Home//Stuff UK/November 2016/In This Issue
Stuff UK|November 2016WelcomeThe two most important thin s I’ve learned this month? One: Team Stuff’s thirst for profanity knows no bounds. Two: ‘Jack off’ is not and never will be an acceptable ma azine cover line.But hey, you’ve ot to lau h at Apple’s decision to ditch the headphone port. Dumpin a near-on 150-year-old connection with the same ruthlessness you mi ht show for a month-lon Tidal trial takes some umption.That aside, it turns out the two new iPhones aren’t too shabby. We’ve reviewed both the 7 and 7 Plus in our six-pa e Apple reviews special, and even squeezed in our verdict on the Watch Series 2 and AirPods. Read it all from p45 Â you’ll doubtless be shocked to learn Apple is still pretty ood at this tech lark.Whatever phone…1 min
Stuff UK|November 2016HOT FOURNOT NEO NO MORESony PlayStation 4 ProVery few of us would pass up the chance to be called a ‘pro’. Nick Woodman named his entire action camera company on the aspiration to ‘go pro’. But it might not have the same appeal if you’d spent the past few months thinking you were going to be called Neo. Maybe you even got yourself some calling cards made up with an ’80s sci-fi stencil font and laser slashes. Neo!But no, ‘Pro’ it is for PlayStation’s new 4K console, and the improvements are certainly more 2016 than 1985. Doubled graphics ability and a boosted processor mean the PS4 Pro will either run or upscale games at 4K, adding HDR effects into the bargain. The original PS4, meanwhile, lives on in a svelte new…2 min
Stuff UK|November 2016HOT FOUR #2WATCH, YOUR WAISTAPPLE WATCH NIKE+If you’re planning something complicated and important, such as lunch, it’s best to break down your ‘wants’ and ‘unwants’ by writing them all on Post-Its and sticking them all over the walls. Want: Village Pizza midday meal deal. Unwant: anything involving quinoa. Simple. But imagine the neon explosion of notes all over Apple’s device kitchen when they were planning the first Watch. Chaos. And the resulting watch, though pretty, lacked functional focus. The Series 2, however, knows that its consumers hunger for fitness features, so it has GPS and better waterproofing. You can read a full review of the standard model on p50, but this super-fit Nike+ version, with a sweat-swishing Swiss cheese strap and a swanky homescreen, won’t be out until later this month. Mmm.…1 min
Stuff UK|November 2016Tested Sony PlayStation 4 SlimTHE PRO’S LITTLE BRO What’s going on outside? It’s slimmer. Lying flat on a desk it’s just 3.9cm, down from the original’s 5.3cm, and the Pro’s 5.5cm. It’s also 1.2kg lighter, which is a big deal if you plan to cart it over to a mate’s house for shouting-distance multiplayer action. The touch-sensitive power and eject buttons of the old console are now proper buttons. Other notable physical changes are the deletion of the optical audio output which might be an issue and a new window on the controller’s touchpad so you can see the lightbar’s colour. What’s going on inside? Not much. If you want added graphical grunt you want the Pro. The year’s buzzy acronym HDR, for High Dynamic Range, is present on the Slim... but…3 min
Stuff UK|November 2016HOT FOUR #2WATCH, YOUR WAIST APPLE WATCH NIKE+ If you’re planning something complicated and important, such as lunch, it’s best to break down your ‘wants’ and ‘unwants’ by writing them all on Post-Its and sticking them all over the walls. Want: Village Pizza midday meal deal. Unwant: anything involving quinoa. Simple. But imagine the neon explosion of notes all over Apple’s device kitchen when they were planning the first Watch. Chaos. And the resulting watch, though pretty, lacked functional focus. The Series 2, however, knows that its consumers hunger for fitness features, so it has GPS and better waterproofing. You can read a full review of the standard model on p50, but this super-fit Nike+ version, with a sweat-swishing Swiss cheese strap and a swanky homescreen, won’t be out until later this…1 min
Stuff UK|November 2016START MENUTalented trouser ti htenerWELT“But isn’t that what the holes do? What they’ve always done?” You laugh inwardly at this regressive thinking and attempt to explain the marvel of a belt that measures waist size differences over the course of the day. Look, you say, the app records when you’ve eaten something by showing the extra tension on the buckle. “But I know when I’ve eaten something! It’s recorded by my eyes watching my hands put things in my mouth!" Nope, there’s no convincing this one. You march off, putting an extra wiggle into your hips to try to fool the built-in accelerometer into bumping up your steps score.from US$99 / weltcorp.comBluetooth kin of keysSMART CUBE“The cat is both alive and dead.” You point out the irritated noises very much proving…2 min
Stuff UK|November 2016CHOICEPENSYou otta fi ht, for your write, to party1 Parafernalia Revolution BallpointTriangles have delivered such joy as Dairylea and Zelda’s Triforce. This Italian pen is tri-mendous enough to join that crew.£37 / heinnie.com2 Retro 51 Dr GrayIf your actual doctor is using this, it means someone in their social group thinks they need an aide-memoire. #justsayin£35 / welovepens.co.uk3 MecArmy TPX33Good writing can open a window on the world. This pen can also open a window with its smashing spike end. Win-win.£81 / heinnie.com4 Power Pen It wasn’t so very long ago that 700mAh could power the world. And now you have that in your pen? Revel in your time!£24 / firebox.com5 Cleo Messograf And from that day forward, she just measured things, then wrote down the measurements. Measured. Noted. All…2 min
Stuff UK|November 2016FIRST LOOK CAN METAL GEAR SURVIVE WITHOUT KOJIMA?METAL GEAR SURVIVEXbox One, PS4Despite Metal Gear’s long history of encouraging you to hide underneath cardboard boxes, Survive isn’t a game where you just have to stay concealed inside one until everyone around you dies of boredom.With the series’ eccentric creator Hideo Kojima no longer on Konami’s payroll, a change of direction is no huge surprise. So, instead of galloping around the Afghan desert coshing people on the head and releasing them into the sky attached to large balloons, Survive sees you playing as a soldier who’s been sucked through a wormhole into another dimension filled with zombie-type baddies. Sounds pretty Call of Duty, right?Well, Konami insists it hasn’t abandoned stealth completely and you’ll still have to use those sneaky techniques to fend off your enemies. How that’ll work in…1 min
Stuff UK|November 2016WIRED HEADPHONESPRICED UPoBravo EAMT-1Here’s a joy that iPhone 7 owners will never get: spending over three grand on an extremely niche set of hi-fi in-ears. The ceramic/wood-bodied EAMTs come with either a 3.5mm jack or, if you have a suitably equipped headphone DAC, two balanced 2.5mm jacks. Sound comes via a 13mm neodymium driver and an 8mm Air Motion Transformer Tweeter our ears are not worthy.£3699 / audiosanctuary.co.ukBUTTONED UPLibratone Q AdaptNot long ago, three-button remotes for headphones were considered mindblowingly complex. “Three buttons?” we wrote in 2009. “What, are we fighter pilots now!?” But what’s this? Libratone’s Lightning-cabled Q Adapt has four. The extra one is CityMix, which controls the amount of noise cancellation. Sounds cool; we’re never going to use it. Four buttons! Nope.£tba (due this month) / libratone.comSINED…1 min
Stuff UK|November 2016FITBIT CHARGE 2, FLEX 2Fitbit has had its morning crawling up granite slabs in the pouring rain. Right now, it’s gambolling along a sunny ridge, breathing easy and looking forward to a Twix at the next waypoint. It’s just released new styles for its Blaze and Alta devices, and a new Fitbit Adventures app feature. It’s also released two updated fitness trackers, including the lozenge-sized Flex 2 that can be worn on your wrist or around your neck. But it’s the Charge 2 (on the left) that we’d take up a mountain. Multi-sport, heart-rate monitoring, and available with lots of different straps, its slim build and battery life make up for it polling your phone for GPS data. You need a bag for the Twixes anyway.£129, £79 / fitbit.com…1 min
Stuff UK|November 2016FIRST PLAY RESIDENT EVIL 7: BIOHAZARDIt’s clear enough from the Beginning Hour demo for Resident Evil 7 that the series has taken a turn for the grisly. It’s swapped zombies for slasher movie tropes, including a rickety old house filled with animal carcasses, mysterious locked doors and spooky VHS tapes that plunge you into playable flashbacks. One such flashback begins by being chased across a dark plantation by a horrible old hag holding a lantern. We’ll call her Theresa. Three words appear on the screen: ‘Don’t get caught.’ With the usual over-shoulder perspective ditched in favour of first-person (to accommodate PlayStation VR?) we dash inside an old house while Theresa tails us, shrieking: “I told you not to come here!" Managing to evade her, we find a statue in one room and a pedestal in…1 min
