartphone same conditions and
controls and naff 3D face-scanning. screen perfection. with the same
For its latest flagship, Sony hasn’t exactly Another letdown is Snapdragon processor.
gone where no smartphone has before, but the removal of the The camera
its big new feature is exciting nonetheless: a 3.5mm headphone specifications might
6in OLED screen, with technology borrowed jack, although the not look particularly
from the firm’s Bravia line of TVs. Xperia XZ3 goes a long intriguing; Sony’s
This is framed by minuscule notch-free way to make up for it. latest flagship is fitted
chin and forehead bezels above and below Not only has Sony with a 19-megapixel
the screen. The panel wraps around the done a much better job f/2.0 snapper, which
sides of the device ever so slightly, too, just at making this phone benefits from
like the Samsung Galaxy S10+. look good compared to electronic image
the boxy Xperia XZ2 stabilisation for
INTELLIGENCE OPERATION and other previous super-steady shots.
Sony has also borrowed a feature originally Xperia devices, but it Sony’s effective
included on Samsung’s phones. ‘Side Sense’ comes with full IP68 predictive phase-
lets you double-tap anywhere along the protection against detect and laser
length of either side of the screen, which water and dust. autofocus setup is
launches a sub-menu for easy access to your Processing power also included.
most-used applications. AI learning plays a comes from the octa-core Qualcomm In use, however, the camera performs
big part here, too, with the phone adjusting Snapdragon 845, that classic high-end phenomenally. Images taken outdoors
the displayed apps depending on the time of smartphone staple. It’s paired with 4GB of are packed with detail, with the likes of
day and your location. Essentially, the Xperia RAM and 64GB of onboard storage, which can brickwork, chimney stacks and tree foliage
XZ3 will make sure the apps you want are be expanded up to 400GB via microSD. being picked up beautifully.
always at your beck and call – a clever use of As you can imagine, the Xperia XZ3 HDR mode also effectively helps subtly
the extra screen space. performs about as well as every other boost images by brightening up shadows,
The panel itself is seriously good. In Snapdragon 845 device out there, scoring without losing intricate details such as wispy
standard mode, we measured contrast at a 2,400 in the Geekbench 4 single-core test and cloud layers. Colours look nice and natural,
perfect infinity:1, while sRGB gamut coverage 8,950 in the multicore test. These results put especially in low-light conditions, and images
hit 99%. Switching to Super Vivid mode in the it behind the Galaxy S10+ and Huawei P30, are packed with contrast. This is a great
display settings pushed this to 100%, while but it’s still as quick and responsive as could camera for stills photography.
keeping the same contrast level and boosting be expected of a premium handset. You can also record footage at 4K
peak brightness from GPU performance resolution with HDR enabled, just like on the
335cd/m2 to 337cd/m2. was also appropriately XZ2, and the XZ3 can capture super-slow-
The large size and high, the Xperia XZ3 motion Full HD video at 960fps. Videos look
high resolution of scoring 45fps in the crisp with loads of detail and, although 4K
2,960x1,440 also make it GFXBench Manhattan 3 HDR footage is capped at 30fps, we didn’t
a pleasure for watching onscreen test and 76fps notice any juddering frame-rate issues.
videos, while text is kept in the offscreen test. The
crisp and sharp. former might seem a big RIGHT TRACK, WRONG TIME
There is an issue, step backwards from the The Xperia XZ3 is a welcome return to form
however, which is most Xperia XZ2, which for Sony. Following an abundance of middling
noticeable when white produced 59fps, but that smartphone launches, the XZ3 successfully
text is displayed on a can be explained by the gets everything right where it counts: top-tier
black background. newer model’s much performance, high screen quality and a swish
There’s clear evidence of higher-resolution display. redesign. It’s certainly a more complete
colour fringing here, with package than the Xperia 10 Plus.
hints of purples or blues CUTS BOTH WAYS Why, then, is it only getting four stars and
in the outlines of text. Unfortunately, this no award? It’s because £700 is a lot to ask for
While this issue is enhanced sharpness also a phone that, as good as it is, doesn’t
common with OLED- means battery life takes significantly outperform any of its rivals
fitted smartphones, it’s a hit. Whereas the XZ2 (including cheaper alternatives) in any
much more noticeable kept going for 20h 5m in particular department. The OnePlus 6T and
here than with any our video playback test, Google Pixel 3 are both just as good, and far
other we’ve tested thus the XZ3 ran out of juice better in individual areas such as battery life
far. It’s a minor niggle after 13h 3m. That’s still and camera quality, while costing less.

101
 SMARTPHONES

BUDGET
Award RECOMMENDED BEST BUY BEST BUY

Manufacturer HUAWEI MOTOROLA MOTOROLA NOKIA SAMSUNG VODAFONE

Model Mate 20 Lite Moto G7 Play Moto G7 7.1 Galaxy J6+ Smart X9
Power
Rating ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★
HARDWARE

Processor Octa-core 2.2GHz Octa-core 1.8GHz Octa-core 1.8GHz Octa-core 1.8GHz Quad-core 1.4GHz Octa-core 1.8GHz
HiSilicon Kirin 710 Qualcomm Qualcomm Qualcomm Qualcomm Qualcomm
Snapdragon 632 Snapdragon 632 Snapdragon 636 Snapdragon 425 Snapdragon 450

RAM 6GB 2GB 4GB 3GB 3GB 3GB

Screen size 6.3in 5.7in 6.2in 5.8in 6in 5.7in

Screen resolution 2,340x1,080 1,512x720 1,520x720 2,280x1,080 1,480x720 2,160x1,080

Screen type IPS IPS IPS IPS IPS IPS

Front camera 24 megapixels 8 megapixels 8 megapixels 8 megapixels 8 megapixels 8 megapixels

Rear camera 20 megapixels, 13 megapixels 12 megapixels 12 megapixels, 13 megapixels, 16 megapixels,

2 megapixels 5 megapixels 5 megapixels 5 megapixels

Flash LED LED LED LED LED LED

GPS Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Compass Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Storage 64GB 32GB 64GB 32GB 32GB 32GB

Memory card microSD microSD microSD microSD microSD microSD

slot

Wi-Fi 802.11ac 802.11n 802.11ac 802.11ac 802.11ac 802.11n

Bluetooth 4.2 4.2 4.2 5.0 4.2 4.2

NFC Yes No No Yes Yes Yes

Wireless data 4G 4G 4G 4G 4G 4G

Dimensions 158x75x7mm 147x72x8mm 159x76x9.3mm 150x71x8mm 161x77x8mm 148x71x8mm

Weight 172g 149g 193g 160g 178g 153g

FEATURES

Operating Android 8.1 Android 9.0 Android 9.0 Android 8.1 Android 8.1 Android 8.1
system

Battery size 3,750mAh 3,000mAh 5,000mAh 3,060mAh 3,300mAh 3,100mAh

BUYING INFORMATION

Warranty One year RTB One year RTB One year RTB Two years RTB One year RTB One year RTB

Price (SIM-free) £250 £150 £180 £189 £190 £99

Supplier www.carphone www.amazon. www.carphone www.amazon. www.carphone shop.vodafone.

(SIM-free) warehouse.com co.uk warehouse.com co.uk warehouse.com co.uk

Price (contract) £19 per month £15 per month £15 per month £14 per month £14 per month £23 per month
Prices correct at time of going to press

Supplier www.carphone www. www.carphone www.carphone www.carphone shop.vodafone.

(contract) warehouse.com mobilephones warehouse.com warehouse.com warehouse.com co.uk
direct.co.uk

Details consumer.huawei. www.motorola. www.motorola. www.nokia.com www.samsung. www.vodafone.

com co.uk co.uk com com

Part code 51092QYU PAE70021GB PAE90019GB Nokia 7.1 SM-J610F/DS Smart X9

102 JULY 2019 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 377

 SMARTPHONES

MID-RANGE
Award RECOMMENDED RECOMMENDED BEST BUY

Manufacturer HONOR MOTOROLA PALM SONY XIAOMI XIAOMI

Model View 20 Moto Z3 Play Phone Xperia 10 Plus Mi 8 Pro Pocophone F1
Rating ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★
HARDWARE

Processor Octa-core 2.6GHz Octa-core 1.8GHz Octa-core 1.4GHz Octa-core 1.8GHz Octa-core 2.8GHz Octa-core 2.8GHz
HiSilicon Kirin Qualcomm Qualcomm Qualcomm Qualcomm Qualcomm
980 Snapdragon 636 Snapdragon 435 Snapdragon 636 Snapdragon 845 Snapdragon 845

RAM 8GB 4GB 3GB 4GB 8GB 6GB

Screen size 6.4in 6in 3.3in 6.5in 6.2in 6.2in

Screen resolution 2,310x1,080 2,160x1,080 1,280x720 2,520x1,080 2,248x1,080 2,246x1,080

Screen type IPS AMOLED IPS IPS AMOLED IPS

Front camera 25 megapixels 8 megapixels 8 megapixels 8 megapixels 20 megapixels 20 megapixels

Rear camera 48 megapixels 12 megapixels, 12 megapixels 12 megapixels, 12 megapixels, 12 megapixels,

5 megapixels 8 megapixels 12 megapixels 5 megapixels

Flash LED Dual LED LED LED Dual LED Dual LED

GPS Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Compass Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Storage 128GB 64GB 32GB 64GB 128GB 64GB

Memory card None microSD microSD microSD None microSD

slot

Wi-Fi 802.11ac 802.11ac 802.11ac 802.11ac 802.11ac 802.11ac

Bluetooth 5.0 5.0 4.1 5.0 5.0 5.0

NFC Yes Yes No Yes Yes No

Wireless data 4G 4G 4G 4G 4G 4G

Dimensions 157x75x8.1mm 157x77x6.8mm 97x51x10mm 167x73x8.3mm 155x75x7.6mm 156x75x9mm

Weight 180g 156g 60g 180g 177g 180g

FEATURES

Operating Android 9.0 Android 8.1 Android 8.1 Android 9.0 Android 8.1 Android 8.1
system

Battery size 4,000mAh 3,000mAh 800mAh 3,000mAh 3,000mAh 4,000mAh

BUYING INFORMATION

Warranty One year RTB One year RTB One year RTB One year RTB One year RTB One year RTB

Price (SIM-free) £489 £380 £350 £350 £484 £280

Supplier www.ebuyer.com www.amazon. shop.vodafone. www.very.co.uk www.ebuyer.com www.ebuyer.com

(SIM-free) co.uk co.uk

Price (contract) £30 per month Not available £27 per month, £22 per month £22 per month, £22 per month
£127 up front £20 up front
Prices correct at time of going to press

Supplier www.tescomobile. Not available shop.vodafone. www.carphone www.three.co.uk www.mobile

