Innehållsförteckning för Issue 188 från T3 Australia

WORTH THE WEIGHT Aston Martin has pulled out all the stops to keep the Valkyrie’s weight down, even doing away with its traditional badge in favour of a chemically etched aluminium emblem that’s thinner than a human hair ASTON MARTIN VALKYRIE For years, Aston Martin has been the favourite car manufacturer of a certain Mr Bond. With its latest launch, though, the British marque seems more to have set its sights on selling to Batman. A street-legal, hybrid-electric ‘hypercar’ designed in conjunction with Red Bull Racing legend Adrian Newey, the jaw-dropping Valkyrie boasts an otherworldly aesthetic that would likely appeal to the Caped Crusader – and it has the performance to match. The Cosworth-developed 6.5-litre V12 engine delivers an awesome 1,000bhp and, while the exact speed figures had yet to…

1 HUAWEI P30 PRO From $1,099, huawei.com The P20 Pro was one of the stand-out phones of last year, and its successor upgrades pretty much everything. The screen is now a 6.47-inch OLED with HDR support and a wider P3 colour gamut, the powerful Kirin 980 chip from the Mate 20 Pro powers it, the notch is reduced to just a drop, and then there’s the cameras… The Leica quad system is a whole new setup, and in our early tests with the phone, it’s clear that this is a hugely impressive and impossibly versatile camera – photographs are scalpel sharp and burst with colour. The real star of the show is the zoom function, though: the P30 Pro has a 5x optical zoom built into its telephoto lens (using…

1 GARMIN FORERUNNER 645 MUSIC Keep motivation levels high through a tough training schedule by listening to (500+) songs on this dedicated running watch. $549, garmin.com 2 HYPERICE VYPER 2.0 FOAM ROLLER Warm up quicker and recover faster with this vibrating foam roller that’ll help you avoid injury. $314), amazon.com 3 UNDER ARMOUR HOVR INFINITE These cushioned running shoes were designed with built-in sensors to track your performance to your phone. $200, underarmour.com.au 4 NORTH FACE VENTRIX LT FLEECE HYBRID JACKET Keep the cold away without breaking into a sweat when you’re active. Ventrix dynamic venting insulation is the science secret behind the style. $280, thenorthface. com.au 5 OAKLEY FLIGHT JACKET SUNGLASSES Advanced lenses react to light and a brow-less design keeps these comfy. $295, oakley.com…

Continued cat chronicles: so it turns out that magneto-chip-flaps are only effective if one of your cats doesn’t exit the house by frantically pulling the flap open then ever so gingerly letting it flop down onto her tail, thus leaving the flap open for neighbouring felines to come spray your house with wee. And so Guru has set up a Swann wire-free Smart Security Camera ($215) to hopefully catch the culprit in the act. Admittedly it has its issues – the magnetic mount isn’t quite strong enough to stop the whole affair flopping downwards if placed on the underside of the ball joint, for instance – but its motion detection seems hot enough, and it doubles as a way to spy on the postie. This issue’s standing desk question had…

100 MONEYBOX Saving is hot! Moneybox is a low-risk approach to investing your spare change. Everything you purchase through the app, from a taxi to groceries, is rounded up to the nearest pound, with the difference invested in a range of companies, from the likes of Netflix to simple tracker funds. Fingers crossed for a windfall over time. Free, moneyboxapp.com 99 KNOW YOUR SCREEN TIME Smartphones have revolutionised productivity and remote working, but we could all spend less time glued to the horrors of the current news. iOS and Android handsets come with monitoring tools to help. Screen time insights highlight the apps you tap most, enabling you to set time limits on them and to enforce healthy breaks. 98 JOBERT ABMA AND MICHIEL PRINS This hacking duo co-founded Hacker…

1 AMAZON ECHO The standard, non-display Echo, which offers a decent mix of audio quality, aesthetic appeal and price if you want to get into the Alexa system instead. If you already own a lot of smart home kit, splash out on the Echo Plus, which also acts as a smart home hub and makes it easier to group disparate devices (this model can still control smart home gadgets via Alexa commands). $69, amazon.com.au 2 GOOGLE HOME MINI If you want Google Assistant in every room, this is ideal. It’s the smallest and cheapest of its line, and can often be found at a discounted price. The audio is good enough for podcasts or radio, and it works multi-room with the Lenovo Smart Display. $45, store.google.com/au 3 GOOGLE HOME It’s…