Stuff UK|November 2016FIRST LOOK CAN METAL GEAR SURVIVE WITHOUT KOJIMA?METAL GEAR SURVIVE Xbox One, PS4 Despite Metal Gear’s long history of encouraging you to hide underneath cardboard boxes, Survive isn’t a game where you just have to stay concealed inside one until everyone around you dies of boredom. With the series’ eccentric creator Hideo Kojima no longer on Konami’s payroll, a change of direction is no huge surprise. So, instead of galloping around the Afghan desert coshing people on the head and releasing them into the sky attached to large balloons, Survive sees you playing as a soldier who’s been sucked through a wormhole into another dimension filled with zombie-type baddies. Sounds pretty Call of Duty, right? Well, Konami insists it hasn’t abandoned stealth completely and you’ll still have to use those sneaky techniques to fend off your enemies.…1 min
Stuff UK|November 201610 BEST JACK FREE HEADPHONES£159 / apple.comRip the wires out of a pair of EarPods, give ’em longer tails, cap the ends with a glint of silver and you’ve got AirPods.It’s not that simple, obviously. They’re packing batteries good for five hours of tunes between charges, live in a teeny charging case that’ll top you up with 24 hours of extra listening time, and pair to your iPhone with a tap.In your ears they look like the kind of early-’00s Bluetooth headsets that were all the rage with Goldman Sachs bankers, but some will love how instantly recognisable they are.Put them in and your music starts playing; pull them outand the track will automatically pause. Handy. Double-tapping a bud will wake up Siri, and you can answer calls with the built-in mic.Sound quality is…2 min
Stuff UK|November 2016Second windfrom £369 / stuff.tv/Watch2Looks just like the last one, doesn’t it? But the new Apple Watch has had some pretty significant upgrades, the most striking of which is waterproofing. Good news for swimmers, yes, but also for surfers, sauna fans and forgetful showerers.A combo of GPS, heart-rate monitoring, accelerometers and huge amounts of research is claimed to make the Watch 2 the most accurate sports tracker out there. For our money the heart monitoring seems less consistent than one of those horrible chest straps, but the rest is hard to fault.The addition of GPS is a big boon if you like to train unencumbered by a phone. The Series 2 locks onto a GPS signal almost instantly and the screen is twice as bright as before, while 2GB of space…2 min
Stuff UK|November 2016Le end of the Skyfish£2.99 / iOS Along with emitting distinct whiffs of Zelda, what with its top-down viewpoint and wandering protagonist who has a tendency to get a bit stabby, Legend of the Skyfish is a handy warning about the dangers of overfishing. Namely, in this world, the fish got sick of it and fought back, turning the humans into mutant slaves. All except Little Red Hook, the character you guide through this simpler-thanZelda adventure, hooking and thwacking things with your fishing rod. It looks and sounds great, and is easy to get firmly hooked on (hooked, yes? Yes?) for as long as it lasts. An Android version is due this winter.…1 min
Stuff UK|November 2016COMMUTER COMPANIONSMAPMYWALKWant to get fitter but just can’t find the time? Tracking your normal pavement-pounding with MapMyWalk will give you an idea of how much more walking you should be doing, so you can hop off the bus a couple of stops early, or scoot up and down the stairs a few times at lunchtime.IAPs / iOS, AndroidMICROSOFT OUTLOOKMicrosoft killed our favourite calendar app, Sunrise  but thankfully it’s been swallowed up by the latest Outlook app. It plugs into your email accounts, Facebook events and Songkick plans, plus there’s OneDrive online storage included too.£free / iOS, AndroidOVERCASTPodcasts are a commuter’s best friend: funny, educational, time-killing and most of all completely free. So even if you have to spend 40 minutes pressed against a perspiring businessman from Basingstoke, you won’t mind,…2 min
Stuff UK|November 2016CYGNETT CHARGEUP£39 / uk.cygnett.comNo matter how many charges it gives you, there’s not much point lugging around a ‘portable’ charger if it weighs the same as a petrol-driven electricity generator. Cygnett’s Chargeup Digital 10,000 uses polymer rather than lithium-ion battery tech, which keeps the weight down despite it holding enough juice to charge your phone around five times before needing a re-up. And with a pair of USB ports you can charge two phones simultaneously. You know, for when you’re so deep in a Clash Royale hole you have to play it on two phones at once.LEAP DAYA new challenge beckons daily in this one-thumb platformer. Your little blob pootles about, and you tap to make it jump, threading your way through nasties to reach the top of each tall, narrow…1 min
Stuff UK|November 2016A bigger bite of the AppleO nce upon a time, new Apple gadgets used to arrive as often as raindrops in the Sahara. Nowadays it feels like Stuff is permanently entrenched on the Yorkshire Moors with only an old mac and some soggy mint cake to sustain us between launches. But hey, at least this year’s downpour is worth camping out for. In addition to the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, we’ve got the Apple Watch Series 2 and those brand new AirPods to contend with. And they’re all pretty significant in one way or another. Doubtless you’ve already heard about how both iPhones have cut the headphone jack adrift with all the caring that Darth Vader applied to his son’s arm surgery. But with major camera improvements, a taptic home button and the blisteringly…1 min
Stuff UK|November 201610 BEST JACK FREE HEADPHONES£159 / apple.com Rip the wires out of a pair of EarPods, give ’em longer tails, cap the ends with a glint of silver and you’ve got AirPods. It’s not that simple, obviously. They’re packing batteries good for five hours of tunes between charges, live in a teeny charging case that’ll top you up with 24 hours of extra listening time, and pair to your iPhone with a tap. In your ears they look like the kind of early-’00s Bluetooth headsets that were all the rage with Goldman Sachs bankers, but some will love how instantly recognisable they are. Put them in and your music starts playing; pull them out and the track will automatically pause. Handy. Double-tapping a bud will wake up Siri, and you can answer calls with…2 min
See Also
Here are the best electric bikes you can buy at every price level in September 2024How far away are we from the location of the Big Bang?The 100 Most Iconic Guitars of All Time: Complete List RevealedAI.FUND on LinkedIn: #bigbangaifestival #airevolution #aiinbusiness #aifund #smes #networking…Stuff UK|November 2016BINARY BACKPACKERSROME2RIOYou’re in Rome. You want to get to Rio. This app will tell you all the possible permutations for that trip, from car to train to plane. It’ll do it for other starting points and locations too, with prices, booking links and suggestions for accommodation thrown in for good measure. Spoiler alert: it’s best to fly to Rio.£free / iOS, AndroidMAPS.MEGoogle Maps now lets you save areas offline, but it makes you redownload them every 30 days. Store the areas you need and Maps.me works without a web connection, complete with directions and places of interest. It’ll even help you hunt out Wi-Fi if you have snaps you want to upload to Instagram.£free / iOS, AndroidAIRHELPMugged off by the pirates of the sky? AirHelp is a bit like one of…2 min
Stuff UK|November 2016PART-TIME PICASSOSASSEMBLYAssembly claims to be ‘graphic design for everyone’. In reality, it’s more like a modern take on playing with felt shapes. At the foot of the screen there’s a shapes drawer, and you drag elements to the artboard, which can then be moved and resized. Get a little more advanced and they can be grouped for mass manipulation, recoloured, and have effects such as drop-shadows applied. You can even import an image as a backdrop. You know, if you fancy having a bash at designing next month’s Stuff cover.IAPs / iOSPAPEROriginally an elegant drawing app for iPad, Paper got a radical overhaul with version 3. The sketching stuff remained but was joined by superb tools for quickly creating diagrams, taking notes and making lists. Hip beardists bemoaned the loss of…2 min
Stuff UK|November 2016MORE GAME CHANGERSCLASH ROYALEClash Royale might look like one of those horrible freemium games you see advertised on TV (and it sort of is), but this mashup of real-time strategy and card-collecting is so compelling that it’s worth dodging its attempts to mug your wallet. Your bank balance might be safe, but your free time won’t be.IAPs/iOS, AndroidSUPER DANGEROUS DUNGEONSThe name makes it sound like child’s play, but each of these dungeons is peppered with traps intent on impaling or drowning the intrepid Timmy as he aims to grab the keys and reach the exit. Which sounds simple until you’ve died 27 times.IAPs / iOS, AndroidSUPER STICKMAN GOLF 3Super Stickman Golf’s catapulting ancestor is the same Apple II artillery game that Angry Birds has at its core, but thwacking balls around giant…2 min
Stuff UK|November 2016TILE SLIMTHE TECHUS$30 / thetileapp.comWhen you’re gallivanting about the place downing Bloody Marys and sampling craft beer, it can be easy to lose track of time/your belongings/your mind. You can’t attach a Bluetooth tracker to two of those things but you definitely can to the other. Tile’s new Slim is bigger than its original tracker but much slimmer, so it’ll slip easily into your wallet, camera bag or Panama hat band and you can use the app to track it down if it goes missing. Get close but can’t quite lay your hands on it? You can trigger an alert noise to sound from the accompanying app. Just try not to swallow it by mistake.FOURSQUAREFourSquare is no longer about checking in to your local chippy in the hope of becoming its…1 min
