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With launch problems fixed, first colour Kindle improves reading experience – but it is pricey and too small for comics

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Amazon’s firstKindlewith a colour screen had been a very long time coming and then suffered a rough landing last year, plagued with yellowing screen issues and shipping delays. But with those problems fixed, is a splash of colour the revolution the Kindle needs?

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Amazon isn’t the first to use a colour e-ink screen in an e-reader, but it thinks its upgrades meaningfully improve on the tech used by others such as Boox and Kobo over the past four years by offering greater contrast and speed.

Costing £270 (€300/$280) the Kindle Colorsoft towers above the £125 black and white Paperwhite on which it is based, and is more expensive than top colour e-ink rivals. Having phased out theluxury Oasis, the Colorsoft is Amazon’s top 7in model, sitting below the big 10.2inScribetablet.

Despite the new screen the Colorsoft doesn’t break with the basic Kindle formula. It looks and feels just like the “signature edition” of the Paperwhite with a smooth black plastic back and a matt touchscreen on the front. The power button next to the USB-C port on the bottom edge is the only physical button, meaning all controls, including page turns are touchscreen-only.

Black and white books look ever so slightly greyer than the Paperwhite. But otherwise the page turns are fast and text is crisp and easy to read. The front light has 24 levels of brightness with automatic control and it can change the tone of white based on the time of the day. It works very well.

The colour screen makes browsing your library or the Kindle store much easier, as book covers are in colour so they are more recognisable at a glance. In-book diagrams, maps or pictures are now in colour and a lot more intelligible. And you can highlight passages in various colours to mark them out for later. The whole screen flashes on page turns when colour images cover more than about one-third of the screen, similar to some of the original black and white e-readers, which you quickly get used to.

The matt screen is not as bold or vibrant as a phone or tablet, looking more like newspaper print than a glossy magazine or photo, but with the brightness turned up a bit and the vivid colour mode turned on, the Colorsoft does a decent job of presenting the art of graphic novels.

Reading the text in speech bubbles can be tricky because the 7in screen is just too small when displaying a full comic page. The Kindle has apanel view modethat displays a few panels at a time but it is a bit clumsy. I prefer pinching to zoom and pan on the Colorsoft’s touchscreen, which is fast and smooth enough to quickly read sections while still getting an appreciation of the whole page.

One of the big advantages of the Kindle is Amazon’s vast ebook store, which is equally large for comics and graphic novels. Amazon boughtgraphic novel specialist Comixology in 2014and has since integrated its library into the Kindle store, including existing purchases.

The Kindle can be loaded up with ePub or pdf files, allowing you to buy books elsewhere, though only documents sent viaAmazon’s Send to Kindle serviceshowed up in colour on the Colorsoft.

One thing that needs improving is library management on the Colorsoft, particularly if you have a lot of comics or books. The Kindle has filters for books and comic strips, but it didn’t recognise any of the graphic novels I own as comics, leaving them all bundled in a mess with regular books and hard to browse. The filters do work on the Kindle app on a tablet, however.

Screen:7in colour e-paper (B&W 300ppi; Colour 150ppi)

Dimensions:127.6 x 176.7 x 7.8mm

Water resistance:IPX8 (2m up to 60 minutes)

Battery life:28 hours of reading

The battery life is a bit more variable than other Kindles because of the colour screen, but it lasted longer in my testing than Amazon’s estimates. I saw about 45 hours of reading of regular black and white books with about 40% brightness, which reduces to about 32 hours when reading colour graphic novels with the brightness set to about 70%. Standby battery life was very good too, losing less than 1% per day with the power save option enabled.

The Colorsoft will receive software and security updates forat least four yearsafter it is last available new from Amazon. The company does not provide an expected lifespan for the battery but it should last in excess of 500 full charge cycles with at least 80% of its original capacity. Access torepair optionsvaries by country. It contains 28% recycled materials including cobalt, magnesium and plastic.

Amazon breaks down the Kindle’s environmental impact inits reportand offerstrade-in and recycling schemes.

The Kindle Colorsoft costs£269.99(€299.99/$279.99).

For comparison, the Kindle costs£79.99, the Kindle Paperwhite costs£124.99, the Kindle Scribe costs£379.99, the Kobo Libra Colour costs£199.99, the Boox Go Color 7 costs€279.99and theiPadcosts£329.

Despite its troubled start, the Colorsoft proves that colour e-ink can be great. It feels like it will eventually be the norm for e-readers, replacing black and white for books, not just comics and graphic novels.

Seeing your covers and in-book pictures in colour immediately lifts the experience without creating a big downside compared with the best monochrome models. Comics also look pretty good and are easier to read outdoors on the Kindle than a tablet. But the 7in screen just isn’t big enough to do justice to graphic novels; for that you would need a colour version of the 10.2in Scribe or an iPad with its much bolder and more saturated display.

At the same time the Colorsoft doesn’t feel like a luxury Kindle in the way other high-priced models such as the Oasis managed. Despite its meaty price tag, it feels utilitarian just like a Paperwhite.

That leaves the Colorsoft in a hinterland. The colour screen is great, but struggles to justify the extra cost at this size of screen suited most for regular textbooks. Buy it on a deal and you won’t be disappointed. And if you have one already that has a yellow tint at the bottom of the screen, contact Amazon’s support for a replacement.

Pros:colour and black and white, in-book images and covers look great, much better for comics, speedy pinch-and-zoom, water resistant, light, good battery life, auto front light, USB-C.

Cons:screen flashes on page turns for colour far more than black and white, no page-turn buttons, expensive, 7in screen too small for comics, colours not as vibrant as tablet, locked to Amazon’s ecosystem.

New iPad has laptop-level power, reliable battery life, great video call camera and a choice of screen sizes

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Apple’s iPad Air continues to be the premium tablet to beat, with the latest version featuring a chip upgrade to keep it ahead of the pack.

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The new iPad Air M3 costs from £599 (€699/$599/A$999) – the same as its predecessor – and comes in two sizes with either an 11in or 13in screen. It sits between the base-model £329 iPad A16 and the £999iPad Pro M4, splitting the difference in price and features.

Nothing has changed on the outside of the tablet. The M3 model is a straight replacement for theM2 model, featuring the same crisp screen, sleek aluminium design and Touch ID fingerprint scanner in the power button.

The Centre Stage webcam at the top of the screen makes video calls a breeze by automatically panning and scanning to keep you and your family in frame. Stereo speakers make watching TV and films great, while support for the £129 Apple Pencil Pro makes doodling or taking notes a joy.

Screen:11in or 13in Liquid Retina display (264ppi)

Processor:Apple M3 (9-core GPU)

Camera:12MP rear, 12MP centre stage

Connectivity:Wifi 6E (5G optional eSim-only), Bluetooth 5.3, USB-C, Touch ID, Smart Connecter

Dimensions:247.6 x 178.5 x 6.1mm or 280.6 x 214.9 x 6.1mm

The big change for the new Air is an upgrade to the Apple M3 chip, which was first seen in late 2023 in theMacBook Proand was successfully used in theMacBook Airuntil March when it was replaced with theM4 chip.

While the M3 isn’t Apple’s latest chip, it is still far more powerful than most will ever need in a tablet and much faster than the competition. It is about 10-20% quicker than the outgoing M2 model in tests and will make short work of games and even pro-level apps such asAffinity Photo,ProcreateorAdobe Lightroom.

Combined with a reliable battery life of nine to 10 hours, it can easily be used as a laptop replacement when equipped with accessories such as the new version of Apple’s excellent Magic Keyboard case, although that comes at great cost at £269. Cheaper third-party options from Logitech and others are available, however.

