Sony Xperia Z5

WHAT IS THE SONY XPERIA Z5?

Sitting between the Sony Xperia Z5 Compact and Sony Xperia Z5 Premium, the regular Z5 might seem like the least interesting of the trio. It doesn’t have the small, yet powerful nature of the Compact or the 4K display of the Premium.

But, if you spend some time with the Xperia Z5 you'll realise it's a great phone; with an ace camera, vibrant display and plenty of power tucked underneath its frosted glass back.

It rights many of the wrongs caused by the awful Z3+ and, while it's still far from perfect, it’s probably the best Xperia currently on the market.

SONY XPERIA Z5 REVIEW – SCREEN

Sony uses a lot of buzzwords when talking about Xperias' Triluminous and Bravia Mobile Engine screen technology. Most of the time it's marketing drivel so I'm not going to bore you with it. All you need to know is the screen on the Xperia Z5 is fantastic, in pretty much every way. It’s bright, vibrant, accurate at representing colours and packed with detail.

Sony says quad-HD doesn’t really add anything to phone screens of this size and for the most part I agree with them. This is why I'm not bothered by the fact that, unlike Samsung’s Galaxy S6 and Motorola’s Moto X Style, it doesn’t include a pixel-dense quad-HD panel.

I can’t pick out individual pixels on its 1080p screen and the IPS LCD panel displays colours with fantastic amounts of accuracy. Whites are bright, yellows and reds are vivid without becoming oversaturated and if you don’t jack the brightness up too high, blacks are deep and inky.

Viewing angles are also fantastic and it’s surprisingly useable in bright light, with glare rarely becoming an issue.

SONY XPERIA Z5 REVIEW – DESIGN

Sony clearly believes it’s on to a winner with the overall look of the Xperia series, because its phones' designs have barely changed at all over the past four years. I would have liked to see a bit of a refresh this time around, but there’s no doubting that Sony has made a sleek smartphone. The straight sides blend seamlessly into rounded corners and both the front and back are covered in Gorilla Glass.

Generally, I’m not a fan of phones with glass backs. The glass attracts smudges and they’re far too easy to crack. I must have gone through at least four iPhone 4s and even the strengthened glass on the back of my Samsung Galaxy S6 cracked after a drop from barely a foot.

SONY XPERIA Z5 REVIEW – PERFORMANCE

A lot of the problems that plagued the Xperia Z3+ stemmed from Sony's choice of components. It was powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 810, a chip that notoriously ran hot. So, it might seem odd to layman that, on the surface, the Xperia Z5 looks to be using the exact same chip.

But the 810 in the Xperia Z5 is a slightly upgraded version that supposedly solves the overheating problems. From my time with the Xperia Z5 I'm not convinced this is the case.

SONY XPERIA Z5 REVIEW – SOFTWARE

Testing the Z5 I couldn't help but thing, "come on Sony, it’s time to ditch your Android skin". Running atop Android 5.1.1 (Sony has already announced the Marshmallow update is coming), the custom UI certainly isn’t as heavy as say Huawei’s awful EMUI, but it still takes away from the OS' user experience experience.

It lacks the modern look of Lollipop, with ugly default icons, fonts and widgets. There are also some annoying apps pre-installed – Kobo books (I don’t know anyone who uses this) and AVG Protection – that shouldn’t be there.

SONY XPERIA Z5 REVIEW – CAMERA

This is an area where Sony really should crush its competitors – given how it makes the sensors for some of the best mobile cameras around.

The Xperia Z5 is equipped with a Sony Exmor sensor and its the first of this line to come packing 23-megapixels. It’s also exclusive to the Z5, though I wouldn’t be surprised to see it pop up on other phones next year.

SONY XPERIA Z5 REVIEW – BATTERY LIFE

Sony tends to make lofty claims about its phones' battery lives, that ring true to begin with and then slowly decrease over time. Take the Z3 for example, it lasts a strong two days for about a year and then drops off to the point it barely gets through a day.

For the Z5, Sony has again claimed you’ll be able to be go two days without reaching for the charger. I haven’t managed to get this much life out of the Z5 once.

Unplugging the Z5 at 8.30am and using it constantly throughout the day for pulling emails, browsing the web and all the other bits we do on our phones it’ll comfortably make it past the working day and on average be at about 30% when you go to bed. That’s ok, and if you left it unplugged all night it would make it too just after lunch before it conks out.

treaming an episode of House of Cards in HD on Netflix eats through around 9%, which is what I expect to see.

Yes, if you enable Sony’s very impressive battery saver Stamina mode then you can eke out two days. But that does alter performance quite a lot, so it’s best saved for emergencies.

I tend to get between 3-3.5 hours of screen on time from the 2,900 mAh cell, which doesn’t quite match the Moto X Play, but far outweighs the Huawei Mate S.

There’s Qualcomm’s QuickCharge 2.0 tech on board, so even when you hit the red it won’t take long to juice it up again.

It will be interesting to see how well the battery lasts over time, though.

SHOULD YOU BUY THE SONY XPERIA Z5?

With the Xperia Z5, Sony has righted many of the wrongs that crippled the Xperia Z3+. And the result is a really good Android phone, with a great camera and one of the best 1080p displays I have ever used on a smartphones. Yet, it falls into the same trap of so many phones in that it’s too safe.

Sony isn’t pushing any boundaries here, instead it’s made a phone that can battle it out with the big boys, but not overtake them. I’d have loved to see more innovative features, like the fantastic fingerprint scanner, used and I still don’t believe the improved performance in the Snapdragon 810 chip is worth the heat that comes off it.

With Motorola offering a truly high-end experience with the Moto X Style at £350, Samsung’s Galaxy S6 now being sold for below £400 and the OnePlus 2 coming at under £300 (if you have an invitation to buy one) the £539 price-tag Sony is asking for is also a little on high-side. Maybe Sony’s only way to really make a dent in the smartphone industry is to create a cracking phone at a more affordable price.

The Xperia Z5 is Sony’s best phone yet. And it’s a great buy if you’re coming from an older Xperia or Android device, but it’s far from the best phone out there.

VERDICT

A major step-forward from the Z3+, Sony’s latest Xperia has an excellent camera and a fast fingerprint scanner, yet it struggles to stand out from the crowd.

Asus VN247H monitor

Asus VN247H monitor review: ideal for multi-monitor gaming but it's not without its flaws

The Asus VN247H full HD monitor is aimed at those looking for a low-bezel design, which provides a good gaming experience through its fast response time. Here's our Asus VN247H review.PRICE WHEN REVIEWED

£139.10 inc VAT

ASUS VN247H MONITOR REVIEW

The Asus VN247H is a 23.6in 1920x1080 LED TN display aimed at anyone looking for a budget full HD 1920x1080 monitor which can be used for both work and play. One of its best features is its thin bezels which make it a good choice for two- or three-display setups. The monitor can be bought for £139.10 on Amazon and on eBuyer for around £160. Read next: Best budget displays 2016.

