Can the Apple Watch work without an iPhone?

Update: With the cellular Apple Watch 3 available you can now do more than ever without tethering your Watch to your iPhone, but even without Apple's latest wearable there are plenty of phone-free Apple Watch features.

With the arguable exception of the cellular version of the Apple Watch 3, the Apple Watch isn't designed to replace your iPhone just yet. In fact, it depends on it.

Many Apple Watch apps are really just displays for things running on your iPhone, and some key features aren't available if you aren't paired to an iOS device.

For example, the original Watch doesn't have a GPS receiver, so if your phone isn't around you can't track the distance you've travelled beyond measuring steps.

GPS has been included in the Apple Watch 2 and Apple Watch 3, but even they don't have their own cameras, so while you can use them as a viewfinder for your phone they don't have the ability to snap anything by themselves.

Apple Watch

That doesn't mean the Apple Watch is a dumb terminal, though. It has its own processor, sensors and on-board storage, and we're increasingly seeing stacks of innovative apps as developers are discovering the possibilities.

Here are the key things you can do with any Apple Watch model, even when there's no iPhone for it to talk to - after the initial setup on the handset is complete that is.

And if you've got an Apple Watch 2 or 3 you'll also find some things that only work on these newer models.

Track your runs

The Apple Watch 2 added a GPS chip to the mix, which means you can finally track your runs without carrying your phone around with you.

You'll be able to see exactly where and how far you've gone, and maybe you'll even run slightly faster without the added weight of your phone.

Track your swims

This is an activity you definitely won't want your phone for, but thanks to its water resistance the Apple Watch 2 and 3 also work as swim trackers.

The swim tracking out of the box is a bit basic, but you can always download a third-party app to add more options, such as the ability to set drill distances.

Take calls and get notifications

This one requires an Apple Watch 3, and the pricier cellular model at that, but it brings the Watch a lot closer to the phone, as you can actually take calls on your wrist with reasonable voice quality.

As you can also get notifications it almost makes the Apple Watch as useful without a phone as with one, but it's still not a full phone replacement.

Use apps

Many Apple Watch apps now work independently of your phone, meaning you can do the likes of check the weather forecast with Dark Sky, translate spoken words using iTranslate and much more besides.

In some cases you'll need a Wi-Fi connection (or a cellular Apple Watch) to get full app functionality, but any standalone app that works offline will work without your phone wherever you are, and whichever Watch you have.

Pay for stuff

Once you've set up Apple Pay via the Apple Watch app, you'll be able to use the Watch to pay for things in shops.

The app creates a unique token that's stored on the Watch to use as a card number - allowing you use Apple Pay even when you're away from your phone. To pay, simply wave your watch at the Apple Pay-compatible terminal and let the built-in NFC (near-field communication) radio do its thing.

Get on planes or go to the movies

Apple Watch

Apple Wallet is on the Apple Watch, so anything already stored in it - aeroplane boarding passes, electronic tickets and anything else scannable - should work just fine without your iPhone.

Sadly, not all firms have embraced this, so we're still often wandering around with pockets and purses full of plastic, but we're gradually seeing more things go digital.

Listen to music, audiobooks or podcasts

Apple Watch

The Watch has its own storage space, some of which is available for music - so you can use the Watch's built-in Bluetooth to pair with a pair of wireless headphones and get music on the move.

Naturally you won't be able to stream music from the likes of Spotify or Apple Music without an internet connection, which means being in Wi-Fi range or using an Apple Watch 3 cellular model, but there's more than enough internal storage for a run, a workout or a short commute.

And if you're using Apple Music you can make playlists available offline on your Apple Watch.

Open doors

One of the smoothest features we saw at the Apple Watch launch event was SPG Keyless, a feature that enables Apple Watch users to unlock Starwood hotel rooms without anything as old-fashioned as a key.

According to Starwood, the keys work via Bluetooth Low Energy and are popped up by the iPhone app as push notifications the day before you check in.

The same idea could of course work with any other kind of Bluetooth-enabled smart lock, so it's possible we'll see Apple Watch-compatible locks for your home, garage or gym locker.

Track your fitness

Apple Watch

The Apple Watch doesn't need to be paired with your phone to monitor your heart rate or workout: it can store that data and sync it to the Health app when you get back from your run, cycle or trip to the gym. There are also various third-party fitness apps available, such as Strava.

Control your Apple TV

Apple Watch

Apple's Remote app has been ported to the Watch, and like its iOS sibling it enables you to control your Apple TV via the magic of wireless radio.

You can also use it to control iTunes on your computer.

Do watch things

Apple Watch

Hardly a surprise, this, but time-related functions such as the alarm, stopwatch and timer don't need a phone to function.

What iPhone-free features do you think we'll see from app developers? Let us know in the comments.

Posted in Uncategorised

10 years of Android: 10 times it wowed the world

It's ten years since Google lit the fuse on something that would transform the mobile market. 

"We think what we are announcing… is more significant and ambitious than a single phone," Google's Andy Rubin wrote. 

The product? Android. "We hope thousands of different phones will be powered by Android," added CEO Eric Schmidt. Thousands? Try billions. Ten years on, Google says there are 2 billion monthly active devices on Android.

Ten years ago, Google started the Android journey. These are ten of the most important milestones it met along the way.

The creators of Android talk about their new open platform for mobile phones.

Almost a year after Android was initially announced the platform got its first phone. We called it the Googlephone: the HTC Dream, aka the T-Mobile G1, was the first smartphone to ship with Android on board. 

And it was a strong start, second only to the iPhone. It wasn’t quite an iPhone killer, but it was comfortably close: "we'd say it is easily in the top five of all mobile phones ever made and showcases why Google Android was worth the long wait."

It looks impossibly dated now, the result of what looks like a drunken coupling between a Nokia Communicator and an O2 XDA, but it was truly extraordinary new product in a market Apple had effectively had all to itself.

Sometimes we impress ourselves. Reviewing the Google Nexus One, a phone built by HTC but masterminded by Google, we said that it was a decent effort but "we can't help but feel there's more to come from the search giant."

On paper it was better than any iPhone, but while it lacked Apple's silky performance it was a vast improvement on other Android firms' best efforts. 

It was a little too geeky for its own good, which was a blessing and a curse: a blessing because that made it enormously appealing to the kind of people who like fiddling with their phones, and a curse because it wasn't quite as intuitive as an iPhone.

The Motorola Xoom wasn't the first Android tablet, but as far as your correspondent is concerned it was the first one that was any good: previous attempts took a phone OS, made it bigger and hoped it'd be as good as an iPad.

It wasn't. 

The Xoom was different, because it came with Android 3.0 Honeycomb, which was the first Android designed with tablets in mind. 

It suffered from a relative lack of tablet apps, something that would plague Android tablets for some time, but it showed the world that Android tablets didn’t need to be cheap and nasty. They could be quite expensive and rather brilliant instead.

Android 4.0, aka Ice Cream Sandwich, was announced in October 2011 - although as we noted a year later, some people had to wait a very long time for manufacturers to provide it. 

Such fragmentation was a huge problem for Android at the time: where Apple's iOS updates hit every device at once, Android updates had to be customized by each individual firm. 

That was a shame, because ICS was revolutionary: it was a massive overhaul not just of Android's interface but of messaging, contacts, camera and video. 

It made Android much more user-friendly - sometimes a bit too friendly, with apps such as the video player being overly simple - and provided a good platform for manufacturers to experiment with.

Oh, how we scoffed: a smartphone with a 5.3-inch screen was ridiculously huge, and we all know what Steve Jobs said about styluses and touch screens: "if you see a stylus, they blew it."