The iPad Air runs iPadOS 18.4, which includes a collection of multitasking tools, and can be plugged into an external monitor such as a laptop via the USB-C port. But the M3 chip also enables variousApple Intelligence features, which are not available on the standard iPad A16. These include several AI image editing and generation tools, writing and proofreading tools, ChatGPT integration into Siri and other bits.

Apple says the battery should last inexcess of 1,000 full charge cycleswith at least 80% of its original capacity, and can be replaced from £115. The tablet is generally repairable, with adamaged out-of-warranty repair costing from £429.

The tablet contains at least 30% recycled content, including aluminium, cobalt, copper, glass, gold, lithium, plastic, rare earth elements and tin. Apple breaks down the tablet’s environmental impact inits reportand offers trade-in and free recycling schemes, including for non-Apple products.

The 11in iPad Air M3 costs from£599(€699/$599/A$999) and the 13in iPad Air M3 costs from£799(€949/$799/A$1,349).

For comparison, the iPad A16 costs from£329, theiPad Pro M4costs from£999and the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE costs from£499. TheMacBook Air M4starts at£999.

The iPad Air M3 is a great premium tablet that makes for an excellent upgrade over the base model Apple tablet.

It is a highly capable machine with laptop-level power, long battery life, a quality screen and plenty of accessories to turn it into a drawing tablet, computer replacement or many other tools. The choice of sizes balances nicely between portability at the 11in and the big-screen utility of the 13in version.

But the M3 model isn’t an upgrade worth making overrecent iPad Air versions, and if all you do is watch TV or films on it, the standard iPad A16 does the job for much less. Meanwhile, the top-endiPad Pro M4beats the Air on all counts but costs an awful lot more.

So for those looking for a premium do-it-all tablet, the iPad Air M3 is hard to beat.

Pros:choice of sizes, laptop-level M3 performance, solid battery life, quality screen, USB-C, long software support life, large range of apps and accessories, good speakers, landscape Centre Stage camera, recycled aluminium.

Cons:expensive, no multiuser support, iPadOS still needs work as a laptop replacement, no kickstand without case, no Face ID, 60Hz screen.

Latest satellite-free Sky TV is ready for primetime with better picture, sound and much-improved service

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The latest version of Sky’s Glass smart TV is faster and looks better than its predecessor and offers a level of all-in-one convenience that makes the satellite-free pay TV one of the best on the market.

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Sky Glass gen 2 is a straight replacement for theoriginal model from 2021, which introduced Sky’s TV-over-broadband service that ditched the need for a satellite dish. The new TV comes in three sizes and you can buy the smallest 43in version for a one-off payment of £699 or £14 a month spread over four years, after which you own it.

It requires a Sky subscription for full use, costing from £15 a month for the Sky Essential TV pack. You wouldn’t buy a Glass without the intention of using Sky, but should you want to ditch the subscription at a later date it willfunction as a basic smart TVwith access to streaming apps such as BBC iPlayer, plusa basic aerialand multiple HDMI inputs.

From the front, the gen 2 model looks very similar to the original. It has the same monolithic design with an aluminium body, slim bezels, a soundbar hidden behind a colour-matched mesh at the bottom and voice control mics that respond to “Hello Sky”. Glass gen 2 is thinner and lighter than the outgoing model, though still heavy for a modern TV, weighing 14.7kg for the 43in version with the stand. The larger and heavier 55in and 65in models will require two people to safely manoeuvre them.

A redesigned stand makes it a lot easier to set up, even at the 65in size as tested, with the TV simply slotting on to two prongs for a very stable mount without screws or tools required. It needs a power cable and wifi or Ethernet for internet. A wall bracket can be bought separately.

The crisp 4K LCD screen is noticeably brighter than its predecessor, with deeper blacks and much-reduced halo or blooming effect, which is the unwanted glow around the edges of bright spots such as white text on a black background. The screen has automatic brightness adjustment, which made things look a little too dark and grey in all but the brightest of rooms. Turning it off improved things.

Sky has automatic picture optimisation modes that detect the content being watched, such as entertainment, sport and movies, plus manual vivid and extra vivid modes for those who like over-the-top colours. I found the entertainment mode made the picture too warm, with people looking a little orange, while sport was a bit grey for all but the brightest of match days.

I preferred the movie setting, which is much more balanced, but there is also a custom mode for those who want to fully personalise the picture.

The improved screen really comes to life with HDR films, shows and sport. The Premier League looks crisp and vibrant on Sky and TNT, while flicks such asFuriosa: A Mad Max Sagain Dolby Vision look particularly good. But the screen is not ideal for gaming with an Xbox or PS5, lacking the variable refresh rates of up to 120Hz that console gaming greatly benefits from.

A big advantage of the Glass over normal TVs is the integrated seven-speaker soundbar, which blows other TV speakers away for power and clarity. Vocals are particularly clear at almost any volume and with none of thelip-sync issuesthat can plague external soundbars. Without a separate subwoofer or rear speakers, it does an admirable job of producing big and full sound.

However, it struggles to produce really deep, booming bass, and while it has a nice wide sound, there isn’t much in the way of virtual surround effect. Both require a more complex system to achieve with more speakers.

The TV also has night sound, speech enhancement and bass boost modes, the first of which proved very useful to avoid waking the rest of the house for late-night movies, by dampening loud noises while keeping the dialogue intelligible.

Since the original Glass’s launch in 2021, the Sky OS service powering it has dramatically improved. It still has excellent search and an improved playlist function, with more than one user profile so everyone in the house can have their own lists and recommendations, including child profiles.

The playlist feature automatically keeps track of new episodes of shows and films you want to watch, regardless of which service they’re available from. It feeds into a recently added “continue watching” rail that helps you jump straight back into the content you were previously watching, which is all I needed about 75% of the time.

Watching, pausing and rewinding live TV works great. Recentreductions to the broadcast delayfor sports have made a meaningful difference, preventing the irritating scenario where a friend watching on satellite or aerial a little ahead of you texts to brag about a goal before you’ve managed to actually see it.

On-demand content from the Sky platform works really well, but a bigger improvement is in the third-party on-demand services such as BBC iPlayer, ITV X and Channel 4, on which you are reliant in place of recordings. It’s still not quite as fast and seamless as having local recordings, such as you might on Sky Q or other PVR, but most of the apps launch quicker, work better and will take you straight to the episode you want to watch from the playlist or search page.

It supports most of the major on-demand services, including My5, YouTube, Prime Video, Disney+, Paramount+, Apple TV+ and Discovery+, for all your content in one place.

The television isrepairable apart from the screen. It contains 22% recycled material, including aluminium, fabric, tin and plastic. The company will recycle its old products and ships the TV in plastic-free packaging.

Sky Glass gen 2 costs£699at 43in, £949 at 55in or £1,199 at 65in, with 24- or 48-month interest-free payment plans available for all models with a £20 upfront cost.

On 24-month contracts, Sky Essential TV costs from £15 a month, Sky Ultimate TV from £22 a month, and UHD + Dolby Atmos costs an additional £6, as does the ability to skip ads. Other add-ons include Sky Sports from £31 a month, TNT Sport from £31 a month, Sky Cinema from £13 a month and Sky Kids at £8 a month. Some discounts are available for certain combinations, while all the packages can be bought on a 31-day basis at different prices.

The first-generation Glass required work when it launched, to the television screen and the Sky streaming service powering it. The gen 2 model rights many of the wrongs of its predecessor.