ASUS VN247H MONITOR REVIEW: BUILD QUALITY AND DESIGN

The stand is a tilt-only affair (forward 5 degrees, backwards 20 degrees), made of textured plastic, which we think looks a lot better than glossy or a plain matt-finish.
There's no pivot or height adjustment, but you can replace it with your own VESA 100x100mm stand, which can be handy if you want to wall-mounts the monitor or use your own multi-monitor stands.

The bezels around the monitor are extremely thin, which minimises the gaps between the actual displays for a more seamless experience.

On the bottom right hand-side of the monitor are several icons, which all have a one-button quick access:

More Stories

• The first button closest to the monitor's stand is used to enable the QuickFit function, which is used to have a preview of a document or photo without having the need to print it.
• The next button which has two small screens as a logo is used to quickly suggest through Splendid modes, allowing you to quickly cycle through the different colour modes.
• The speaker icon is used to quickly access the volume of your monitor's audio output
• The menu button is used to bring up the OSD settings
• The cog icon pops up the monitor's brightness toggle
• The small screen with an arrow within it is used to quickly change your input

The buttons are located at the back of the monitor, making adjustments a bit awkward and unnatural.

There's a nice textured back panel and also find a small flap which covers the monitor’s inputs and outputs. It's easy enough to remove this panel when you want to plug or unplug cables from the back.

The monitor has a matt finish on its display, which prevents reflections in bright-light conditions. Also see: All display reviews. 

ASUS VN247H MONITOR REVIEW: CONNECTIVITY AND OSD

As you can see, there are two HDMI inputs, a D-Sub VGA input and a pair of 3.5mm mini jacks. There's no DVI input, but Asus does provide you with a HDMI to DVI cable in the box.

The monitor has two 2W speakers, which are useful to have for Windows sounds. It also has the ability to output sound through another 3.5mm auxiliary jack, which is useful if you want to listen to music or play games straight from your monitor.

Through the OSD, you'll be able to adjust the screen modes, change the colour temperature and the skin tone, and make changes to its sharpness. We found the options in the OSD easy to navigate and useful for customising our monitor.

ASUS VN247H MONITOR REVIEW: PERFORMANCE

The VN247H runs at 60Hz refresh rate at full-HD. Interestingly enough, we found the 'Maximum reported refresh rate' within our AMD Radeon Settings reporting a 75Hz refresh rate through our AMD R7 370 graphics card. This comes from the monitor being able to be overclocked to 75Hz and running natively at 75Hz at lower resolutions such as 1280x1024. Asus confirmed that the monitor was designed to run at 60Hz at 1920x1080 and this is the refresh rate we used the monitor at when conducting our tests. Read next: How to overclock your monitor.

Through our tests with various games, we found the monitor to perform well, where its real-world response time was versed to cope with the most intensive and fast-paced shooters out there. We also didn’t find any noticeable input lag, which is essential for fast-paced gamers. We therefore found the monitor suitable for competitive gaming, especially as there was no discernible ghosting.

Through our Spyder5Elite tests, the monitor achieved a below-average gamut that displayed 94% of sRGB’s colour space and 73% of Adobe RGB colour space after calibration. Its colour accuracy was below average with a Delta E of 1.72 (lower is better), in comparison to a slightly more expensive monitor such as the BenQ RL2460HT which managed a Delta E of 1.03.

Side by side with its competitors, such as the ViewSonic VX2457, the VN247H's colours look a bit washed out. However, this is only in the default Standard mode. If you prefer more saturated colours, it's fairly easy to tweak the individual RGB levels in the OSD. Or, you can simply use one of the other preset modes, such as Scenery Mode or sRGB Mode.

On the plus side we didn’t notice any inconsistency with the backlight LED, and backlight bleed was minimal.

Using the Spyder5Elite to measure brightness and contrast ratio we reported an output of 206 cd/m2 with a contrast ratio of 910:1. Both results are good, but its competitors such as theViewsonic VX2457-MHD offer better performance. Read next: Best UHD displays 2016.

SPECS

Asus VN247H: Specs

• Screen size: 23.6in
• Native resolution: 1920x1080
• Aspect Ratio: 16:9
• Refresh Rate: 60Hz
• Pixel density: 93.34ppi
• Panel type: TN matt
• Response time (GtG): 1ms
• Quoted brightness: 250cd/m^2
• Tested brightness: 206cd/m^2
• Static contract ratio: 1000:1
• Tested contrast ratio: 910:1
• Tested sRGB: 94 percent
• Tested AdobeRGB: 73 percent
• Tested Delta E: 1.72
• Ports: 2x HDMI / VGA / Aux In & Out
• Dimensions (including stand): 548.6x194.2x394.9mm
• VESA mount: Yes 100x100mm
• Weight (including stand): 3.7kg
• Warranty: 3 years

OUR VERDICT

The Asus VN247H is a monitor which can handle games with ease and has a fantastic thin-bezel design that's good for a multi-monitor setup. However, its colour accuracy and stand do count against it.

OnePlus 3

OnePlus 3 review

The OnePlus 3 is finally the gorgeous smartphone it should be with flagship killing specs at a crazy price. Here's our full OnePlus 3 review.

PRICE WHEN REVIEWED

£309 inc VAT

ONEPLUS 3 REVIEW

The OnePlus 3 is official and we've been lucky enough to spend almost two week with the smartphone ahead of the VR launch event. With a new metal design, upgraded specs and the latest software it does a fantastic job of taking on the big name flagship phones like theGalaxy S7, iPhone 6S and LG G5. Here's our full and in-depth OnePlus 3 review. Also see:Best smartphones 2016.

Now in its third-generation, the OnePlus 3 is the best phone from the popular Chinese firm aiming to take on the big name flagships of 2016. This year's model is a stunner featuring a metal design which is thinner and lighter than before. It also has lots of upgraded specs including 6GB of RAM, 64GB of storage as standard and a 16Mp Sony camera. Then there's the price which is around £200 cheaper than rivals.

ONEPLUS 3 REVIEW: PRICE, AVAILABILITY AND RIVALS

Update: OnePlus has confirmed that the price of the OnePlus 3 is going up following Brexit and the falling value of the pound. Following a warning, OnePlus said "Given the effects of the unstable markets on our extremely thin margins, we’re reluctantly going to have make some small changes to our pricing structure for the device."