(contract) com co.uk warehouse.com phonesdirect
co.uk

Details www.hihonor.com www.motorola. www.palm.com www.sonymobile. www.mi.com www.mi.com

co.uk com

Part code 51093HLE PABH0028GB Palm Phone 1318-2767 MZB7000EU MZB6715EN

ISSUE 377 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | JULY 2019 103

 SMARTPHONES

PREMIUM
Award RECOMMENDED BEST BUY RECOMMENDED BEST BUY BEST BUY

Manufacturer APPLE GOOGLE HUAWEI ONEPLUS SAMSUNG SONY

Model iPhone XR Pixel 3 P30 6T Galaxy S10+ Xperia XZ3
Rating ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★ ★★★★★
HARDWARE
Processor Hexa-core 2.5GHz Octa-core 2.8GHz Octa-core 2.6GHz Octa-core 2.8GHz Octa-core 2.7GHz Octa-core 2.8GHz
Apple A12 Bionic Qualcomm HiSilicon Kirin 980 Qualcomm Samsung Exynos Qualcomm
Snapdragon 845 Snapdragon 845 9820 Snapdragon 845
RAM 3GB 4GB 8GB 8GB 8GB 4GB
Screen size 6.1in 5.5in 6.1in 6.4in 6.4in 6in
Screen resolution 1,792x828 2,160x1,080 2,340,1,080 2,340x1,080 3,040x1,440 2,960x1,440
Screen type IPS OLED OLED AMOLED AMOLED OLED
Front camera 7 megapixels 8 megapixels, 32 megapixels 16 megapixels 10 megapixels, 13 megapixels
8 megapixels 9 megapixels
Rear camera 12 megapixels 12.2 megapixels 40 megapixels, 16 megapixels, 12 megapixels, 19 megapixels
16 megapixels, 20 megapixels 12 megapixels,
8 megapixels 16 megapixels
Flash Quad LED Dual LED Dual LED Dual LED LED LED
GPS Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Compass Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Storage 64GB 64GB 64GB 128GB 128GB 64GB
Memory card slot None None Nano memory card None microSD microSD
Wi-Fi 802.11ac 802.11ac 802.11ac 802.11ac 802.11ac 802.11ac
Bluetooth 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0
NFC Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Wireless data 4G 4G 4G 4G 4G 4G
Dimensions 151x76x8.3mm 146x68x7.9mm 149x71x7.6mm 158x75x8.2mm 158x74x7.8mm 158x73x10mm
Weight 194g 148g 165g 185g 175g 193g
FEATURES
Operating system iOS 12 Android 9.0 Android 9.0 Android 9.0 Android 9.0 Android 9.0
Battery size 2,942mAh 2,915mAh 3,650mAh 3,700mAh 4,100mAh 3,300mAh
BUYING INFORMATION
Warranty One year RTB One year RTB One year RTB One year RTB One year RTB One year RTB
Price (SIM-free) £709 £589 £699 £499 £899 £700
Supplier (SIM-free) www.debenhamsplus. store.google.com www.amazon.co.uk www.oneplus.com www.currys.co.uk www.currys.co.uk
com
Prices correct at time of going to press

Price (contract) £45 per month £37 per month £41 per month £48 per month £58 per month, £39 per month
£10 up front
Supplier (contract) www.tescomobile. www mobile www.tescomobile. www.carphone www.carphone www.tescomobile.
com phonesdirect.co.uk com warehouse.com warehouse.com com
Details www.apple.com store.google.com consumer.huawei. www.oneplus.com www.samsung.com www.sonymobile.
com com
Part code iPhone XR Pixel 3 51093RPY OnePlus 6T SM-G975FZKDBTU 1316-6787

VERDICT
While there’s a particularly rich bounty of top-grade smartphones
above £500, some great handsets can still be found for a fraction of
that price. The Vodafone Smart X9 is a prime example: for just £99,
its combination of a high-quality display, a decent rear camera and
attractive design is a rare bargain. The Motorola Moto G7 Power is
also a great budget phone, matching some mid-rangers on
performance while offering some truly exceptional battery life.
Relative newcomer Xiaomi impresses with both the Pocophone F1
and the Mi 8 Pro, the former especially. £280 for a phone with
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 845 should be an extremely attractive
proposition for anyone wanting flagship power for as little cash as
possible. The Honor View 20 succeeds in a similar vein, despite
costing considerably more, as its Kirin 980 chip is the same one
used in Huawei’s high-end P30.
The P30 is also a fine smartphone, to be sure, although in the
flagship stakes it’s beaten by the OnePlus 6T, Google Pixel 3 and
Samsung Galaxy S10+. The 6T has almost all the trappings of an
elite handset with a borderline mid-range outlay, while the Pixel 3
has the cleanest Android OS and the best single-lens camera on
the market. The Galaxy S10+ is expensive enough to be offputting
for some, but anyone who can afford it will be treated to a
handset of pure luxury.

104 JULY 2019 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 377

 From Apple to Zeiss, and
everything in between

Try these magazines from just £1:

magazinedeals.co.uk/tech
Whether you’re an IT professional or a first time buyer, Dennis technology has a
magazine for you, all of which are written and produced by expert editorial teams.
We cover the whole spectrum of technology news, reviews and features.
 REVIEWS

How we test
Find out how well products perform with the help of
Computer Shopper’s comprehensive tests

COMPUTER SHOPPER’S REVIEWS use The actual scores in each test are
some of the most exhaustive testing shown inside each bar
procedures you’ll find in any PC
magazine. Every product is subjected to
qualitative and quantitative tests that Normal speed 11ppm Bigger is better for
show how it performs in practical use. all bars except the
Graphs for performance, battery-life Mono costs 2.2p red ones, which
scores and costs are used in the Reviews show running costs
section, as shown on the right. Look in Colour costs 6.7p A product hitting
the ‘Summary of tests’ table (below) for the +100 per cent
0% -50 Reference +50 +100
details of each test we run. mark performed
For PCs and laptops, we evaluate twice as well as our
performance using our own custom reference
benchmarking suite. See opposite for This line represents the performance of a reference product in
a description of our benchmarking each test. All graphs for components and systems are relative
software and game tests. to our reference PC (see opposite for specifications)

SUMMARY OF TESTS
PC SYSTEMS & GAMING LAPTOPS
Windows overall Average speed across
numerous demanding tasks
Multitasking Speed when running
simultaneous applications
Dirt Showdown Frames per second at
(1080p) 1,920x1,080, 4xAA,
Ultra detail
Metro: Last Light Frames per second at
Redux (1080p) 1,920x1,080, SSAA,
Very High detail
LAPTOPS
Windows overall Average speed across
numerous demanding tasks
Multitasking Processor-intensive
multitasking test
Dirt Showdown Frames per second at
(720p) 1,280x720, 4xAA,
High detail
Battery life Run time in minutes for
continuous video playback
SMARTPHONES/TABLETS
Battery life Run time in minutes for
continuous video playback
PRINTERS AND MFPs
Mono text speed Pages per minute for
correspondence-quality text
Mixed colour speed Pages per minute for
presentable text and graphics
Mono page cost Running costs expressed as
pence per page
Colour page cost Running costs expressed as
pence per page
DIGITAL CAMERAS
Battery life Number of shots from
full charge
CAMCORDERS
Battery life Run time in minutes
for recording
ROUTERS
Laptop 2.4GHz Mbit/s at 5m with 802.11ac
5m laptop on 2.4GHz band
Laptop 2.4GHz Mbit/s 1 floor up with
1 floor 802.11ac laptop on
2.4GHz band
Laptop 2.4GHz Mbit/s 2 floors up with
2 floors 802.11ac laptop on
2.4GHz band
Laptop 5GHz Mbit/s at 5m with 802.11ac
5m laptop on 5GHz band
Laptop 5GHz Mbit/s 1 floor up with
1 floor 802.11ac laptop on 5GHz band
Laptop 5GHz Mbit/s 2 floors up with
2 floors 802.11ac laptop on
5GHz band
NETWORK-ATTACHED STORAGE
Large files Average MB/s for read/write
of 100MB large files
Small files Average MB/s for read/write
of 100MB small files
HARD DISKS
Huge files Average MB/s for read/write
of a single 2.5GB file
Large files Average MB/s for read/write
of 2.5GB of large files
Small files Average MB/s for read/write
of 2.5GB of small files
PROCESSORS
Windows overall Average speed across
numerous demanding tasks
Multitasking Speed when running
simultaneous applications
Dirt Showdown Frames per second at
(720p) 1,280x720, 4xAA,
High detail
MOTHERBOARDS
Windows overall Average speed across
numerous demanding tasks
Multitasking Speed when running
simultaneous applications
Dirt Showdown Frames per second at
(1080p) 1,920x1,080, 4xAA,
Ultra detail
Dirt Showdown Frames per second at
(720p) 1,280x720, 4xAA,
High detail
GRAPHICS CARDS
Dirt Showdown Frames per second at
(1080p) 1,920x1,080, 4x MSAA,
Ultra detail
Tomb Raider Frames per second at
1,920x1,080, SSAA,
Ultra detail
Metro: Last Light Frames per second at
Redux 1,920x1,080, SSAA,
Very High detail

106 JULY 2019 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 377

 REVIEWS

BENCHMARKS RATINGS & AWARDS

Computer Shopper rates
products out of five:

★★★★★
Excellent

★★★★★
Very good

★★★★★
Good

★★★★★
Below average

SHOPPER BENCHMARKS ★★★★★

Our benchmark suite uses open-source software that runs on Windows, macOS and Linux Avoid!
systems. This lets us use objective results to compare PCs and laptops, no matter which
operating system they run. It’s designed to test each computer to its limit, using a
combination of intensive image-editing, video-encoding and multitasking tests. The best products can win
We ran the tests on our reference PC, which has an Intel Core i5-4670K processor, the following awards:
8GB of DDR3 RAM and an AMD Radeon R7 260X graphics card. We normalised our
results so this PC had a score of 100. This makes it easy to draw comparisons between
test systems.
BEST BUY
Products with outstanding quality
The resulting overall score is shown at the bottom of every PC and laptop review. and performance for the money
As we use the same tests in our standalone and group test reviews, you can compare
win our Best Buy award.
the performance of any computer, whether it’s a hybrid, laptop or desktop, from both
sections of the magazine.

3D BENCHMARKS
DIRT SHOWDOWN
Dirt Showdown is a cracking racing
game that makes good use of
DirectX 11’s fancy graphical effects.
RECOMMENDED
Products that don’t quite qualify
You’ll want at least 30fps for
for a Best Buy award but are still
smooth racing.
highly rated by our reviewers.

TOMB RAIDER
With the ultra-demanding
Super-Sampling Anti-Aliasing
(SSAA) enabled, 2013’s Tomb Raider
reboot is a great indicator of
mid-range performance.

BUSINESS BUY
The very best products for work
win our Business Buy award.
METRO: LAST
LIGHT REDUX
Our most demanding graphics test
uses tessellation, SSAA and massive
textures to give even high-end cards
a thorough workout.