Stuff UK|November 2016APPLE TV ESSENTIALSFLICKRIf nothing else, Flickr is worth signing up for just to get the 1TB of storage and automatic photo backup to the cloud that it offers for free. But if you also happen to own an Apple TV and have access to some poor unsuspecting victims, it’s also a neat way to subject the family to a slideshow of your snaps from your summer holiday in Alicante (or those from holidays uploaded by people you don’t even know).£freeADOBE LIGHTROOMWe’re bending the rules a little with this one because you need a Creative Cloud subscription to use it, but if you’re serious enough to subscribe for Photoshop you should be just as serious about showing off the results  and where better than on the biggest screen in your house?CC from…1 min
Stuff UK|November 2016POCKET TRIPODfrom US$19 / pocket-tripod.com Wielding a selfie stick not only marks you out as a narcissistic cretin; it’s also one extra thing to carry around with you. You could shove it where the sun is too embarrassed to shine, or you could use a Pocket Tripod instead. When not on duty it patiently waits in your wallet disguised as a credit card  but the second you need to hold your phone steady for a selfie, a long-exposure shot or a timelapse video, it twists and twizzles into a sturdy little tripod. The angle of your phone is even adjustable. Handy if you ever run into Peter Crouch. SNAPSEED This photo editor excels when you’ve got a lot of screen space to play with. Choose an adjustment type (such as…1 min
Stuff UK|November 2016AMAZON ECHOTHE TECH£149 / amazon.co.ukHaving spent the last couple of years helping out our friends across the pond, Amazon’s Echo is finally making the trip to the UK. This hi-tech tennis ball tube is home to Alexa  a Siri-style helper that you can instruct to set timers, make lists and read out your schedule for the day, among a stack other things that Siri can only dream of. Use it as a brainy speaker or internet radio using voice commands to get it to play what you want from Spotify, Audible or TuneIn Radio. Don’t fancy cooking? Get Alexa to look up nearby restaurants for you. It’s just a shame she can’t call them and make you a booking.SUBSCRIPTMEThat free trial with the mail-order sausage firm you signed up for…1 min
Stuff UK|November 2016MOBILE MODDERSSTATUS BOARD Chances are that your iPad sits around doing nothing much of the time. Status Board gives your tablet purpose during this downtime, displaying all kinds of info. Precisely what info is down to you: the app gives you widgets for a clock, weather, calendar, email subjects/counts, Twitter and RSS. Splurge on the £7.99 IAP and you can add graphs, tables, DIY HTML, countdowns, text and photo albums. HDTV support also makes Status Board a superb means of creating a live status display for an office. IAPs / iPad CAR DASHDROID Got a fancy new phone but drive the automotive equivalent of a Nokia 3310? Use this app to turn your phone into a pseudo Android Auto dashboard. It makes the icons more proddable, plus it’ll read out your…2 min
Stuff UK|November 2016BINARY BACKPACKERSROME2RIO You’re in Rome. You want to get to Rio. This app will tell you all the possible permutations for that trip, from car to train to plane. It’ll do it for other starting points and locations too, with prices, booking links and suggestions for accommodation thrown in for good measure. Spoiler alert: it’s best to fly to Rio. £free / iOS, Android MAPS.ME Google Maps now lets you save areas offline, but it makes you redownload them every 30 days. Store the areas you need and Maps.me works without a web connection, complete with directions and places of interest. It’ll even help you hunt out Wi-Fi if you have snaps you want to upload to Instagram. £free / iOS, Android AIRHELP Mugged off by the pirates of the sky?…2 min
Stuff UK|November 2016The e-bike COBOC ONE ROME£2999 / coboc.co.ukTom Morgan Reviews EditorA daily commute through central London is probably the 10th level of cycling hell, but even with the ever-present threat of militant cabbies, Coboc’s electrically assisted One Rome should make sure I won’t melt into a puddle of sweat by the time I reach the office.Not that you’d know it was an electric bike; Coboc stealthily stuffs the frame full of batteries, and the motor is built into the rear wheel. The power button and charging port are hidden under the top tube; the blue battery LEDs are the only visible giveaway that you’re not purely running on pedal power. Its assistance is most noticeable on hills, although the minimalist motor only makes 40nM of torque so I have to put some effort in on…2 min
Stuff UK|November 2016The crossbreed KONA HONZO CR TRAIL£3499 / konaworld.comFraser Macdonald Consulting EditorSod Google Maps I’ve managed to plot a route to work that’s only 30% road, the rest being shared between cycle paths, gravel, off-road, a few sets of steps and what may actually be someone’s garden. Very little of it is boring. So I need a bike that can take a bit of rough.This Kona may technically be a mountain bike, but it uses the large 29in wheel diameter normally reserved for fast race bikes. Still, the new-school geometry, the wide handlebars, the toughty Fox 34 suspension fork... they all hark towards something more attuned to rock-drop hooliganism than Lycra-clad pace-chasing. And to confuse bike spotters even further, this is one of the new-for-2017 carbon fibre Honzos, making it not just strange but ultra-expensive…2 min
Stuff UK|November 2016MORE GAME CHANGERSCLASH ROYALE Clash Royale might look like one of those horrible freemium games you see advertised on TV (and it sort of is), but this mashup of real-time strategy and card-collecting is so compelling that it’s worth dodging its attempts to mug your wallet. Your bank balance might be safe, but your free time won’t be. IAPs/iOS, Android SUPER DANGEROUS DUNGEONS The name makes it sound like child’s play, but each of these dungeons is peppered with traps intent on impaling or drowning the intrepid Timmy as he aims to grab the keys and reach the exit. Which sounds simple until you’ve died 27 times. IAPs / iOS, Android SUPER STICKMAN GOLF 3 Super Stickman Golf’s catapulting ancestor is the same Apple II artillery game that Angry Birds has at…2 min
Stuff UK|November 2016TILE SLIMTHE TECH US$30 / thetileapp.com When you’re gallivanting about the place downing Bloody Marys and sampling craft beer, it can be easy to lose track of time/your belongings/your mind. You can’t attach a Bluetooth tracker to two of those things but you definitely can to the other. Tile’s new Slim is bigger than its original tracker but much slimmer, so it’ll slip easily into your wallet, camera bag or Panama hat band and you can use the app to track it down if it goes missing. Get close but can’t quite lay your hands on it? You can trigger an alert noise to sound from the accompanying app. Just try not to swallow it by mistake. FOURSQUARE FourSquare is no longer about checking in to your local chippy in the…1 min
Stuff UK|November 2016OUR MONTHI PHOTOGRAPHED THE MOON WITH MY SMARTPHONEAlright, so I had a bit of help from a telescope as well specifically the Celestron Inspire 70AZ (US$170), which comes with a nifty smartphone adaptor. It’s ridiculously easy to set up and use, and the phone kit, though low-tech, works surprisingly well. It’s not high-powered enough for galaxies and the like, but for shots of the moon and planets it’ll do a fine job. So tonight I’m going to see if David Bowie was right about Mars. Marc McLaren, Editor, Stuff.tvI SAW A TUBBY PLUMBER LEAP ONTO iPHONEI got tired of Nintendo’s first app, Miitomo, in about the amount of time it takes to complete Mario Kart 8’s Rainbow Road circuit. Having launched at Apple’s iPhone 7 event, Super Mario Run looks…3 min
Stuff UK|November 2016OUR MONTHI PHOTOGRAPHED THE MOON WITH MY SMARTPHONE Alright, so I had a bit of help from a telescope as well specifically the Celestron Inspire 70AZ (US$170), which comes with a nifty smartphone adaptor. It’s ridiculously easy to set up and use, and the phone kit, though low-tech, works surprisingly well. It’s not high-powered enough for galaxies and the like, but for shots of the moon and planets it’ll do a fine job. So tonight I’m going to see if David Bowie was right about Mars. Marc McLaren, Editor, Stuff.tv I SAW A TUBBY PLUMBER LEAP ONTO iPHONE I got tired of Nintendo’s first app, Miitomo, in about the amount of time it takes to complete Mario Kart 8’s Rainbow Road circuit. Having launched at Apple’s iPhone 7 event, Super…3 min
Stuff UK|November 2016HOT FOURNOT NEO NO MORE Sony PlayStation 4 Pro Very few of us would pass up the chance to be called a ‘pro’. Nick Woodman named his entire action camera company on the aspiration to ‘go pro’. But it might not have the same appeal if you’d spent the past few months thinking you were going to be called Neo. Maybe you even got yourself some calling cards made up with an ’80s sci-fi stencil font and laser slashes. Neo! But no, ‘Pro’ it is for PlayStation’s new 4K console, and the improvements are certainly more 2016 than 1985. Doubled graphics ability and a boosted processor mean the PS4 Pro will either run or upscale games at 4K, adding HDR effects into the bargain. The original PS4, meanwhile, lives on in…2 min
