Our big focus this week at TechRadar has been our annual Sustainability week, where we’ve been celebrating the latest sustainable developments in the tech space and looking at how you can get longer life out of your tech. One of the keys to reducing tech waste is making your gadgets last as long as possible. That’s why we spend so much of our time thoroughly testing tech, so you can be sure that you can buy once and keep your gadgets for as long as possible.
And we’ve got loads of in-depth reviews for you to dig into this week. First, we’ve been giving the brand new Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 a thorough listen, and we’ve been seriously impressed with their open yet exciting sound and wide array of features. But that’s not all: we’ve also been trying out the Sky Glass Gen 2 to see how its combined QLED screen and 3.1.2 soundbar are the perfect all-in-one TV package for UK living rooms. And there’s plenty more where they came from.
The Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 are premium wireless headphones that offer some serious spec upgrades over their predecessors. On top of their streamlined look, they’ve been upgraded to Bluetooth 5.3 with aptX Lossless compatibility for CD-quality streaming. And further upgrades are coming, with both spatial audio and Auracast promised in future over-the-air updates, giving them a feature set that can rival most other mass-market, high-end headphones.
But what truly earns the Px7 S3 their place in the pantheon of the best noise-cancelling headphones is their sound quality. They’re deliciously dynamic and offer punchy bass, yet are capable of a spacious, airy soundstage. And their ANC, while not fully Bose-esque, can compete with every other headphone brand, silencing most external noise without weakening the quality of your tunes.
For
- Balanced, entertaining and convincing sound
- Impressive build and finish
- Even more impressive specs
Against
- Vulnerable to wind noise
- Limited physical controls
- Price has increased
Simon Lucas
“Impressive in pretty much every respect, this is one of Bowers & Wilkins’ very best products when judged on a pound-for-pound basis.”
Read Simon’s full Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 review.
A good deal of what makes Sky Glass Gen 2 so appealing is also true of its first generation. It gives you access to Sky TV without the need for dishes or discrete boxes, instead running over your home network, and also contains a built-in Dolby Atmos soundbar, making it a great all-in-one home cinema solution.
What does the Gen 2 bring to the table that improves it over its predecessor and makes it worth choosing over any of the other best TVs? A whole bunch of upgrades. It rocks boosted brightness. It crams in way more dimming zones than its forebear, helping to improve its blacks and contrast. And its 3.1.2 sound system offers improved bass, giving its audio way more guts and presence. All told, it’s an even more polished option for Sky customers and anyone who wants a complete home entertainment package.
For
- Upgraded brightness and picture quality
- Ultra-convenient Sky hub
- Built-in Dolby Atmos soundbar
Against
- Disappointing 60Hz refresh rate
- Some settings are hidden away
- Not the best value if you don’t need the sound system
Harry Padoan
“The Sky Glass Gen 2 offers a significant improvement over its predecessor, bringing better brightness, more immersive sound, and more advanced local dimming. An all-in-one, easy-to-use Sky hub that doesn’t require a dish to be installed for live viewing, you’re getting a very solid QLED TV and a highly convenient package that Sky customers may find difficult to resist.”
Read Harry’s full Sky Glass Gen 2 review.
The Honor 400 Lite very much wears its design inspirations on its sleeve. It offers an Apple-aping notch widget system and camera control button, plus a clean form factor and three-lens camera bump that will look familiar to any iPhone 16 Pro fans out there. But it offers all of this in a budget Android handset that costs just £249.99 – unconventional features like this are a real rarity at this kind of price range.
So does that make the Honor 400 Lite a shoo-in for one of the best cheap phones out there? Not quite. Honor’s MagicOS is still a pretty cluttered software ecosystem compared to Apple’s streamlined setup, while the camera system feels pretty limited. It does have a good-looking 6.7-inch OLED display, though, and the battery life isn’t bad, so if you absolutely need iPhone looks on a budget, you could definitely do a lot worse.
For
- Slick camera button
- Big but lightweight
- Nice vibrant display
Against
- Sluggish performance
- Limited camera setup
- Busy UI
Jon Mundy
“The Honor 400 Lite is a fascinating budget Android phone that seems way more enamored with the Apple way of doing things, offering some appealing features, including a dedicated camera button and a handy notch widget system. However, it takes its eye off the ball in some key areas.”
Read Jon’s full Honor 400 Lite review.
The DeLonghi Linea Classic Espresso Machine is a compact, appealing coffee maker that takes a lot of the work out of making coffee manually. Rather than having to manage water quantity, temperature, or the brewing pressure, you can simply load up your portafilter, give it a good tamp, and then you’re ready to brew a single or double shot of espresso. Froth or steam various kinds of milk with its built-in wand, and you can make your favorite drink in no time.
Admittedly, these features aren’t at all unusual among the best coffee machines. But what is unusual is the price: very few espresso machines cost as little as $199.95 (about £155), especially not when they produce as decent results as this. It also occupies only a small amount of worktop space, making it easy to tuck away when not in use.
For
- Relatively small footprint
- Brew single or double espresso with a touch of a button
- Simple to use
- Reasonably priced
Against
- Takes some trial and error to make tasty espresso
- Overheats at times
Karen Freeman
“The De’Longhi Linea Classic Espresso Machine is somewhere in between a manual and an automatic espresso machine. Tamp your finely ground coffee carefully into the portafilter and insert it into the machine. Press the button for a single or double espresso and watch it brew.”
Read Karen’s full De’Longhi Linea Classic review.
Technically, the Nikon Z5 II may be the ‘entry-level’ model out of the most recent generation of the brand’s mirrorless cameras. But, in practice, it’s far higher spec than this label would lead you to believe. It follows in the footsteps of the Nikon Zf, gaining its Expeed 7 processor and getting access to its excellent subject detection and ultra-faithful 3D tracking. It offers a giant leap forward compared to the original Z5 in every area, meaning it’s a natural choice if you’re looking for the best mirrorless camera at a reasonable budget.
Speaking of budget, though, it is important to recognize that it has had a significant boost to its list price this generation, going for $1,699 / £1,599 / AU$2,699 for its body alone. However, we’d argue that this increased cost is worth it, given the vastly improved camera you’re getting in return.
For
- Comparable autofocus performance to higher-end Z-Mount bodies
- Superb design, EVF, and IBIS
- Better JPEGs thanks to Nikon Imaging Cloud
Against
- Pricier than previous iteration
- 1.5x crop for 4K 60fps video
Alex Whitelock
“The Nikon Z5 II is a calculated and well-executed camera that blurs the line between affordability and performance. Despite being angled as the brand’s entry-level model, the body has received significant upgrades over its rather pedestrian predecessor. As a superlative, catch-all camera that performs in the vast majority of scenarios, the Nikon Z5 II ticks every box.”
Read Alex’s full Nikon Z5 II review.
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josh.russell@futurenet.com (Josh Russell)