There's still time to buy the OnePlus 3 at the original price but it will be hiked up to £329 on 11 July. Accessories will remain the same price, more info here.


You can also go check out the OnePlus 3 in the flesh via the Euro Tour which starts on 15 July in Manchester. The bus will tour 13 European cities and although you can't buy the phone from it, you'll be able to "engage in some fun activities, win some exclusive swag, and hang out with OnePlus staffers." Find out more about the OnePlus 3 Euro Tour here.

It seems that OnePlus is hitting its stride in the smartphone market as the OnePlus 3 is available straight away and not only do you not have to wait for a release date, you also don't need an invite to buy it. Those days are over and good riddance to them as it was harder to full recommend a phone which was difficult to buy.

The OnePlus 3 price is a very mid-range £309 ($399) and this will get you the lone 64GB model – there's no choosing here this time around.

Although that price is a little more than the OnePlus 2 at launch (£289) it's a small increase considering the upgrade (read on to find out) and even more so when you consider that you'll save around £200 or more compared with flagship devices like the Samsung Galaxy S7,iPhone 6S, HTC 10 and LG G5. Also bear in mind that you get a lot more storage for this price, double that of most rivals.



Once again, OnePlus is killing it on value for money with only really Google's Nexus devices and the Huawei P9 able to compete. That said, the Nexus 6P and Huawei P9 are still a lot more at £449 and while the Nexus 5X is marginally cheaper at £299, it has a plastic chassis.

One phone which can compete on value is the Xiaomi Mi 5 which can be yours for just £230 at the time of writing from Gearbest but you'll need to pay import duty of around £40.

ONEPLUS 3 REVIEW: DESIGN AND BUILD

While we've been big fans of previous OnePlus phones, we've been a little put off by how bulky they have been (bar the smaller OnePlus X). Well the firm has addressed this with the OnePlus 3 which is a much more slender 7.35mm and a more manageable 158g.

More obvious is the switch to a metal uni-body chassis which is machined from a single block of aluminium. It looks and feels extremely premium and the resemblance to a few other metal phones – Apple, HTC and Huawei spring to mind – is unavoidable really.

What we really like is the attention to detail here where it's clear that OnePlus has been thorough, leaving no stone unturned as it were. We particularly like the angles which not only look good but make the phone very comfortable to hold. Then check out those chamfered edges which adorn the USB port and even the speaker holes.



The 2.5D Gorilla Glass 4 front meets the metal chassis in a smooth and luxuriously flush way and the Alert Slider on the left side even has a solid and satisfying motion with its grippy textured surface. It's this attention to detail which is missing from flagships like the LG G5.

If for some reason you don't like the metal look or you want to protect it from scratches, OnePlus is offering the usual range of cases which are extremely thin so don't add much weight. You can get (from left to right) Rosewood, Black Apricot, Bamboo, Karbon and the classic Sandstone – they all cost £19.99 each.



To begin with, the OnePlus 3 is only available in Graphite silver but there will be a Soft Gold option soon. We haven't seen it in the flesh so can't comment on its looks.

We're really impressed with the OnePlus 3 in terms of design and build; it's easily the firm's best work yet. It will be a little bit big for some people despite 5.5in being the 'sweet spot' for OnePlus. It's a very tall phone but the tiny bezels on either side of the screen help things. We're hoping that a smaller version will come in the future but we'll have to wait and see – perhaps a OnePlus 3 mini or new OnePlus X.

The only thing missing from the design compared to some rivals is waterproofing. For some this will be a big deal and for others it won't matter at all. Nevertheless, it's not a feature of the OnePlus 3 so you'll need to look to phones like the Samsung Galaxy S7 and Sony Xperia Z5 for this.

ONEPLUS 3 REVIEW: HARDWARE, SPECS AND PERFORMANCE

As usual, there's a lot to talk about when it comes to the OnePlus 3 specifications with some rumours being spot on and others being way off the mark. We'll go through all the different elements of the hardware in manageable sections so you can read about what most important to you.

OnePlus 3 screen

OnePlus has stuck with both a 5.5in screen size and a Full HD resolution for the new phone. It feels that this is the sweet spot on both fronts as the firm tells us it believes you can't see the difference compared to Quad HD. The resolution also helps with things like performance and battery life.

What is new is a change to Optic AMOLED technology, which is OnePlus' take on SuperAMOLED. This looks better thanks to more vibrant colours and better contrast and also is what enables the phone to have those tiny bezels.



Although we'd argue that you can see the difference between Full HD and Quad HD, the OnePlus 3's screen is still excellent quality. We can particularly understand the choice from a performance point of view as the GPU has less work to do rendering the interface so it feels slicker in use.

Our only real complaint on the display side of things is that even at full brightness we occasionally found it hard to read outside in bright sunlight. This is despite a dual-polarising layer which is supposed to make this easy.

OnePlus 3 processor, RAM and benchmarks

It's fairly predictable that the OnePlus 3 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820processor, considering the OnePlus 2 uses the 810. This means it joins the 820 club frequented by the HTC 10 and LG G5. The quad-core chip comes with the Adreno 530 GPU and is clocked slightly higher than other phones at 2.2GHz – the other two cores are 1.6GHz.

Not only is the phone clocked higher than rivals, the slightly outrageous sounding rumours surrounding the memory are true. The OnePlus 3 comes with a slightly insane 6GB of LPDDR4 RAM. That's a full 2GB, or 50 percent, more than any other phone we've seen.

In both benchmark results and real life, the OnePlus 3 offers outstandingly slick performance – especially the latter. The firm has done a great job of making the interface feel extremely responsive and fast. The phone does everything you throw at it without hesitation. Check out the OnePlus 3 benchmark results below compared to its predecessor and rivals in Geekbench 3, GFXBench and JetStream - higher scores are better.

OnePlus 3 storage

Although there were totally understandable rumours of different OnePlus 3 models, the firm has gone for just one capacity this time around. You won't need to spend time deliberating as it's a OnePlus 3 with 64GB of internal storage or nothing at all.

That's an impressive amount considering the price where rivals tend to starts at 32GB or even 16GB. The only down side here is that there's still no Micro-SD card slot for expanding storage which may put off some users - 64GB will be enough for most, though.

OnePlus 3 fingerprint scanner, NFC and connectivity

The fingerprint scanner is still a key feature and sits below the screen as usual. The fingerprint is extremely fast and accurate when scanning (under 0.3 seconds according to OnePlus) and can be used to unlock the phone from sleep and mobile payments including Android Pay.

We've got good news as OnePlus has listened to its fans and put NFC back into the OnePlus 3 – this can be used for a variety of tasks including Android Beam sharing, quickly pairing with Bluetooth devices which also feature NFC and mobile payments.