Stuff UK|November 2016HOT FOUR #4NOBODY EXPECTS THE GERMAN INSTANT VISIONLEICA SOFORTWell, this is the icing on the cake. The cake being the month, the body and filling being the (expected but still delicious) news from Apple, PlayStation and Amazon. But this is an unpredicted sweet zing. A fun, affordable, fixed-lens instant-film format camera from Leica, of all people. It’s going to cost £215 when it goes on sale in November which, while hardly biscuit crumbs, isn’t pricey by Leica’s standards. There are branded film packs for it, but it’s actually just the popular Instax format so you’ll be able to get your hands on film easily, even if you won’t find it much cheaper about £1 a shot is the norm.As hot as... your first Leica £215 / stuff.tv/LeicaSofortInstant means instantNo mucking…3 min
Stuff UK|November 2016APPS1 Magic Mansion£free / iOS, AndroidCharming monochromatic retro gameplay time your taps to jump enemies and collect coins offset by the intrusion of all-too-modern ads. Still, that’s the (lack of) price you pay...2 Minecraft£4.99 / iOS, Android, WindowsLost your Minecraft mojo? Perhaps it’ll be renewed by knowing you can now point one of the world’s most advanced gaming platforms at its blocky graphics. Oculus Rift joins the Gear VR, mobile and PC versions.3 Action Launcher£free / AndroidStill waiting for your network to serve up the Nougat OS update? Get the look with Action Launcher, which has swiftly copied some of the menus and folder actions of leaked Nougat shots.4 Nightgate£2.99 / iOSAn accomplished, pitch-perfect puzzler, a neon-soaked art installation, and a synth-driven audio showpiece that’ll prick the ears…4 min
Stuff UK|November 2016HOT FOUR #4NOBODY EXPECTS THE GERMAN INSTANT VISION LEICA SOFORT Well, this is the icing on the cake. The cake being the month, the body and filling being the (expected but still delicious) news from Apple, PlayStation and Amazon. But this is an unpredicted sweet zing. A fun, affordable, fixed-lens instant-film format camera from Leica, of all people. It’s going to cost £215 when it goes on sale in November which, while hardly biscuit crumbs, isn’t pricey by Leica’s standards. There are branded film packs for it, but it’s actually just the popular Instax format so you’ll be able to get your hands on film easily, even if you won’t find it much cheaper about £1 a shot is the norm. As hot as... your first Leica £215 / stuff.tv/LeicaSofort…2 min
Stuff UK|November 2016DECIPHERALLOW ME TO EXPLAIN...#15 APPLE HOME Tom Parsons, Deputy Editor, Stuff.tvYou already know about Apple’s smarter home project, HomeKit, but it never seemed to really get off the ground.Now, with iOS 10, it’s ready to fly. Firstly there’s a proper HomeKit control app, called Home. And it’s good, even at the beta stage where I first tested it. Creating and customising scenes and rooms is super-intuitive, with devices re-organisable via the wibbly icon-drag familiar to anyone who’s ever re-ordered apps on an iPhone or iPad.Secondly, there’s stuff. For me it’s still the Philips Hue lights that lead the HomeKit line-up, but I’m pretty keen to add a set of the awesome motorised Lutron blinds to my setup. Next on my list is the Netatmo thermostat and its new, independently controllable…1 min
Stuff UK|November 2016APPS1 Magic Mansion £free / iOS, Android Charming monochromatic retro gameplay time your taps to jump enemies and collect coins offset by the intrusion of all-too-modern ads. Still, that’s the (lack of) price you pay... 2 Minecraft £4.99 / iOS, Android, Windows Lost your Minecraft mojo? Perhaps it’ll be renewed by knowing you can now point one of the world’s most advanced gaming platforms at its blocky graphics. Oculus Rift joins the Gear VR, mobile and PC versions. 3 Action Launcher £free / Android Still waiting for your network to serve up the Nougat OS update? Get the look with Action Launcher, which has swiftly copied some of the menus and folder actions of leaked Nougat shots. 4 Nightgate £2.99 / iOS An accomplished, pitch-perfect puzzler, a neon-soaked…4 min
Stuff UK|November 2016START MENUTalented trouser ti htener WELT “But isn’t that what the holes do? What they’ve always done?” You laugh inwardly at this regressive thinking and attempt to explain the marvel of a belt that measures waist size differences over the course of the day. Look, you say, the app records when you’ve eaten something by showing the extra tension on the buckle. “But I know when I’ve eaten something! It’s recorded by my eyes watching my hands put things in my mouth!" Nope, there’s no convincing this one. You march off, putting an extra wiggle into your hips to try to fool the built-in accelerometer into bumping up your steps score. from US$99 / weltcorp.com Bluetooth kin of keys SMART CUBE “The cat is both alive and dead.” You point out…2 min
Stuff UK|November 2016VITALSTATSNOT JUST FOR THE PLAYAZ Canon EOS 5D Mark IV £3629 / canon.co.uk You don’t have to be a pro to get the most from this big Canon’s new features Get a grip The 5D sits in a sweet spot where full-frame performance meets reasonable price, making it tasty for ambitious enthusiasts as well as serious snappers. But for the Mark IV, the main new ingredients will be of more benefit to the former. For example, the screen is now touch-enabled, making the 5D’s huge capabilites easier to corral. The grips are grippier, there’s a new configurable shortcut button under your thumb and it now has GPS, Wi-Fi and NFC built in  which will at least help to keep your costs down. (A bit.) Free go-arounds The usual specs…3 min
Stuff UK|November 2016GARMIN VIRB ULTRA 30Ever watched a child struggling to fit the square block in the square hole? No? Why not, are you some sort of child-hater? Anyway, Garmin has finally succeeded where they fail. The latest VIRB camera looks set to slot straight into the hole, knocking GoPro out onto the floor. The Ultra 30 is right up there with resolution 4K, 30fps but it’s the hands-free voice control, distance-based lapse mode and accelerometer-sensed action metrics that could make it champ of the action cams.£449 / garmin.co.ukALTERNATIVELY... PodoIf the VIRB is a tetradodecahedron, the Podo is a circle: a Bluetooth mini-cam that can stick or magnet itself to a handy surface.£59 /cuckooland.com…1 min
Stuff UK|November 2016Le end of the Skyfish£2.99 / iOSAlong with emitting distinct whiffs of Zelda, what with its top-down viewpoint and wandering protagonist who has a tendency to get a bit stabby, Legend of the Skyfish is a handy warning about the dangers of overfishing. Namely, in this world, the fish got sick of it and fought back, turning the humans into mutant slaves. All except Little Red Hook, the character you guide through this simpler-thanZelda adventure, hooking and thwacking things with your fishing rod. It looks and sounds great, and is easy to get firmly hooked on (hooked, yes? Yes?) for as long as it lasts. An Android version is due this winter.…1 min
Stuff UK|November 2016WIN12 MONTHS OF SKY Q WITH ULTRA HD PLUSA 43IN LG 4K TV“I can see clearly now the rain is gone," sang Johnny Nash in 1972. And he didn’t even have access to 4K Ultra HD! So imagine how clearly you’ll be able to see assuming it doesn’t rain in your living room if you’re lucky enough to win this month’s competition.You may have noticed us harping on about how Sky Q is just about the ultimate package for on-demand television we called it “the best TV experience you can buy" even before it started streaming Ultra HD content. This month’s winner scoops a full 12 months of Sky Q viewing, with the box and installation included, plus a 43in LG 43UH750V telly (worth £699) to watch all that super-sharp content on. And what content is that? Well, since…1 min
Stuff UK|November 2016Pic a winnerfrom £719 / stuff.tv/iPhone7PlusIt might have started life as a plus-sized version of the vanilla iPhone, but this year the Plus has truly stolen the spotlight. And not just because of its clever twin camera tech.The biggest change is one you won’t be able to spot: it’s waterproof. Yep, you can finally give the iPhone a bit of a dunking. Flip it over, though, and you can’t miss those two all-seeing eyes staring back at you. One’s for standard shots, the other’s for close-ups.You’ll also get a good look at the new colour choices. Apple’s 2016 shades du jour are black... and black. You can still buy gold, silver and rose gold versions, but space grey is gone, replaced with a darker matt black hue  and it’s joined by…3 min
Stuff UK|November 2016TESTED iPHONE 7from £599 / stuff.tv/iPhone7So let’s talk about that missing headphone jack for a sec. If you don’t already own a pair of wireless or Lightning buds then it’s going to sting a bit especially when you have to reach for that pug-ugly adaptor.That said, switching to Lightning isn’t all bad. It’s freed up space inside the iPhone 7 for the same taptic engine you get in the Apple Watch, adding force feedback to the new all-digital home button. Games get in on the fun too it’s like slapping a Rumble Pak into an N64 controller all over again.And you might not even need to reach for your headphones, thanks to the new stereo speakers. They can really pump out sound when you crank up the volume. They’re a…2 min