It is brighter, faster, has higher contrast and handles highlights far better. It is also easily the best-sounding TV available. It competes fairly well in the mid-range market but you can certainly buy a better-looking screen for similar money without a soundbar; those looking for the absolute best picture should look elsewhere.

The Sky OS service has greatly improved to a level that rivals the best in the business. Live broadcast works just as it might over satellite or aerial. On-demand content from the Sky platform is as good as local recordings while the third-party apps such as BBC iPlayer and ITVX have levelled up to at least an acceptable standard. The playlist and search with support for all the major streaming services are the killer features, removing the burden of remembering which of the plethora of services hosts the content you want to watch.

Above all, it is the level of convenience offered by the Glass gen 2, of an all-in one solution with solid sound and a single remote for all your TV needs, that is the major appeal.

Pros:all-in-one streaming and pay TV device, great sound, no satellite/cable or aerial needed, good remote, excellent search and playlist functions, improved apps, improved picture and good HDR, custom picture modes, optional motion-sensing and voice control.

Cons:better picture available for less from competitors, some picture modes and automatic brightness control aren’t great, no fast refresh rate for game consoles, thick and heavy, no Chromecast support, some third-party catchup/on-demand services still aren’t great.

Cut-down version of top Windows 11 AI notebook offers premium experience in smaller and less expensive package

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Microsoft’s latest Surface Laptop is smaller and cheaper, managing to condense most of what is great about its larger siblings into a more compact frame without compromising too much on power.

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The Surface Laptop 13in joins the current seventh-generation Laptop 13.8in and 15in that were launched in the summer last year. It sits at the bottom of the premium pile in price, costing from £899 (€1,099/$900/A$1,699), but above the Laptop Go 3, which is likely to be phased out.

The new 13in model looks like a cross between theLaptop Goand its bigger siblings. It has a similar but smaller glossy LCD touchscreen, which isn’t quite as bright or crisp and has a slower 60Hz refresh rate, but still looks good for the size. The smooth aluminium deck holds a full-size keyboard that offers a quality typing experience few competitors manage.

The generous trackpad is smooth and precise but of the older, hinged variety, instead of the better haptic models fitted to the larger Surface Laptop models and other premium competitors. It still works fine but is harder to click higher up on the pad.

The speakers in the deck are great for the size and the 1080p webcam above the screen is solid, even if it lacks Microsoft’sWindowsHello facial recognition for logging into the machine.

Screen:13in LCD 1920 x 1280 (178 PPI)

Processor:Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus (8 core)

Operating system:Windows 11Home

Connectivity:wifi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, USB-A, 2xUSB-C (3.2), headphones

Dimensions:285.7 x 214.1 x 15.6mm

The Laptop 13in has Qualcomm’s mid-rangeSnapdragon X PlusArm chip with eight cores (versus 10 on the larger models). It won’t win any raw performance awards but it is roughly on a par with its Intel competition and plenty fast enough for a laptop of this size. It stays quiet unless really pushed and feels snappy in operation while managing to be efficient on battery for general use. It lasts a very good 14 hours of work using plenty of browser tabs, multiple chat apps, text editors and note-taking apps. That is almost twice as long as previousIntel-based Surface Laptopsand much more on a par withApple’s class-leading MacBook Air.

Using it for more demanding tasks, such as large photo editing or other creative applications, cuts the battery life roughly in half for a still solid seven hours.

The Surface has two USB-C (3.2) ports and a USB-A port, which is reasonably good for a machine of this size. But it lacks the more modern USB4/Thunderbolt and ditches Microsoft’s proprietary Surface Connect port, relying instead on USB-C for charging, which is no bad thing unless you already own a Surface Dock or similar accessory.

The Surface runs Windows 11, which generally works well without any unnecessary trials and bits of software that frequently plague rivals. But Windows on Arm chips, such as the Surface’s Snapdragon models, still has a few compatibility problems not shared by the version running on the standard x86 chips from Intel or AMD.

Apps that aren’t written for Arm systems have to be run through an emulation system, which works in the background but makes them much slower. Lighter-weight x86 apps, such as the note-taker Evernote, work OK but are noticeably slower than on Arm-native rivals.

The majority of popular apps now have Arm versions, which fly along. That includes Google Drive, whichuntil recentlywas incompatible with Windows on Arm. But there are enough apps with issues, particularly in the creative industries, that you should check for problems before buying. Gaming is also tricky, as most big games including Fortnite are not compatible with Arm chips.

The laptop is aCopilot+PCand includes Microsoft’s various AI tools. The much-delayedRecall featurerecords snapshots of what you’re doing on the machine so you can use it like a time machine to see what was on screen at any particular moment. You can search Recall using natural language and interact with the text, images or data it finds, such as opening a site you were browsing a couple of days ago.

It is an opt-in feature, the screenshots are stored locally on your device secured by your fingerprint, and you can block some apps from being captured, such as a password manager, but it could still be a privacy risk too far for some.

The rest of the AI tools are similar to those onprevious Surfaces, including a Cocreator system in Paint that can turn crude sketches into art. The most powerful tool is Copilot, which is integrated across multiple Microsoft apps, including Word and other members of the Office suite if you have a subscription. Generally it works as a cross between a search tool and an AI chatbot, and makes short work of turning data into tables, jazzing up your copy or identifying things from images, though you have to use Microsoft’s Edge browser for it to be able to see what you’re looking at on your screen.

Microsoft’s new “Click to Do” feature allows you to hold the Windows button and click on something on your screen to perform actions with it, such as remove an image’s background with Paint or rewrite the text with AI. It is fairly basic at the moment, with more features to be added later this year, but it works as a much quicker and accessible way of performing AI tasks with things on a PC.

The laptop is generally repairable, with areplaceable SSD, spare parts,self-repairandservice guidesavailable. The machine contains recycled cobalt and rare earth metals. Microsoft operatestrade-in and recycling schemesand publishesout-of-warranty repair costsandproduct environmental impact reports.

The Microsoft Surface Laptop 13in costs from£899(€1,099/$899.99/A$1,699) and ships on 10 June.

For comparison, the Surface Laptop 13.8in costs from£944, the Surface Pro 12in costs£799, theSurface Pro 13incosts£1,029and the13in MacBook Air M4costs£999.

The Surface Laptop 13in is a smaller, cut-down version of Microsoft’s excellent Windows 11 laptop.

The general feel of the machine is very similar to its larger siblings thanks to premium materials, a great keyboard and clutter-free Windows 11 experience. The 13in touchscreen is decent, if not quite as good as other models, and the older-technology trackpad still works well. Microsoft’s AI tools are slowly improving, though they are still not a reason to buy a machine.

The lack of USB4/Thunderbolt and face recognition can be overlooked for a cheaper price, as can the lower-power chip. It proved more than fast enough for general productivity, and helps provide long battery life that could see out two full work days between charges. The Arm chip brings with it some potential app compatibility problems that are worth checking out before buying.

Overall, the small Surface Laptop is a lovely machine. But at £900 or equivalent it’s not terribly cheap, with its larger and better sibling often available for similar money, so it’s worth shopping around.

Pros:good keyboard, decent trackpad, good speakers, USB-A and USB-C, decent screen, fingerprint reader, long battery life, solid performance, clutter-free Windows 11 with AI features.

Cons:app and game compatibility issues with Arm chip, screen only 60Hz and less crisp than larger siblings, no face recognition, no USB4, no haptic touchpad, a little expensive.