ISSUE 377 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | JULY 2019 107

 PRODUCT INDEX

Product Reviews
Our guide to all the products reviewed
in this month’s Computer Shopper
145
Hot Product
Huawei MateBook X Pro
Components
MSI GeForce GTX 1660 Ti revi ews
(2019) 18 Gaming X 6G 34
SilverStone Tundra TD02-RGB 35
PCs
Storage Photography
Chillblast Fusion Ryzen 7 RTX
WD Blue SN500 36 Nikon Z6 48
2070 Custom Gaming PC 22
Toshiba Canvio Premium 4TB 38
Overclockers Gaming XVI
Essential 24 Wearables
Printers Garmin Vivomove HR 50
Brother MFC-J5945DW 40 Fitbit Inspire HR 52
Laptops
HP Spectre x360 13 (2019) 26
Networks Software
Asus ROG Zephyrus S GX701 30
Netgear Orbi Outdoor RBS50Y 42 Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2019 54
Lenovo Yoga C930 31
Audio
Smartphones
Displays Creative Outlier Air 44
Huawei Mate 20 Lite 84
Philips Brilliance 499P9H 32 JBL Endurance Dive 46
Motorola Moto G7 Play 85
Motorola Moto G7 Power 86
SUBSCRIBE AND SAVE Nokia 7.1 87
Samsung Galaxy J6+ 88
Vodafone Smart X9 89
Honor View 20 90
Motorola Moto Z3 Play 91
Palm Phone 92
Sony Xperia 10 Plus 93
Xiaomi Mi 8 Pro 94
Xiaomi Pocophone F1 95
Apple iPhone XR 96
Google Pixel 3 97
Huawei P30 98
OnePlus 6T 99
Samsung Galaxy S10+ 100
CALL 0330 333 9493 OR SEE PAGE 126
Sony Xperia XZ3 101

108 JULY 2019 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 377

All you need to know
about electric cars...
How much will I save?
What is a hybrid car?
Is the tech any good? How far
How long will it will it go?
take to charge?
How much does
it cost to run?

www.drivingelectric.com
110
It is
rocket
science,
actually
Forty years after NASA took
delivery of its first launch-
ready Shuttle, Nik Rawlinson
looks back at the software and
systems that made the world’s
only viable space plane fly

O
nboard computers played a relatively minor
role in the US moon landings. They handled
guidance and navigation, which isn’t much
more than in-car satnav manages today.
Things were very different by the time of
the Space Shuttle’s first flight in 1981, which NASA had
envisaged as a pseudo-Uber in orbit.
Almost a decade earlier, with the Shuttle still on the
drawing board, NASA administrator Thomas Paine had
expounded its benefits. Quoted by the Birmingham Daily
Post, he’d explained: “With the coming of the Space
Shuttle, it would be possible for many men and women
of many nationalities to fly as passengers. They will not
need elaborate training, but simply to be in good health.”
NASA wanted several Shuttles in simultaneous orbit,
but managing a fleet of that size would be far too
complex for banks of computers stationed back on Earth.
It would only work if the Shuttle became the world’s first
flying computer. So, while commercial airlines were still

111
 mechanical devices, with moving cables
physically connecting the pilot’s yoke to the
rudder, the Shuttle pioneered fly-by-wire
operation. Output from the cockpit fed a
series of onboard interfaces. These prioritised
each command and transmitted them to the
engines, flaps and life support systems,
entirely as bits and bytes. No wonder NASA
considered software “the most critical
component of the Shuttle”.
It’s 40 years since NASA took delivery of
Columbia, the fleet’s first space-ready craft.
This is the story of how its software came to
be written, and the compromises that had to
be made before the era of cheap computing
we take for granted today.
The long tail
NASA budgeted $20m for
software. Then it changed the
Shuttle’s spec, several times.
From 1973, when the first line
of code was committed, to
1981 when the Shuttle took
flight, more than 2000 changes
caused the final bill to rocket to
$200m ($1.1bn today).
Rockwell International had
hoped to land both sides of the
contract – building the Shuttle
and developing the software –
but NASA had other ideas. It split
112
⬆ Although it bears a striking resemblance to
a commercial airliner, the Shuttle was far more
accomplished, and pioneered fly-by-wire operation
the tender in two so it could keep a handle
directly on whoever was writing the code.
On the surface, this should have made little
difference. IBM was the successful bidder, and
it was to IBM that Rockwell, which was busy
building the orbiter at Plant 24 – a classified
facility in Palmdale, California – had always
intended to subcontract the work.
IBM’s success was partly geographical.
Apollo’s software had been keyed in Boston,
1,800 miles from Houston, greatly slowing its
gestation. When work began on the Shuttle,
high-speed WAN was still just a dream, so a
bid from a team based in Houston, as IBM’s
was, had natural appeal.
With its contractor in place, NASA
described the software’s core functions,
leaving Rockwell to write the design brief.
This became a point of contention.
As outlined in James E Tomayko’s book
Computers in Spaceflight, “IBM and NASA
managers suspect that Rockwell, miffed when
the software contract was taken away from
them, may have delivered incredibly precise
and detailed specifications to the software
contractor… One NASA manager said that
‘you can’t see the forest for the
‘yo
trees’… One IBM engineer claimed
tre
that Rockwell went ‘way too far’…
tha
that the early portion of the
tha
Shuttle development was ‘under-
Shu
engineered’ and that Rockwell and
eng
Draper included some requirements
Dra
that were not passed on by NASA.
tha
“Rockwell delivered the ascent
requirements, and IBM coded
them to the letter, thereby
⬅ Endeavour sits on the runway,
while Columbia, on the back of the
Shuttle transporter aircraft in the
background, takes off for its return
journey to Cape Canaveral
JULY 2019 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 377

exceeding the available memory by two-and-a-
third times and demonstrating that the
requirements for ascent were excessive.”
This latter point might have been
inevitable, given the hardware
constrictions of the early 1970s.
The Shuttle’s computer
NASA decided early on to use off-the-shelf
computers, eventually settling on IBM’s
AP-1 because it was similar to the
computers used on the US space station,
Skylab. By the time the Shuttle spec was
nailed down, the AP-1 had become the AP-101,
which later found its way into the B-51 and
B-1B bombers. The latter of those had eight
computers onboard, but the Shuttle managed
with five, distributed around the fuselage so at
least a few would survive an explosion.
Four of the computers ran in sync and
voted on every action. If they disagreed, the
option that received the most votes would
prevail. This remains the accepted process for
making decisions in space. NASA engineer
David Hammen explains how control of the
Russian segment of the International Space
Station “comprises a pair of fault-tolerant
computers (each of which has three
independent CPUs that operate by voting),
plus another pair of control post computers”.
The Shuttle’s fifth computer didn’t vote.
Isolated, it ran separately coded software
ISSUE 377 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | JULY 2019
⬆ Space Shuttle Columbia is brought to Cape Canaveral in advance of being made ready for launch
with just one purpose: to bring the orbiter
safely back to Earth in an emergency.
“Because the ascent and entry phases
of flight are so critical, four of the five
[primary computers] are loaded with the
same PASS [Primary Avionics System
Software] and perform … simultaneously
and redundantly,” explains the Shuttle
Operations Manual, effectively the orbiter’s
glove box guide for new owners.
“As a safety measure, the fifth [computer]
contains a different set of software,
programmed by a company different from
the PASS developer, designed to take control
⬆ The Shuttle’s flight deck, here seen on Columbia,
relied on a lot of physical instrumentation despite
the heavy involvement of computers in every
aspect of the craft’s operation
of the vehicle if a generic error in the PASS
software or other multiple errors should
cause a loss of vehicle control.”
HAL
While the OS was built using assembly
code, the Shuttle’s applications were
compiled using HAL, a language that NASA
had commissioned in the late 1960s. It
supplemented staples such as IF and FOR with
NASA-specific requests, such as WAIT and
SCHEDULE, and accommodated multiple ways
of expressing identical formulae. Each line of
code could be written sequentially, in a single
row, or split across three separate rows, with
the computer switching up and down the
stack of characters as it moved from column
to column. This might sound complex, but it
allowed programmers to key formulae using
regular, superscript and subscript characters
by positioning the latter two on the rows
above or below the main line of code.
HAL might seem a strange name, given its
association with Stanley Kubrick’s film, 2001: A
Space Odyssey. Some claim it was chosen in
honour of Hal Laning, who programmed the
Apollo guidance computers, and the 2005
113
 ⬆ Although this is the Shuttle simulator, its interior matches that of a genuine
orbiter, including the three small screens that featured on the original flight deck
edition of the HAL language specification
lends weight to this argument, stating that
HAL’s design “exhibits a number of influences,
the greatest being the syntax of PL/1 and
ALGOL, and the two-dimensional format of
MAC/360, [contributions to which] were made
by Dr J Halcombe Laning.”
NASA’s own Shuttle Operations Manual
has other ideas, stating categorically that
HAL/S stands for High-order Assembly
Language/Shuttle.
Either way, 85% of Shuttle software was
written in HAL, comprising “a body of two
million lines of comments, data declarations
and executable lines of code”.
Practically perfect in every way
The code was remarkably clean. Writing in Fast
Company magazine, Charles Fishman said it was
“as perfect as human beings have achieved”.
By 1996, it ran to 420,000 lines, the three most
recent releases of which had contained one
114
⬆ The Shuttle simulator was used not only for training astronauts, but also for
beta-testing new builds of the orbiter’s operating system and applications
error apiece. Commercial programs of
equivalent complexity would, Fishman said,
have contained around 5,000 errors.
Yet the developers still found bugs now
and then, sometimes testing unlikely scenarios
until something broke. One such bug that
could have harmed the crew was discovered
during tests run in advance of the orbiter’s
second mission.
“One of the abort simulations they chose
to test is called a ‘Trans Atlantic abort’, which
supposes that the crew can neither return to
the launch site nor go into orbit. The objective
is to land in Spain after dumping some fuel.
The crew was about to go into this dump
sequence when all four of our flight computer
machines locked up,” explains Jack Clemons,
Shuttle lead engineer.
It turned out that the operation to dump
the fuel was coded to happen in stages, but
the routine that handled the second-stage
dump wasn’t taking into account that some of
the fuel had already gone. This caused a counter
to go beyond its accepted parameters and, not
knowing what to do, the software locked up.
Rolling out new updates, therefore, wasn’t
as simple as upgrading Windows, which is
why NASA developed SAIL, the Shuttle
Avionics Integration Laboratory: a replica of
the Shuttle and its computers.
According to NASA’s JSC Features, “it
contain[ed] a 100%-accurate cockpit and
avionics system that played vital roles in the
beta testing of the Shuttle [and was] the only
mockup that allowed engineers to fully
integrate the orbiter’s hardware with flight
software. [It] also served as a very realistic
flight simulator [with] the avionics data
collected from SAIL simulations being so
high fidelity that for all the flight computers
knew, it was a real mission.”
Fully automated spaceflight
Very little of any flight was managed by
mission control. As Fishman outlined, “No
human pushes a button to make it happen,
no astronaut jockeys a joy stick… The
software gives the orders to gimbal the
main engines, executing the dramatic belly
roll the Shuttle does soon after it clears the
tower. The software throttles the engines to
make sure the craft doesn’t accelerate too
fast. It keeps track of where the Shuttle is,
orders the solid rocket boosters to fall away,
makes minor course corrections, and after
about 10 minutes, directs the Shuttle into
orbit more than 100 miles up.”
All of this was managed by the four
AP-101s, running at 480KHz. Although NASA
originally specified 64KB of memory for each
Shuttle, this was increased to 106KB prior to
launch. The operating system consumed 35KB,
leaving just over 70KB for applications, which
wasn’t enough. A full mission’s codebase ran
⬅ Shuttle launches were almost entirely automated
and controlled by the orbiter’s onboard computers.
Mission control staff would have spent a lot of
time enjoying the view
JULY 2019 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 377