Stuff UK|November 2016FITBIT CHARGE 2, FLEX 2Fitbit has had its morning crawling up granite slabs in the pouring rain. Right now, it’s gambolling along a sunny ridge, breathing easy and looking forward to a Twix at the next waypoint. It’s just released new styles for its Blaze and Alta devices, and a new Fitbit Adventures app feature. It’s also released two updated fitness trackers, including the lozenge-sized Flex 2 that can be worn on your wrist or around your neck. But it’s the Charge 2 (on the left) that we’d take up a mountain. Multi-sport, heart-rate monitoring, and available with lots of different straps, its slim build and battery life make up for it polling your phone for GPS data. You need a bag for the Twixes anyway. £129, £79 / fitbit.com…1 min
Stuff UK|November 2016AMAZON KINDLE£60 / amazon.co.ukIf you want to be top dog on the 8:21 to Wage Slave Parkway, the luxuriously expensive Kindle Oasis is the only choice for you; but if you can afford one of those you probably don’t need to put yourself through the misery of commuting by train. Join the rest of the worker drones with a 6in basic Kindle, which has recently had a few millimetres shaved off the edges (it’s 11% thinner) and been spruced up with a nicer chassis (it’s 16% lighter). Unfortunately there’s no built-in light, so you might have trouble reading it when the darkness of another impending Monday morning envelops your soul.REDDITGetting to work to find out you’ve missed out on a new meme can see you becoming a social pariah around the…1 min
Stuff UK|November 2016GAME CHANGERSRODEO STAMPEDEWe at Stuff HQ aren’t privy to how zoos are run, but we’re pretty sure Rodeo Stampede plays fast and loose with reality. Here, you saddle up, leap into the air and lasso a rampaging beast. Ride said critter for long enough and it’ll decide it loves you and wants to be a part of your zoo. Did we mention your zoo is floating in the sky? Rodeo Stampede then finds you switching back and forth between catching new animals (super-fast twitchy ostriches, bulldozer-like elephants...) and micro-managing your menagerie.IAPs/ iOS, AndroidCALLY’S CAVES 3You’ll probably be a few levels into Cally’s quest to rescue her parents before you wonder what the catch is. But there isn’t one. This really is a charming old-school platformer with smart level design and weapons…2 min
Stuff UK|November 2016ARMCHAIR ATHLETESLIVE FOOTBALL ON TVWith Sky and BT Sport moving the fixtures around willy nilly to satisfy the astronomical fees they’ve spent on broadcasting rights this season, it can be difficult to keep up with who’s on TV and when. The free version of this app will let you track one team at a time; it’ll tell you when they’re going to grace your TV screen and what channel it’ll be on.IAPs / iOS, AndroidPREMIER LEAGUEThe Premier League used to charge for its fantasy football app, but now it’s put everything in one handy package. That means when you’re in the supermarket on Saturday morning and you suddenly remember you’ve left Sergio Aguero on your bench, you can quickly amend your starting line-up before the deadline. Phew. The app’s also full…2 min
Stuff UK|November 2016MOBILE MODDERSSTATUS BOARDChances are that your iPad sits around doing nothing much of the time. Status Board gives your tablet purpose during this downtime, displaying all kinds of info. Precisely what info is down to you: the app gives you widgets for a clock, weather, calendar, email subjects/counts, Twitter and RSS. Splurge on the £7.99 IAP and you can add graphs, tables, DIY HTML, countdowns, text and photo albums. HDTV support also makes Status Board a superb means of creating a live status display for an office.IAPs / iPadCAR DASHDROIDGot a fancy new phone but drive the automotive equivalent of a Nokia 3310? Use this app to turn your phone into a pseudo Android Auto dashboard. It makes the icons more proddable, plus it’ll read out your texts and Whatsapp messages…2 min
Stuff UK|November 2016Second windfrom £369 / stuff.tv/Watch2 Looks just like the last one, doesn’t it? But the new Apple Watch has had some pretty significant upgrades, the most striking of which is waterproofing. Good news for swimmers, yes, but also for surfers, sauna fans and forgetful showerers. A combo of GPS, heart-rate monitoring, accelerometers and huge amounts of research is claimed to make the Watch 2 the most accurate sports tracker out there. For our money the heart monitoring seems less consistent than one of those horrible chest straps, but the rest is hard to fault. The addition of GPS is a big boon if you like to train unencumbered by a phone. The Series 2 locks onto a GPS signal almost instantly and the screen is twice as bright as before, while…2 min
Stuff UK|November 2016HEALTH FREAKSRUNKEEPERFor £7.99 a month you can turn Runkeeper into a ‘personal trainer in your pocket’ with personalised workouts, but for £0.00 a month you can log your routes, store your stats and compare your performances with friends. We just hope for your sake you’re not buddies with Mo Farah.IAPs / iOS, AndroidSTRAVAIf you prefer to burn your calories on a bike, opt for Strava over Runkeeper. A superior cycling community means its maps have loads of real-world time trial routes that you can try to beat on your commute. Just try not to get to work too early. Nobody likes a teacher’s pet.IAPs / iOS, AndroidSAMSUNG GEAR ICONX£169/samsung.comExercise is boring without music but the wires can get in the way. Samsung’s IconX in-ears are cable-free, plus they have fitness-tracking tech…2 min
Stuff UK|November 2016AMAZON KINDLE£60 / amazon.co.uk If you want to be top dog on the 8:21 to Wage Slave Parkway, the luxuriously expensive Kindle Oasis is the only choice for you; but if you can afford one of those you probably don’t need to put yourself through the misery of commuting by train. Join the rest of the worker drones with a 6in basic Kindle, which has recently had a few millimetres shaved off the edges (it’s 11% thinner) and been spruced up with a nicer chassis (it’s 16% lighter). Unfortunately there’s no built-in light, so you might have trouble reading it when the darkness of another impending Monday morning envelops your soul. REDDIT Getting to work to find out you’ve missed out on a new meme can see you becoming a social…1 min
Stuff UK|November 2016COMMUTER COMPANIONSMAPMYWALK Want to get fitter but just can’t find the time? Tracking your normal pavement-pounding with MapMyWalk will give you an idea of how much more walking you should be doing, so you can hop off the bus a couple of stops early, or scoot up and down the stairs a few times at lunchtime. IAPs / iOS, Android MICROSOFT OUTLOOK Microsoft killed our favourite calendar app, Sunrise  but thankfully it’s been swallowed up by the latest Outlook app. It plugs into your email accounts, Facebook events and Songkick plans, plus there’s OneDrive online storage included too. £free / iOS, Android OVERCAST Podcasts are a commuter’s best friend: funny, educational, time-killing and most of all completely free. So even if you have to spend 40 minutes pressed against a…2 min
Stuff UK|November 2016HUMAN DIYPHOTOMATHThought you’d left maths lessons at school? Well, you were rubbish at it then and you’re still rubbish at it now. Write down the sum you need to solve, point your camera at it and Photomath will show you step-by-step instructions on how to solve it. If only you’d had a smartphone back in the day, right?IAPs / iOS, AndroidXIAOMI YEELIGHT£47 / xiaomi-mi.comThis bedside smartlight has modes for any mood, with a free app to change the colour Hue-style. It’ll also help you read before bed without straining your eyes, plus its wake-up function will gently ease you out of your slumber each morning.REACHOUT BREATHESTRESS! ANXIETY! MORE STRESS! If your heart’s thumping now, you could probably use ReachOut Breathe, an app designed to slow your breathing and help you unwind.…2 min
Stuff UK|November 2016LIFE ADMINCTRL-FNot an app you’ll use every day, but Ctrl-F can certainly come in handy. The name is the keyboard shortcut to search for something on a document, and that should give you a clue as to what it does. Take a picture of a page of text and the app will digitise it, giving you a fully searchable version that can help you find the bit you’re looking for, plus you can export the doc as a printable PDF. If only you could hold it up to your house and get it to scan for your car keys.£free / AndroidWUNDERLISTIf ‘find a new to-do list app’ is somewhere on your to-do list, Wunderlist deserves an audition. It works on everything from your Apple Watch to your web browser, syncing between…2 min
Stuff UK|November 2016ARMCHAIR ATHLETESLIVE FOOTBALL ON TV With Sky and BT Sport moving the fixtures around willy nilly to satisfy the astronomical fees they’ve spent on broadcasting rights this season, it can be difficult to keep up with who’s on TV and when. The free version of this app will let you track one team at a time; it’ll tell you when they’re going to grace your TV screen and what channel it’ll be on. IAPs / iOS, Android PREMIER LEAGUE The Premier League used to charge for its fantasy football app, but now it’s put everything in one handy package. That means when you’re in the supermarket on Saturday morning and you suddenly remember you’ve left Sergio Aguero on your bench, you can quickly amend your starting line-up before the deadline. Phew.…2 min