Remaining connectivity is about what you'd expect from a high-end smartphone with 4G LTE (Cat 6), 11ac Wi-Fi, GPS and Bluetooth 4.2. Although there's no expandable storage, the OnePlus 3 feature a dual-SIM setup featuring two Nano-SIM slots.

OnePlus 3 battery life

The OnePlus 3 has a slightly smaller battery than its predecessor at 3000mAh (down from 3300mAh) but that's still a reasonable size. If you're thinking that you'd rather have a fatter and heavier phone with a larger battery then OnePlus' answer is fast charging. As usual, the battery is non-removable. Also see: OnePlus Power Bank review.



As usual, the phone has a reversible USB Type-C port and is a supplied with the new Dash Charge charger which provides 5V and 4A of electricity (favouring current over voltage). OnePlus touts over 60 percent in 30 minutes which means you can top the battery up with minimal hassle despite its lower capacity. There's also a Dash Charge car charger if you want to top up quickly when driving which costs £24.99.

What's interesting here is the OnePlus has moved the power management controller to the charger instead of housing it in the phone. This means the phone keeps cooler during charging and can continue to fast charge while doing things like gaming as a result. To avoid any mishaps, when a different charger or cable is used the charging reverts to regular speed.

Inside the OnePlus 3 is a 3000mAh battery which is a little smaller than the OnePlus 2's (3300mAh). It still features the reversible USB Type-C port and now supports fast charging with the supplied Dash Charge (5V, 4A) which can give you over 60 percent in 30 minutes and can continue to fast charge even when you're gaming as the controller is in the charger rather than the phone.

In our test the OnePlus 3 charged a total of 61 percent over a period of half an hour and was only warm to the touch despite having a case on during charging. We recorded a benchmark time of six hours and 13 minutes in Geekbench 3 with a score of 3735 which is decent but a little way of some rivals which have hit nine, 10 or even 11 hours.

OnePlus 3 cameras

Going by specs alone, you’d be forgiven for getting excited about the OnePlus 3’s main camera. It has a 16Mp Sony IMX298 sensor (the same as in the Xiaomi Mi 5) and a lens with an f/2.0 aperture. There’s optical image stabilisation (OIS), electronic image stabilisation (EIS) and phase detection autofocus. Read next: Best new phones coming in 2016.

OnePlus claims the camera will give you clear shots in just 0.2 seconds, so you’ll easily catch a Formula 1 pitstop. There's support for shooting in RAW as well as JPEG files, plus a new manual mode if you want to take control of the ISO, shutter speed and focus.

The camera app’s interface is so minimal it takes a while to figure out how to find the settings, but you’ll have to resort to the manual to understand why there’s an HD button at the top which, when tapped, disables HDR. To save you the efforts, HD mode enhances detail, sharpens lines and increases clarity - Much like you can in an image editor such as Snapseed.

Overall, we’re impressed with the camera. That fast AF means photos were generally in sharp focus, although pushed to the limit (when attempting macro shots) it can be hard to judge whether your subject is too close and blurry.



Colours are lifelike without being overblown, and dynamic range seems good even without using the HDR mode. A feature that works effectively is Dynamic De-noise. Our shot in a dimly lit bar shows no noticeable noise, but another taken in our office during the day proves the algorithm does work well in all scenarios.



We took several comparison shots to see the difference between HDR and HD, but none existed. Whether looking at our usual framing of St Pancras or a macro photo, it was impossible to see any improvement in clarity or detail when using the new HD mode.



The rear camera is also capable of recording video in up to 4K, but while there’s OIS for photos, this doesn’t appear to be used for video, which relies on EIS. It’s reasonably effective if you stand still, but start walking or moving the phone around and you’ll soon find its limitations, with slightly jerky movement and odd sparkling effects in skies.

4K video quality is very good, though: sharp and packed with detail. What’s unimpressive is the soundtrack. Voices sound distant and muffled, as though underwater – this could well be a failure of the noise cancellation of the dual microphones. Hopefully it’s fixable in a software update.

Extra modes include a great panorama function which deals well with changes in brightness across a scene, and a slo-mo mode which records at 720p.

At the front is an 8Mp camera with 1.4um pixels. It can record 1080p video at 30fps. Selfies are sharper than we expected, and the field of view is easily sufficient for two people at arm’s length. A Smile Capture option saves you stretching for the shutter button.

ONEPLUS 3 REVIEW: SOFTWARE AND APPS

As you'd expect, the OnePlus 3 comes with Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow out-of-the box. OnePlus provides its OxygenOS 3.1 which is a very close to stock Android with a few different features and ways to customise the interface.

Update: OnePlus is rolling out OxygenOS 3.2.0 to OnePlus 3 owners. The software update brings bug fixes and improvements such as sRGB mode in developer options, RAM management, enhanced audio playback and camera quality/functionality. Find our morehere.

For starters, it's nice to see OnePlus hasn't gone down the route of some rivals by keeping the app draw/menu. Open it up and you'll notice that there is next to no bloatware installed on the phone. You get the usual suite of Google apps plus the odd duplicate from OnePlus such as Gallery, Music and Files. Control over apps is very good as OxygenOS allows you to set permissions for individual apps as well as control notifications, too.



Not a great deal has changed with OxygenOS for the OnePlus 3 – a key new software feature is the latest camera app as detailed above - but that's not exactly a bad thing. It offers a slick and easy use interface with a great deal of customisation. OnePlus said it has polished it to ensure animations and transitions are as smooth as possible.

Gestures are still available to switch on in the settings to do things like wake the phone with a double tap, open the camera by drawing an 'O' and toggle the flashlight with a 'V'. You can also draw different shapes to control music playback.

We like existing features such as the dark mode, an accent colour for the themes, customisable LED notifications and the Shelf which is a swipe away from the home screen. Shelf allows you to get quick access to things like apps, contacts and information; you can also add widgets like you would on the homescreen. If you like, you can switch Shelf off completely if you want.



Either side of the fingerprint scanner are two capacitive buttons, similar to the Galaxy S7 but you can choose which one is use for back and recent apps which is a real boon. In addition you can choose for shortcuts for long presses. Furthermore, you can use onscreen buttons if you really want.

There's more as you can rearrange the quick settings, customise the Google search bar or remove it and make use of the proximity sensor to activate the screen when you wave in front of the camera. The latter is turned off by default – presumably to save battery – switch it on in Settings > Display > Ambient Display.

You can also customise the size of icons, the grid in the app draw and switch features like quick search (swipe up) and quick notifications (swipe down once instead of twice).

As previously OxygenOS comes with the SwiftKey keyboard which is widely regarded as one of the best available for Android. The MaxxAudio app is no longer present but the OnePlus 3 does support 24bit/96kHz audio playback.