to 700KB, which was split into chunks that the
astronauts loaded from tape. This process
took minutes to complete, compounding
complaints about the system’s complexity.
User unfriendly
By NASA’s calculations, astronauts executed
13,000 keystrokes in a week-long Apollo
moon landing, and the same number in
two-and-a-half days on the Shuttle, which
never went to the moon and hadn’t, by then,
even docked with the ISS.
The flight deck’s postcard-sized displays,
with 51 columns and 26 lines of text, were
barely adequate for something as complex as
the Shuttle. Worse, the four screens shared two
keyboards, so crew sometimes found
themselves working on the wrong display.
They weren’t QWERTY, but “10 numeral keys,
six letter keys, two algebraic keys, a decimal
key and 13 special function keys”. Commands
were input using HEX, rather than plain English.
When first developed, it was envisaged
that HAL would be adapted to multiple
ISSUE 377 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | JULY 2019
⬆ The Return to Flight launch of the Space Shuttle
Discovery and its five-man crew from Pad 39B at the
John F Kennedy Space Center in September 1988
different spacecraft, but as its attention turned
towards the International Space Station, NASA
switched to developing with Ada.
More technologically accomplished than
those on the Shuttle, the ISS computers run
a selection of operating systems. As NASA
instructor and flight controller Robert Frost
explains, “The laptop used for telemetry and
commanding runs on Linux. The laptop used
for procedures, tools, videoconferencing,
email, reference documents, internet and so
on uses Windows.”
Windows had previously played a larger
role on ISS but, as Keith Chuvala of the United
Space Alliance – which runs the ISS’s onboard
network – told the Linux Foundation, it
switched to open source. ISS managers
“migrated key functions from Windows to
Linux because we needed an operating system
that was stable and reliable – one that would
“With the coming
of the Space
Shuttle, it would
be possible for
many men and
women of many
nationalities to
fly as passengers”
give us in-house control. So if we needed to
patch, adjust or adapt, we could.”
This should also make ISS more resilient:
something the Shuttle engineers didn’t need to
worry about in the pre-internet age. Kaspersky
Lab’s CEO Eugene Kaspersky revealed to the
Canberra Press Club that, before the switch,
Russian cosmonauts had brought viruses to
ISS on their laptops, and they’d spread to
other computers. Fortunately, none was
serious, but it served as a wake-up call.
HAL isn’t dead, unlike its namesake in 2001,
but chances of it returning to space are slim.
“I don’t know of any way to run the PASS
HAL/S software or use the hardware today,”
wrote a former NASA contractor in 2017.
“The OS isn’t interactive. It communicates
only with specific hardware, which nobody will
have or can get at home. Without a [display]
and a flight key entry system, control sticks
and hundreds of avionics switches/knobs, I
don’t see how to make this software usable.
Someone would need to make an emulation
layer… [I] suppose it could be done.”
115
KEEPING
IT
AI,DRONESANDSENSORSARE
BEINGPUTTOGOODUSETOSTOP
POACHINGANDPROTECTWILDLIFE
HABITATS.MADELINEBENNETT

WILD
INVESTIGATES

T
he technology sector has a lot to answer for when it comes to
detrimental effects on our planet and resources: overflowing
landfill sites filled up with our discarded smartphones, tablets
and computers; scarred landscapes, a by-product of industrial
mining for minerals such as cobalt and tantalum needed to
manufacture our electronics; and the pollution from coal-
powered plants where our devices are made.
Fortunately, there are also many examples where technology is
giving back, with various projects aimed at protecting the
environment through preventing poaching and stopping the
disappearance of endangered species.

116
117
 TURNING THE TABLES
Poaching is one of the biggest threats
to wildlife, driven by the black market
for animal products used in traditional
medicines and trinkets. Elephant and
rhino are prime targets for armed
gangs, who hunt down the animals and
hack off their tusks and horns. Poaching
has become a highly professional
endeavor, with millions of dollars to be
made from illegal sales. Where in the
past, poachers were equipped with a
machete, individuals now come into
national parks and wildlife reserves
across Africa armed with assault
weapons, and are often flown in across
borders to carry out attacks.
Luckily, technology is helping to foil
these efforts.
118
ABOVE: Technology South African technology firm known poachers from gaining access
is helping to protect Dimension Data has been working with through the front door.
endangered rhino communications specialist Cisco since All the data gathered is sent to the
from poachers 2015 to tackle the poaching problem, rangers’ smartphone or tablet via a
after a private reserve in South Africa radio network, which can reach rangers
OPPOSITE TOP:
– which was losing a rhino every week across the entire park. Phase two of
Staff use Dimension
to poachers – requested help. this project has seen the time it takes
Data tech to monitor
a game reserve in Traditional anti-poaching methods for a ranger to receive a report decrease
South Africa involve putting a collar on the animal or from 30 to seven minutes, meaning
injecting a tracker in its horn. However, they have a much better chance of
both of these methods involve darting getting to the poachers before any
and sedation, causing the animal stress animals are killed or injured.
and potentially endangering its life; The project has been a huge success
BELOW: Intel’s
many forest elephants die after being so far. In 2015, 54 rhinos were killed by
Anna Bethke and
Resolve’s Eric
darted, as if they slip and fall awkwardly poachers at the South African park; in
Dinerstein hide a when they run off into the bush, it can 2017, not one rhino lost its life.
TrailGuard AI anti- crush their internal organs. Dimension Data and Cisco are now
poaching camera Dimension Data and Cisco decided rolling out similar projects in parks in
system in a tree to approach the problem from a Kenya, Zambia and Mozambique, aimed
different
diff perspective: the at protecting rhino and elephant.
humans.
hum The firms set Ruth Rowan, Dimension Data’s
up a network of sensors chief marketing officer, is personally
on the fences around invested in this project, as a biologist
the park and placed by academic training and a keen
seismic
sei sensors on the conservationist. She is optimistic
ground,
gro which set off about the role of the technology
an alert if the fence is sector in protecting our planet.
cut or someone comes “Many of us in the company are
in from underneath. passionate conservationists. We also
Thermal imaging just recognise a real problem in the
cameras were placed world, that certain animals are very
at certain points along much at risk of becoming extinct,
the fence. If motion is and we believe that technology can
detected, they show help solve that problem and protect
how many people are animals from poachers. That’s really
present, their location been our motivation in getting
and the direction in involved,” she explains.
which they are heading. “There is a lot of debate at the
Number-plate and moment that technology in some
facial-recognition instances is potentially creating
technology at the more risk – the misuse of data or
gates also prevents speculation around the manipulation
JULY 2019 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 377
Photo: Walden Kirsch/Intel
of the data in the social media space to
influence people – but we believe that
technology is here to make the world a
better place in the broadest sense. It’s
just got to be used responsibly.”
HIDE AND SEEK
Artificial intelligence (AI) is another
technology being turned to protecting
wildlife. Non-profit organisation Resolve
has recently launched TrailGuard AI, a
security camera system that can be
hidden from poachers thanks to its
small size, about the size of an index
finger. Human-detection algorithms run
directly from an Intel-based processor
in the camera head, and the device
boasts a battery life of a year and a half.
The AI aspect of the camera means
that rangers are only alerted when
motion is detected that has a risk of
poaching. As an elephant is killed every
15 minutes by a poacher – equivalent to
around 35,000 elephants each year –
this more accurate alerting system is
vital to ensuring rangers are directing
their efforts to the right places.
ISSUE 377 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | JULY 2019
Resolve plans to provide TrailGuard
camera systems to national parks,
conservation groups and scientists in
100 reserves across Africa this year.
The organisation will then expand the
project to Southeast Asia and South
America, aided by support from Intel,
the National Geographic Society and
the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation.
UP IN THE STARS
It’s not just computing companies such
as Intel and Cisco that are turning their
attention to the role of technology in
protecting vulnerable species. The
Astro-Ecology Group at the
Astrophysics Research Institute,
Liverpool John Moores University
(LJMU), is working on a data-gathering
project for wildlife conservation,
centred around building a computer
system capable of identifying animals
in real time on a drone.
With less than half as many wild
animals now as there were 30 years
ago, Dr Josh Veitch-Michaelis,
postdoctoral research assistant at
ABOVE LEFT: LJMU, believes there is a vital need to
The internal gather more accurate wildlife data, to
workings of the help understand whether numbers are
TrailGuard AI dropping due to habitat destruction,
poaching or other factors.
ABOVE RIGHT:
However, current animal-counting
The Astro-Ecology
Group at Liverpool
methods based on field trips or even
John Moores using cameras attached to drones
University are aren’t up to the job. Captured footage
working on a drone still requires manual intervention,
camera system to with someone sat at a computer
identify animals behind the scenes receiving the
images, deciding whether there are
any animals present, and then
counting and recording the results.
“This is quite labour-intensive.
What we really want is something
where we can take an image, put it on
to a computer, and have the computer
label the image for us, which would
save us going through thousands of
images ourselves,” Veitch-Michaelis
explained at a recent STEM event
hosted by the British International
Education Association.
Using normal cameras can also lead
to false detections – a rock might look
119
 like a rhino, for example – and can lead
to overestimating the population.
The Astro-Ecology Group of
ecologists, astrophysicists, computer
scientists, engineers and drone pilots
at LJMU are bringing together
computing and astronomy techniques
to solve these problems.
The team are using FLIR thermal-
imaging cameras attached to drones
that process visual data via a heat map,
making it much easier to differentiate
animals that radiate heat from a stone
cold rock. The results are much more
reliable, and better still, this system can
also be used for spotting poachers.
But even with this advanced
camera technology, there is still
potential for false detections.
Veitch-Michaelis added: “Animal
waste is the same temperature as the
animal. When you’re looking at a
drone-based video it’s quite easy to
see these bright spots and think
that could be a human, and it’s not.
We need ways of identifying these
false detections.”
This is where AI comes in. To
accurately label an image showing
hundreds of heat dots would normally
120
TOP/ABOVE: suck up a lot of student time, or require
Drones are helping paying people to carry out the task for
to preserve wildlife millions of images. The Astro-Ecology
and prevent illegal Group is instead using a combination of
activity on land
machine learning and citizen science,
and at sea
based on a custom-built AI system.
“We’re experimenting with
Raspberry Pis to capture and process
data, along with Nvidia GPUs for training
our models. We use some common
frameworks like the Robot Operating
System, OpenCV and Pytorch/
Tensorflow, but the software on top is
all custom,” Veitch-Michaelis said.
They are training the system to
identify and label animals in images,
rewarding correct classifications,
penalising incorrect or missing data,
and then modifying the model for
each batch of images processed
based on these results.
This work is supported by people-
powered research site Zooniverse. Its
one million-plus users are encouraged
to scour the same heat-map images
the computer has looked at, to check
that the results are accurate.
“This is what we think the future of
ecology is. We want to build these
systems to rapidly classify thousands
of pictures, and ideally we want this
running on a drone itself. Our goal is to
build a system that can do animal
identification live on a drone.
“We can’t assume we have enough
bandwidth to stream live, high-
resolution images back to the ground.
We need to do the processing in the
air; this is particularly important for
applications such as anti-poaching
where you can’t wait to process the
data later,” Veitch-Michaelis explained.
“The system we want doesn’t exist
and we’re trying to build something that
JULY 2019 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 377
ABOVE: Scientists use heat-mapping
technology to differentiate between animals,
humans and inanimate objects
is reasonably priced and could be
replicated by other researchers. We
don’t have a definitive system yet.”
ALL AT SEA
While drones are well established as
handy tools for capturing images, one
thing they generally require is a level
surface to land on. This is fine for
monitoring land-based wildlife such
as chimps and rhino, but what about
water dwellers?
Melissa Schiele, an MSc student
from Imperial College London, is part
of a ZSL team trying to solve this
problem with a specially designed
water-landing drone, aimed at both
the study of marine ecology and
maritime surveillance.
The amphibious Aeromapper Talon
is a waterproofed fixed-wing unmanned
aerial vehicle (UAV) with a two-metre
wingspan that’s capable of flying long
distances with the strength, stability
and mechanisms of a small plane.
The drones each have two cameras: a
12-megapixel camera attached to the
belly of the fuselage, which takes a
picture every second; and one in the
clear nose cone, which allows for live
streaming of the drone flight to a
screen used by the drone pilot.
Schiele travelled to British Indian
Ocean Territory last year to test out this
drone across the Chagos Archipelago,
a protected region. While the vast
majority of our seas and oceans are
unprotected and unregulated, only 3.7%
of those areas actually designated as
marine-protected are actively managed.
“Marine-protected areas are places
where you don’t get fishing or it’s
heavily restricted. There are lots of
issues and problems that we face; for
ISSUE 377 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | JULY 2019
example, illegal fishing affecting the
populations of fishes,” Schiele explains.
Water-landing drones could be
invaluable in turning round this
situation, offering a way to monitor vast
expanses of ocean without needing to
send out boats or people, and to capture
information about illegal activity.
“The British government polices
this water with one patrol vessel, and
that same vessel has to do all the
scientific expeditions as well. So you
can imagine when we’re trying to go
out and do all of our science, the
capacity for enforcement does drop
ever so slightly. So any solution that
can increase the enforcement capacity
is readily welcome,” Schiele says.
“Plus, the British patrol boat is
massive and orange, so unfortunately
it’s really easy to spot. If you’re an illegal
vessel doing something a bit cheeky,
you can cut your lines and steam off
very quickly before perhaps we have
even detected you on the radar, which
is 12 nautical miles. So having a drone
that can fly beyond that range gives us
a bit of an advantage if you’re looking
for illegal activities in the area.”
Early tests indicated the potential
for these drones both to survey marine
life and tackle illegal fishing. The
cameras have managed to capture clear
images of stingrays, turtles and
manatees in protected areas. And most
importantly, the UAVs have managed to
land successfully on the water.
There are limits to their use: the
drones can’t be flown during bad
weather, and have suffered from water
leaks, meaning lots of overnight
soldering work for Schiele and her team.
The early tests also revealed the
importance of a higher-quality camera
to crack down on illegal activity.
“The camera resolution was just a
little bit too low to be able to detect the
identification on the side of vessels. So
ABOVE: Melissa we now know that we need a much
Schiele is part of better camera. However, we were able
a team developing – at 65 metres – to detect the fishing
a water-landing gear in the water, which is super
drone to study
important and essential for
marine ecology and
prosecution,” Schiele explains.
help with maritime
surveillance (top)
“We know that once the drone is
fully waterproof in the next iteration,
it’s going to be a very powerful tool in
ecology and surveillance. And the
important thing about this drone is that
it’s easy to use, and it’s cheap. Most
water-landing fixed-wing drones that
are in existence are in the oil and gas
industry, and they’re really expensive.
So most ecologists can’t afford them,
let alone marine-protected area
managers in developing nations.”
121
 Oh blimey!
Inside the head of
Frank Sidebottom
Chris Sievey was best known for his alter ego Frank Sidebottom, but his stabs at
computer programming were not at all bobbins, as David Crookes discovers
M
usic history is packed with surreal
moments, but the time when a
little-known punk band’s lead singer
was interviewed by a fictional character with a
papier-mâché head on the B-side of a ZX
Spectrum game has to rank rather highly.
That singer was Chris Sievey, face of The
Freshies, whose biggest hit came in 1980
with the fantastic anthem I’m In Love With
Photo: Dave Arnold
122
122
the Girl on the Manchester Virgin Megastore
Checkout Desk, which reached the heights
of number 54 in the UK charts.
The character, meanwhile, was Frank
Sidebottom, a wide-eyed, nasal-voiced
oddball from Timperley who had been
dreamed up to help promote a new game
called The Biz, which Sievey had written over
the course of 18 months.
Frank was perpetually 35, lived with his
mum, spent most of his time in his shed
and dreamed of making it in showbusiness.
Good things were ‘fantastic’, rubbish stuff
was ‘bobbins’, and he had a host of other
catchphrases, from ‘thank you’ to ‘oh
blimey!’, and various riffs on ‘you know
it is, it really is’, which he’d use to finish
off his numerous tunes.
“For Chris, computing was a new
horizon to be conquered,” explains Steve
Sullivan, director of Being Frank: The Chris
Sievey Story, which was released in cinemas
earlier this year to rave reviews. “When
home computers came along I imagine
he saw them as just the next medium
through which he could express
himself in an obscure way.”
HISTORY IS ACE
Sievey’s experiments with
computer programming
began in 1983 when,
having taken a break
⬅ Frank Sidebottom with his
big head, which was originally
made from papier-mâché and
later from fibreglass
Photo: Phil Fletcher
from The Freshies to pursue a solo career,
he released a 7in vinyl single called
Camouflage, a typically 1980s slice of rock
that came with three ZX81 computer
programs on the B-side.
When placed on a record player, listeners
would hear the familiar screeching sound of a
loading cassette program, and inputting that
noisy data into a computer would unleash the
magic and genius of Mr Sievey.
For as well as there being two games
written by Sievey – Flying Train for 16K ZX81s
and a short version of the game’s first stage
for 1K ZX81s entitled FT (neither of which
were mind-blowing) – the record also
included an innovative computer-coded
animated music video.
When the program was run on a ZX81, it
would prompt the user to pop the vinyl on
to the record player, position the needle and
wait for the opening note of music, at which
stage they could press any key to sync the
program with the song. The lyrics would
then flash up on the screen and animations
would appear in time to the beat, creating a
computer-driven music video.
It was the first time anyone had put
computer code on to a musical release
(arguably inspiring Radiohead to pop 30 lines
of code on the tape version of the 20th
anniversary release of OK Computer in 2017).
Sievey had even inadvertently created the first
ever budget game, since the single only set
shoppers back a pound at a time when
games cost more than a fiver.
“Chris seemed to think without limitations,
and he certainly didn’t seem to consider
practical considerations or ever to ask
JULY 2019 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 377
 RETRO