Stuff UK|November 2016Lightning strikes twice1 Heavy metalThe Sines’ metal frame can take a battering but isn’t hugely flexible. Get through a few albums and it may feel stiff around your head.2 Discretion sessionTop-end cans usually have OTT looks, but Audeze’s subtle styling means you can take these out without looking like a music snob.3 Precious memoriesThe Fidelios’ cushions are filled with memory foam, so they mould to your lugs. It seals in sound, but may turn your ears a little toasty.4 Use your headThe M2Ls don’t have an inline remote the volume and playback controls are built right into the ear cup for easy skipping.Audeze SineWhat’s the deal?Planar magnetic drivers are standard stuff for top-end, listen-at-home headphones, but rare as hen’s false teeth in a pair of portable cans. Audeze has squeezed them…4 min
Stuff UK|November 2016UE ROLL 2£79/ ultimateears.com A decent Bluetooth speaker should be behind only your passport and clean pants on the essentials list when you’re packing to go away  and there aren’t many as travel-friendly as the UE Roll 2. It takes up as much space as a pair of socks, and with similar audio smarts to the much bigger Boom 2 it’s capable of filling anything from a cosy Airbnb lounge to a fancy boutique hotel room. It’s waterproof too, so you can take it to the beach and bolster that ‘Brits abroad’ stereotype by annoying all the locals with your choice of tunes. TRAFI There are places in the world that Citymapper is yet to reach. Far-flung towns such as Kayseri, Kaohsiung and Kettering. OK, Trafi might be no use in…1 min
Stuff UK|November 2016The all - rounder CANY ON URBAN 7.0£1139 / canyon.comRoss Presly Deputy Art EditorHaving ridden all of these bikes extensively on rollers (that’s me blue-steelin’ all over the pictures up there), mine is the only opinion you should trust. Electric? Too slow once the motor cuts out. MTB? Good luck nipping through a gap with those wide bars. Folder? Everybody knows you should go Brompton.But the Canyon is a truly versatile urban cycling champ. Equipped with a belt drive and eight-speed hub gear, it’s easy to ride up hills, doesn’t leave your legs spinning on the descents, cruises along the flats comfortably, then as a trouser-flapping bonus the carbon fibre belt drive is super-quiet and filth-free. You’ll probably notice a lot of people trying to get a good look at your “interesting" frame and asking about that…2 min
Stuff UK|November 2016SAMSUNG GALAXY S7 EDGEfrom £599 / samsung.com Games eat your battery like grime MCs consume Nando’s, but the Edge’s 3600mAh cell will last over a day with normal usage. Some intense sessions on Rodeo Stampede will bring that down, but with a 5.5in Quad HD screen you’ll be too pixel-dazzled to notice. It’s also waterproof to 1.5m, so you don’t even have to stop playing when you get in the bath. SHOOTY SKIES Its roots are in the scrolling shooters of the 1980s, but rather than downing an endless stream of boring jets, Shooty Skies has you attacking joystick-spewing arcade cabinets and laptops running LOLcat loops. Daft, but getting past the colossal bosses requires some seriously deft finger-work. IAPs / iOS, Android PAC-MAN 256 This re-imagining of the iconic dot-muncher’s maze-based adventures dumps…1 min
Stuff UK|November 2016WEEKEND WANDERERSGLP  GREAT LITTLE PLACE Second only to kidnapping a local, Great Little Place helps you to find the bars and restaurants that others don’t know about (well, unless they’ve also got this app). It’s a bit like a dating app for food and drink, although you don’t have to worry whether a restaurant or pub fancies you back. Find something you like the look of and you can add it to your shortlist. Find somewhere you like that’s not on the app and you can add it yourself. Just don’t get annoyed if it suddenly gets harder to find a table. £free / iOS CAMONROAD Going on a road trip? After a decent playlist and plenty of sweets, a satnav should be top of your kit list  and…2 min
Stuff UK|November 2016WelcomeThe two most important thin s I’ve learned this month? One: Team Stuff’s thirst for profanity knows no bounds. Two: ‘Jack off’ is not and never will be an acceptable ma azine cover line. But hey, you’ve ot to lau h at Apple’s decision to ditch the headphone port. Dumpin a near-on 150-year-old connection with the same ruthlessness you mi ht show for a month-lon Tidal trial takes some umption. That aside, it turns out the two new iPhones aren’t too shabby. We’ve reviewed both the 7 and 7 Plus in our six-pa e Apple reviews special, and even squeezed in our verdict on the Watch Series 2 and AirPods. Read it all from p45 Â you’ll doubtless be shocked to learn Apple is still pretty ood at this tech…1 min
Stuff UK|November 2016Tested Sony PlayStation 4 SlimTHE PRO’S LITTLE BROWhat’s going on outside?It’s slimmer. Lying flat on a desk it’s just 3.9cm, down from the original’s 5.3cm, and the Pro’s 5.5cm. It’s also 1.2kg lighter, which is a big deal if you plan to cart it over to a mate’s house for shouting-distance multiplayer action. The touch-sensitive power and eject buttons of the old console are now proper buttons. Other notable physical changes are the deletion of the optical audio output which might be an issue and a new window on the controller’s touchpad so you can see the lightbar’s colour.What’s going on inside?Not much. If you want added graphical grunt you want the Pro. The year’s buzzy acronym HDR, for High Dynamic Range, is present on the Slim... but the original PS4 gets…3 min
Stuff UK|November 2016GIGAPIXELFITNESS IN HIS EYESBonko, pictured above, is not amused. The data from his latest stick-chasing session is in and the pace is well down on his PB. But maybe he’s misreading the numbers. He is, after all, a dog. And PitPat, the Bluetooth dog tracker, only measures activity using an accelerometer there’s no optical heart-rate sensor, because fur. Plus, unlike human trackers, you have to make sure you specify the correct breed. (This is important, because a dachshund uses 2000 calories to cover the same ground as one Newfoundland’s step.) But all this is academic. Bonko needs to up his stick game. Or no biscuit.NEWS FEEDRUDDERLESS VIKINGS AHOY!Volvo is bringing its autonomous vehicle programme to the UK in 2017. Drive Me London cars will initially be co-piloted by Volvo…1 min
Stuff UK|November 2016VITALSTATSNOT JUST FOR THE PLAYAZCanon EOS 5D Mark IV£3629 / canon.co.ukYou don’t have to be a pro to get the most from this big Canon’s new featuresGet a gripThe 5D sits in a sweet spot where full-frame performance meets reasonable price, making it tasty for ambitious enthusiasts as well as serious snappers. But for the Mark IV, the main new ingredients will be of more benefit to the former. For example, the screen is now touch-enabled, making the 5D’s huge capabilites easier to corral. The grips are grippier, there’s a new configurable shortcut button under your thumb and it now has GPS, Wi-Fi and NFC built in  which will at least help to keep your costs down. (A bit.)Free go-arounds The usual specs are all up  30.4MP full-frame…3 min
Stuff UK|November 2016GIGAPIXELFITNESS IN HIS EYES Bonko, pictured above, is not amused. The data from his latest stick-chasing session is in and the pace is well down on his PB. But maybe he’s misreading the numbers. He is, after all, a dog. And PitPat, the Bluetooth dog tracker, only measures activity using an accelerometer there’s no optical heart-rate sensor, because fur. Plus, unlike human trackers, you have to make sure you specify the correct breed. (This is important, because a dachshund uses 2000 calories to cover the same ground as one Newfoundland’s step.) But all this is academic. Bonko needs to up his stick game. Or no biscuit. NEWS FEED RUDDERLESS VIKINGS AHOY! Volvo is bringing its autonomous vehicle programme to the UK in 2017. Drive Me London cars will initially…1 min
Stuff UK|November 2016FIRST PLAY RESIDENT EVIL 7: BIOHAZARDIt’s clear enough from the Beginning Hour demo for Resident Evil 7 that the series has taken a turn for the grisly. It’s swapped zombies for slasher movie tropes, including a rickety old house filled with animal carcasses, mysterious locked doors and spooky VHS tapes that plunge you into playable flashbacks.One such flashback begins by being chased across a dark plantation by a horrible old hag holding a lantern. We’ll call her Theresa. Three words appear on the screen: ‘Don’t get caught.’With the usual over-shoulder perspective ditched in favour of first-person (to accommodate PlayStation VR?) we dash inside an old house while Theresa tails us, shrieking: “I told you not to come here!"Managing to evade her, we find a statue in one room and a pedestal in another. We place…1 min
Stuff UK|November 2016COMING SOON INDIE GAMESHOT LAVAPCRemember that game you used to play as a kid where you couldn’t touch the floor because it was made of lava? Now you can play it on your PC. And it’s not just beds, sofas and upturned washing baskets you’ll be hopping between; there are schools, offices and underground caverns as well.100FT ROBOT GOLFPS4A group of Transformer-style robots pull on their plus-fours and try to sink putts on a course built between skyscrapers. Get stuck behind one? Just smash it to bits with your gigantic nine-iron. It even supports PlayStation VR, which launches on 13 October.TOKYO 42PS4, Xbox One, PCLike a cross between Fez and Syndicate, Tokyo 42 puts you in the shoes of an assassin, in an isometric open world that you can spin around to get…1 min
