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The Snapdragon 8 Elite is here. Qualcomm’s new flagship mobile chipset has a new name, but the intentions remain the same: set the standard for phone chips for the next 12 months. As usual, performance gets a boost, with internal benchmarks suggesting a significant jump compared to last year’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 . But the 8 Elite isn’t all about performance. It includes lots of exciting upgrades that could change the way you use your phone....

At a Glance Expert’s Rating Our Verdict The Acer Switch 5 is a great all-rounder laptop for those who want high-end flavour without a price that’ll make you wince. While this isn’t the best-looking premium laptop around, the Switch 5 is also cheaper than just about all of them, by several hundred pounds in some cases. If you don’t hate the look and don’t mind a plastic trackpad, there’s little reason to delay....

Special editions of tech products are nothing new. OnePlus has had a McLaren version of its phones for a few years, while the top-spec Samsung Galaxy Z Flip can be bought in a Thom Browne edition. This isn’t something that Acer has dabbled in though, until now. The Book RS is the company’s first laptop to be produced in collaboration with Porsche Design, the accessories-focused subsidiary of the luxury car manufacturer....

Looking for a new PC this Christmas? Well look no further, as Dell has got what you want for the holiday season and with great prices across both laptops and all-in-ones, there’s a deal to be found either for your home office or for working on the go. First up, if you buy before 22 December you can get the slick Inspiron 14 laptop from only £549 while stocks last. Equipped with your choice of a 12 th -gen Intel processor or one of the latest AMD Ryzen chips, and up to 16GB of RAM and 512TB of storage, this is a bit of a portable powerhouse....

At a Glance Expert’s Rating Our Verdict They might look plain, but the Echo Buds offer active noise cancelling at a great price. Hands-free Alexa is useful too, and audio quality is good enough for most people. Echo Buds: Price & availability Oddly, Alexa is not the main headline feature here: it’s Bose Active Noise Reduction. And that’s a surprise at this price: the AirPods Pro cost more than twice as much while Sony’s WF-1000XM3 will set you back around £180 / $200....

At a Glance Expert’s Rating Our Verdict For the price, the Echo Flex is a great little device for all your Alexa needs, except music. The night light and motion sensor add-ons make it surprisingly versatile, too. Intended for use where you just need to bark a command at Alexa to turn on the lights or get a weather update, it plugs directly into a mains socket and offers a basic mobile phone-style speaker for audio....

At a Glance Expert’s Rating Our Verdict Just like every year, Android 10 is a good update. Granular privacy and permission settings are a quiet winner and the playful design, improved gestures and better-late-than-never dark mode shake things up. While it’s great to see every Pixel phone supported, therein lies the issue – when will any other existing phones get Android 10? Some released soon may have it, but Android remains fragmented enough that many of the great ideas here will get lost in other manufacturers’ interpretations and people with older phones will simply never see the benefit of Android’s evolution until they upgrade....

I’ve been a proud and vociferous Android fan since the Nexus One…but there’s an iPad sitting on my desk, not an Android tablet. Apple has consistently and reliably beaten the pants off the competition when it comes to tablets, to the point that only Samsung competes at the high end. But when it comes to a smaller, high-quality tablet, not even Samsung wants to take on the mighty iPad Mini....

At a Glance Expert’s Rating Our Verdict The 21.5-inch iMac is a beautiful all-in-one desktop Mac, starting at a reasonable £899. For that price you get a Mac that is fine for everyday tasks but a little slow for more labour-intensive jobs like editing photos and videos, but it’s still capable of that too. The two slightly pricier iMacs are much faster, although the top-end model isn’t that much speedier than the mid-range model....

Tech giant Honor launched the world’s second slimmest phone – the Magic V5 – back in July. Its 4.1mm chassis (when unfolded) is second only to the tri-fold Huawei Mate XT , and makes regular phones look huge by comparison. Even Apple’s 5.6mm iPhone Air and the 5.8mm Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge are significantly chunkier. These super-slim phones have been around for some time now, and the hype about them has cooled down a little....