➡ A flyer promoting Chris

Sievey’s 1983 ‘computer game
– pop single’ Camouflage

the question ‘Why not?’,”

says Sullivan.
“This kind of thinking led
to him being a fearless
innovator – fearless as he
never seemed to worry
about failure, and many of
his ideas were pretty
obscure even in hindsight.
By putting a computer-
coded music video and
computer games on a
B-side of a 7in single, he
was trying to achieve
something that would now
be possible at the press of
one button. But the fact
that it was there to be done
would be good enough for
Chris, and all the motivation
he would have needed.”
It certainly appeared
that way because, despite
the song flopping and too
few people getting to enjoy the experience, says. “The Biz is a moment where
Sievey wasn’t afraid to keep going. And so both lives start to blend together,
it was that he had the idea for The Biz, just before Frank Sidebottom as a
which grew out of an early idea to devise character takes over completely.”
a Monopoly-style board game based on Retailing for £5.95 and
the music business. published by Virgin Games, the
title oozed charm and gave a
SHOWBIZ IS FANTASTIC warts-and-all look at the climb
Sievey had decided that his game would to pop stardom via balance
work better on a computer as a strategy sheets and option menus. It had
simulation that tasked players with trying become a labour of love,
to become a top-selling pop star. He got to drawing on Sievey’s own music industry ⬆ Flying Train was Chris Sievey’s first
work coding it in Basic, fitting it around experience to allow players to interact with effort at producing a commercial game. It was
recording tracks, trying to break into the managers, solicitors and agents while looking released on the B-side of his single Camouflage
Top 40 and gigging, having borrowed a 48K to secure small gigs, recording songs, getting
Photo: Dave Arnold

ZX Spectrum from a friend. airplay and working out the expenditure

“He was actually in a very interesting space
between his career as Chris Sievey and his
emerging career as Frank Sidebottom,” Sullivan
involved. The musical extras and the
interviews made for a fantastic package.
“It’s a mad mix of stuff to put out and
certainly
cer not what an early 1980s gamer
would
wou have been expecting,” says
Sullivan.
Sul “They wouldn’t have really
known
kno who Chris Sievey or The Freshies
were,
wer let alone this brand new character
called
cal Frank Sidebottom, who at the
time
tim wouldn’t have been on telly yet.
“So it was Chris’s own obscure joke
still,
sti and presumably most of his own
fans
fa at the time wouldn’t have been
into computers. But Chris loved
obscurity, I think, and I don’t think
he’d have been bothered at all to think
only a handful of people would have
really understood that cassette.”
⬅ Frank Sidebottom and his puppet
creation Little Frank appear on stage
WINNING IS BOBBINS
The game has numerous quirks. If the player
takes drugs, for instance, the screen becomes
unreadable. There was even a prize for the
first person to get a number one single in the
game: a chance to record with Sievey and
appear on stage at a Freshies gig.
“When we were making Being Frank, a
programmer in Las Vegas went through his
computer games,” Sullivan says. “He took a
look at the code for The Biz and reported back
that as far as he could tell it was actually
coded in such a way as to be impossible for
anyone to get to number one in the record
charts within the game. If that’s true, then
Chris must have programmed it deliberately
like that. He’d been unable to top the charts
with his own music, so why should you?”
If this is indeed the case then, as Sullivan
points out, it would in many ways make for an
autobiographical computer game: a statement