Stripped back iPhone offers latest chips, AI and longer battery life, but with only a single camera on the back

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Apple’s cheapest new smartphone is theiPhone16e, which offers the basic modern iPhone experience including the latest chips and AI features but for a little less than its other models.

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The iPhone 16e costs £599 (€699/$599/A$999) and is the spiritual successor to theiPhone SE line. Where the iPhone SE still had the old-school chunky design with home button, the 16e has the body of the iPhone 14 with the chips of the £799 iPhone 16.

That means the 16e has an all-screen design and aluminium body. It was great forthe iPhone 14and still is good today. The phone is light and relatively compact. The 6.1in OLED screen is good and big enough for most uses, but isn’t as bright as that on thestandard iPhone 16.

The 16e is only available in black or white, and while it has the handy action button that replaced the mute switch of older iPhones, it doesn’t have the camera control button from therest of the iPhone 16 line.

The whole of the 16e has these little compromises from the standard iPhone 16 experience. It has a new more power-efficient Apple 5G modem – a first for an iPhone – but only has wifi 6 not the latest wifi 7. The 16e also lacksThreadand Ultra Wideband radios, the latter of which is used for Apple’sprecision finding of lost itemsand other systems.

Even the 16e’s A18 chip is slightly inferior to that used in the regular iPhone 16, lacking some graphics power and performing a little slower overall. It is still a very snappy chip, however.

The phone has wireless charging, but lacks Apple’s excellent MagSafe magnetic attachment technology on the back that has been aniPhone staple since 2020. MagSafe enables a range of magnetic accessories, from wallets and phone grips to car phone mounts and chargers, none of which work with the 16e, making it a very odd omission.

Whether all these small minuses matter depends on your usage, whether your family has accessories that use MagSafe, wifi 7 at home or a bunch of Apple’s AirTags. But at least the 16e has great battery life lasting a solid 52 hours of general usage between charges across a range of conditions – four hours longer than the regular iPhone 16. That means needing to plug it in every two days or every other day with heavy usage.

Screen:6.1in Super Retina XDR (OLED) (460ppi)

Camera:48MP rear; 12MP front-facing

Connectivity:5G, wifi 6, NFC, Bluetooth 5.3, USB-C, Satellite and GNSS

Water resistance:IP68 (6 metres for 30 mins)

Dimensions:146.7 x 71.5 x 7.8mm

Apple says the batteryshould last in excess of 1,000 full-charge cycleswith at least 80% of its original capacity and can bereplaced for £95. Out-of-warrantyscreen repairs cost £225. The 16e has repair guides available and was awardedseven out of 10 for repairabilityby specialists iFixit.

It contains more than 30% recycled material including aluminium, cobalt, copper, glass, gold, lithium, plastic, rare earth elements, steel, tin and tungsten. The company breaks down thephone’s environmental impactin its report. Apple offers trade-in and free recycling schemes, including for non-Apple products.

One feature that has been cut which makes more of a difference is in the camera department: the 16e only has one 48MP camera on the back, not the two or three present on other iPhones.

The single main camera can manage a 2x in sensor zoom for a form of telephoto shots, but there is no ultrawide camera. Most of the time I didn’t miss it terribly as the main camera shoots great images across a range of lighting conditions. But on occasions where you can’t step back, you can no longer get the shot.

Its portrait mode is slightly less effective, while a lack of a macrophotography mode and the new advanced photographic styles from the main iPhone 16 is a shame. It has the same 12-megapixel selfie camera as the rest of the iPhone line up.

Overall the camera is solid, but if you’re at all interested in photography the 16e isn’t the model for you.

The iPhone 16e costs from£599(€699/$599/A$999) with 128GB of storage.

For comparison, theiPhone 16costs£799, theiPhone 16 Pluscosts£899,iPhone 16 Procosts£999, theiPhone 16 Pro Maxcosts£1,199, theGoogle Pixel 8acosts£499and the Samsung Galaxy S24 FE costs£549.

The iPhone 16e is a solid phone that offers most of the core iPhone experience with a few things left out for a lower cost.

Many of these things, such as slower wifi, a slightly less powerful chip, no camera control button and an older-style notch probably don’t matter much to most people. But the lack of MagSafe and only a single camera on the back may be deal breakers for some.

The advantage the 16e has over the iPhone 15 and older, cheaper models still available from third-party retailers is the Apple Intelligence features, some of which are useful but many are underwhelming or bettered by third-party apps.

The biggest problem with the 16e is its price. Though it costs about 25% less than a regular iPhone 16, £599 is still very much at the premium end of the market. That makes the 16e only a sensible choice for someone who wants the absolute cheapest new iPhone available and won’t settle for anything else. For everyone else there are better models to be had either new from third-party retailers or refurbished.

Pros:fast, decent screen, great size, action button, USB-C, great battery life, long software support, Face ID, Apple Intelligence.

Cons:single camera only and no macro mode, no camera control button, old-style screen design, no MagSafe, no wifi 7, no Thread or UWB, AI features hit and miss, still expensive.

Transparent back, flashing LEDs, novel design, long battery life and huge triple camera help this Android stand out

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London-based Nothing has brought one of the last things setting top-level phones apart from cheaper mid-range models down to a more affordable price: high-quality camera zoom.

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Cameras have long been the battleground of the most expensive phones, each vying for better quality, longer reach and multiple lenses. While much of this costly progress has trickled down to cheaper models, optical zoom cameras are few and far between below the £600 mark.

The £449 (€459/$459/A$849) Nothing 3a Pro sets itself apart with the company’s trademark transparent, light-up design and a 50-megapixel 3x telephoto camera on the back that rivals phones costing twice as much.

It builds on the excellentPhone 2awith a similar set of “glyph” LED strips on the back that light up in complex patterns for notifications, calls, timers, charging, the volume and other fun things.

The transparent glass back reveals an interesting design beneath, but the gigantic camera cluster is the standout element. It is huge and protrudes far enough for it to act like a grip for your finger on the back of the phone. The back and front of the 3a Pro are glass, while the sides are a high-quality plastic.

The screen is a large and fast OLED, which looks really good and has fast optical fingerprint scanner under it towards the bottom.

Screen:6.77in 120Hz FHD+ OLED (387ppi)

Processor:Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3

Operating system:Nothing OS 3.1 (Android 15)

Camera:50MP main, 50MP 3x tele and 8MP ultrawide, 50MP selfie

Connectivity:5G, eSIM, wifi 6, NFC, Bluetooth 5.4 and GNSS

Water resistance:IP64 (spray resistant)

Dimensions:163.5 x 77.5 x 8.4mm

The 3a Pro has Qualcomm’s mid-range Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 chip, which can’t rival the top chips for raw power but is fast enough to make the phone feel snappy and responsive. It can handle most games fine without getting hot and is about 25% faster than the Phone 2a.

The battery life is great, lasting about three days between charges with general use, including more than seven hours spent actively using the screen. Gaming and using the camera dents the battery, but even so most should only need to charge it every other day.

The 3a Pro runs Nothing’s version of Android 15, which offers a relatively clutter-free, fast and unique experience filled with nice design touches based around dot-matrix art. There are plenty of customisation options to tailor the look and feel of the phone, including monochrome and distraction-free themes, but generally it is just a bit more fun than most version of Android.

It has a few of Google’s AI tools, including Gemini, and various image editing tools in Google Photos. But the big new addition is Nothing’s Essential Space app, which acts like an AI-powered notebook capable of collecting and analysing various screenshots, text and voice notes.