SPECS

OnePlus 3: Specs

OxygenOS based on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow
2.2GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor
Adreno 530
6GB LPDDR4 RAM
64GB internal storage
5.5in full-HD Optic AMOLED screen (1920x1080, 401ppi), Gorilla Glass 4
16Mp rear camera, f/2.0 aperture, 4K video/120fps slo-mo at 720p
8Mp front camera
proximity sensor
USB Type-C charging port
11ac Wi-Fi
Bluetooth 4.2
GPS with GLONASS
NFC
Fingerprint scanner
bottom-facing speaker
dual-mics with noise cancellation
3.5mm headphone jack
4G LTE Cat 6
Dual Nano-SIM
3000mAh non-removable lithium-polymer battery
153x75x7.35mm
158g

OUR VERDICT

The OnePlus 3 is another amazing smartphone from the Chinese company as easily its best effort yet. It's a little bit more expensive than its predecessor but it's still a ridiculous price considering the design, build and hardware on offer which matches rivals but also beats them in some areas. There's very little to dislike here unless you really need things like expandable storage and waterproofing. You don't even need an invite any longer, either.

CHUWI HiBook 2 in 1 Ultrabook Tablet PC

CHUWI HiBook 2 in 1 Ultrabook Tablet PC Review

Chuwi's HiBook is one of few tablets to dual-boot Windows 10 and Android Lollipop, making it a great proposition if you can't separate work and play. This budget tablet comes in at a great price, too - find out more in our Chuwi HiBook review.

PRICE WHEN REVIEWED

£143.42 inc VAT

CHUWI HIBOOK REVIEW: ANDROID/WINDOWS HYBRID TABLET

Chuwi's HiBook is one of few tablets to dual-boot Windows 10 and Android Lollipop, making it a great proposition if you can't - or don't want to - separate work and play. This budget tablet comes in at a great price, too; find out more in our Chuwi HiBook review. Also see: Best budget tablets 2016 UK.

Chuwi is a Chinese brand that is sold in the UK via grey-market sites such as Geekbuying, which supplied our HiBook for review. (US customers can also buy Chuwi devices onAmazon.) Read our advice on grey market tech before you buy.

The Chuwi HiBook reviewed here is sold by Geekbuying for £143.42, while the optionalmagnetic docking keyboard costs £34.97. Geekbuying didn't supply the keyboard for our review, but we strongly recommend you consider it if you'll be making much use of the Windows 10 OS on this tablet for productivity tasks. As well as adding a full-size keyboard and trackpad it gives you two full-size USB outputs; without it the HiBook has just Micro-USB, Micro-HDMI, USB-C and a microSD slot.

The low price looks even better when you consider that the Chuwi runs a full version of Windows 10 Home, which it dual-boots with a vanilla version of Android Lollipop, putting all the apps you could possibly want at your fingertips. The tablet has 64GB of internal storage, with 50GB reserved for Windows and 16GB for Android; each OS consumes around 6GB. This isn't a huge amount of storage for either OS, but anything you're not storing in the cloud can be saved on to removable media such as a memory card or mobile hard drive.


To switch between OSes the tablet requires a reboot. Fortunately it performs this pretty quickly, but you should remember not to leave any work unsaved. At startup you can choose to boot Android Lollipop by pressing the volume up key, or Windows 10 by pressing volume down; if you don't make a choice the HiBook will boot into the last used OS by default. A shortcut on the Windows desktop lets you switch to Android, or if you're using Android you can tap the Switch to Windows icon in the drop-down notification bar to revert to Windows.

The HiBook runs much the same hardware as the larger Chuwi Hi12 we recently reviewed. This 12in tablet runs Windows 10 only, but does so using the same Intel Cherry Trail X5-Z8300 processor, 4GB of DDR3L RAM and 64GB of flash storage as this HiBook. Key differences are the smaller, lower resolution screen on the HiBook, a lower-capacity 6,600mAh battery, and the loss of two full-size USB ports afforded by the Hi12's larger chassis. See all budget tablet reviews.

More Stories

CHUWI HIBOOK REVIEW: DESIGN AND BUILD

On paper the screen on the Hi12 sounds more impressive, with 2160x1440 pixels across its 12in panel. However, thanks to its smaller 10in display, the 1920x1200 pixels (still full-HD) on the HiBook appear just as sharp - sharper in fact, since the HiBook has a 224ppi against the Hi12's 216ppi, but you won't be able to differentiate between the two with such a small difference.

It's a nice screen, with its IPS tech offering realistic colours and good viewing angles at a 16:9 ratio. It's not the brightest screen we've seen, but it's sufficient - and the HiBook supports adaptive brightness controls. We also find its size more practical for using this budget tablet on the road. However, the HiBook suffers the same issue as the Hi12: you need only point a finger in its direction and it smears. Also see: Best Windows tablets 2016 UK.

Ignoring the difference in size between these two tablets, though, the design is very similar. As with its bigger brother the Chuwi HiBook has a silver (also available in gold) metal body that's just 8.8mm thick, which is impressive for a budget tablet. It feels reasonably heavy at 522g, and we presume it would be even heavier with the keyboard, but it's not a major complaint. More importantly, despite its cheap price tag the HiBook feels well made, with no rough edges or creaking parts, and tiny metal screws adding to its durable feel.

The screen bezels are rather chunky, especially given that Android's back, home and recent buttons are found onscreen (necessary since they have no function in Windows). However, in the top bezel sits a 2Mp webcam, which will be useful for video chat if not offering the best quality for selfies, and to the right of the screen (or the bottom if held in portrait mode) is a Windows button that acts as a home button in Android.



Both tablets feature two cutouts on the bottom edge for docking a magnetic keyboard that also acts as a cover, turning this tablet into a hybrid laptop when required. We're disappointed that Geekbuying didn't send us this keyboard to try, since Chuwi told us it is greatly improved over that designed for the Hi12, which has an infuriating trackpad.

It's quite possible to use Windows 10 with the touchscreen, although relatively small icons and options make it easier to switch to tablet mode. And without a keyboard and mouse, Android is more user-friendly in our experience. Unfortunately, without the keyboard the HiBook has no full-size USB ports for adding these peripherals, although you could connect devices wirelessly via Bluetooth 4.0.

For ports and connections you get reversible USB-C for charging, Micro-USB for connecting devices such as a mobile hard drive, Micro-HDMI for hooking up the Chuwi to a large screen, and a microSD slot for up to 64GB of additional storage. There's also a mic and 3.5mm headphone jack. As with the Hi12, stereo speakers sit at the bottom left- and right edges of the tablet, which means they can be muffled with your palms when held in landscape mode.