But the Samsung Galaxy Note created a new kind of smartphone, the phablet, and lots of people liked it: Samsung sold a million in the first two months. 

It was better still after an Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade, prompting us to hold our hands up: "Let's just say we were more than just a little wrong. This device went on to ship by the truckload for Samsung - adopted by both serious geeks (the people we originally expected to take it to their hearts) and your average punter."

In a move that shocked many, Google ditched the Android Market, Google Music and Google eBookstore in favour of a new, streamlined app and content store it called Google Play. 

It was a deliberate and necessary attempt to emulate Apple, whose downloads of apps and entertainment were all under the iTunes banner. 

While Apple insisted on using the not-much-loved iTunes as the front-end for its services, having everything in one place made much more sense than having multiple online stores for different kinds of content. 

It helped make Android that little bit more user-friendly, and Google made sure existing purchases weren't rendered redundant.

Android's momentum continued to build. In February 2012 Google announced that after four years, 300 million Android devices had been activated, with 850,000 activations every day: just seven months later, that number stood at half a billion

Admittedly that number included some pretty shoddy devices from Far East firms churning out cheapo devices by the container load, but it also included some seriously impressive devices from a fantastically competitive marketplace. 

Android's market share cracked the 75% mark worldwide, largely thanks to extraordinary numbers by Samsung: it was variously credited with 35%, 35.2% or 31.3% of global smartphone shipments.

Android's numbers were so big they beggared belief: by September 2013 the number of activated devices had rocketed to a staggering 1 billion. 

But with so many different devices running so many different flavors of the OS, problems were beginning to emerge - such as the Stagefright exploit.

As we said at the time, "It's clear that some carriers and some manufacturers simply aren't doing enough to keep Android up to date... Android users deserve better" - so vulnerabilities that Google had spotted and patched ages ago were still wide open on far too many devices. 

Google's move to Google Play Services would go on to address that very problem.

Google IO 2014 was enormously exciting, although not all of its innovations have stood the test of time: Android Wear seems to have lost its luster for the time being at least, Android TV has caused us to swear at our Sony TV much more than we'd like and Google Glass has gone from hero to zero. 

But the bigger story was that Android was everywhere: the newly improved Chromecast turned out to be a big hit and Android Auto was accelerating. 

Android was clearly more than just an operating system: it was an ecosystem that would include your home, your car, your wearable tech and your TV too.

Android had been outselling iOS for some time, but in July 2016 there was another significant shift: a single Android flagship, the Samsung Galaxy S7, was outselling Apple's flagship iPhone 6S

Between February and May 2016 in the US, the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge outsold the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus. 

That was partly because of timing - the 6S was a tock in the tick/tock iPhone updates, a refinement of the iPhone 6 rather than a snazzy new system, and many people were hanging on for the iPhone 7 - and partly because Samsung was making really great phones.

But it also showed that Android was finally getting to a similar level of interest and admiration that the Apple brand had enjoyed for may years.

Posted in Uncategorised

19 essential iPhone 8 tips and tricks

It’s a shame the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus didn’t come with all new designs, because while they look like a slightly different iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus there are some massive improvements under the hood: ridiculously fast processors, even better cameras and some brilliant new features.

And here we present 19 ways to make your iPhone 8 / 8 Plus experience even better through a selection of different tips, tricks and handy alternatives to the things you do every day with your handset - use these to become a power user of your new Apple phone.

1. Squeeze the keyboard

The iPhone 8 is big, and the 8 Plus bigger still. If you’re struggling to type one-handed, press and hold the emoji button on the keyboard and you’ll see three keyboard icons: a left-hand side keyboard, the current standard keyboard and a right-hand side keyboard. Choose either left or right to squish the keyboard to that side for easier typing.

2. Customize Control Center

The redesigned Control Center is much handier than before, and you can make it handier still by changing its contents in Settings > Control Center > Customize Controls. You’ll find some interesting options in there, such as the option to add screen recording or control your Apple TV.

3. Drag and drop

iPhones haven’t yet got the power to drag and drop between apps, but you can now drag and drop inside Apple’s apps – so you can drag an attachment in Mail into a new message, drag text from one Note to another and so on. In Notes, for example, you work in landscape mode and drag an image or text selection out and over the note you want to drop it into; after a second that note opens and you can move your block of text or image to its desired location. In the Files app you can drag items over folders to move them.

4. Scan QR codes

Apple is very, very late to the QR code party, but you can now scan QR codes from within the Camera app. It’ll automatically recognize that it’s looking at a QR code and will then enable you to open the link in Safari, connect to the Wi-Fi network or do anything else the code is designed to do.

5. Make messages messier, or just mute them

There are new effects in Messages: to see them, hold down the Send icon and tap Screen. You can mute conversations in Messages now too: swipe left on a conversation and tap Hide Alerts.

6. Loop your Live Photos

Live Photos are a lot of fun, and they’re even more fun on the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus: swipe the photo up to see the effects options, which enable you to loop or bounce your Live Photo, or apply a long-exposure effect.

7. Record at any resolution

The camera in the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus shoots 4K at 30 frames per second by default, but you can adjust that in Settings > Camera > Record Video to boost the speed to 60fps, drop it to 24fps or use a lower resolution such as 1080p or 720p HD. Naturally, the higher the resolution and frame rate the more space you’ll need to store your video.

8. Charge without cables

You've probably seen that both the iPhone 8 and the iPhone 8 Plus support the Qi charging standard, so they’ll work with any Qi-compatible pad, including the pads and charging-enabled furniture IKEA sells. 

You can also buy an Apple-approved charging pad from Mophie or Belkin for $59.95 / £54.95 / AU$99.95, with Apple’s own AirPower pad coming later this year. It’s not as fast as charging with a cable, but it’s a lot more convenient and Apple reckons it's not far off in terms of speed.

9. Change lighting in Portrait mode

This one’s Plus-only, and it’s one of the headline features of the phone. Portrait mode has new lighting options that enable you to choose from different studio lighting and stage lighting effects, and the results are instant – there’s some serious processing going on to make the magic happen so quickly, and the original data is saved so you can change your mind later. 

10. Discover the power of Slow Sync

Photo pros will know about slow sync flash already, because it’s something many cameras can do – it’s a way of getting more balanced shots when using flash in low light by keeping the shutter open for longer. 

In a normal flash photo the subject is brightly lit and the background dark, but with slow sync it’s much closer to what you see with your eyes. You don’t need to do anything to enable this option – it’s just part of the camera. 

11. Get into AR

The iPhone 8 and 8 Plus cameras have been designed for augmented reality (AR) apps thanks to the high power of the A11 Bionic chip. Yes, other phones in the range can do the same, but you'll get the best experience on the latest handsets.

It’s a lot of fun, and an exciting glimpse of the future, whether you're looking at IKEA furniture overlaid on your living room or Thomas & Friends Minis on the coffee table. 

12. Change the photo format

iOS 11 introduced a new, much more efficient file format for photos called HEIF, and it's the default format. However, if you want to store photos in the less efficient but more widely supported JPEG format, you can change the default in Settings > Camera > Formats. 

You can do the same with video, changing from HEVC to H.264 as the default. Don’t worry about doing this if you just want to share the odd photo – when you share, iOS automatically converts from the high-efficiency format to JPEG or H.264.

13. Share your storage

This is a big one for families: you can now share your iCloud space with family members – so, for example, we’ve got a 2TB plan that we share with the kids. 