A dedicated button on the side of the phone captures what’s on screen, while pressing and holding records a quick voice note to go with it. The app analyses the content to create summaries, transcriptions and possible actions, such as reminders or to-do lists. Opening the app shows the various things you’ve captured sorted into collections, such as a cross between Pinterest and a note-taking app such as Evernote.

The app is a little basic at the moment and requires a connection to Nothing’s servers to work, but the idea is sound and it currently works well as a way of keeping screenshots and other data out of your gallery. The AI summaries, like all AI tools, are a bit hit and miss, and your various captures are stuck on your phone, but it has far more potential than a lot of gimmicky AI features currently being touted by various parties.

Unfortunately, you can’t customise the side button to do something else, so if you don’t like Essential Space it is rendered useless, unlike rivals such as Apple’s action button. I also pressed it a lot, mistaking it for the power button, taking a fair number of accidental screenshots in the process.

Nothing will support the 3a Pro with three years of Android updates and a total of six years of security updates. That is a year or so behind the best in the business but a lot longer than many rivals, which is good to see.

The 3a Pro has three cameras on the back: an 8-megapixel ultrawide, a 50MP main and a 50MP 3x telephoto, the later of which is the standout feature for this price range of phone.

The ultrawide camera is reasonable, if a little soft on detail. The main camera is pretty good all round with solid colour and dynamic range, making a decent job of most situations. The 3x zoom camera is arguably the best of the lot, producing nicely detailed images with reasonable reach. All three cameras suffer from a bit of overprocessing, which you can see when you zoom in on photos. The main and telephoto cameras offer an in-sensor zoom to 2x and 6x respectively, but they are not great showing obvious artefacts, while zooming beyond 10x the images start to look more like oil paintings than photos.

Overall, the camera on the 3a Pro is one of the best for a mid-range phone and offers a real zoom, which is rare at this price. It won’t trouble the top Android or iPhones, however.

Nothing says the battery maintains at least 90% of its original capacity for at least 1,200 full charge cycles. The Phone 2a is generally repairable in the UK. Screen replacements cost £89 or batteries cost £29 plus about £35 labour and shipping by Nothing.

The device is made of recycled aluminium, copper, plastic, steel, tin and other materials. It has a carbon footprint of 51.3kg CO2 equivalent. The company publishessustainability reports.

The Nothing Phone 3a Pro costs£449(€459/$459/A$849).

For comparison, the Phone 3a costs£329, theGoogle Pixel 8acosts£499, the Samsung Galaxy A56 costs £499 and theiPhone 16ecosts£599.

Nothing hits the right notes with the Phone 3a Pro to make it one of the best mid-range phones you can buy.

Very few rivals have a real zoom camera at this price, let alone one as good as on the back of the 3a Pro. It has a big, crisp and smooth display, solid mid-range performance and very long battery life. A standout design adds interest to the otherwise dull phone market, while good software with up to six years of support means it will go the distance.

Nothing’s AI-powered screenshot and note-taking app shows potential, even if it is a bit basic at the moment. But giving it a dedicated button that can’t be used for anything else feels like a miss. I would rather choose which app or function to bind to the button.

The mid-range smartphone market is rapidly becoming packed with very good options, but Nothing manages to stand out and is worth considering when your old phone gives up the ghost.

Pros:good camera with 3x optical zoom, interesting design, great software with six years of support, good screen, solid performance, long battery life, good fingerprint scanner, splash resistant.

Cons:AI features need work, extra button can’t be customised, only three years of Android version updates, enormous camera cluster protrudes from the back.

Class-leading camera, top-tier chip, very long battery life, AI and quality software dominate mid-range rivals

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Google’s latest cut-price Pixel offers the best bang for your buck inAndroidphones and is arguably better in many areas than some models costing twice the price.

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The Pixel 9a starts at the same £499 (€549/$499/A$849) as last year’s equally good value model. That makes it £300 or so less thanGoogle’s regular Pixel 9and places it up against mid-rangers such asNothing’s Phone 3a Proand Samsung’s Galaxy A56.

Google has stuck with its tried and tested A-series formula, packing the 9a with top-level specs, chips and cameras, cutting a few corners to bring the price down. The result is an extremely compelling package for the money.

The 6.3in OLED screen is crisp, smooth and bright, looking better than many rivals costing far more. It has slightly thicker bezels around the edge than thePixel9, but keeps the premium-feeling aluminium band around the outside. The back is high-quality plastic rather than glass, but it’s difficult to tell unless you know. The 9a has full IP68 water resistance, too, matching the best in the business.

The big change is that thestandout camera bar on the backis gone. Instead, the twin cameras sit almost flush poking through a small black oval. It means the phone sits flat on a desk and is a little sleeker, but it has also lost some of its charm looking far more generic than the rest of Google’s phone designs.

Screen:6.3in 120Hz FHD+ OLED (422ppi)

Camera:48MP + 13MP ultrawide, 13MP selfie

Connectivity:5G, Sim/eSim, wifi 6E, NFC, Bluetooth 5.3 and GNSS

Water resistance:IP68 (1m for 30 minutes)

Dimensions:154.7 x 73.3 x 8.9mm

Inside, the 9a has the same top-tier Google Tensor G4 chip as the rest of the Pixel 9 line but with only 8GB of RAM rather than 12GB onthe more expensive models. The chip is fast and performance is snappy. It won’t win any raw performance awards but is markedly faster than most mid-range chips and played games just fine.

The battery also lasts a long time: up to 57 hours between charges with general light use, including actively using the screen for nine hours and spending five hours on 5G. That is the longest of all the Google Pixels and means it should see out two days, rivalling some of the longest-lasting handsets on the market.

You likely won’t notice the smaller amount of RAM compared with the Pixel 9 in daily use, but it limits some of the potential for running Google’s AI systems locally on the phone. The 9a has to make do with a smaller version ofGoogle’s Gemini AI toolsthat can only process text on-device, precluding some of the fancy audio or image-based tools such as the popularPixel Screenshotsand Call Notes apps from the Pixel 9.

All the Gemini features that use the web to process things, such asGemini Live, work great. As do the various photo editing and image generation tools. The 9a can also produce summaries of voice recordings, but only those under about 15 minutes as there is a maximum number of words it can process in one go.

The rest of the Android 15 experience matches the other Pixel phones, which makes it one of the best in the business. Even better at this price is Google’s seven years of software support for its Pixels, which means you can safely use the 9a for far longer than most in the mid-range market.

Google’s Pixels have some of the very best cameras, which includes the 9a. It has a new main 48-megapixel camera twinned with a 13MP ultrawide, which matches that from last year’s model.

The main camera is capable of shooting better photos than many full-price flagship phones, and is only a smidgen behind the regular Pixel 9 in low-light scenarios, taking longer to get the shot. Photos across a range of lighting conditions are full of detail and well balanced, while the ultrawide continues to be one of the better options available. The main camera offers a solid 2x zoom that can stretch up to 8x with more obvious digital artefacts.

New for the 9a is a macrophotography mode that uses the main camera and can produce some great shots, though sometimes it struggles to focus and is only sharp in the centre of the image. The selfie camera is solid on the front, while video capture is equally good.

The 9a has popular Best Take and Add Me AI features from the main Pixel 9, as well as various AI editing tools in Google Photos including Magic Editor, unblur and audio magic eraser.

Googlesays the battery should lastabout 1,000 full charge cycles with at least 80% of its original capacity. The phone is repairableby Googleandthird-party shopswith genuine replacement parts available directfrom iFixit.

The Pixel 9a is made with recycled aluminium, glass, plastic and tin, accounting for at least 23% of the phone by weight. The company publishes anenvironmental impact reportfor the phone and willrecycle old devicesfree of charge.