On the rear of the tablet is a 5Mp camera, which is best described as functional. We can't imagine many people holding up a 10in, 522g tablet and expecting print-worthy photographs in return. Also here are legends for the various ports, plus a Chuwi logo and some basic specs. It detracts a little from the tablet's overall design, but the HiBook isn't intended as a premium device and it looks better than many of its budget rivals.

CHUWI HIBOOK REVIEW: HARDWARE AND PERFORMANCE

At this price and this size, the Chuwi HiBook has few rivals in the 10in Android tablet world, let alone the Windows world. It automatically one-ups the comparable Acer Iconia Tab 10,Amazon Fire HD 10 and Vodafone Tab Prime 6 with its metal build and dual-OS functionality, and it's faster than those tablets, too.

That's in Android, of course, and what we found really interesting about the Chuwi is that its quad-core 1.44GHz Intel Cherry Trail X5-Z8300 chip, Intel HD graphics and 4GB of DDR3L RAM performed slightly faster in Windows 10 in our benchmarks. In real world use you probably wouldn't notice any difference, and in most cases the HiBook feels capable enough for most tasks, until you start launching several apps at once. Also see: Best Android tablets 2016 UK.

The Chuwi HiBook is mostly on par with the Chuwi Hi12 for performance, which isn't a surprise given that it runs the same core hardware.

In Android 5.1 Lollipop we recorded 2,162 points in Geekbench 3.0 and 57,593 in AnTuTu. By comparison, in Windows 10 those scores were slightly higher at 2,245 and 71,261 respectively.

We use GFXBench to test graphics, although this failed to run in Windows 10. In Lollipop the Chuwi turned in 23fps in T-Rex and 11fps in Manhattan. This isn't an outstanding performance, but we've seen a lot worse, and the Chuwi is more than up to the job for casual gaming and watching video.

We also run JetStream in Chrome to test JavaScript performance, and here the Chuwi HiBook recorded 32.507 in Lollipop and 37.423 in Windows 10. Higher is better in this test.

PCMark8 Home is a general performance benchmark for Windows 10. It clocked the HiBook at 1058, which is slightly higher than the Hi12's 1010. It's about half the score of a proper budget laptop, such as the £300 Asus X55LA, which recorded 2028 points, but tablets don't tend to score as high as Windows laptops. The £279 Asus Transformer T100HA, for example, recorded 1338 points.



The Chuwi HiBook has a 6,600mAh battery, which is a decent capacity for a budget tablet (the Tab Prime 6 has just 4600mAh by comparison), and pleasingly it's fast to charge when paired with a 5V/3A (15W) adaptor - you'll get from zero to full in as little as six hours. In the Geekbench 3 battery test the HiBook scored 4016 points and a time of six hours 41 minutes, which is on par with the iPad mini 4.

The ability to insert a removable memory card is great news given the limited amount of storage inside. To be fair, 64GB is very generous, but it's not a huge amount for use with Windows 10 (which, as we mentioned earlier, gets 50GB of that allocation, and Android 16GB).

Connectivity-wise the Chuwi HiBook is basic. You get 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 and OTG. There's no GPS, nor a cellular connection. Also see: Best Windows tablets 2016 UK.

SPECS

Chuwi HiBook: Specs

Android 5.1 Lollipop/Windows 10 Home tablet
1.44GHz (boosts to 1.84GHz) Intel Cherry Trail X5-Z8300 quad-core processor
Intel HD Graphics (Gen8)
4GB DDR3L RAM
64GB storage (split 50GB Windows, 16GB Android)
microSD support up to 64GB
10.1in full-HD (1920x1200, WUXGA), 16:9 IPS screen
5Mp rear camera
2Mp front camera
802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi
Bluetooth 4.0
OTG
USB-C
Micro-USB
Micro-HDMI
3.5mm headphone jack
AAC Double Speaker
optional magnetic keyboard cover
6600mAh non-removable battery with 3A fast-charge tech (charges in 6 hours)
262x167.5x8.8mm
522g

OUR VERDICT

At £143.42 it's difficult to find fault in a 10in tablet that can handle most tasks and offers both Android and Windows operating systems. We strongly recommend you purchase the optional keyboard for the extra functionality it affords, including two full-size USB ports, but even without it the Chuwi HiBook is a very decent budget tablet, with acceptable performance and a decent screen.

SOMIC G925 GAMING HEADSET

Moderately priced, full-size design Fullsize with leather pad smooth, Somic G925 is the company specializing in the production headphone eponymous expected to dominate the segment of mid-range gaming headset with diverse demand from music , play games, watch movies mostly the students, students





Gear Somic G925 Gaming Headset with the black



However due headset comes cardSound and without LED as the previous products Somic result is that many gamers are still wary when it comes to headphones this game than the traditional headset design Somic's.






Somic G925 gaming headset the white gear




Launched a fairly quiet in mid-2014, did not even been officially announced on the homepage of the company, unlike the earpiece of G-series line as G938, G930, G941 are updates level with many improvements in design and sound quality compared to the previous version, while the G925 is a completely new step by Somic, in order to conquer a new user group amateur player needs is mainly, the main gaming and watching movies is mostly. And today, we will go to see the detail of this gaming headset finally can make a gamer whether satisfied or not at $ 650,000?
Photos open box Somic G925 headset






Somic G925 front box



The back box G925




Overall image G925 headphones with clusters and 2 jack Control 3.5
Headphones with distribution can drag down Micriphone middle axis, and the mic can be bent in the direction of receiver





G925 has designed the first cover large




1. Specifications:
Mic Dimensions O6.0x2.8mm
Sensitivity -36 ± 3dB (at 1KHz)
Omnidirectional directivity
≤2.2 Impedance k
Speaker Driver Diameter O40mm
Sensitivity (SPL) of 111 ± 3dB
32Ω impedance
Frequency Response 20Hz ~ 20KHz
Cords Length ≈2.1meters
plug 3.5
Net Weight ≈270g






Part headband made ​​quite intelligent, and super light weight



Part headband is made ​​of leather with foam cushions inside feels smooth







2. The difference compared to the other end of the Somic Gaming headphones
For those who do not specialize in the small details, such as LEDs or 7.1 sound card, software driver customization and the complex is not necessary for them, they just need an earpiece meet these needs as "For one earpiece mainly listen to music, and watch movies to learn English online, sometimes playing some game or shooter Empire". The Somic G925 is one such product, a full range of functions required for the above activities.
Headset with LED, do not use CardSound means not using a USB connection. Rather it is more common connections; 2 top 3.5 channels audio jack and the microphone, adjust the volume cluster mechanics form the shortcut on microphone, headset microphone support to help bring 6mm-sized speakers are better recording.
Highlights of Somic G925 is in 3D speakers sized with dimensions of 40mm with smooth leather ear tip, make sounds to be recreated faithfully, and most detailed, and comfort when network worn in a long time for users
Headset weighs only about 270g and lightweight system is made ​​of leather headband inside with soft mattress, with the texture of this headba headset system can automatically resize the first round to help users more flexible in its custody and to the top of the headset.