Stuff UK|November 2016CHOICEPENS You otta fi ht, for your write, to party 1 Parafernalia Revolution Ballpoint Triangles have delivered such joy as Dairylea and Zelda’s Triforce. This Italian pen is tri-mendous enough to join that crew. £37 / heinnie.com 2 Retro 51 Dr Gray If your actual doctor is using this, it means someone in their social group thinks they need an aide-memoire. #justsayin £35 / welovepens.co.uk 3 MecArmy TPX33 Good writing can open a window on the world. This pen can also open a window with its smashing spike end. Win-win. £81 / heinnie.com 4 Power Pen It wasn’t so very long ago that 700mAh could power the world. And now you have that in your pen? Revel in your time! £24 / firebox.com 5 Cleo Messograf And from that day…2 min
Stuff UK|November 2016DECIPHERALLOW ME TO EXPLAIN... #15 APPLE HOME Tom Parsons, Deputy Editor, Stuff.tv You already know about Apple’s smarter home project, HomeKit, but it never seemed to really get off the ground. Now, with iOS 10, it’s ready to fly. Firstly there’s a proper HomeKit control app, called Home. And it’s good, even at the beta stage where I first tested it. Creating and customising scenes and rooms is super-intuitive, with devices re-organisable via the wibbly icon-drag familiar to anyone who’s ever re-ordered apps on an iPhone or iPad. Secondly, there’s stuff. For me it’s still the Philips Hue lights that lead the HomeKit line-up, but I’m pretty keen to add a set of the awesome motorised Lutron blinds to my setup. Next on my list is the Netatmo thermostat and…1 min
Stuff UK|November 2016Your month OCTDAREDEVIL BLU RAYOh, you might think, not another bouncing boy in leggings with an irrational desire to right wrongs at the expense of his own freedoms? But! Daredevil is smarter than it sounds, and finally off Netflix and onto physical media.LO AND BEHOLD, REVERIES OF THE CONNECTED WORLDDon’t be put off by the highfalutin’ title Werner Herzog’s new doc about how the internet has changed the world is both hilarious and horrifying. When the apocalypse comes, will you be one of the people printing out pages of Wikipedia?GEARS OF WAR 4 PS4, XBOX ONEDo: stomp down to your local gameporium to get the latest version of this duck-and-cover smasher with new weapons and groovy weather effects. Don’t: ask for “Gears of Four". Those game shop geeks can kill with…1 min
Stuff UK|November 2016A bigger bite of the AppleO nce upon a time, new Apple gadgets used to arrive as often as raindrops in the Sahara. Nowadays it feels like Stuff is permanently entrenched on the Yorkshire Moors with only an old mac and some soggy mint cake to sustain us between launches. But hey, at least this year’s downpour is worth camping out for.In addition to the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, we’ve got the Apple Watch Series 2 and those brand new AirPods to contend with. And they’re all pretty significant in one way or another.Doubtless you’ve already heard about how both iPhones have cut the headphone jack adrift with all the caring that Darth Vader applied to his son’s arm surgery. But with major camera improvements, a taptic home button and the blisteringly quick A10…1 min
Stuff UK|November 2016COMING SOON INDIE GAMESHOT LAVA PC Remember that game you used to play as a kid where you couldn’t touch the floor because it was made of lava? Now you can play it on your PC. And it’s not just beds, sofas and upturned washing baskets you’ll be hopping between; there are schools, offices and underground caverns as well. 100FT ROBOT GOLF PS4 A group of Transformer-style robots pull on their plus-fours and try to sink putts on a course built between skyscrapers. Get stuck behind one? Just smash it to bits with your gigantic nine-iron. It even supports PlayStation VR, which launches on 13 October. TOKYO 42 PS4, Xbox One, PC Like a cross between Fez and Syndicate, Tokyo 42 puts you in the shoes of an assassin, in an isometric open…1 min
Stuff UK|November 2016WIRED HEADPHONESPRICED UP oBravo EAMT-1 Here’s a joy that iPhone 7 owners will never get: spending over three grand on an extremely niche set of hi-fi in-ears. The ceramic/wood-bodied EAMTs come with either a 3.5mm jack or, if you have a suitably equipped headphone DAC, two balanced 2.5mm jacks. Sound comes via a 13mm neodymium driver and an 8mm Air Motion Transformer Tweeter our ears are not worthy. £3699 / audiosanctuary.co.uk BUTTONED UP Libratone Q Adapt Not long ago, three-button remotes for headphones were considered mindblowingly complex. “Three buttons?” we wrote in 2009. “What, are we fighter pilots now!?” But what’s this? Libratone’s Lightning-cabled Q Adapt has four. The extra one is CityMix, which controls the amount of noise cancellation. Sounds cool; we’re never going to use it. Four buttons!…1 min
Stuff UK|November 2016GARMIN VIRB ULTRA 30Ever watched a child struggling to fit the square block in the square hole? No? Why not, are you some sort of child-hater? Anyway, Garmin has finally succeeded where they fail. The latest VIRB camera looks set to slot straight into the hole, knocking GoPro out onto the floor. The Ultra 30 is right up there with resolution 4K, 30fps but it’s the hands-free voice control, distance-based lapse mode and accelerometer-sensed action metrics that could make it champ of the action cams. £449 / garmin.co.uk ALTERNATIVELY ... Podo If the VIRB is a tetradodecahedron, the Podo is a circle: a Bluetooth mini-cam that can stick or magnet itself to a handy surface. £59 /cuckooland.com…1 min
Stuff UK|November 2016Your month OCTDAREDEVIL BLU RAY Oh, you might think, not another bouncing boy in leggings with an irrational desire to right wrongs at the expense of his own freedoms? But! Daredevil is smarter than it sounds, and finally off Netflix and onto physical media. LO AND BEHOLD, REVERIES OF THE CONNECTED WORLD Don’t be put off by the highfalutin’ title Werner Herzog’s new doc about how the internet has changed the world is both hilarious and horrifying. When the apocalypse comes, will you be one of the people printing out pages of Wikipedia? GEARS OF WAR 4 PS4, XBOX ONE Do: stomp down to your local gameporium to get the latest version of this duck-and-cover smasher with new weapons and groovy weather effects. Don’t: ask for “Gears of Four". Those game…1 min
Stuff UK|November 2016WIN12 MONTHS OF SKY Q WITH ULTRA HD PLUSA 43IN LG 4K TV“I can see clearly now the rain is gone," sang Johnny Nash in 1972. And he didn’t even have access to 4K Ultra HD! So imagine how clearly you’ll be able to see assuming it doesn’t rain in your living room if you’re lucky enough to win this month’s competition. You may have noticed us harping on about how Sky Q is just about the ultimate package for on-demand television we called it “the best TV experience you can buy" even before it started streaming Ultra HD content. This month’s winner scoops a full 12 months of Sky Q viewing, with the box and installation included, plus a 43in LG 43UH750V telly (worth £699) to watch all that super-sharp content on. And what content is that? Well,…1 min
Stuff UK|November 2016PHONETOGRAPHYPHOTOSHOP FIXNot many people wake up and face the world completely #nofilter. Yep, even that 8 seconds you spend in front of the mirror sorting your hair out counts. So nobody will judge you if you run your selfies through Photoshop Fix before posting them, using its simple tools to give yourself a little boost.£free / iOSPIXLRPixlr puts itself ahead of Android’s myriad other free photo editors simply by being ad-free; but its huge range of tools enables you to do anything from simple cropping, rotating and collaging to subtly adding radial focal blurs or going all out with all kinds of grunge and crazy effects.£free / iOS, AndroidGIPHY CAMThe gif has become valuable currency on the stock market of social media, so being able to churn out your own…2 min
Stuff UK|November 2016Pic a winnerfrom £719 / stuff.tv/iPhone7Plus It might have started life as a plus-sized version of the vanilla iPhone, but this year the Plus has truly stolen the spotlight. And not just because of its clever twin camera tech. The biggest change is one you won’t be able to spot: it’s waterproof. Yep, you can finally give the iPhone a bit of a dunking. Flip it over, though, and you can’t miss those two all-seeing eyes staring back at you. One’s for standard shots, the other’s for close-ups. You’ll also get a good look at the new colour choices. Apple’s 2016 shades du jour are black... and black. You can still buy gold, silver and rose gold versions, but space grey is gone, replaced with a darker matt black hue  and…3 min
Stuff UK|November 2016TESTED iPHONE 7from £599 / stuff.tv/iPhone7 So let’s talk about that missing headphone jack for a sec. If you don’t already own a pair of wireless or Lightning buds then it’s going to sting a bit especially when you have to reach for that pug-ugly adaptor. That said, switching to Lightning isn’t all bad. It’s freed up space inside the iPhone 7 for the same taptic engine you get in the Apple Watch, adding force feedback to the new all-digital home button. Games get in on the fun too it’s like slapping a Rumble Pak into an N64 controller all over again. And you might not even need to reach for your headphones, thanks to the new stereo speakers. They can really pump out sound when you crank up the…2 min