You can enable this in Settings > iCloud > Manage Storage. Don’t worry, your secret iCloud files aren’t shared, just your storage space.

14. Don’t crash the car

Using your phone while driving is, of course, stupid and dangerous, but if you’re not sure that you can avoid temptation then enable Do Not Disturb While Driving in Settings > Do Not Disturb. 

The name tells you what it does, but not how clever it is: your iPhone can tell how fast you’re moving or whether you’re connected to an in-car Bluetooth system, and turn the feature on automatically. 

It won’t block phone calls, and people can still get hold of you in an emergency. However, be warned: it'll also do the same on a train, which can be annoying on the commute to work and you're sat wondering why nobody loves you.

15. Organize your files

The new Files app is now on iPhone, and it’s a handy way of accessing not just iCloud, which is useful in its own right, but third-party services such as Dropbox and Google Drive too.

However, most file transfers will still be handled by the inbuilt 'Share' icon in the relevant apps, rather than using Files, but if you want to share things from Pages or similar, this is the place to come.

16. Toggle True Tone

The iPhone 8 and 8 Plus get a smart feature that was previously only for iPads: True Tone display, which adjusts the screen color temperature and brightness based on the ambient lighting conditions. 

In the unlikely event that you don’t want the colors to be more realistic on the screen, you can toggle it in Settings > Display and Brightness or by pushing hard on the brightness slider in Control Center, through 3D Touch.

17. Turn off Auto Brightness

If you prefer to adjust the display's brightness yourself rather than leaving it to your iPhone's auto setting, you’ll want to know the new location of Auto Brightness – it’s been moved out of Settings > Display & Brightness and now lives in Settings > Accessibility > Display Accommodations.

18. Prepare for emergencies

The new Emergency SOS feature, which you can enable in Settings > Emergency SOS, disables Touch ID when activated and can automatically call an emergency number or notify named contacts that you need assistance. 

To use it, press the power button five times.

19. Get a free guide

Apple has published a huuuuuuuuuuuge iPhone user guide for iBooks. It’s free, and you can get it here.

This article is brought to you in association with Vodafone.

Posted in Uncategorised

iPhone 8 Plus vs iPhone 7 Plus: the big differences revealed

The iPhone X may be a really big deal, but it isn’t Apple’s biggest phone: that’s the iPhone 8 Plus, the successor to last year’s iPhone 7 Plus

It’s a big phone with a big screen and a big price tag too, but is it a worthy upgrade from the thoroughly excellent and still lightning quick iPhone 7 Plus? Let’s find out.

iPhone 8 Plus vs iPhone 7 Plus: design

The iPhone 7 Plus looks like a bigger iPhone 7 and like its smaller sibling comes in six colours: Rose Gold, Gold, Silver, Black, Jet Black and (Product)RED, and it’s rated IP67 for water and dust resistance. It’s a big phone - that 5.5-inch display with large bezels means it’s hefty if you have small hands - but visually the proportions work just as well as they do on the smaller iPhone 7. 

The iPhone 8 looks similar but has a glass front and back sitting on a steel frame with aluminium around the edges. Colours are Silver, Space Grey and Gold. It’s microscopically sealed for dust and water resistance; we’re assuming IP68 certification compared to the IP67 of the iPhone 7.

iPhone 8 Plus vs iPhone 7 Plus: display

The iPhone 7 Plus has a 5.5-inch Retina HD display, delivering 1920 x 1080 pixels at 326ppi. It has 1300:1 contrast, 625 cd/m2 maximum brightness and dial-domain pixels for wider viewing angles. 

The iPhone 8 Plus keeps the same screen technology and dimensions but adds the True Tone display of the iPad Pro, which adjusts screen colours based on available ambient light. It’s subtle but very effective. 

iPhone 8 Plus vs iPhone 7 Plus: processor, memory and storage

The iPhone 7 Plus is available with 32GB, 128GB or 256GB of storage and has 3GB of RAM, 1GB more than the iPhone 7. The processor is Apple’s quad-core A10 Fusion, which has two high performance and two energy efficient cores. It’s paired with the M10 motion co-processor. In a year of very demanding usage we haven’t found anything to complain about in terms of performance: it was, and remains, a very fast smartphone.

With the iPhone 8, Apple has upped the horsepower quite dramatically. The new A11 Bionic processor is a six-core processor with four high performance cores, and performance is between 25% and 70% faster than the iPhone 7. Apple has its own GPU here too, which is 30% faster than its predecessor. 

We haven’t seen it benchmarked yet but leaks suggest it might come close to the 10,000 mark in GeekBench. That’s astonishing. Storage is up too: there’s a choice of 64GB or 256GB models.

iPhone 8 Plus vs iPhone 7 Plus: camera

The camera in the iPhone 7 Plus is actually two cameras. The main lens is a 12MP model with f/1.8 aperture, 5x digital zoom, optical image stabilisation and Auto HDR for photos, while the second lens offers depth sensing to create Digital SLR-style blurs in Portrait mode. It should be good for augmented reality apps too. It records 4K video at 30 fps, 1080p at 30 or 60 fps and has slo-mo and time-lapse modes. The front camera is a 7-megapixel FaceTime HD with f/2.2 aperture, retina flash and wide colour capture. 

The iPhone 8 camera is better still. The new 12MP sensor has 83% more light, faster autofocus, hardware multi-band noise reduction and video capture of 4K at 60fps and slo-mo at 240fps in 1080p resolution. The second lens enables Portrait Mode and some new post-shooting effects such as Portrait Lighting Mode, which will launch in beta mode soon. Both sensors are new, with f/1.8 and f/2.8 apertures.

The big deal here is augmented reality: the iPhone 8’s camera was specifically designed for it, and the camera’s more energy efficient sensor means less battery drain during AR apps. We’re very excited about this. 

iPhone 8 Plus vs iPhone 7 Plus: battery and charging

Big phones need big batteries, and the iPhone 7 Plus has a whopping 2,900 mAh inside - nearly one-third bigger than the battery in the iPhone 7. We’ve never had battery life problems during even fairly demanding days, with the exception of a few early iOS 11 betas that clearly needed some work in the energy efficiency department. 

With the iPhone 8 Plus, wireless charging comes to the party.

iPhone 8 Plus vs iPhone 7 Plus: price

The iPhone 7 Plus price starts at $769 (£719, AU$1,229) for the entry-level 32GB model.

The iPhone 8 Plus starts at $799 and orders start on 15 September.

Posted in Uncategorised

The best Amazon Prime Day deals 2017

Welcome to Amazon Prime Day on TechRadar. We're listing all of the best Amazon Prime Day deals of the day so that you don't have to ensure the horror of browsing the Amazon website.

Behold amazing deals on Philips Hue gear, Trunki suitcases, smartphones, Echo speakers, Kindles and so much more.

If you're not yet an Amazon Prime member, you'll need to sign up quickly before you can get any of these deals. You can grab a 30-day free trial easily enough, and if you stick around after that it's just £79 for the year.

At the top of the page you'll see our pick of the overall best deals, followed by the amazing deals Amazon is running on its own devices, including Echo, Kindle and Fire TV Stick. Under that, we've listed all the best deals by category!

The 10 best Amazon Prime Day deals 2017:

Here find our selection of the hottest Prime Day deals:

Amazon Echo Dot: down to £34.99 from £49.99
The Echo dot is the mini and more popular version of the Echo. It sports a mini speaker and also an audio-out port to plug it into external speakers. It got 4.5-stars from us in our review just recently.