The Google Pixel 9a costs£499(€549/$499/A$849).

For comparison, thePixel 9costs£799, the Samsung Galaxy A56 costs£499, theNothing Phone 3a Procosts£449and theApple iPhone 16ecosts£599.

The Pixel 9a shows Google knows how to make a cut-price flagship phone at a mid-range price better than any other.

The combination of top-tier chip, long battery life, great screen and a class-leading camera beats phones costing a lot more. Google’s quality software and long seven years of support only sweeten the deal.

A few corners have been cut to bring the price down, but they aren’t noticeable in day-to-day usage. Missing things such as a lack of wifi 7, satellite messaging or spatial audio, or the use of a plastic back can all be forgiven at this price.

While more expensive Pixel phones offer a few more bells and whistles, it’s hard to overlook the Pixel 9a. It is the best mid-range phone by a wide margin and is the handset to buy for anyone looking for a quality experience that goes the distance for less.

Pros:seven years of software updates, class-leading camera, great screen, top-tier chip, very long battery life, recycled materials, good AI features, undercuts high-end phones on price.

Cons:design quite generic, no optical zoom for camera, raw performance short of best, plastic back, no built-in spatial audio, no wifi 7 or satellite messaging, older Gorilla Glass 3.

This article was amended on 9 May 2025. An earlier version listed the height of the phone as 157.7mm.

Special featherweight, titanium edition of top Android has large screen but sacrifices battery and camera for design

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Having been instrumental in the reduction of smartphones to metal and glass slabs devoid of distinguishing features, Samsung hopes that going thinner and lighter with a special Edge edition of its high-end Galaxy S25Androidwill prove design innovation isn’t dead.

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The S25 Edge is very thin at just 5.8mm thick –ifyou ignore the camera bump on the back – making it a full 1.5mm thinner than its similarly sized S25+ sibling and about the same thickness as a stack of seven credit cards. Its light 168g weight makes it feel even thinner than the numbers suggest and photos don’t do it justice.

The extra thinness costs about £100 more than Samsung’s other 6.7in phone with the S25 Edge priced from £1,099 (€1,259/$1,099/A$1,849) placing it between the £999 S25+ and £1,249S25 Ultra.

The large high-quality 6.7in Oled screen is bright, crisp and smooth with a rapid fingerprint scanner embedded in it. The phone’s light weight makes it easier to hold than other big handsets but it still requires two hands to use the majority of the time. Slap it in a case and the thickness advantage is essentially removed, so the Edge is a phone best used without one.

The rest of the phone is very similar to other Samsungs. It has Qualcomm’s top Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, plenty of Ram and at least 256GB of storage. It flies through apps, games or anything else you might want to do with a phone. Samsung’s version of Android 15 (One UI 7) works well with plenty of customisation options, though some of the default settings make it a lot more like Apple’s iOS than you’d expect.

It is packed with plenty of Google and Samsung’s most advanced AI tools. Some of them are great, such as Gemini; some are handy occasionally, such as the image editing tools, and others can safely be ignored. TheNow barand live notifications, which show ongoing tasks such as music playing in Spotify, are super handy, appearing on the lock screen and in the task bar on the home screen.

Samsung will provide the Edge with software updates until 31 May 2032, making it one of the longest supported phones available.

Screen:6.7in QHD+ Dynamic Amoled 2X 120Hz

Processor:Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy

Operating system:One UI 7 (Android 15)

Camera:200MP + 12MP 0.6x; 12MP front-facing

Connectivity:5G, USB-C, wifi 7, NFC, Bluetooth 5.4, UWB and GNSS

Water resistance:IP68 (1.5m for 30 mins)

Dimensions:158.2 x 75.6 x 5.8mm

The Edge’s extreme slender design does come with a few drawbacks, the biggest of which is a small battery with a slightly lower capacity than the regular S25. As a result, despite being a large phone the Edge has fairly short battery life. It will last about a day and a half of light usage between charges, so should see out most days, but it falls just short of thesmallest S25and about a day behindthe the S25 Ultra.

It also gets a little hotter than other Samsung models when gaming, but if you play a lot of Fortnite or similar games the small battery capacity is probably already a cut too far.

The other big trade-off for the svelte frame is in the camera department. It only has two cameras on the back, lacking a telephoto sensor as fitted to the rest of the S25 series.

The main camera is an excellent 200-megapixel model that is very similar to that on the S25 Ultra. It is a top-drawer camera that is better than the 50MP main cameras on the S25 and S25+. It shoots great photos across a range of conditions, and manages a very good 2x in-sensor zoom to somewhat negate the lack of a dedicated telephoto camera. The 12MP ultra wide camera is solid and can be used for macrophotography, while the selfie camera is very good.

The camera app has the same long list of modes as other S25 models, shoots great video and manages to be fairly easy to use. Overall the main camera is excellent and if you never wish to close the distance to objects with a real zoom, it might be all the camera you need.

Samsung does not provide an expected lifespan for the battery but it should last in excess of 500 full charge cycles with at least 80% of its original capacity.

The phone isgenerally repairable. Screen repairscost £259 by authorised service centresand include a battery replacement. Samsung also offers aself-repair programme.

The phone contains recycled materials, while Samsung offerstrade-inandrecycling schemesfor old devices. The company publishesannual sustainability reportsand impact assessments forsome individual products.

The Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge costs from£1,099(€1,259/$1,099/A$1,849).

For comparison, theGalaxy S25 Ultracosts£1,249, the S25+ costs£999and theS25costs£799. TheGoogle Pixel 9 Pro XLcosts£799, theOnePlus 13costs£899and theApple iPhone 16 Pluscosts£899.

The S25 Edge is an interesting move for Samsung. I don’t think many people have looked at their current phone and wished it could be thinner versus lasting longer or having a better camera. Most people use a case and that immediately nullifies the small differences in thickness of most premium devices.

But using the Edge has reminded me of just how heavy modern big phones can be. It feels so much lighter in the hand, in your pocket or in your bag while still having a big, quality screen. The battery life is certainly not tremendous, but it hasn’t been terrible either, getting through heavy use days with a little left in the tank.

The main camera is excellent but the lack of a good telephoto camera might be a deal-breaker for some. I did miss it. And while it feels very solid with a titanium frame and appears tosurvive aggressive bending, I would not want to sit on it in a back pocket.

The S25 Edge is a quality piece of hardware, so if you’ve ever wanted a lighter, thinner, big-screen phone, this is it. But for everyone else better options exist from Samsung or others at this price.

Pros:brilliant and large screen, super light weight, very thin, excellent main camera, fast fingerprint scanner, good software with seven years of support, top Android chip, latest AI features,

Cons:no telephoto camera, relatively short battery life, expensive, deserves to be used without a case, still a two-handed device.

There’s no need to buy new – unless your model’s ready for retirement. Our technology expert compares the top Apple smartwatches available right now

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The bestAppleWatch may be the one already on your wrist.

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Each generation of Apple’s smartwatch is fairly iterative, with most of the best features added via software updates, which means there’s no need to buy a new device each year. That said, if your watch has seen better days, or it’s stopped receiving updates, then your best options are set out below.

While several third-party smartwatches are compatible with the iPhone, they don’t offer the same level of integration that the Apple Watch does with the phone, iOS and the company’s other devices and services. It’s the best smartwatch for iPhone users, but note that you’ll soon need an iPhone capable of beingupdated to iOS 26–iPhone 11or later – aswatchOS 26is due for release in September. The free update will bring a raft of new features, including an AI motivational workout coach called Workout Buddy, a new wrist-flick gesture to clear notifications, a design revamp and various smart actions for messages, dealing with spam, and controlling the volume. The Apple Watch can’t be used with Android or as a standalone device.