01 THE BEATLES, ABBEY ROAD From the genuinely iconic cover to the classic pop songs of side A to the epic musical sweep and emotional heft of the B side’s closing suite, this’ll show off your new record player a treat. 02 LED ZEPPELIN, PHYSICAL GRAFFITI More advanced studies: a double album. Led Zep show off their full range of musical tricks, from acoustic jams to crushing, blues-rock testosterone fests. 03 THE WHO, LIVE AT LEEDS The best live album ever? Quite possibly. The vinyl version scores over digital in two ways: 1) it’s more authentic; 2) most of Pete Townshend’s interminable between-songs ‘banter’ is cut. 04 JAMES BROWN, THE PAYBACK Soul brother #1, James Brown whips your woofer with his funky jams, and the title track reigns supreme: he…

From $1,120 samsung.com/au The Samsung S10+ exists in a weird limbo right now. It’s currently the pinnacle of Samsung’s prowess: this is its most advanced, expensive phone so far. But that’s only until the Galaxy Fold and the S10 5G arrive to take its technological crown. So is the S10+ just a caretaker manager then, waiting for the real boss to arrive? If so, it’s Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. …and beyond The design isn’t a massive break from the S9+ of last year, but it has been upgraded with features such as the striking Infinity-O display, ultrasonic fingerprint scanner, rear-mounted triple-camera, and wireless power-sharing, to name a few. It’s brimming with new features and has a price tag to match: it starts at £899 for the 128GB model, but rises to…

HONOR VIEW 20 The View 20 has the same-size screen as the Mi Mix 3, better internals and the same price, giving Xiaomi’s phone some stiff competition. It doesn’t have a cool sliding mechanism, but it has a hole-punch front camera instead. $645, hihonor.com/au ONEPLUS 6T OnePlus has flagship specs at mid-range prices, and its latest 6T handset matches the Mi Mix 3 for screen size and specs. We prefer the OnePlus take on Android, and it has an in-screen fingerprint sensor to boot. $939, amazon.com.au GOOGLE PIXEL 2 With similar specs to the Mi Mix 3, the Pixel 2’s main selling point is its camera, which remains one of the best in the business. With a screen size of just 5 inches, it’s also more pocket friendly. $1,199, store.google.com…

$378 lenovo.com This is the sweet, sweet melding of Android tablet and Echo Show into one package. Leave the Lenovo 10-inch display in its speaker dock and it turns into an Alexa smart display, working pretty much identically to Amazon’s screens, with beefy speakers for audio. Pull it out and you can use it like any other Android tablet. Take your tablet Let’s start with tablet mode. The 10.1-inch screen has a resolution of 1920x1200, and there’s a mid-range Snapdragon 450 chip under the hood. Our review unit came with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of on-board storage, but you can up that to 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage (there’s also the option of adding a memory card). They’re not market-leading specs, but they don’t have to be…

When Jeff Beck gave Jimmy Page an undecorated 1959 Fender Telecaster as a gift in the late ’60s, the Led Zeppelin axeman decided to have some fun with it – first decorating it with mirrors and later replacing those with his own intricate ‘dragon’ paintings. Now, to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Zep’s debut album, those iconic designs have been recreated for two limited-edition guitars. Painstakingly handcrafted in Fender’s Custom Shop in California, each axe is daubed with Page’s handwritten signature, with the ‘dragon’ guitars also featuring doodles drawn by the man himself. Sadly, you’d probably need to be a member of Led Zep to afford one of the 50 limited edition sets, but don’t fret – Fender is planning to launch production-line equivalents before the year is out.…

Here we have the world’s most expensive alarm clock. Okay, so it’s actually a coffee machine, but if one thing’s going to get you out of bed in the morning, it’s the prospect of making a cuppa with something this magnificent. The latest in a long line of wonderfully eccentric coffee machines built by Italian firm Elektra, since the 1940s, the Micro Casa Semiautomatic SXC is a visually arresting creation of silver-tone brass and wood. Equally stimulating is the coffee it serves up, thanks to a built-in steaming system, filters and cup heater all contributing to a barista-level taste experience. Catering for the masses? No problem here, as a two-litre boiler capacity means there’s more than enough to go around. $2,599, newcoffeeitalia.com.au NEXT ISSUE IS ON SALE MONDAY 26 AUGUST…