Microsoft Surface Pro 4: down to £476.99 (save £410)
BOOM! An absolutely stunning Prime Day deal right here. This could be the hottest Prime Day deal of them all, in fact. Save £350 on a Surface Pro 4 laptop/tablet hybrid? Yes please. This one could sell out so act fast! 

PS4 Slim 500GB: with Overwatch, Crash Bandicoot Trilogy and two DualShock 4 pads - just £179.99
This is a superb PS4 bundle - if you're been waiting to pick up a console then this could well be the best PS4 bundle of Prime Day. The Xbox One S deal below is also strong - maybe you should get both!

PlayStation Plus: Get 15 months for just £29.99!
Absolutely amazing deal on a 15-month PlayStation Plus subscription here. Get it for just £29.99 which is about £25 less than the usual price.

Xbox One S bundle: down to £179.99 (was £296.21)
Get the 500GB Xbox One S with Forza Horizon 3 and Minecraft and a chatpad and headset AND a second controller all for just £179.99. A brilliant console deal right there particularly if you're interested in these games (Forza Horizon 3 is brilliant). 

Philips Fidelio Headphones: down to £129.99 (save £142.08)
These audiophile-quality cans are less than half price until midnight – although we'd be surprised if this deal lasts that long! The open-back design delivers amazing audio, and memory foam makes them super comfy. Expires midnight tonight

Amazon Prime TV deals: see all of Amazon's Prime Day TV deals here. They're available in all shapes and sizes! We've selected some favourites below but you can see all the deals on Amazon's TV deals page.

Philips Hue Starter Kit (E27): down to £89.99 (save £60)
Get started with Philips Hue with a 33% saving on the starter kit! It includes three bulbs and the Hue Bridge. These are E27 bulbs which mean screw fit. For bayonet fittings, see below. Expires midnight tonight 

Philips Hue E27 Richer Colour: down to £22.49 (save £25)
Add to your Philips Hue set up with 50% off the new Richer Colour bulbs. Requires the Hue Bridge to work so start wit hteh starter kit! This is the E27 screw fitting version. Ends midnight tonight 

Samsung Galaxy S8 | £235 £125 upfront (with PRIMETR code) | 5GB data | Unlimited calls and texts | £27.99pm at Mobiles.co.uk
The cheapest way you can now own one of the planet's best Android phones on contract - enter the code PRIMETR to get £110 off the upfront cost. Total cost over 24 months £796.76  VIEW THIS DEAL AT MOBILES.CO.UK

Oral B Smart Series Toothbrush: down to £50.49 (save £43.51)
This smart toothbrush removes surface stains for a whiter smile, and connects via Bluetooth to a wireless SmartGuide that gives you stats on your brushing. The standard color is black, but it's also available in white. Expires midnight tonight

Trunki Suitcases: save up to 35% on ride-on suitcases
These things are brilliant for getting the kids (or dad) through the airport in one piece and without getting lost. Lots of different designs are available with discounts today. Try these: Frieda the Cow | Harley the Ladybug | Tipu the Tiger | Terrance (Blue) | Frank the Fire Engine

Amazon Prime Day: Amazon devices deals 2017

In this section you'll find all of the cheap deals on Amazon's own devices, whether it's Amazon Echo speakers, Kindle e-readers, Fire tablets or TV sticks!

Audible: Get 6-months of Audible membership for just £2.99 per month! For that you get one-free audiobook per month - the normal price is £7.99 per month! Amazing deal if you love audiobooks!

Amazon Warehouse: save an extra 20% on open-box products at Amazon Warehouse for today only! A great way to get super cheap deals.

Amazon Echo: down to £79.99 from £149.99
The Amazon Echo is Amazon’s flagship smart speaker, powered by the world-renowned Alexa smart home helper. It's still the original smart speaker and one of the best. We gave it 4-stars in our review last year.

Amazon Echo Dot: down to £34.99 from £49.99
The Echo dot is the mini and more popular version of the Echo. It sports a mini speaker and also an audio-out port to plug it into external speakers. It got 4.5-stars from us in our review just recently.

Amazon Fire TV Stick : down to £29.99 from £49.99
Amazon's TV and music streaming stick plugs straight into your TV and instantly smartens it up, bringing you Netflix, Amazon Video, Spotify, gaming, shopping and loads of other things. At £20 off this has to be a must-buy if you don't already have one.

Amazon Fire TV 4K Ultra HD: down to ??? from £79.99
Essentially the same as the Fire TV Stick with Alexa remote, only this is more of a set-top option which goes beyond 1080p video and streams 4K video from Amazon and Netflix. No deal has been revealed yet but that doesn't mean there won't be one!

Amazon Dash buttons: down to £1.99 from £4.99
Run out of that everyday item? Whether it's toilet paper, beer, cat food, coffee, washing powder of a range of other things - you can instantly order a same-day or next-day replenishment at the touch of one of these Dash buttons.

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite: down to £79.99 from £109.99
The Amazon Kindle Paperwhite is the step-up e-reader for those who want a higher-res screen, a built-in light and a more comfortable reading experience - and are willing to pay a little extra to get it .

Amazon Kindle Voyage: down to £129.99 from £169.99
The Voyage is another e-reader and another step up in price, offering as it does premium build quality, a flush display, an automatic-brightness display and a few other premium extras. A worthy step up from the Paperwhite.

Amazon Kindle Oasis: down to ??? from £269.99
And here we have the best of the best, the most expensive e-reader ever released, the one with all the bells and whistles including stupendous e-ink display. If money is no object this is for you! No official deal for this one yet - watch this space!

Amazon Fire 7 tablet: down to £29.99 from £49.99
This is already a super cheap 7-inch tablet even before any Prime Day discounts. It packs the Alexa smart helper, and you can install all your favourite apps like Spotify and Netflix. At £29.99 there's no arguing with this amazing deal.

Amazon Fire HD 8 tablet: down to £49.99 from £79.99
The Fire HD 8 tablet is a good step up from the 7-incher above and packs an 8-inch HD screen as well as some other core upgrades. Worth spending the extra if you want a bit more than the bare essentials.

Amazon Fire 7 Kids: down to £69.99 from £99.99
We already know this one is going to be on sale. This is essentially a Fire 7 tablet, with child protection software, a kid-proof case and loads of kids games and content for your little ones.

Amazon Fire HD 8 Kids: down to £89.99 from £129.99
Essentially the same as above but with HD 8-inch screen and a bit more oomph. Kids will appreciate the extra screen space, and they're less likely to get frustrated with a bit more grunt to power their games and video.

20% off fashion at Amazon.co.uk
Save on fashion items including clothes, shoes, purses, bathing gear and loads more until the end of the day! This is one of the few deals that will run from now until the end of Tuesday so fill your, err, boots.

Amazon Prime Day: Tech deals

Microsoft Surface Pro 4: down to £476.99 (save £410)
BOOM! An absolutely stunning Prime Day deal right here. This could be the hottest Prime Day deal of them all, in fact. Save £350 on a Surface Pro 4 laptop/tablet hybrid? Yes please. This one could sell out so act fast! 

Anker mobile accessories:
Including USB cables, chargers, power banks, USB hubs, Bluetooth speakers and lots more. All with big discounts for today only. So if you have your eye on a plug or some other accessories for your phone, laptop or tablet - today is the day!

PS4 Slim 500GB: with Overwatch, Crash Bandicoot Trilogy and two DualShock 4 pads - just £179.99
This is a superb PS4 bundle - if you're been waiting to pick up a console then this could well be the best PS4 bundle of Prime Day. The Xbox One S deal below is also strong - maybe you should get both!