ISSUE 377 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | JULY 2019 123

 RETRO

⬆➡ The Biz was a warts-and-all

computer game based on the music
industry, in which players attempted
to make it as a pop star

by him as an artist about his feelings on the

music business. Sadly, however, The Biz
marked the end of Sievey’s foray into
commercial games development.
While he told Crash magazine that he had
another three machine code games in the
pipeline and Sullivan says Sievey created a
prototype game for a single he never released
called Let’s Go Space City (“We found a level
one demo where you have to get to a
spaceship, but once you board it the game
ends,” says Sullivan, who said it looked
promising), there were no more releases.
But then Frank was by now assuming a life
all of his own. Sievey would wear Frank’s head
and adopt his creation’s persona, eventually
concocting an entire world around him, with
⬆ The critically acclaimed documentary Being Frank: The Chris Sievey Story is available to download or
to buy on DVD and Blu-ray
hand-made characters such as Little Frank
sporting flat cardboard bodies and bulging
heads, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Mrs
Merton, played by Caroline Aherne, who went
on to make the character her own.
Frank headed the Oh Blimey Big Band,
which included the radio DJ Mark Radcliffe,
journalist Jon Ronson and Chris Evans,
covering artists such as Queen and Kylie
Minogue with quirky songs played on a Casio
synthesiser. He had guest slots on ITV’s
Saturday morning children’s show No 73,
released a host of singles, albums and
compilations, and began drawing for the
satirical kids’ comic Oink!. It was in that
publication that the world saw Sievey’s
programming output once more.
A PROGRAMMING BONANZA
Issue 42 of the Spectrum-focused Crash
magazine came with a free 16-page Oink!
comic supplement and Sievey – as Frank –
contributed two pages of computers programs
for Spectrum owners to type in. By now, he’d

walk-’em-ups such SEGA MEGA DRIVE

REVOLUTIONISING
POINT-AND-CLICK
ADVENTURES
Revolution has made its name
developing iconic point-and-click
adventures such as Beneath a
Steel Sky and the long-running
Broken Sword series. Most of
the titles have been created in
2D, but a handful made the leap
to 3D, with mixed results (we’re
looking at you, Broken Sword:
The Angel of Death).
Interesting, then, that a 3D
sequel of sorts to 1994’s Beneath
a Steel Sky is set to be released
on the new gaming subscription
service Apple Arcade for iOS,
macOS and tvOS, followed by
PC and console versions.
Developed by Revolution’s
founder Charles Cecil, the game’s
lead designer, and comics artist
Dave ‘Watchmen’ Gibbons,
Beyond a Steel Sky hopes to
introduce a whole new audience
to the theme of the original
cyberpunk classic.
In doing so, Revolution will
make a standalone game that
can be played without any prior
knowledge of the previous title.
It will also be inspired by
as Everybody’s Gone MINI ON ITS WAY
to the Rapture An official, long-awaited new
rather than try to version of the classic 16-bit Mega
shoehorn a Drive console will finally find its
point-and-click way to retail on 19th September,
interface into 3D, according to Sega. The company
ensuring the game says the Mega Drive Mini will
– which will feature 40 built-in games
reacquaint players with the including Altered Beast, Ecco the
engineer Robert Foster – will Dolphin, Earthworm Jim, Space
look and feel very different. Harrier II, Dr Robotnik’s Mean
It’s certainly shaping up to be
e Bean Machine and Sonic the
an interesting release, one that is Hedgehog. It willll come
ewwith two
set to explore social control and three-button controllers and be
privacy and draw upon George e connectable to a TV via HDMI.
Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four.
If you want to see what all
the fuss is about, then check
out the original for free at tinyurl.
com/377retro1 – otherwise, you
can wait for the sequel’s release
later this year.

124 JUL 2019

JULY | COMPUTER
COMPUT
COM PPER | ISSUE
PUTER SHOPPER
SHOPPE
SHO ISS 377
 RETRO

➡ Issue 42 of Crash magazine for the

Spectrum came with a pull-out of Oink!
comic, which included two pages of
computer code by Frank Sidebottom

consigned the ZX81 to the bin (“it only

does black and white, and black and
white TV went out about 150 years
ago,” he wrote). He also showed
readers how to make a computer: just
grab a typewriter, a TV and a load of
wire for “those fiddly bits inside”.
The programs included a seven-liner
called Amoeba Rescue, two lines of
code by Little Frank and another game
dubbed The Charming Eggtimer, which
was billed as a “brilliant program
specifically with the young lady in mind
offering domestic usefulness with a hintt
of romance and a chinwag mate” (hmm).mm).
The Charming Eggtimer and Amoeba ba
Rescue came with cut-out tape inlays and
there were some fantastic facts to be
had. “If all the home computers in the
world were laid out on the M1 motorway, ay,
mine would still be on the sideboard as I
wouldn’t chance taking it as it could rain and “The Little Frank game is a repeated
the M1 has no roof,” read one. “Did you know display just saying ‘l.f. is better than f.s. = true’
computers are taking over the world (there’s which is Little Frank declaring to the world diagnosed with cancer. Virtually penniless,
two in our street),” read another. he’s better than big Frank. It’s absurd and fans raised £21,631.55 for his funeral and a
“In Amoeba Rescue, you have to put your like a psychodrama in Basic, but it was just huge memorial was staged in Manchester,
finger on the screen and guess which pixel is Chris channeling his own mixed relationship attracting 5,000 people.
going to be suddenly made visible,” says with Frank, who in turn is channeling his But while neither Chris nor Frank had ever
Sullivan of the quirky nature of the games. relationship in turn with his puppet. Or maybe quite reached megastardom, TV work such as
“If your finger is on the pixel, you docked it really was just Little Frank speaking from Frank Sidebottom’s Fantastic Shed Show, his
with and rescued the amoeba. the heart. It was bizarre.” music and comedy gigs made him a cult
“The Charming Eggtimer was basically an It certainly was. Sadly, Sievey (and Frank) favourite. His foray into programming was
eggtimer for ladies to help them when they’re died in 2010 aged 54, having collapsed at his one small part of all of that but, oh blimey,
boiling them fantastic eggs. home in Hale, Greater Manchester, after being we can only say… Thank you.

Although firm
technical details have
not been unveiled, the
£70 machine appears
faithful to the original,
right down to a
headphone volume controller.
What’s more, M2, the developer
behind Sega Ages – a series of
video game ports, remakes and
compilations published by Sega
– is creating the software for the
device, so it should be in safe
hands. Pre-orders are being
taken now, with Sega hoping that
demand
dem will outstrip that of the
top-selling
to NES Classic Mini.
PROTOTYPE ZX
SPECTRUM PUT
ON DISPLAY
Having languished in a cupboard
for decades, a prototype Sinclair
ZX Spectrum has been
handed to a museum
in Cambridge. The
computer, owned by
the company that
created the Basic
programming language for
the ZX80 and ZX81, is thought
to date back to July 1981
and features a different
configuration to the version
that was released to the public
in April the following year.
Donated to the Centre for
Computing History (www.
computinghistory.org.uk), which
has just become fully accredited
by the UK Arts Council, the
machine is now on display.
The museum’s technicians have
also dumped and preserved the
ROMs, according to its founder
Jason Fitzpatrick.
“They were 2564 ROMs the Commodore Amiga and the
rather than the normal 2764 game Dizzy without troubling
ROMs, which delayed us a bit your pocket too much.
but we’ve been checking the To grab copies of the books,
circuits and powering it up visit tinyurl.com/377retro2 and
to see what it does,” add the ones you want to your
Fitzpatrick tells us. cart before checking out to
“It’s an exciting addition to receive your download links.
the collection and lots of people Most of the books have been
have been desperate to see it.” written by Chris
Wilkins and the
DELVE INTO former editor of
GAMING’S HISTORY Crash and
Fusion Retro Books has released Zzap!64
a good number of tomes about magazines,
video-gaming history, covering Roger M Kean,
some of the most iconic and they’re
developers, publishers and a great
computers of yesteryear. It has trip down
now made some of those books memory lane.
available as PDFs for free or for There are a number of
as little as £1, letting you read all retro magazines to be had
about Ocean Software, US Gold, for a quid, too.

ISSUE 377 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | JULY 2019 125

 Helpfile &
BusinessHelp
Whatever your PC, hardware, software, office application
or macro issues, Simon Handby is here to help
Send your problems to help@computershopper.co.uk

Hibernope
A couple of months ago, you helped
me recover data from my old
network-attached storage (NAS)
drive after I unintentionally deleted
a volume (Helpfile, Shopper 375).
I’m very happy with my new
Synology DS218j, except that the
disks never seem to power down.
In DiskStation Manager, I used
Control Panel’s Power settings to
configure hibernation. When that
didn’t work, I created a power
schedule to turn off the NAS
between midnight and 6am. That
works, but it’s not ideal: it means
we have to schedule updates and
SMART tests for when we’re using
the NAS, and that we’ll need to turn
it on manually if we ever need it
during the middle of the night. ⬆ Some NAS services, or apps such as Surveillance Station, need the disks to stay on
We’ve got a typical home
network where most of the PCs and devices menu), which will confirm if and when the which can appear to keep devices awake; you
are unused most of the time, and almost NAS is ever waking up from hibernation. might experiment with disabling these.
everything except the printer gets turned If the log shows the NAS is hibernating If the NAS does hibernate when everything
off overnight. The NAS is only used for overnight, but not during the day, it’s likely else is turned off, try progressively leaving
occasional media streaming and a weekly that one of your devices is keeping it awake, more equipment on overnight until you find
backup, so I was hoping it would hibernate which is broadly what you want. If it’s never that it no longer hibernates. This should let
the rest of the time. Can you help? hibernating, try turning off every network- you narrow down the problem to a particular
Dean Harris connected device except your NAS overnight, device or group of devices. The only sure way
then reviewing the logs the following to discover the source of network packets
It shouldn’t matter if a NAS doesn’t hibernate, morning to see if the disks hibernated at that keep the NAS awake would be to
particularly if it has specialised NAS hard any point. If not, it would suggest that the configure a packet sniffer on its network
disks, which are designed to work NAS itself is running an app or service that port. We believe this is possible with the
continuously for several years. That said, keeps it awake. The Synology knowledge DS218j by using a remote SSH session to
hibernation reduces noise, power consumption base page at tinyurl.com/377helpfile1 lists configure the tcpdump command, but it’s
and heat output, so it’s a shame not to use it. some common suspects. very involved to set up.
Two classes of event may be preventing Another alternative in this scenario is More generally, remember that PCs and
the NAS hibernating: services or applications that your router is either regularly polling the network traffic can behave in surprising ways.
running on the NAS itself, and requests local network, or that it’s forwarding internet When researching our answer to this question,
originating on the network. To shed light on traffic to the NAS. If you can’t find a culprit we discovered that if we started typing a local
things, you should enable hibernation logging on the NAS itself, log into your router and IP address (such as 192.168.0.12) into the
in DiskStation Manager: open Control Panel, check that you haven’t configured any Chrome browser’s omnibox, its prediction
switch to Advanced Mode if you’re not inbound firewall or service rules that service began preemptively contacting the
already in it, and select Hardware & Power direct traffic to the NAS’s network address. web admin interfaces on our network. As
from under the System heading. Select the We’d recommend disabling uPNP in all cases these included our test NAS, the result was
HDD Hibernation tab, tick Enable hibernation unless it’s absolutely necessary, but we’ve that our NAS woke up for no apparent reason
logs then click Apply. Now you can periodically encountered other router services such as each time we reviewed our router’s settings to
check the Log Center (found on the main IGMP (internet group management protocol), see if they were waking up the NAS.