You’d think that after accumulating a lifetime’s experience covering the most wonderful and desirable tech, that one would have reasonable confidence in being able to predict the future. Especially when it comes to making the call about which gadgets, techs and people will likely flourish in the year ahead. Doubly-especially so when you’ve got five of the T3 team on the job, between them having accumulated about a person-century of plugging stuff in and pressing buttons. But, no, that’s not the way things work. On one hand, tech tends to trend fairly predictably, but on the other, crazy wonderful stuff out of the blue can come along and shake everything up. That all said, I think the team’s aced it with this issue’s Top 100 feature story. Why? Because we’re…

THE READER Michael Evans Mike and his partner Chloe are adopting a shelter cat called Oreo. They’re looking for pet tech to help with litter, feeding, playtime, naps and, eventually, outside exploring. THE EXPERT Becca Caddy Smart home expert Becca Caddy knows the tech to make life more enjoyable and stress-free. And you’re not the only one who can benefit – your pet can too. 1 PETKIT COSY PET BED Pets can find new environments somewhat overwhelming at first, but you can help your new cat feel safe straight away with this smart pet bed for cats and dogs. It responds to the ambient temperature in your home to create the purrfect sleeping environment. It also connects to the PetKit app, so you can adjust the temperature remotely. This is…

BOULDER DENIM 2.0 ATHLETIC FIT JEANS $155, boulderdenim.com Ultra comfortable from the minute they’re pulled on, these jeans are equally perfect for morning meetings and long days on the crag. 2.4% Lycra gives them enough stretch and maneuverability while the denim is strong enough to deal with the woodiest of bush tracks and there’s more pockets than we have things. THE NORTH FACE PROGRESSOR PANT $170, thenorthface.com.au For fast hiking, these lightweight pants are great for all trails in all weather. Rip-stop fabric in the knees and the back-end will take a beating while the 11% Spandex, crotch gusset, articulated knees and water repellent finish keeps things stretchy and dry. A couple more stowage options would be handy.…

BACK TO THE FUTURE TRILOGY GaGu’s second favourite movie triumvirate(after RoboCop) hits Netflix: still funny, self-referential, and, in the case of II, worryingly prescient. TASMANIA Pond, Western Australia’s punkiest, funkiest, swimmiest mix of psychedelic guitars and synth-pop textures, returns with a dreamy and chaotic new album. It’s great. THE LAST PODCAST ON THE LEFT You’ll need a stomach of steel and a pitch-black sense of humour to get the most of this deep-dive into the most horrific things in the world.…

Buying smart home kit that works together is (thankfully) easier than it was a year or so ago. Many products now clearly state whether they work with Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa, or both, so make sure you check. Philips Hue smart lights, for instance, work with both: you can command your lights through Google Assistant or Alexa, or use the official Hue app. You don’t have to buy smart home gadgets that all work together – you can use them individually – but it’s easier to do neat tricks (like turning off all the lights at once, turning down the temperature, and locking the door in one go) if all your gear is compatible. Alexa has the broadest support, but 2018 and 2019 have seen big leaps forward for…

MOUS CLARITY Mous’s cases are tougher than the guy from The Revenant who fought a bear (we might be misremembering that), and this one still lets you see your phone’s finish, and doesn’t block wireless charging. Perfect. $90, mous.com BANG & OLUFSEN E8 2.0 B&O’s true wireless headphones sound fantastic, and the case has wireless charging, so works with the PowerShare feature here. Samsung’s Galaxy Buds do also, but they’re pretty middling. These sound much better. $399, bang-olufsen.com SAMSUNG WIRELESS CHARGER DUO PAD If you’re going all in with Samsung, this is the first charging pad that does full-power Wireless Charging 2.0, with a second charger for the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active. $102, samsung.com…

If you’re looking for the very best tech available today, you have definitely come to the right place. Best of the Best is the most useful gadget-buying guide you will ever encounter. To create it, we’ve ruthlessly filtered down to the biggest groups, to bring you rock-solid recommendations for your home life, daily commute and the tech you use all the time. Within each of those groups, we’ve got a dozen categories for key tech buys. We’ve picked one product for every category that we think is the best you can get on balance, taking into account price, quality and features, so it’s easy to know what you need in your life. You should also check out T3.com, where you’ll find even more categories, if you’re looking for something that…