Cluster adjust the volume and turn off the microphone





3.5 jack for audio and microphone





Very soft leather pad




3. Evaluate the performance and sound quality:
First feel when wearing it Somic G925 comfort, does not cause discomfort or entangled when used, the wire to the relatively soft, smooth leather pad wear long not hot, steaming or by sweat created, but the sound insulation is not good ear.
Testing the headphone jack on the computer or on the phone to sound pretty big thing at average volume levels, microphone recording is quite good, quality music recordings very pretty, less noise, talk on skype for good call quality, sound not be disappointed, known in the clear.
Asian. game:
FPS game play:








- Somic G925 for hours rather in, clearly. Dictionary shells fell and gunfire: excellence, reviews, sure, but not too jarring. This allows gamers to not be tired when I heard a long time.
- Spanish foot very accurately and clearly, the ability to layer or split sound very good and not be confused.
- Space in the game is quite large and airy, not get stuck.
Compared to the Somic G927Pro quite unexpected result, although no Cardsound G925 shows the natural ability to create in-game sound and space is better. However when compared to the Somic Somic G938 also recently launched the gaming space is restricted and degree of delamination also showed significantly poorer
Summarizing the sound quality of the G925 in the game: very pretty, hard to find blame with 1 point for headphones in reach this amount.
b. Watching movies: Transformers






Transformers movie



This is the action movie with lots of shooting, racing fire effects is the most complex and magnificent background music with complex rhythms equally a symphony.
Somic G925 sounds quite similar to watching movies in cinema 7.1. Surround sound effects in the film is quite clear, audio has both breadth and depth. In the action can sound quite lively, especially explosive sound, the sound of helicopters governance, sound bullets fly.
C. Music:
As I introduced above, the G925 is Somic headphones are designed to meet the needs purposes variety of ordinary users, so the ability to reproduce sound in music stedio is also a highlight that a pair of these.Somic G925 therefore not only attractive but also gamers pretty good choice for those who listen to popular music. His use of music as a PC, music player Foobar2000, 320 Kbps music source.
- GUY - Lady Gaga






GUY - Lady Gaga


In this track with so electronic bass, Somic G925 expressed deep bass, enough power, bass strong, but not very strong. Bas pretty deep with dew Close up of mid bass bass feeling pretty down to, caused by pressure on the chest the listener, giving the song features a very high bed space travelers.
- Speak Softly Love - Yao Si Ting






Speak Softly Love - Yao Si Ting



In this track we use to test mid, in this audio range G925 is also very pretty. Yao Si Ting voice sounds very full and very natural. Details good music, wide space.
- Hotel California (Live) - Eagles






Hotel California (Live)



This is a tets music sounds pretty good. G925 continues to show the ability to regenerate space and accurate, 3D. Overall good track details, at this track, G925 good bass, bounce and enough power.
Tested with iPhone 4 G925 for great sound, crisp sound loud, musical shows pretty much better when listening to a PC.
An overview of the G925 sound:
- Strip bass: this is the best tonal range of the ear, bouncing bass beat G925, showing good depth, mid bass tops, just enough bass output, this bass thing generally enough to meet most of your music bitter.
- Mid Range: very pretty, in the form of mid seasoned, fresh, smooth. Slightly light first. Details are fairly mid range.
- High Range: treble of the G925, up quite to, treble somewhat energetic identity, however, is not really rich treble, the wind a negative number has yet to be demonstrated.
- Negative image / sound field: This is the strongest point of the G925: a very wide soundstage, precise imaging and 3D Extreme.
In this article I will compare the addition of natural sound quality when listening to music with the G927Pro and the Sony MA100:
- With warm G927Pro background sound, powerful bass down to zero the deep, good power, mid bass should create a feeling of buzzing thick in strip downs, with the G925, in contrast to the deeper bass, mid, bass tops, drum beat stretch, and better monitoring renewable G925 makes a better space.
- With Sony MA100 is an earpiece open form Hood with fairly wide soundstage, with good granularity in the treble range, compared to the G925 with MA100 sharper treble range, but less control over MA100, details less well, the G925 offset soundstage expanded and more open thanks to Driver penchant more 3D.MA100 strips of natural medium and gently than in G925 G925 however have the internal resources of more sturdy and more mid range, thanks also quite tasty mid bass makes the middle range of the bass n G925 do not drive homeless warm as in MA100. MA100 heard speaking out against the vivid and real than the G925 but the bass is not as good speed G925. By contrast, in the electronic music bass G925 have heard more attractive.
Somic G925 well with female Vocal music since mid headphones sound very plump and pretty sharp treble. G925 also can play Pop and R & B, thanks to powerful bass range, with mid bass ear tip helps you hear the music playing is quite same with the bass power and upholstered, requires speed.
General comments on the headset Somic G925:
• Plus mark:
- Quality Built is very good, definitely, rigid
- Headphones are designed, beautiful and easy to use. To wear soft ear cushions
- Colour courteous with 2 black and white.
- The sound quality in the game fairly
- Ability pretty music performances
- Sound quality when watching movies rather
- Mic Noise featuring high quality.
- Used to be on the PC and mobile devices
- Price good just about 650,000d
• Minus point:
- Ability poorly soundproofed.
- Large-size, portable hard.
- Mid range slightly thick, gritty.
- No support for LED,
- No integration cardSound.



Current products are being distributed officially by IDO Vietnam, to experience the sound of the SOMIC G925 headset you can go to the Showroom of IDO and specialty stores nationwide headset to be experienced.

Finow X5 Smartwatch

FINOW X5:

The Finow X5 is an Android smartwatch that accepts a 3G SIM to make calls, send texts and get online independently of your phone. At just £100, we see whether this cheap smartwatch is a worthy competitor to rival Android Wear watches from the likes of Motorola, LG and Sony. Also see: Best smartwatches 2016.

You can buy the Finow X5 from GearBest where, at the time of writing, it costs £100.99 with free shipping to the UK. However, note that you may have to pay import duty on goods sent from China to the UK - read our advice on grey market tech before you buy.

The X5 is compatible with both Android and iOS, but functionality may be limited with iPhone.