Best Apple Watch for most people:Series 10 Aluminium£399 at John Lewis

Best cheapApple Watch:SE (2nd gen)From £219 at Apple

Best Apple Watch for battery:Ultra 2From £779 at Currys

From £399 at Apple£399 at John Lewis

The Apple Watch Series 10 is the best model for most people, offering the full Apple smartwatch experience in a choice of two sizes. It’s the thinnest model yet, at just under 1cm thick, so it easily slips under shirt cuffs and feels light and compact on the wrist. The 42mm version should fit smaller wrists, while the 46mm version is the bearer of the largest screen on an Apple Watch – if onlyjustover theUltra 2.

The screen is a bright and crisp OLED that stays on all the time and can be easily read in direct sunlight or from an angle. The watch feels slick in operation, with the 46mm unit lasting about two days between charges (if it’s not monitoring exercise), or long enough to track a marathon with battery life to spare. The double-tap gesture is handy for cancelling timers, alarms and scrolling through your widgets without having to touch the watch. And with Siri on board, you can set alarms and other basic features quickly, without an internet connection.

One of the biggest benefits of the Series 10 Apple Watch is pretty comprehensive health tracking, including ECG (heart rhythm), blood oxygen and skin temperature, plus sleep and menstrual cycle monitoring. Apple’s sports tracking is solid, too, covering running, cycling, and swimming at depths up to 6m. Offline music from Apple Music, Spotify and other third-party apps means you can access your tunes without having to carry your phone with you.

However, it’s the deep integration with iOS that makes the Apple Watch the best smartwatch for iPhone users, with Apple Pay, notifications, calls, texts, maps, photos and more accessible from your wrist.

Note that 4G models are available but require a plan linked to your phone provider. They allow you to stay connected when you’re out of Bluetooth or wifi range, which can be particularly handy for making calls and staying in touch while you’re out exercising without your iPhone in tow.

Why should you buy it?The Series 10 offers the best Apple Watch experience in the slimmest and most compact package. Add to this the bright and always-on screen, ECG and handy gesture controls, and it’salsothe best Apple Watch for daily wear.

Buy if:you want a great Apple Watch with almost all the featuresDon’t buy if:you want longer battery life or a more rugged design

Read our fullApple Watch Series 10 review: thinner, lighter and basically the same

Size:42/46mmThickness:9.7mmScreen brightness:up to 2,000nitsTested battery life:2 daysProcessor:S10Storage:64GBWater resistance:50 metresSensors:HR (3rd gen), ECG, spO2, skin/water temp, depth

From £219 at Apple£219 at John Lewis

The SE is a cut-down version of the Apple Watch that offers the basics for just over half the price of the Series 10. The shape of the second-gen SE is based on theSeries 6from 2020, which means it has an older design and thicker body, but it still comes in a choice of 40mm or 44mm sizes. The OLED screen is smaller than the Series 10 with chunkier bezels. While crisp and good-looking, it’s not as bright nor is it always-on; it lights up only when you turn your wrist – which might be a deal breaker for some.

Built around the S8 chip fromthe Series 8, the SE is missing some of the S10’s other nice-to-have features, too: it lacks support for the offline and faster Siri, the useful double-tap gesture, and it has only half the storage (32GB) for offline music and apps. The watch still tracks quite a lot of health and sport metrics, but has an older-generation heart-rate monitor compared with the Series 10. It doesn’t give ECG, blood oxygen and skin temperature measurements, either.

What you do get is all the same tie-ins with the iPhone, including Apple Pay, notifications and calls on your wrist. Battery life is about two days, but note the current generation of SE is approaching three years old and could be replaced later this year. And while it’s the cheapest Apple Watch that Apple is selling new, you can often find better refurbished deals on higher-end models.

Why should you buy it?The older SE still offers most of the experience that makes an Apple Watch great, but for less money. Some of the more advanced heart-tracking features and the always-on screen are missing, though.

Buy if:you want most of what makes the Apple Watch great for lessDon’t buy if:you want an ECG or an always-on screen

Size:40/44mmThickness:10.7mmScreen brightness:up to 1,000nitsTested battery life:2 daysProcessor:S8Storage:32GBWater resistance:50 metresSensors:HR (2nd gen)

From £779 at CurrysFrom £799 at Apple

The biggest and longest-lasting Apple Watch is the Ultra 2, which is unapologetically beefy compared with its siblings. It comes in only one size – 49mm – but is available in black or natural titanium and has a super scratch-resistant sapphire crystal screen.

The Ultra 2 is Apple’s adventure watch, complete with an extra “action” button in bold orange on the side for triggering sports tracking or other functions, plus an extra chunky digital crown that can be easily engaged if you’re wearing gloves. It has a siren for emergencies and a super bright OLED screen that’s 1.5x as bright as the Series 10 and works well if you’re in need of a torch.

On the inside it has the same chips and sensors as theSeries 9, matching the health and sports tracking features of the Series 10, including ECG and blood oxygen monitoring. It has a few extras, such as dual-band GPS for higher accuracy in built-up areas or forests, plus a “precision start” setting that gets a GPS and heart rate lock before you start an activity. It also comes with 4G as standard, although it still needs a compatible plan with your phone provider. One of the Ultra 2’s standout features is battery life, which is about three days without exercise monitoring or long enough to track an ultramarathon.

Despite being quite big for an Apple Watch, the Ultra 2 still fits under shirt cuffs fairly easily and looks expensive despite its rugged design – which is good because it’s roughly double the starting price of the Series 10.

Why should you buy it?The Ultra 2 is the biggest, longest-lasting and most distinctive Apple Watch available and comes with all the features you need to help make the most out of exercise, adventure and just daily life.

Buy if:you want the biggest and longest-lasting Apple Watch with extra featuresDon’t buy if:you need a compact model or have smaller wrists

Read our fullApple Watch Series Ultra 2 review: faster chips and brighter screens

Size:49mmThickness:14.4mmScreen brightness:up to 3,000nitsTested battery life:3 daysProcessor:S9Storage:64GBWater resistance:100 metresSensors:HR (3rd gen), ECG, spO2, skin/water temp, depth

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Series 9– Essentially the same as the Series 10, just a little thicker with a slightly smaller screen. It’s worth buying refurbished or when it is reduced.

Series 8– Good at the time of release in 2022, the Series 8 still has most of the main Apple Watch features with a slightly smaller and dimmer screen. Worth picking up refurbished at a substantial discount.

Ultra– For looks, Apple’s original chunky watch is almost identical to the Ultra 2, missing out on only a few minor features such as the double-tap gesture, a less bright screen, precision finding and sleep apnoea notifications. Worth buying refurbished.

Wearable devices can take a beating, so if your existing Apple Watch is looking a bit tired, there are things you can do. Simply cleaning out the speaker grilles and other crevices can help, as can swapping out the straps or switching up the face to make the watch look fresh.

Greater damage, such as a cracked screen, can be repaired, though options are more limited than those for an iPhone. Apple charges atleast £169 for such repairs; third parties can be cheaper. Having Apple replace batteriescosts £95.

Buying refurbished watches is a good option for the planet and your wallet. Apple’s are among the fastest and smoothest-running smartwatches available, and they are supported by software updates for about six years from release, so buying a refurbished model can save you some money.