T3’s mission is to help you find the best products for every area of your tech lifestyle. From traditional gadget buys like phones and TVs to connected home security and sports sensors, if it can make your life better, we’re here to make sure you get the right one for you. The products we feature are chosen by our expert writers, with years of experience in their key areas. We wouldn’t recommend something we wouldn’t be happy to live with ourselves – the tat is filtered out long before we print a page. This goes for reviews too – you won’t us wasting your time with products you don’t need to know about. More than that, our aim is to make sure you get the most out of the things…

WATTBIKE PRO This award-winning indoor training bike is a huge favourite among top athletes. That’s because it can measure more than 40 different performance parameters and is ideal for all kinds of cycling workouts. $4,950, wattbike.com/au GARNEAU MULTI AIR FLEX If you’re serious about cycling, grab yourself a pair of these versatile shoes that are perfect for training or commuting. They have a ventilated outer sole that provides good toe flexion, as well as a ventilated insole. $99, bicycles-melbourne.com.au PATAGONIA STRETCH RAINSHADOW JACKET Maximum waterproofing and minimum weight, the Rainshadow is perfect for staying active in the wet. Built from 100% recycled materials it’s super stretchy, vented, breathable and packs away into its own pocket. $279.95, patagonia.com.au…

01 CHECK THE WEATHER Probably the first question most of us ask when we buy a smart speaker is, ‘What’s the weather forecast for today?’ Speak your device’s wake word then ask about conditions for tonight, tomorrow or next week. 02 GET THE NEWS Smart displays (and smart speakers) are brilliant at giving you up to date news reports. Just ask for the news to get a response from a selection of sources (these can be configured via your phone). 03 MAKE A CALL Your smart display (or smart speaker) can make calls for you, just say ‘Call’ followed by the person you want to reach. You can use an app like Google Duo or Alexa, or call actual phone numbers – set it up on your phone. 04 PLAY…

In T3, we feature only the finest gadgets out there, and we believe that you – our loyal reader – deserve only the best tech in your life. We don’t want you to waste time, and money, on inferior products, and that’s exactly why our Tested section exists. In here you’ll find only the latest and hottest tech. Each product has been handpicked and tested by T3’s experts. We only choose people with specialist knowledge for each test, so you know you’re going to get an outcome based on many years of experience in their respective field. As well as our traditional five-star rating system (right), we also give out awards to particularly exceptional gadgets, using the line-up below - so when you spot one of these, you’ll know you’re…

From $749 mi.com When it comes to the big Chinese phone makers trying to get their wares sold in Australia, what started as a trickle has now become a flood: we’re up to our knees in handsets from the likes of Huawei, Xiaomi, Oppo and others. As time has gone on, the buying propositions have become more and more compelling. The Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 is a case in point, bringing with it some top-level specs at a mid-range price. If you’re in the market for an Android phone, you have to place this one on your shortlist, no matter what your budget or needs are. Specs-wise, we’re looking at a spacious 6.39-inch, 1080x2340-pixel OLED display, with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor inside and 6GB of RAM to keep the…

$147 amazon.com Until we get earbuds that seamlessly translate speech, you’ll have to stick with apps on your phone, or use a dedicated translation device, like the Pocketalk here. To start, you choose the two languages you need to translate between, hold a button while talking, and let the device repeat your phrase in the other language. Universal language The advantage of having something dedicated to doing this instead of using an app on your phone is that you can leave your phone stored safely in the hotel, or in your bag, rather than waving it around. You also won’t burn through its battery. The Pocketalk has a small touchscreen you can use to tweak settings such as volume (or to get on a Wi-Fi network, which requires using an…

When it comes to a gin and tonic, some people will have you believe it’s the tonic that makes all the difference. Not when you’re using Morus LXIV, the world’s most expensive gin. Made from hand-harvested and individually dried leaves taken from an ancient mulberry tree, and left to age in a wooden cask – a process that contributes to its 64 per cent volume – this rare drop of mother’s ruin is as smooth and smokey as a vintage cigar. Ultra-exclusive, you won’t see this behind the bar of your local swanky cocktail bar. As part of this luxe bundle you get 700ml of Morus Gin’s exquisite and rare liquid, poured carefully into a hand-crafted porcelain container. You’re also treated to a bonus 700ml measure – the ideal gift…