FINOW X5 REVIEW: THE ‘SMARTPHONE’ WATCH

The Finow X5 is more ‘smartphone watch’ than ‘smartwatch’ and can be used independently of your phone to get online and send and receive calls and texts, albeit using a very small and fiddly keypad or audible instruction. This is made possible by adding a Nano-SIM card.

The X5 also has Wi-Fi connectivity, which you can use to browse the web. We weren’t able to use the internet connection of a paired Samsung Galaxy S6, despite an option in the watch settings making it look as though this is possible. See all smartwatch reviews.

Before you start using the Finow X5 you should download the free Watch Helper app, which pairs to a smartphone and can be configured to deliver notifications from any app installed on your phone, and to push music-, image- and other files from phone to watch and vice versa. By default you will see notifications for calls and texts, and we also managed to set up Watch Helper to deliver WhatsApp, Gmail and Facebook notifications. Frustratingly, you see only the message subject line for email notifications, and once you’ve read the notification it’s gone from the watch.

Worse still, we found the X5 would lose the Bluetooth connection if it had been idle for a while. This might help battery life, but it prevents you from receiving any notifications until you physically reconnect it to the phone. And that makes this smartwatch pretty dumb.

To get more functionality, then, you really need to add a SIM to the Finow X5. The SIM slot is accessible by unscrewing the rear panel (a screwdriver is supplied in the box), but unfortunately this means the device does not have a waterproof seal and rules out its use as a true sports watch, despite the built-in heart-rate monitor and pedometer.

The need to use a screwdriver everytime you want to swap SIMs between phone and watch makes you much less likely to do so. With your SIM in the watch you won’t receive email-, WhatsApp- or other notifications, so ideally you need to keep the SIM in your phone at all times, or have one SIM in your phone and one in the watch.

And herein lies the major limitation for UK users: it isn’t possible to have two SIMs for the same phone number. Elsewhere in the world this is possible, and in some European countries you are able to make use of a paid-for service such as Proximus to clone a phone number on to a second SIM. You could try using a second SIM with a second number, but you won’t receive any notifications from your primary number, and your communication will come from a number your contacts don’t recognise. See all wearable tech reviews.

Apps are the second biggest limitation: the Finow X5, as we tested it, runs a version of Android 4.4 KitKat with no access to Google Play, and that's how we have reviewed it here. We have read online that others have been able to update the firmware or root the smartwatch in order to get Google Play installed and working, turning this Finow X5 into a proper Android Wear watch - the Bluetooth cutouts would still be an issue unless you used it in place of your smartphone, of course. GearBest tells us that it's possible to install Google Play without rooting and that "Any alterations such as upgrades or flashing a newer version will void the warranty."

Out of the box no update was available to us, which meant the only apps were those preinstalled and the three found in the built-in app store, none of which you’re likely to want to download - there’s Currency Check, Stock Quotes and the Watch Helper app (in Chinese).

So what stock apps do you get? First on the menu are Phone, Messages and Contacts. Phone comprises a dialer (which requries you to have a SIM inside) and call log; Messages lists your received SMS messages only; and Contacts can be synched with your phone to bring up your address book, but is of little use to you if you aren’t using the X5 with a SIM.

Settings is fourth on the menu, and gives you options to do such things as connect to a phone over Bluetooth, turn on Wi-Fi and GPS, change the clock face (54 are available or you can add your own background image, but you are then limited in how it appears on the watch so you will need to resize it first), adjust the display or volume settings, turn on power-saving options and uninstall apps (what apps we’re not sure).

Then you get to the preinstalled apps: Health, which comprises a heart-rate monitor and a pedometer; Music, which can play back music stored on the watch itself, not a paired phone; Weather; Sound Recorder; Barometer; and Browser. You’ll also find an alarm clock, calendar, Watch Helper, the aforementioned and very barren AppStore, a File Manager and a list of recently opened apps, although its positioning at the bottom of the menu doesn’t exactly make them quick to access.

All in all, the Finow X5 as a smartwatch is majorly flawed. As a smartphone watch that lets you leave the phone at home, however, if all you need is calls and texts and no other apps, it might just fit your needs.

FINOW X5 REVIEW: DESIGN AND BUILD

Its limited functionality as a smartwatch is a shame, because for £100 the round-faced Finow X5 appears to be a mostly well-made and nicely designed watch. Our review sample had a black stainless steel case and a stylish 23mm black and tan leather strap that should be fairly easy to replace. It’s rather large (50x48x13mm), but you could say that about most smartwatches; being used to wearing a steel Sony watch, we didn’t find it too heavy either.

It’s not without fault: for example, there’s a thick black border between the display and the bezel, and twisting the crown has no effect that we could tell.

Used as a button, the crown will take you back to the home screen, while the button above takes you back one step, and the button below is a menu button that, again, doesn’t appear to do a lot with the apps installed on the watch.

At this price the 1.4in (400x400) colour AMOLED touchscreen is a great addition; it’s responsive and plenty bright enough, but lacking a little in contrast. We wouldn’t advise turning up the brightness all the way as this will drain the 450mAh battery and you’ll be lucky to get a full day’s life. Given that it charges from a dock rather than Micro-USB, you’ll want it to keep going at least until you get home.

The rear-mounted heart-rate monitor is also welcome at this price, and both it and the pedometer seem to work fairly well. It’s only a shame that this watch isn’t waterproof for sports use.

FINOW X5 REVIEW: SPECIFICATION

The X5 is pretty standard in terms of its specification as smartwatches go. It runs Android 4.4 KitKat (not Android Wear) on a 1.2GHz MediaTek MTK6572 dual-core processor (Mali-400 MP GPU) with 512GB of RAM and 4GB of storage.

It accepts a Nano-SIM but offers only 3G (not 4G) connectivity on the GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz and WCDMA 2100MHz bands. Wi-Fi support covers 802.11b/g/n, and there’s also Bluetooth 4.0 and GPS.

SPECS

Finow X5: Specs

• 1.4in (400x400) colour AMOLED round capacitive touchscreen
• Android 4.4 KitKat (also supports iOS phones)
• 1.2GHz MediaTek MTK6572 dual-core
• Mali-400MP GPU
• 512GB RAM
• 4GB storage
• 3G (Nano-SIM GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz, WCDMA 2100MHz)
• 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth 4.0
• GPS
• heart-rate scanner
• pedometer
• 450mAh lithium-polymer battery (one-day life)
• charging dock
• 23mm leather strap
• 50x48x13mm
• 80g

VERDICT

At £100 the Finow X5 sounds - and looks - like a great smartwatch. Unfortunately, a lack of app support (at least without Google Play as it was supplied to us) makes it unappealing for use in place of a smartphone, and it just doesn’t function very well as a companion device. For UK users at least, this smartwatch as supplied out of the box is of little use.