PlayStation 4 Pro with Horizon: Zero Dawn with 3 games only £349.99
With this bundle you can get Horizon: Zero Dawn, WipEout: Omega Collection and call of Duty: Infinity Warfare thrown in for free.

- Get the PS4 Pro 1TB on its own for £339.99

PlayStation Plus: Get 15 months for just £29.99!
Absolutely amazing deal on a 15-month PlayStation Plus subscription here. Get it for just £29.99 which is about £25 less than the usual price.

Xbox One S bundle: down to £179.99 (was £296.21)
Get the 500GB Xbox One S with Forza Horizon 3 and Minecraft and a chatpad and headset AND a second controller all for just £179.99. A brilliant console deal right there particularly if you're interested in these games (Forza Horizon 3 is brilliant). 

Sennheiser Over-Ear Headphones: down to £99 (save £42.21)
Sennheiser's audiophile-grade headphones are less than £100 this Amazon Prime Day – an amazing deal that can't last long! They have an open-back design with comfortable velour earpads and detachable 1.2m cable. Expires midnight tonight

UE Boom 2 Wireless Speaker: down to £71 (save £46.54)
The UE Boom 2 Bluetooth speaker produces amazing 360-degree sound, and can pair with up to eight devices at the same time. It can be connected with Echo Dot and Alexa, and it's even waterproof! Expires midnight tonight

Bose Apple Headphones: down to £60 (save £39.95)
This deal sounds too good to be true! These headphones from Bose are specially engineered for use with Apple devices, and deliver rich sound with a sealed acoustic design so you can get totally immersed in your music. Expires midnight tonight

Philips Fidelio Headphones: down to £129.99 (save £142.08)
These audiophile-quality cans are less than half price until midnight – although we'd be surprised if this deal lasts that long! The open-back design delivers amazing audio, and memory foam makes them super comfy. Expires midnight tonight

Logitech Harmony Home Hub: down to £53.99 (save £45.96)
If you fancy turning your house into a smart home, this is the Prime Day deal for you. Logitech's Harmony Home Hub lets you control up to eight devices from your phone, including locks, lights and thermostats. Expires midnight tonight

Bose Android Headphones: down to £60 (save £39.95)
Bose doesn't just make top quality audio kit for Apple products – these in-ear headphones are made specifically for Android phones and tablets, with StayHear tips that hold them securely and comfortable in place. Expires midnight tonight

B&O Play Bluetooth Speaker: down to £125 (save £80)
Bang and Olufsen makes amazing speakers, and this mobile model is no exception. It weighs just 600g, and is small enough to sit in the palm of your hand, but its sound quality has to be heard to be believed. Expires midnight tonight

Jaybird Wireless Headphones: down to £79 (save £60.95)
These Bluetooth earphones are cleverly designed, with the battery and electronics moved away from the earbud for a more snug and comfortable fit. They'll stay firmly in place, and are also available in gold. Expires midnight tonight

B&O Play Bluetooth Speaker: down to £249 (save £150)
Get a huge discount on this top-quality speaker from Bang and Olufsen. It kicks out far more sound than most Bluetooth devices, with four active drivers and two passive bass radiators, and 24 hours of playback. Expires midnight tonight

Sony High-Res Headphones: down to £79.99 (save £70.01)
These premium headphones from Sony have been slashed to almost half price for Prime Day, so grab them while you can! They deliver amazing audio quality thanks to carefully balanced components. Expires midnight tonight

Sony Smartphone Headphones: down to £19.99 (save £11)
Enjoy better music playback on your phone thanks to an aluminium housing design that limits unwanted vibration and secure-fitting silicone earbuds. These specially crafted earphones are an absolute bargain! Expires midnight tonight

Logitech Harmony Elite Set: down to £112.49 (save £144.01)
This Logitech smart home starter kit is less than half price throughout Prime Day. It includes a remote control, hub and mobile app, enabling you to connect up to 15 home entertainment and other devices. Expires midnight tonight

LaMetric Smart Home Clock: down to £111.30 (save £47.70)
Brighten up your home with this Wi-Fi enabled clock, which does much more than just show the time. It also displays notifications from your mobile devices, tracks the weather, and connects to online radio stations. Expires midnight tonight

Huawei Sport Smartwatch: down to £259 (save £120)
Save an incredible £120 on this sports watch from Huawei, with SIM card support and 4G so you can receive notifications and get online without connecting it to a phone. It's compatible with both iOS and Android. Expires midnight tonight

Garmin Forerunner 35 Watch: down to £109.99 (save £49.06)
This GPS watch is lightweight and easy to use, making it perfect if you've never used a sports watch before. Track your heart rate, monitor how fast and how far you've run, and track your steps throughout the day. Expires midnight tonight

Fitbit Flex 2 fitness band: down to £41.99 (save  £16)
Track your steps, distance, calories burned and active minutes! Smart Track automatically recognises workouts like runs and rides and also tracks your sleep. A really good fitness tracker to get you started. Get it in blue | Get it in black

Amazon Prime Day: Laptop deals 2017

Dell Inspiron 7000 15.6-inch Gaming Laptop: down to £699.99 (save £200)
With an Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB RAM and a decent GTX 1050 graphics card, the Dell Inspiron 7000 is a truely excellent gaming laptop.

Dell Inspiron 15: down to £279 (save £100)
Another brilliant deal on a Dell laptop here. This model has an Intel Core i3 CPU, 4GB RAM, 1TB HDD, integrated graphics and an HD screen. It's not a super powerful laptop but it's well worth this bargain price!

Super cheap laptop: down to £99 (save £60)
If you're after a super cheap laptop deal, look no further than this bargain on the iOTA One. This is not a gaming laptop, but for light computing it's a steal.

ASUS 360 Degree Chromebook Flip: down to £439.99 (save £160)
This excellent convertible Chromebook comes with an Intel Core M3 processor, 4GB RAM, a 1080p display and 10 hour battery life. All this, plus you get £160 off for Amazon Prime Day.

HP 15-ay110na 15.6-inch laptop: down to £439.99 (save £90)
HP has knocked £90 off this 15.6-inch laptop, which features plenty of power thanks to an Intel Core i5 processor and 8GB of RAM. Also included is a 1TB hard drive to store all your stuff, and Windows 10.

Asus UX360 Zenbook Flip: down to £589.99 (save £260)
Save a huge £260 off of this slimline laptop that can rotate its display to turn into a 13.3-inch Windows 10 tablet. With the latest seventh generation Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD, this is a slick and speedy device.

Asus UX560 Zenbook Flip: down to £949.99 (save £350)
Want more power than the deal above? Prepare to pay more - but with a price cut of £350 this is an amazing deal. You get the more powerful UX560 Zenbook with an i7 CPU, 12GB RAM, and an Nvidia GeForce 940MX graphics card to play games with. 

Amazon Prime Day: 4K TV deals

Amazon Prime TV deals: see all of Amazon's Prime Day TV deals here. They're available in all shapes and sizes! We've selected some favourites below but you can see all the deals on Amazon's TV deals page.

Sony Bravia KDL40WE663: down to £389 (save £95)
If you don't need 4K, save big on this full HD TV! Perfect for watching Blu-ray and streaming HD Netflix. It's also HDR compatible. Expires when stock runs out

LG 55UJ630V 55-inch 4K HDR TV: down to £689 (save £190)
If the 49-inch model above it tempting, but you need something bigger, then you might find a match with this other Amazon TV deal. It's the same great 2017 version of the TV, but with a larger 55-inch screen. Expires at midnight

LG 43UJ630V 43-inch 4K HDR Smart TV £379 (save £120)
A 43-inch TV is more than enough for most homes and this is one of the cheapest 4K HDR TVs we've ever seen and from a company we've all heard of too! Expires at midnight. 