128 JULY 2019 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 377

 HELPFILE & BUSINESS HELP

Old video, new tricks Taming the

One of the projects I have
in mind for my imminent
retirement is to digitise
and edit lots of old family
videos, which exist in
various old formats such as
Sony Video8 tapes.
I am just about to invest
in a decent PC that will
cope with the task. I’m
wondering whether
modern video-editing
suites have video-
enhancing features built in
that could address some of
the colour bleed that you
get on these older formats.
Alternatively, is there
dedicated software ⬆ Simply fixing the white balance and applying auto levels can do
that can achieve this? wonders to improve old footage
My initial investigations
have drawn a bit of a blank,
so any help would be much appreciated.
Gary Harris
It’s hard to know exactly what you mean
by colour bleed, but we assume you’re
noticing either colour fringes around sharp
areas of contrast, or a more general wash of
colour across the image from one region to
another. The former (chromatic aberration)
is usually caused by the camera lens, while
the latter can occur due to the limitations
of analogue video. If possible, adjust the
settings on your playback device to get the
best video for capture.
Unfortunately, we’re not aware of a
video-editing suite with an automatic and
simple tool for dealing with aberration,
but good packages include filters for
correcting colour, which you can combine
with masks to tackle more localised
problems. We’d start by applying a white
balance correction to get the right overall
colour temperature in the scene; in most
cases, this will work wonders.
If the results still need work, you could
make a basic attempt to fix unwanted colours
by editing the shadow, highlight and midpoint
values of a selected colour channel, but a
more advanced approach would be to target
a specific problem hue and replace it with
the right one, using a tool such as the
Color Replace effect in Adobe Premiere.
Remember to define the edits on a frame
where the problem is most pronounced, and
use and animate a mask if necessary to avoid
altering colours in other parts of the shot.
It may take some experimentation to find
an approach you can use quickly to fix a range
of footage, and sometimes it’s easiest to
follow a video tutorial. We found a useful
introduction to removing chromatic aberration
on CreativeCow.net at tinyurl.com/377helpfile2.
Although it uses Adobe After Effects, the
principles would be the same in Adobe
Premiere or other suites with similar features.
taskbar
It’s great that Windows is so much
better at organising taskbar icons
these days; I remember a brand new
XP laptop with 10 of them already
sprawling across the taskbar.
However, while Windows 7 and
Windows 8 let you click the arrow
next to the Notification Area to
customise the displayed icons,
Windows 10 seems to decide for itself.
I’m missing a couple of important icons;
where can I choose which ones to show?
Sandy Nicholson
In its wisdom, Microsoft removed the
Customise option with Windows 10,
but you can still choose which icons
you want to see in the Taskbar.
Right-click the Taskbar, choose
Taskbar Settings and scroll down to
Select which icons appear on the Taskbar,
which is under the Notification area
heading. Use the toggle switches to
choose which are shown or hidden.
⬆ You can still hide or show taskbar icons; the
settings are just better hidden in Windows 10

Cut the spam

I’m trying to reduce the amount spam
that I get from a simple enquiry form
on my website, since I’m in danger of
deleting genuine enquiries among the
flood of rubbish.
I found a simple php script to
generate a bot-unfriendly question
with the form, but it only does half the
job, and emails with the wrong answer
still come through. As a temporary
measure I’ve added a box that must be
filled with a number, rather than text,
but ideally I’d like to tweak the code
so that only emails with the correct
answer are sent. Can you help?
Steve
➡ Akismet’s Personal plan lets
you name your price, or even use
it for free
Our first question is whether it’s
practical to use a mailbox rule to
filter out all the messages with
the wrong answer. If not, you
could edit the php script, but
you’d get a more sophisticated
and tunable solution with a
specialised plug-in.
We’ve used Akismet to
reduce spam comments on WordPress find the full list at tinyurl.com/377helpfile3.
blogs, and it’s available for multiple If your site is non-commercial, you’ll be
other systems and platforms; you can able to use Akismet for free.

ISSUE 377 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | JULY 2019 129

 HELPFILE & BUSINESS HELP

UEFI champions
I’ve got an ageing Dell Vostro notebook
that, for the past couple of years, I’ve
barely been using. I reinstalled it from
scratch ahead of giving it to my daughter.
I installed Windows 10 from a USB disk
created by the Windows Media Creation
Tool, but I could only get the computer to
recognise it in legacy boot mode. Once the
install finished, Windows wouldn’t boot if
I switched back to UEFI mode. I assume
I’ve got to install from within UEFI mode
to be able to run Windows in UEFI mode,
but there’s no USB option on the UEFI
boot list. Is there a way around it?
C Masterson

The first thing to check is that you’re using a

FAT32-formatted USB stick. You can find out by
right-clicking it in File Explorer and choosing
Properties. Assuming you are, boot into the
laptop’s setup menu using F2, navigate to the
Boot tab and check the options under UEFI
boot. If you don’t see a USB drive in this list,
you’ll need to add it. Ensure that Boot List
Option is set to UEFI, then underneath it
select Add Boot Option. In the dialog that
⬆ You may need to add a USB option to the computer’s UEFI boot menu
opens, use USB for Boot Option Name, then The computer should now restart in UEFI
make sure that the complex-looking entry mode and boot from an inserted USB stick,
under File System List ends with USB. If not, but you may need to return to the Boot tab in
select the field using tab, then use the up and Setup and move the USB option up the order
down arrows to scroll through any options. of devices. Complete the installation, remove
Leave the File Name blank, select Yes to save, the USB drive, then you should be running
then press F10 to exit and save your changes. WIndows 10 with the laptop still in UEFI mode.

Unpublished work
I read with interest your recent article on Microsoft Access
alternatives (‘Losing Access’, Shopper 375), and wondered
whether you could suggest any alternatives to Microsoft’s
desktop publishing program, Publisher.
I used Publisher very occasionally, and when my old
laptop died and needed replacing, I didn’t want to buy a new
version of Office just for that. I’m using LibreOffice instead.
Recently, however, I have come across a .pub file that I would
like to use. It opened in Draw, but I can only see its text; the
pictures aren’t there. Can you help me find a way to fix it?
Ron Duncan

⬆ If you still have Publisher, re-install it and edit or export the document

⬆ ZamZar’s free conversions are a useful way to access old files without
the need for old software
The first question is whether you still have the media and licence for
your old copy of Office, which is likely to work perfectly on your new
computer. Assuming you don’t, you’ll probably need to convert
the .pub file; we’re not aware of any other apps that can open and
work with such content.
Fortunately, this should be fairly easy using www.zamzar.com, which
will convert Publisher files to various formats, including PDF and .docx.
You’ll lose some of the Publisher-specific information, but you should
retain your text, images and the approximate layout.

130 JULY 2019 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 377

 Advanced
Projects
Clive Webster has been tinkering with computers ever since
Windows 98 forced him to manually install his drivers
clive@computershopper.co.uk

Use a
password
manager
Using strong and unique
passwords for each website
and service we use is
impossible – no-one’s memory
is that good. Thankfully,
Clive Webster can show you
a secure alternative
THE ADVICE FROM all the security experts is to use a
different password for each and every website and
service you use, as well as your computers and mobile
devices. And these passwords can’t just be ‘p455w0rd’
or some variation; they need to be at least 12
characters long, with strange symbols and oddly
placed capitals. Who could possibly remember all that?
Password managers offer a simple solution,
essentially acting as a safe, storing all your passwords
locked securely by one master password. Usefully,
these applications now offer all kinds of other security-
related extras, and most have a free option.

132 JULY 2019 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 377

 ADVANCED PROJECTS

THERE ARE DOZENS of password managers

to choose from, but we’re going to focus on
the best free service. Other services have
some interesting features or additions, but
LastPass Free includes everything necessary
for most people’s needs. If you want a bit of
extra security, Dashlane’s paid-for service is
only $40 (around £30) a year and has some
very interesting and useful extras. Both of
these services also have multi-user options
for businesses and organisations for around
£3 per user per month.
While Dashlane also offers a free service,
it lacks one killer ability that LastPass Free
possesses: syncing. As Dashlane’s free
service doesn’t synchronise your saved and
stored passwords, it’s only useful for
single-device users, and that’s a very small
number of people these days. LastPass Free
synchronises across multiple devices, so
you’ll have access to your passwords on
your PC, your laptop, your phone, your
tablet and your smartwatch. Usefully,
LastPass Free can also store secure notes,
credit cards, passport details, driver’s licence
details, your National Insurance number and
insurance policy details. That should reduce
the need to hunt through your files and desk
drawers for paperwork.
⬆ It’s so easy to import your passwords from Chrome into LastPass that it might be worth using Chrome
NO MORE POST-IT PASSWORDS when importing your passwords from Firefox, Edge and Internet Explorer
Depending on the device you’re using,
LastPass operates either as a web browser passwords; click the link to download this Chrome, import your passwords from your
extension (or add-on) or an app (free for iOS, version. Once downloaded, launch this favourite browser, follow the instructions
Android and Windows Phone). It’s easiest application and follow the instructions. above and then uninstall Chrome.
to set up LastPass on a PC or laptop, as As LastPass imports passwords so easily If installing Chrome only to uninstall it
you can import your passwords from your from Chrome, and Chrome can import a few minutes later sounds silly, there are
current web browser. Each browser has its passwords very easily from Firefox, Edge and other methods of extracting your saved
own quirks as to how it stores your Internet Explorer, it might be easiest to install passwords from non-Chrome browsers.
passwords, so importing your However, some browsers
passwords is very different make this easier than
for Firefox, Opera, Edge, others. For example,
Chrome and Safari. Firefox has no export
Google’s Chrome has a option. Instead, you’ll
built-in password manager need to download the
module, which LastPass can free FF Password
access. Open Chrome, head Exporter from tinyurl.
to the Chrome Web Store com/377projects2a. This is
(tinyurl.com/377projects1) available for Windows,
and install LastPass. You can MacOS and Linux; we
then click on the greyed-out used the Installer
LastPass Extension icon version for Windows.
(a box with three dots and Once installed, FF
cursor-like vertical line) Password Exporter will
to create your LastPass automatically launch and
account, using a long and find your Firefox User
secure password. Profile. If you’ve set a
Once you’ve logged in, the master password for
icon will turn red. Click on Firefox, you’ll need to enter
this, then select Account this in the provided box;
Options, Advanced, Import otherwise, just press the
and then Google Chrome Export Passwords button.
Password Manager. Chrome An Explorer window will
will ask you to use ‘the binary open, allowing you to
version’ of LastPass to import save the resultant CSV
file to a location you can
➡ Firefox has no ability to export remember. We’ll move on
saved passwords, so you’ll need to what to do with this
to use this free tool CSV file in a moment.

ISSUE 377 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | JULY 2019 133

 ADVANCED PROJECTS
⬆ You’ll also need a separate tool to export passwords from Microsoft’s browsers
Microsoft’s Edge (and Internet Explorer)
is similarly reluctant to export passwords.
In the case of Microsoft’s browsers, you’ll
need a free tool called VaultPasswordView
(see tinyurl.com/377projects3). Download the
zip file and run VaultPasswordView.exe.
The tool will then launch its options page;
select your Root Folder (typically C:\) from
the top drop-down menu and then click
Automatic Fill, then enter your Windows
login password and click OK. Highlight all the
entries in the main pane and then click the
Save button. Save the list as a Comma
Separated Values (CSV) file.
THE OPERA SHOW
Opera has a password-exporting tool built
in: head to Settings, then click Advanced,
scroll to the Passwords and forms section,
and click the Passwords option. Find the
menu button that seems to float between
the Auto sign-in toggle and the list of
saved passwords; click this and you’ll find
the Export Passwords option. Opera will
warn you that it’s about to export your
password list as an unencrypted file, but
134
at least it asks you to enter your Windows
account password to verify who you are.
Once you have a CSV file of passwords,
install LastPass on your browser. The easiest
method in most cases is to go to lastpass.com
and click the Get LastPass Free button. Sign
up to the service and it should automatically
recognise your browser and launch the
LastPass will nag you about your passwords being weak or
repeated and ask you to participate in its Security Challenge
correct page of its Extensions or Add-ons
store. We found that Edge preferred to launch
the Microsoft Store, where we had to search
for LastPass manually; install the LastPass:
Free Password Manager version in this case.
Once the LastPass browser extension is
installed, you’ll see the greyed-out icon in the
top right of your browser window. Click on
this to log into your account. Then select
Account Options, Advanced and then Import.
This will load a new browser window.
Select ‘Generic CSV File’ from the list
and then open your CSV file in NotePad
(or a similar text editor); you’ll have to
right-click and use the ‘Open with’ option
as normally CSV files open as spreadsheets.
Select the entire contents of the file and
copy it (Ctrl-A, Ctrl-C), then paste this into
the second section of the LastPass Import
web page and click Upload. Review the list
shown on the new web page, unticking
entries that are missing information, before
clicking Import Selected (or Import All if
you want all the entries).
Once imported, do not forget to delete
that CSV file, as it’s an unencrypted list of all
your login details. To destroy the file, select
it and press Shift-Delete on your keyboard.
Equally, you might have file-shredding
capabilities through your anti-virus software,
JULY 2019 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 377
 ADVANCED PROJECTS

⬆ Opera has the ability to export your passwords, but the tool is slightly hidden

which would do an even more thorough job

of destroying this sensitive data.