There are two types of refurbished Apple Watch available: those that Apple refurbishes andsells as new directly, and those refurbished by third parties that are available in various grades or conditions for less.

Several third-party retailers offer secondhand or refurbished Apple Watches, including the UK high-street chainCeX, online stores such asmusicMagpie, and marketplaces such asAmazon,eBayandBack Market.

Make sure you consider the condition of the watch before parting with any cash. Grading is as follows:

Grade A or Excellent– virtually identical to new, often with the original box and accessories, making them the most expensive.

Grade B or Good– in full working order but with light marks, and it may come with replacement accessories.

Grade C or Fair– in full working order but with obvious signs of use, and it may not come with accessories.

Once you’re satisfied with a watch’s condition, ensure you check that the strap connects properly, and that the device powers up and connects to your iPhone. Then check the following:

Batteryhealth– the battery in the Apple Watch isdesigned to maintain at least 80%of its original capacity for 1,000 full charge cycles. Check thebattery health under batteryvia the Settings app on the watch. Has the battery been replaced?

Charging cable– the Apple Watch requires a special magnetic puck to charge, whichcosts £29 on its own. Make sure an authentic, USB-C puck is included and snaps into place correctly on the back of the watch.

Buttons– check the buttons and digital crown are in good working order and don’t need to be pressed too hard to function.

Sensors– the back of the Apple Watch contains a cluster of delicate sensors. Ensure they work correctly – can you see the LEDs of the heart-rate sensor light up?

Speakers– check the speakers are free of dirt and fluff, and function correctly for Siri, alarms and calls.

Wifi– the Apple Watch shares wifi details with the iPhone, so fully turn off Bluetooth on your iPhone in the Settings app when in range of your home wifi to check the watch can connect properly.

Water resistance– the watch needs to be properly sealed to maintain its water resistance. Has it been obviously opened, and does the refurbisher maintain the original 50m water resistance?

Warranty– what kind of warranty and support does the refurbisher offer?

AnyApple Watch Series 7or older, as you simply won’t benefit from the software support for long before you’ll have to replace the device.

We conduct real-world testing of smartwatches and their various features to ensure they meet expectations and compare to their rivals.

We change the straps, poke, prod and twiddle every button, dial and setting. We wear the smartwatches day and night, seeing how they feel on the wrist, how well they fit under and with clothes, whether they catch on objects in daily life, and how well they stay put during vigorous exercise.

We test their health metrics, track various activities, and compare them for accuracy. We do everything a typical smartwatch user would, picking up notifications, installing apps, sending messages, making calls, exercising, listening to music, monitoring our health and tracking our sleep. We see how long the battery lasts in general use and while exercising, whether it’s consistent and reliable, plus how long it takes to charge.

I have been reviewing consumer electronics for 17 years, with more than a decade spent as the Guardian’s gadget expert. In that time, I’ve seen all manner of tech fads come and go, smartphone giants rise and fall, the cutting-edge morph into the mainstream, and have poked, prodded and evaluated more than 1,000 devices –sometimes to destruction.

Samuel Gibbs is the Guardian’s consumer technology editor

The standup shares his favourite Australian comedians – as well as a man transforming into a cat

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The internet gets a lot of bad press, most of which is itself published on the internet, which does seem hypocritical. The complaints usually mourn a loss of innocence and freedom. They remember the way things used to be, before the digital world was conquered by a handful of infinitely powerful tech oligarchs.

I remember when we first got broadband in 2005. I felt like one of F Scott Fitzgerald’s Dutch sailors at the end of The Great Gatsby, “face to face for the last time in history with something commensurate to his capacity for wonder”.

It’s scary to think that this beautiful thing has been stolen and turned against us. Used to extract the very minutes of our lives, which are then sold for profit.

Some think that we should switch it off, shut the whole thing down before we lose touch with what’s real, and who we are. But is it really so wrong to stay just a little bit longer?

These are the 10 funniest things I have ever seen on the internet.

This is the first standup special I ever remember watching. I always loved this bit about how hangovers get worse as you get older, which is so funny to me now because I’d never been drunk when I first saw this. Now I’m in my 30s, but I’ve been sober for six years, so you could argue that I still don’t really get it. But I love the bit now for the same reason I did when I was 13: the violent way he says “SHUT UP!”

In high school I was friends with these two brothers who lived on my street. Their dad was an illustrator and loved the Beatles and their mum would take car-loads of us out to the hills to film gory slasher movies that they wrote and produced together. They introduced me to so much indie film and weird art that felt a world away from suburban Adelaide and as weird as Brad Neely’s overdub of the entire first Harry Potter film is, it’s also just the tip of the iceberg. As an aside, one of the brothers, Pirie Martin, is a film-maker in his own right now and his first feature, Psychosis, was released in 2023 and absolutely rules.

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Speaking of the Beatles! James Donald Forbes McCann, as he insists on being referred to, was one of the best comedians in Australia for years and no one cared. Then he started opening for Shane Gillis and moved to the US, and now he rightfully sells tickets everywhere he goes. I could have just as easily put his“Fool Me Once”bit on this list, but I can’t go past this poem about the Beatles. It’s the age-old question: who is the best Beatle? For me, this poem settles it for good.

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Andrew Portelli is currently one of the best comedians in Australia and no one cares. But the game is long, and the world will have its justice.

My friend Lucy and I still quote this video and I’d say it might even be one of the cornerstones of our 15-year friendship, along with“Let’s get some SHOES!”and a house mixtape called Midyear Mayhem that my friend Mebbo released in 2009. How about that MS Word-era gradient in the animation! Phenomenal.

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These two hosts of Triple J breakfast – along with guest comedian Alex Ward – take turns saying nice things to each other, and then reacting with the smallest possible smile. You will not believe how much fun this is until you do it with your loved ones. After you’re done laughing at that, appreciate the beautiful irony of a breakfast radio team posting an entirely visual gag to their Instagram.

When I moved to Melbourne in 2012, David Quirk was the first comic I ever shared a bill with whose work I was already familiar with. I loved this set from Festival Club and there is no better summary of what comedians do than his quip, “All I do is participate in life, and report back”. Watching Quirk emcee the open mic at The Monastery in Richmond to four punters in 2012 was an incredible thrill and also served as great preparation for how the next decade-plus of my life would look.

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This account seems to have gone relatively quiet in the last few years but in my mid-to-late 20s it was huge. It’s a girl from Manchester who collects and shares screenshots of the insane things men say to women on the internet. When it blew up I was just beginning to reckon with the idea that the repeated failure of all of my romantic endeavours might partially be my fault. (SURELY NOT?!) Reading these posts always made me laugh, but contained within them was also the helpful subtext: “Hey you! Yeah you. Don’t be an asshole.”

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Blake Freeman is one of the most natural performers I’ve ever seen. When we met I was 21 and he was 16 and even then he had an unnatural wisdom about him, which is funny because his act is all about how he’s dumb. He’s not dumb, he’s lying to you, don’t listen to him! This bit he did for the Melbourne comedy festival gala this year is unbelievable.

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I don’t buy into the fatalist idea that the internet is this awful thing that is ruining our lives. Sure there are bad aspects, just like everything, but the internet is really just us, reflected back at ourselves. If we don’t like what we see, it’s up to us to change it. Train the algorithm to show you the kind of content you want to see, and reward the kind of creation you want to reward. It starts with you, right here, right now. With this video of a simple man transforming into a cat.

Aidan Jones is a standup comedian. His showChopin’s Nocturneis at Summerhall for the Edinburgh fringe from 31 July to 25 August. Follow him onInstagram