LG 28MT42VF 27-inch 720p TV: down to £144.99  (save £55)
Looking for something for the spare room, or maybe something for children not ready to appreciate the world of 4K? Then this is a super small TV deal. Why not turn it into a smart TV with a super cheap Amazon Fire TV stick for just £29.99.

Amazon Prime day: Philips Hue deals

Philips Hue Starter Kit (E27): down to £89.99 (save £60)
Get started with Philips Hue with a 33% saving on the starter kit! It includes three bulbs and the Hue Bridge. These are E27 bulbs which mean screw fit. For bayonet fittings, see below. Expires midnight tonight 

Philips Hue Starter Kit (B22): down to £89.99 (save £60)
Get started with Philips Hue with a 33% saving on the starter kit! Again this includes three bulbs and the Hue Bridge. These are B22 bulbs which mean bayonet fittings. For screw fittings, see above. Expires midnight tonight 

Philips Hue B22 Richer Colour: down to £22.49 (save £25)
Add to your Philips Hue set up with 50% off the new Richer Colour bulbs. Requires the Hue Bridge to work. This is the B22 bayonet fitting version - stock up while they're cheap! Ends midnight tonight 

Philips Hue E27 Richer Colour: down to £22.49 (save £25)
Add to your Philips Hue set up with 50% off the new Richer Colour bulbs. Requires the Hue Bridge to work so start wit hteh starter kit! This is the E27 screw fitting version. Ends midnight tonight 

Philips Hue GU10 Spotlights TWIN PACK: down to £26.99 (save £23)
Ideal for turning your kitchen into the ultimate smart kitchen! These bulbs are rarely discounted so great chance to get a bargain here. Expires midnight tonight

Philips Hue Motion Sensor: down to £17.99 (save £17)
If you want your Hue lights to come on whenever you enter a room or even when you just arrive home, this motion sensor is for you! It triggers your hue lights when motion is detected.

Amazon Prime Day: Mobile phone deals

Although there are one or two excellent contract phone deals knocking around this Amazon Prime Day, they are far outnumbered by the offers on SIM free mobiles. Bearing in mind that you can lay your hands on a SIM only deal from a mere £4 a month, we recommend that you strike while the iron is hot for flashy new handset.

Samsung Galaxy S8 | £235 £125 upfront (with PRIMETR code) | 5GB data | Unlimited calls and texts | £27.99pm at Mobiles.co.uk
The cheapest way you can now own one of the planet's best Android phones on contract - enter the code PRIMETR to get £110 off the upfront cost. Total cost over 24 months £796.76  VIEW THIS DEAL AT MOBILES.CO.UK

Motorola Moto G5: down to £134.99 (save £45)
This is the best 'cheap' smartphone out there and at this price it would be rude not to buy one! Down to £134.99 is an absolutely stunning deal - this will sell out today so get one quick if you want one.

Sony Xperia L1 dual SIM: down to £125.99 (save £43)
Pick up the Sony Xperia L1 Android smartphone for just £125.99 for today only! This is a dual SIM handset which means if you have a work phone... you don't need a work phone anymore! Carry both SIMs in one handset.

Wileyfox Swift 2 X: down to £149.99 from £219.99 at Amazon
Better than your average budget phone (read our Wileyfox Swift 2 X verdict here) this is a splendidly designed handset with a vibrant, detailed screen. And now it's down to only £150. A brilliant bargain!

Google Pixel: down to £469.99 from £599.99 at Carphone Warehouse
The Google Pixel was only released last autumn, but we're already seeing brilliant deals. This is a massive £130 saving on the upfront cost - a handset we rated 4.5/5 in our Pixel review.

Huawei P8 Lite: down to £149.99 from £249.99 at Carphone Warehouse
That's more like it! A mighty £100 saving here on the very respectable P8 Lite. If you need a cheap blower for your holiday or music festival, this should be on your shortlist.

Amazon Prime day: Camera deals

GoPro Hero 5 Session with case, grip and headstrap: down to £244.99 (save £110)
Get a great discount on this GoPro Hero 5 Session travel bundle which includes accessories like a case, a grip and a headstrap. A perfect deal for the summer! Expires midnight tonight

Sony ILCE6300B CSC (body only): down to £674 (save £130)
Not the cheapest camera out there by any means but this is a fabulous deal on a fabulous compact system camera. Get it here body-only or see below for an option with a zoom lens. Expires midnight tonight

Sony ILCE7KB Full Frame CSC w/lens: down to £719 (save £280)
For a great deal on a full frame CSC with 28-70mm zoom lens, look no further than this Sony stunner. It's normally £999 but today only it's reduced to £799 - ideal for making that step up to serious photography. Expires midnight tonight 

Sony DSCRX10M3 4K Digital Bridge Mk3 with Zeiss lens: down to £1019 (save £290)
This superb Sony 4K bridge camera is discounted by a whopping £270. Strong deal for anyone who wants an amazon camera with a strong discount. Expires midnight tonight 

Amazon Prime Day: Computing deals

Microsoft Surface Pro 4: down to £476.99 (save £410)
BOOM! An absolutely stunning Prime Day deal right here. This could be the hottest Prime Day deal of them all, in fact. Save £350 on a Surface Pro 4 laptop/tablet hybrid? Yes please. This one could sell out so act fast! 

SanDisk Ultra 128GB MicroSDXC card: down to £27.49 (save £15)
Add storage to your laptop, your smartphone or your camera with this SDXC card. 128GB is plenty of storage and for only £25.99 it's a really cheap way to boost your capacity.

Arlo Smart Home Security Cameras: down to £224.99 (save £125)
Smarten up your home and make it more secure at the same time. Netgear's Arlo system is well regarded and this is a fantastic deal with three cameras and the base station.

SanDisk Ultra 128GB USB 3.0: down to £24.99 (save £12)
Get this 128GB USB 3.0 thumb drive with a healthy discount. It's down to £23.99 which is a handy amount of storage to back up a massive selection of your most important files.

Seagate Backup Plus 8TB: down to £119.99 (save £69)
Back up 8TB of files with this monster backup drive! 8TB is 8000GB which is enough for roughly an entire universe of photos, videos and music files.

Amazon Prime Day: Home & Kitchen deals

Philips Airfryer: down to £85.99 (save £52.15)
If you want to start eating healthier but aren't quite ready to quit the chips, this is the deal for you. The Philips Airfryer uses up to 80 per cent less fat than a conventional fryer, and has an auto-off function for safety. Expires midnight tonight

De'Longhi Nespresso Machine: down to £125.99 (save £60)
Smarten up your kitchen with this stylish coffee maker, which pours perfect cappuccinos and lattes straight into a glass. The standard color is red, but it also comes in black and white for the same amazing Prime Day price. Expires midnight tonight

Nescafé Dolce Gusto Machine: down to £25.99 (save £24)
This is an amazing price for a coffee machine from a well-known brand. This Dolce Gusto model takes coffee pods, and has a removable water tank for easy filling. It's energy-efficient and easy to clean. A real bargain! Expires midnight tonight

De'Longhi Bean-to-Cup: down to £399.99 (save £199.01)
If you're a coffee connoisseur, a bean-to-cup machine is an essential investment. This machine has a memory function so it can make drinks just the way you like them, and cleans itself automatically. Expires midnight tonight