ENTER PASSWORD
To test whether your imported passwords
are working, open LastPass and select All
Items, Passwords. Then choose one of the
categories and click one of the entries.
All being well, that web page or service will
load and you’ll be automatically logged in. If
not, you might have to enter your password
manually; the export-import process isn’t
perfect. LastPass does a decent job of putting
all your logins into these categories; our Moo
login was placed under Business (it’s a
business-card printing service), while Netflix
was filed under Entertainment, and Dropbox,
Bit.ly and Doodle were placed in the
Productivity folder. It’s worth going through
the ‘(none)’ folder as unknown websites get
dumped there; click the Edit (pencil) button
for an entry to change its folder.
Pretty soon (if you’re like us), LastPass
will nag you about your passwords being ⬆ It’s a bit convoluted, but importing your passwords from a CSV file is quicker than adding
weak or repeated and ask you to participate all your passwords manually
in its Security Challenge. This is worth doing
as soon as possible, as this tool analyses your The Security Challenge opens a new against known security breaches. If an email
passwords and helps you create stronger browser window, which invites you to press a address has been involved in a data breach,
ones. If you haven’t been nagged (or you button to generate a score for your LastPass will email you details of the breach
were, and you dismissed it too quickly), passwords. Click the button, enter your and advice on creating a new password.
you can run the Security Challenge manually Master Password and wait a few seconds for The Security Challenge breaks down
by opening LastPass, selecting Account LastPass to populate a list of all the email your actions into four priorities – Change
Options and then Security Challenge. accounts it found; this list will be checked Compromised Passwords, Change Weak

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 ADVANCED PROJECTS
⬆ Organise your saved passwords by clicking the Edit button. You can change the name and folder, and see LastPass’s estimate of how strong your password is
Passwords, Change Reused Passwords and
Change Old Passwords – and indicates which
needs urgent attention via colour coding.
For some sites and services, LastPass can
automatically update and strengthen your
136
passwords; for others, it can’t. Automatically
updating passwords is a pretty neat trick, as
it requires LastPass to handle the submission
and authentication of that new password
with an external site. That process can take a
few minutes, but at least you can walk away
and do something else while waiting.
LastPass tries to make manual updates
easier by including a button to take you to
each site. Once there, you can log in and
open your account. Choose to update your
password and you’ll need to fill in your
current password. You can use the LastPass
icon that now appears on all login boxes if
your password doesn’t automatically appear;
just click the button and then click the
correct suggested entry.
GENERATING NEW PASSWORDS
You can now move to the creation of a new
password. The LastPass icon should appear,
and you can click on that to have LastPass
create a very strong new password
automatically. By default, LastPass will
generate a 12-character jumble of letters and
numbers, but click Show Options and you can
increase that to 99 characters and make the
password easy to read or say, or set whether
to use upper-case, lower-case, numbers or
symbols. We would suggest passwords of 16
characters are sufficient. Passwords that are
⬅ Take the LastPass Security Challenge to check
how strong your passwords are, and which ones
need to be changed urgently
JULY 2019 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 377
 ADVANCED PROJECTS

Pass and go: the LastPass app

The LastPass app works much like the
browser extension, but it can also use any
biometrics that your phone or tablet
includes. That includes using Face ID on
modern iDevices. As you’d expect, the app
walks you through the setup process, and
does a better job than we could do here.
Using LastPass on iOS is easy: just use
your favourite browser as usual, and when
you tap on a login box you’ll see either a
banner to allow you to enter your login
details, or a banner-like button at the top
of the keyboard to do so. You only need to
delve into the app to update passwords or
settings, and that’s a rare event.
On Android, you need to work through
the app all the time. This is because the
app cannot integrate at a fundamental
level, as the iOS app can. The app is
essentially an entire web browser, with the
LastPass extension built in.
Once installed, a useful setting to
change is the Default Site Action: open ⬆ The LastPass app is easy to set up, and allows you to use the fingerprint reader or face detection of
the settings menu, then Settings, Default your phone to enter your super-strong LastPass password
Site Action and Add Copy Notifications.
This makes it easier to enter login details Just as with the iOS LastPass app, your folders as with the browser extension.
as you go. Otherwise, you need to use the Android passwords are presented merely Fortunately, this list is searchable, but it’s
Passwords list, which is unwieldy. as an alphabetical list rather than in useful still a little unwieldy.

➡ LastPass can check for data breaches, where your

login details may have been hacked and published
or sold to fraudsters

easy to read or say might be useful for things

like Netflix, where you’ll still need to type the
password into a TV using a remote control.
As LastPass will manage this jumble of
characters for you, you won’t have to
remember it. Once you’re happy with the
suggested password, click Fill Password.
On some websites, you’ll find that the
LastPass icon doesn’t appear in the New
Password box. In this case, select the new
password field, click the LastPass browser
extension icon and select Generate Secure
Password. This opens the same ‘new
password options’ screen. Once you’re happy,
click Fill Password. A third option is to
right-click a password-entry box and choose
LastPass, Generate Secure Password.
The only slight niggle is that you’ll not
only have to update your login details for the
website, but you’ll need to remember to
update LastPass. It produces a pop-up
window to make this easy, but it’s another
step you’ll have to remember.

NEXT MONTH
BUILD YOUR OWN AI
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are amazingly popular. We show you
how to build your own AI for pocket-
money prices

ISSUE 377 | COMPUTER SHOPPER | JULY 2019 137

 PARTING SHOTS
Zygote
While scammers, ruthless corporations and unscrupulous landlords may not be able to
rest easily with Zygote on their case, others are getting paid extra for a decent night’s kip
METAL DEFECTOR
Norsk Hydro is one of the world’s
biggest producers of aluminium,
with sites in 50 countries. It has
been hit by a ransomware attack,
suspected to originate from the
notorious LockerGoga gang, and
the company’s boss Ivan Kallevik
has rightly refused to cave in to
the blackmailers’ demands.
A ransomware attack is when
malicious code infects a system
and encrypts data, which is then
held hostage until the ransom
demand is paid, and in this case
refusal to comply is costing
Norsk Hydro dear. It has been
forced to shut down its global
computer network in a vain
attempt to control the virus,
which means either switching to
manual operations or shutting
down factories altogether.
Heavy industry is an obvious
target for cyber blackmail, simply
because downtime costs millions
every day, so executives may be
willing to pay up in order to
mitigate their losses. But Zygote
worries about the safety
implications and risks of
environmental catastrophe
when such computer-controlled
operations fail. It’s hard to be
sympathetic to the likes of
Norsk Hydro, because it is its
responsibility to maintain cyber
security, keep multiple backups
and operate failsafe systems to
cope with such attacks.
This is in contrast to the
latest ransomware attack
suffered by the Police Federation
of England and Wales, which
represents 120,000 of our boys
and girls in blue. The Federation
has tweeted, “as a precaution
we are contacting our members
and will provide them with
further helpful information”.
Unfortunately the massed plod
haven’t taken this news too well,
mainly because the alert was
posted 11 days after the event.
LATCH KEY KIDDING
Mr and Mrs McKenzie live in
a rented third-floor apartment
at 517 West 45th Street in
138
Manhattan. To get to their
postbox or to use the lift, they
need to access the lobby on the
ground floor. But the apartment
owners have just installed a
so-called smart latch system,
which requires the McKenzies to
use a smartphone app to get into
the lobby, and just to make life
more interesting they have
blocked up the traditional
keyholes at the same time.
Mr McKenzie has lived in the
building for 45 years, he is 93
years old and he does not have a
smartphone. He has become a
prisoner in his own home.
It gets worse. Other tenants
using the Wi-Fi-connected latch
system must agree to their GPS
location being tracked, and allow
personal information from their
phones to be harvested.
Zygote believes location is the
key to this sorry saga, and the
location is of course Manhattan,
where rent control applies. If the
landlords can force geriatric
tenants to flee because they
can’t handle the technology, they
can re-let the same apartment
for a fistful of dollars more.
COOKIE MONSTER
When our so-called
government’s website was
analysed by the civil rights
association European Digital
Rights, 20 cookies were
identified. That doesn’t sound
like much of a problem, except
for the fact that 12 of these are
marketing cookies operated by
Google, which is able to exploit
the cookies to cross-reference
data with its own account details
used for services such as
searches, mail and Android apps.
Gov.uk is the online hub
covering benefits, employment,
crime, education, housing,
disability, tax, births, marriages,
deaths and Brexit, so it is clear
to see what huge commercial
opportunities there are involving
millions of online searches
within the site itself.
Zygote would like an
assurance that gov.uk will
prevent commercial tracking and
sensitive facts about a citizen’s
private life from leaking out to
Google, and would like that
assurance declared now. And
speaking of Google…
BUCKSTOP
Have you ever received a scam
purporting to be from a Nigerian
prince? Then make sure it didn’t
come from Google. It started
when the Google currency
converter widget spontaneously
devalued the Nigerian naira by
40% for no apparent reason.
Then it pulled exactly the same
trick on the Pakistani rupee.
And now it has happened again
in Ghana, whose Minister of
Finance is not best pleased.
JULY 2019
The Ghanaian cedi was
supposed to be trading at around
5.50 to the dollar, whereas
Google issued all its calculations
at a devaluation rate of 400%.
So if the pound crashes, it may
have nothing to do with Brexit,
but a lot to do with the world’s
favourite search engine.
IN YOUR DREAMS
The Aetna corporation is the
leading health insurance broker
in the USA, and its management
is so concerned about the
wellbeing of its 50,000
employees that it pays them a
bonus not for working, but for
sleeping. Not sleeping on the job,
of course, but sleeping soundly
in their own beds at night.
Aetna workers are equipped
with Fitbit wrist monitors, and if
they report more than seven
hours’ uninterrupted sleep for
more than 20 nights a month,
then they are rewarded with an
extra $500 in their pay packet.
Fitbit monitoring assumes the
wearer is asleep if no movement
is detected, and it can also detect
heart-rate patterns to estimate
how deep the state of sleep is.
Zygote applauds this level of
trust, and is absolutely sure that
not a single Aetna employee
would dream of simply strapping
their Fitbit to a hibernating
hedgehog, or tethering it to a
broken alarm clock.
| COMPUTER SHOPPER | ISSUE 377