At a Glance Expert’s Rating Pros Excellent screen Great battery life Quality cameras Cons iPadOS can’t unleash M1’s power Expensive Not true multi-monitor support Our Verdict The new iPad Pro is overkill for most people, but for those who need its immense power or just want a large-screen iPad with a fabulous display, it’s the best of the best. Best Prices Today: iPad Pro 12.9in (2021, M1) Apple doesn’t have a whole lot of competition when it comes to premium tablets....

For years, it’s been known that Apple was developing its first augmented reality headset, and it’s official: the Apple Vision Pro is here. The Vision Pro is an AR headset capable of running all your favourite iOS and iPadOS apps, along with some exclusive features like 3D photos and video capture. You can use it to browse the web, watch films, make FaceTime calls, work, game and more. If you’re willing to splash the cash, you can purchase one now....

At a Glance Expert’s Rating Pros Excellent battery life Lightweight and portable Responsive for basic tasks Cons Quirky rear design Dim screen NumberPad is annoying Our Verdict The Asus E410 is a responsive budget buy that will last the working day – but it has some odd design choices. Best Prices Today: Asus E410 The Asus E410 is a budget laptop designed for the core basics: emails, light work, streaming and productivity tasks....

The smartphone continues to put itself forward as a serious form of gaming device and Asus is back with the second generation of it Republic of Gamers handset. Here’s everything there is to know about the Asus ROG Phone 2, including the price and how to buy one – or read our review to find out what we think of the phone. The gaming smartphone market is a competitive one, not only amongst Chinese manufacturers trying to cash in on the popularity of mobile eSports titles like PUBG Mobile, but well-established brands like Razer and Asus too....

At a Glance Expert’s Rating Pros Superb fit Great audio performance AirPods Pro smarts with Android compatibility Cons Case feels flimsy when opening the lid Case is bigger than expected No wireless charging Our Verdict The Beats Fit Pro offer an AirPods Pro-esque experience with a fitness focus, sporting wingtips that’ll keep the buds securely in place, bass to keep you going through long workouts and crucially, better Android support than Apple’s high-end buds....

At a Glance Expert’s Rating Our Verdict At a price of £106, it’s difficult to recommend this product, particularly as it has several annoying factors like the lack of an on-cable power switch and an attachment system that isn’t reusable. However, for a small number of health fanatics or ultra-curious sleepers, Beddit will give you all the data you’re looking for in one easy-to-use app. Best Prices Today: Beddit Beddit is a smart sleep tracker that’s designed to help you monitor your sleeping patterns, so you’ll know whether you had a good night’s sleep, and get tips about how you can improve your sleep quality....

Don’t let all that great iPhone and iPad video go to waste: spend a few minutes editing it in iMovie and you can get stunning results. We explain how to use the app plus tips and tricks to give your movie that professional look. Top-quality video editing software is expensive, so shelling out a couple of pounds on iMovie is a no-brainer. And if you have an iPad Air or iPad mini with Retina display, it’s free!...

Back in the 1990s, pub quizzes included the question, “Computers can get viruses: true or false?” These days virtually everyone knows the answer is true and that you need good antivirus software to protect your laptop and PC. What a lot of people don’t know is that Windows 10 and 11 come with perfectly good antivirus software. The built-in Microsoft Defender is just as effective as a lot of free and paid-for antivirus software in stopping both “known” viruses and brand-new “unknown” ones....

It’s GHD all the way right now, with some cracking deals on straightening and curling tools, as well as hairdryers. Your hair may not be looking its best right now, with hairdressers still just out of reach. But we can help you get ready to go out and face the world again. The best deals are currently on GHD products and it’s worth saying that if the GHD online store has sold out of the item you want, you might have some luck at John Lewis or Selfridges ....

With over 500 films in the Disney Plus UK library, you’re a bit spoilt for choice on what to watch. If however you’ve seen all the flicks you’re interested in – or you’ve managed to binge the entire library with all the time spent in the house in these trying times – then there’s still more films to look forward to over the next few months. We’ve rounded up some of the biggest movies that are coming to Disney+ – including older cinematic releases and original exclusives....