Breville Hot Water Dispenser: down to £39.99 (save £20)
Where we're going, we don't need kettles. This hot water dispenser eliminates messy and potentially dangerous pouring, delivering just the right amount of hot water into your cup at the push of a button, any time. Once you've lived with one of these, you'll wonder how you ever did without it. Expires midnight tonight

Morphy Richards Breadmaker: down to £38.99 (save £18)
With this breadmaker, you can have a fresh loaf ready every morning with practically no effort. The Morphy Richards Fastbake has adjustable crust settings, and can also make delicious cakes and jam. Expires midnight tonight

Jura Impressa Coffee Machine: down to £619.99 (save £329.96)
This is a truly premium coffee machine that would put high street cafes to shame. It can use either fresh or ground beans, offers 13 preset drink settings, and has fine milk foam tech for the perfect velvety finish. Expires midnight tonight

Philips Quick Clean Juicer: down to £120.99 (save £59.98)
Getting fresh fruit juice has never been easier. This machine's extra-large feeding tube means less preparation is necessary before juicing, and it can be cleaned by simply running a juicing cycle with water. Expires midnight tonight

Tower Pressure Cooker: down to £34.99 (save £19.98)
Prepare meals with the touch of a button using this six-liter pressure cooker. Pressure cooking locks in more nuyrients than other methods, and makes sure food cooks quickly and evenly. It's an amazing price this Prime Day! Expires midnight tonight

Tefal Cook4Me Multi-Cooker: down to £129.99 (save £169.01)
If you think you can't cook, think again. This cooker guides you through recipes step by step, and sets cooking times automatically. It has Wi-Fi connectivity to download new recipes, and the bowl is machine washable. Expires midnight tonight

Philips Kitchen Food Processor: down to £50.99 (save £43.01)
This is an amazing price for a great quality food processor that kneads, chops, blends, slices, shreds and granulates thanks to interchangeable blades and discs, and it'll stay steady and stable on your workstop. Expires midnight tonight

Breville Personal Blender: down to £17.99 (save £9)
Making it easier to enjoy smoothies, slushies and protein drinks on the move, the Breville Personal Blender comes with two reusable bottles and blends at the press of a button. Extra bottles are just £4.99 on Prime Day. Expires midnight tonight

Breville Ultimate Grill: down to £59.99 (save £30.87)
Get an amazing deal on this premium-quality grilling machine – perfect for meat, fish and vegetables. Its elements heat up quickly and evenly, its plates have a superior non-stick coating, and it lets excess fat drain easily. Expires midnight tonight

Breville Sandwich Toaster: down to £27.99 (save £15)
Who doesn't love a toasted sandwich or panini – especially at this price? Breville's design is great for deep-filled toasties, with cut-and-seal to keep all the cheese and other delicious fillings from spilling out. Expires midnight tonight

Breville Health Fryer: down to £84.99 (save £65.01)
Breville's innovative fryer uses just half a tablespoon of oil to cook a kilogram of chips to crispy, golden perfection. The bowl tilts and rotates so food cooks evenly, and it can also be used to roast, bake and sauté. Expires midnight tonight

Igenix Manual Microwave: down to £33.99 (save £25.95)
If you're in the market for a new microwave, look no further – this model is smart, easy to use, and an absolute bargain on Prime Day. It comfortably fits a standard dinner plate, with five power settings and a 35-minute timer. Expires midnight tonight

Breville Sandwich Press: down to £16.99 (save £10.47)
No, your eyes don't deceive you – this superb non-stick sandwich press really is less than £17. It's great for paninis, ciabatta, tea cakes and crumpets. Expires midnight tonight

Tefal Multi Cooker: down to £47.99 (save £21.01)
This cooker is a brilliant time-saver for families, and is an amazing price on Prime Day. It has 12 preset functions, and cooking settings are adjusted automatically for perfect results. Expires midnight tonight

Magimix Nespresso Machine: down to £199.99 (save £79.01)
This premium coffee machine is a steal at under £200 this Prime Day. It has an improved instant water heating system, a huge 1.4-liter water tank, and a pivoting support that will fit any size of cup. Expires midnight tonight

Andrew James Nutri-Fit Blender: down to £34.99 (save £14.98)
This powerful mini blender can blitz fruit and veg, crack seeds and stems, and even grind coffee beans and spices thanks to its 1,000W motor. £34.99 is a brilliant price for such a powerful blender, so snap it up while you can. Expires midnight tonight

Andrew James Fruit Juicer: down to £27.99 (save £11.99)
This premium juicer processes whole fruit and vegetables, with a powerful motor and sharp stainless steel blades to ensure you get as much juice as possible. Pulp is separated via centrifugal force. Expires midnight tonight

Amazon Prime Day: Personal care deals

Philips Wet and Dry Shaver: down to £199.99 (save £250.01)
Look sharp for less than half price with the world's most comfortable shaver. Its precision blades cut 30% closer, and its eight-directional head follows every contour of your face. The best shave you'll ever have. Expires midnight tonight

Oral B Smart Series Toothbrush: down to £50.49 (save £43.51)
This smart toothbrush removes surface stains for a whiter smile, and connects via Bluetooth to a wireless SmartGuide that gives you stats on your brushing. The standard color is black, but it's also available in white. Expires midnight tonight

Braun Rechargeable Shaver: down to £33.49 (save £31.48)
This wet and dry cordless shaver is an amazing deal this Prime Day. It has three pressure-sensing elements to follow the contours of your face and a micro-comb to capture more hair. Great with water, foam or gel. Expires midnight tonight

Braun Multi Grooming Kit: down to £24.99 (save £17.42)
Get everything you need to stay looking smart or try a new look with this ultimate grooming kit. It has four combs, a detail trimmer, and a nose and ear trimmer attachment – all of which are easy to clean with water. Expires midnight tonight

GHD Air Wanderlust Hairdryer: down to £64.99 (save £13.01)
This salon-quality hairdryer is a brilliant price on Prime Day. It has variable power and temperature controls for different hair types, and advanced ionic technology to eliminate frizz. Expires midnight tonight

Amazon Prime Day: Home improvement deals

Hive Active Heating Kit: down to £103.49 (save £79)
If you want to bring your central heating and hot water system into the 21st Century, you need a smart thermostat like Hive. This self-install kit is being discounted to £114.99 which is a big discount! Expires midnight tonight

Bosch PSB 1800 LI-2 power drill: down to £47.49 (save £38)
This is a best selling power drill on Amazon and today it's discounted by £28, leaving you paying just over £50. With 20 speed and torque settings, it's the ideal home owner's gadget. Expires midnight tonight

Karcher K4 pressure washer: down to £134.99 (save £93)
The summer is a great time to clean that patio! Get rid of the graffiti on the garage door! Clean the muck off that back wall! This powerful pressure washer is down to just £149.99. Expires midnight tonight

Bosch Isio cordless shrub and grass shears: down to £32.99 (save £15)
Trim the edges of your lawn, craft your bush into a precise and beautiful shape or just generally tidy up your garden with this cordless shrub trimmer! Expires midnight tonight

Karcher WV2 Premium Window Vac: down to £32.39 (save £19)
Why only clean your windows when you can clean and dry them at the same time? This window vac is £19 off for today only - clean your glass and don't leave any streaks! Expires midnight tonight

Flymo HoverVac 280 lawnmower: down to £43.99 (save £22)
How's this for a supercheap lawmower this Amazon Prime Day? If your grass is looking a bit worse for wear, this deal will save you £22 - a lawnmower for just £43.99? How is that possible? Expires midnight tonight