Stuff UK|November 2016UE ROLL 2£79/ ultimateears.comA decent Bluetooth speaker should be behind only your passport and clean pants on the essentials list when you’re packing to go away  and there aren’t many as travel-friendly as the UE Roll 2. It takes up as much space as a pair of socks, and with similar audio smarts to the much bigger Boom 2 it’s capable of filling anything from a cosy Airbnb lounge to a fancy boutique hotel room. It’s waterproof too, so you can take it to the beach and bolster that ‘Brits abroad’ stereotype by annoying all the locals with your choice of tunes.TRAFIThere are places in the world that Citymapper is yet to reach. Far-flung towns such as Kayseri, Kaohsiung and Kettering. OK, Trafi might be no use in Northamptonshire, but its…1 min
Stuff UK|November 2016SAMSUNG GALAXY S7 EDGEfrom £599 / samsung.comGames eat your battery like grime MCs consume Nando’s, but the Edge’s 3600mAh cell will last over a day with normal usage. Some intense sessions on Rodeo Stampede will bring that down, but with a 5.5in Quad HD screen you’ll be too pixel-dazzled to notice. It’s also waterproof to 1.5m, so you don’t even have to stop playing when you get in the bath.SHOOTY SKIESIts roots are in the scrolling shooters of the 1980s, but rather than downing an endless stream of boring jets, Shooty Skies has you attacking joystick-spewing arcade cabinets and laptops running LOLcat loops. Daft, but getting past the colossal bosses requires some seriously deft finger-work.IAPs / iOS, AndroidPAC-MAN 256This re-imagining of the iconic dot-muncher’s maze-based adventures dumps Pac-Man beyond the infamous Level 256…1 min
Stuff UK|November 2016WEEKEND WANDERERSGLP  GREAT LITTLE PLACESecond only to kidnapping a local, Great Little Place helps you to find the bars and restaurants that others don’t know about (well, unless they’ve also got this app). It’s a bit like a dating app for food and drink, although you don’t have to worry whether a restaurant or pub fancies you back. Find something you like the look of and you can add it to your shortlist. Find somewhere you like that’s not on the app and you can add it yourself. Just don’t get annoyed if it suddenly gets harder to find a table.£free / iOSCAMONROADGoing on a road trip? After a decent playlist and plenty of sweets, a satnav should be top of your kit list  and CamOnRoad is GPS with…2 min
Stuff UK|November 2016GAME CHANGERSRODEO STAMPEDE We at Stuff HQ aren’t privy to how zoos are run, but we’re pretty sure Rodeo Stampede plays fast and loose with reality. Here, you saddle up, leap into the air and lasso a rampaging beast. Ride said critter for long enough and it’ll decide it loves you and wants to be a part of your zoo. Did we mention your zoo is floating in the sky? Rodeo Stampede then finds you switching back and forth between catching new animals (super-fast twitchy ostriches, bulldozer-like elephants...) and micro-managing your menagerie. IAPs/ iOS, Android CALLY’S CAVES 3 You’ll probably be a few levels into Cally’s quest to rescue her parents before you wonder what the catch is. But there isn’t one. This really is a charming old-school platformer with smart…2 min
Stuff UK|November 2016CYGNETT CHARGEUP£39 / uk.cygnett.com No matter how many charges it gives you, there’s not much point lugging around a ‘portable’ charger if it weighs the same as a petrol-driven electricity generator. Cygnett’s Chargeup Digital 10,000 uses polymer rather than lithium-ion battery tech, which keeps the weight down despite it holding enough juice to charge your phone around five times before needing a re-up. And with a pair of USB ports you can charge two phones simultaneously. You know, for when you’re so deep in a Clash Royale hole you have to play it on two phones at once. LEAP DAY A new challenge beckons daily in this one-thumb platformer. Your little blob pootles about, and you tap to make it jump, threading your way through nasties to reach the top of…1 min
Stuff UK|November 2016PHONETOGRAPHYPHOTOSHOP FIX Not many people wake up and face the world completely #nofilter. Yep, even that 8 seconds you spend in front of the mirror sorting your hair out counts. So nobody will judge you if you run your selfies through Photoshop Fix before posting them, using its simple tools to give yourself a little boost. £free / iOS PIXLR Pixlr puts itself ahead of Android’s myriad other free photo editors simply by being ad-free; but its huge range of tools enables you to do anything from simple cropping, rotating and collaging to subtly adding radial focal blurs or going all out with all kinds of grunge and crazy effects. £free / iOS, Android GIPHY CAM The gif has become valuable currency on the stock market of social…2 min
Stuff UK|November 2016Yes sir, I can Fuji£1399 / stuff.tv/XT2If Apple made cameras, they’d probably look a lot like the Fujifilm X-T2. As with the iPhone or iPad, Fuji’s new compact system cam melds style with simplicity for a gadget you’ll itch to pick up but won’t want to put down. Like the MacBook, it thumbs its nose at the spec wars but still manages to outperform most rivals. And as with every Apple product, it costs a pretty penny while seemingly offering only a minor upgrade over its predecessor.Don’t think it’s all hype and no trousers, though; because while it may look much like the X-T1, the T2 is definitively a far better camera. On the face of it the biggest change here is the new 24.3MP X-Trans APS-C sensor, which gives you 50% more pixels…4 min
Stuff UK|November 2016Smart shoes. No, really...£130 / stuff.tv/UAGeminiOK, Speedform Gemini 2 Record Equipped is a bit of a mouthful for a pair of running shoes, but it’s the ‘Record Equipped’ that’s the important bit. It means there’s a Bluetooth foot pod inside, for recording all kinds of data every time you run. It’s sealed inside the sole, so the only signs of the shoes’ smarts are the tags on the laces.Don’t worry, your feet won’t light up like a fairground with every step. The Gemini 2s are actually pretty subtle in grey and red. You could wear them to the ambassador’s reception without causing an international incident.The built-in battery doesn’t need recharging, and should last for the lifetime of the shoes. That’ll work out at around 500 miles of running. And while a fitness tracker…2 min
Stuff UK|November 2016PART-TIME PICASSOSASSEMBLY Assembly claims to be ‘graphic design for everyone’. In reality, it’s more like a modern take on playing with felt shapes. At the foot of the screen there’s a shapes drawer, and you drag elements to the artboard, which can then be moved and resized. Get a little more advanced and they can be grouped for mass manipulation, recoloured, and have effects such as drop-shadows applied. You can even import an image as a backdrop. You know, if you fancy having a bash at designing next month’s Stuff cover. IAPs / iOS PAPER Originally an elegant drawing app for iPad, Paper got a radical overhaul with version 3. The sketching stuff remained but was joined by superb tools for quickly creating diagrams, taking notes and making lists. Hip beardists…2 min
Stuff UK|November 2016HEALTH FREAKSRUNKEEPER For £7.99 a month you can turn Runkeeper into a ‘personal trainer in your pocket’ with personalised workouts, but for £0.00 a month you can log your routes, store your stats and compare your performances with friends. We just hope for your sake you’re not buddies with Mo Farah. IAPs / iOS, Android STRAVA If you prefer to burn your calories on a bike, opt for Strava over Runkeeper. A superior cycling community means its maps have loads of real-world time trial routes that you can try to beat on your commute. Just try not to get to work too early. Nobody likes a teacher’s pet. IAPs / iOS, Android SAMSUNG GEAR ICONX £169/samsung.com Exercise is boring without music but the wires can get in the way. Samsung’s…2 min
Stuff UK|November 2016The folder TERN VERGE X20£2299 / ternbicycles.comChee-Chiu Lee Brand Art EditorGiven that you’re only paid for being at work, not getting there, it makes sense to shorten your commute as much as possible. In the city, that often means a combination of train and bike... and with rush-hour restrictions, that means a folding bike. The Tern Verge X20 is the Ferrari of folders.The aero 20in wheels, FSA carbon cranks and hydroformed aluminium frame add up to a weight of just 9.9kg. That’s great for when you’re carrying it about, but it gives it a swift ride quality too. It’s surprisingly stiff and quick off the mark, with no movement or creaking from the folding bits. There’s a bit of flex in the tall handlebar stem if you’re sprinting, but you get used to it…2 min
Stuff UK|November 2016Help! What can I watch on my 4K TV?1Superchar e your subscriptionUpgrade your NetflixMost Netflix Originals shows are available to watch in 4K. Got a fibre internet speed of 25Mbps or higher? You’ll want to upgrade to the £8.99/month subscription and feast on a smorgasbord of revelatory telly.Watch Mourinho at United with Sky QWhen it comes to the Premier League, Sky Sports is king. It’s got over 120 games a season, now in Ultra HD. Available to Sky Q Silver box owners, this package isn’t cheap, but it means you’ll get to see Rooney’s mug in visceral detail.Optimise PrimeAmazon’s 4K library for Prime Instant Video is dominated by original shows like Transparent and The Man in the High Castle. You can also pay to watch so-so movies such as The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Elysium and Fury.Take a trip…3 min