Bosch Rotak electric lawnmower: down to £59.99 (save £25)
If you prefer your electric lawnmowers to have wheels, this deal allows you to save £25 on the Bosch Rotak. Note the options to pay a little extra to get bundles including an extra blade. Expires midnight tonight

Bosch ART 23 electric strimmer: down to £15.99 (save £16)
Tidy up the edges of your lawn with an electric strimmer. For £15.99 why would you not buy one of these? It's lightweight and easy to use too. Expires midnight tonight

Amazon Prime day: Baby tech deals

Angelcare Movement and Sound baby monitor: down to £49 (save £21)
If you need a new baby monitor, this deal from Angelcare is just for you! It monitors sound, movement and temperature in baby's bedroom so you can rest easy! Expires midnight tonight

Graco Stadium Duo double pushchair: down to £106.39 (save £73)
Cracking deal on a double pushchair, ideal for keeping two kids under control at the shops! The usual price is £179.99 so this is a fat saving - a must buy for anyone with twins on the way! Expires midnight tonight 

Graco Evo Stroller: down to £174.96 (save £75)
If you need a new pushchair, this lush one from Graco could be up your baby's street! It's discounted by over 33% so a good saving. Still not cheap but good if you want something premium without a premium price. Expires midnight tonight

Amazon Prime Day: Pet deals

Dog DNA test: down to £41.50 (save £17)
With a simple cheek swab, you can uncover DNA-based insights that may help you understand your dog's unique appearance, behaviors, and wellness needs. You never know what you might find out about your best friend! 

Interpet Fish Tank 64l Aquarium: down to £62 (save £60)
Save big on this 62 litre fish tank aquarium. It has curved glass for a panoramic view inside and works with cold water and warm water fish - whichever you like (but not both at once, folks!) 

Sureflap microchip cat flap: down to £34.99 (save £15)
A smart catflap that uses your kitties' microchips to let them in and out. That means no other pesky cats can get in and eat their food or pee on the floor. Save £15 is a superb offer on this one - a great buy for any cat owner.

PetSafe Automatic Ball Launcher: down to £89.49 (save £37)
If you struggle to throw balls for your dog due to mobility or any other reason, this ball launcher will step in for you! Or if you like playing catch maybe you could buy one even if you don't have a dog?

Amazon Prime Day: Toys deals

Nerf Modulus Tri-Strike Blaster: down to £15.60 (save £14.40)
More or less half price for this Nerf blaster! Get one for yourself, or if you're feeling really generous get one for your kids. Three different fire functions make this a super popular Nerf gun that should keep you entertained for a while. 

BB-8 battleworn droid from Star Wars: down to £125.98 (save £54.99)
Surely this will be one of the most popular deals this Amazon Prime Day. A beloved character from the new trilogy - this droid is remote controlled and drives along just like in the movie.

Amazon Prime Day: Luggage deals

Trunki Suitcases: save up to 35% on ride-on suitcases
These things are brilliant for getting the kids (or dad) through the airport in one piece and without getting lost. Lots of different designs are available with discounts today. Try these: Frieda the Cow | Harley the Ladybug | Tipu the Tiger | Terrance (Blue) | Frank the Fire Engine

Amazon "leaks" first Prime Day deals

Throughout the previous week, Amazon has been leaking some of the upcoming Amazon Prime Day deals in order to drum up interest. It started with a vague promise that an unnamed LG 43-inch 4K TV will be "at least 30% off. But since then we've had some more firm details.

On Friday, Amazon revealed that the Amazon Fire 7 Kids Edition and Amazon Fire 8 Kids Edition tablets will both be discounted - the 7-inch one will be down from £99.99 to £79.99 and the 8-inch one from £129.99 to £89.99. Also from Amazon, Dash buttons will be down to £1.99 and still come with a £4.99 discount after your first press.

Also interesting of these new Prime Day deals is the Philips Hue White and Colour Ambience Starter Kit - a TechRadar office favourite - which will be discounted by "at least 30%" which means you'll get three colour E27 bulbs (so that's the screw caps rather than bayonet fittings) and the Hue Bridge for about £100 which is a really strong deal - the bulbs usually go for about £50 each.

More Amazon Prime Day deals revealed in advance were 50% off the De-Longhi Nespresso Lattissima Touch automatic coffee machine, 35% off the Breville High Gloss sandwich toaster, 65% off the Hoover Freedom 2-in-1 cordless vacuum cleaner and 55% off this Black+Decker cleaning iron.

We're also going to see a return of one of last year's most popular deals in 30% off various Trunki ride-on kiddy suitcases.  There's also going to be "at least" 20% off the Motorola video baby monitor as well as various pet-related deals.

Prime Day 2017 details:

While this is the third annual Prime Day, this year Prime members will be getting an additional 6 hours of deals, with 30 hours of mayhem rather than the usual 24. Consequently, the Prime Day deals will start at 6pm on Monday July 10, with new deals launching every five minutes.

The "hundreds of thousands of deals" claim is slightly dubious as it adds up all of the Prime Day deals across all 13 participating countries. That being said, there will still be thousands of deals available in the UK so you probably won't be short of prices to browse through.

“Our members love Prime Day and we were thrilled by the response over the last two years. It is inspiring us to make it even better this year for Prime members,” says Greg Greeley, Vice President Amazon Prime.

“Every side of our business is working to deliver more deals for a record number of shoppers. We even decided that 24 hours in a day just isn’t enough time to shop all of the great deals – so we’re giving Prime members 30 hours to shop on Prime Day!”

This year’s new Prime Day specials 

The extra 6 hours of deals can be explained by Amazon’s Prime Day US strategy, where Prime Day will run from 9pm Eastern Time to midnight Pacific – three extra hours at each end. For us in the UK, it’s pretty handy to see the first deals at a comfortable time in the evening rather than having to stay up until midnight so it's all good by us.

Amazon also promises that deals this year will be easy to navigate and that’s also a good thing. The Amazon shopping experience is heavily dependent on people searching for what they want – the browsing experience can be quite poor, particularly on Black Friday and manic days like it. So any attempt to make browsing deals a lot easier sounds like a good idea to us and no doubt it’ll help Amazon shift more gear too.

You’ll also for the first time on Prime Day be able to use the Amazon app to track the deals you’re interested in – so as usual with lightning deals, tick the ones you like the look of and you’ll be alerted when the deal goes live so you can see the new price.

The Amazon lottery

In additional to all of this, Amazon has also launched a big drive on Amazon Music Unlimited – its wannabe Spotify rival. Prime members who haven’t yet tried the Music Unlimited service can now secure four months of music for just £0.99. Who knows, maybe you’ll like it? And at that price why not have a look?

Between July 7 and July 11 Prime members also have the chance to win £100,000 in cash simply by streaming Amazon Video via a Fire TV, Fire TV Stick or the Amazon App on your games console. Prime members can also save up to 40% on a Kindle Unlimited membership and up to 25% at Prime Pantry between 3rd July and 6th August.

So yeah, in case you hadn’t guessed – the whole point of Prime Day from Amazon’s point of view is to drive Prime subscriptions. We’ll be right there on Prime Day listing all of the best deals so come back to TechRadar on July 11 to see which deals we rate the best!

What usually happens on Prime Day


Last year it was the biggest day in Amazon’s history: Amazon's traffic was up 36%. It sold 90,000 TVs and thousands of Kindle Paperwhites, Fire TV Sticks and tablets.

In just three hours US customers had bought 18,048 pairs of headphones, while in the UK we bought 600 Trunki suitcases before breakfast. Amazon sold enough Philips Hue bulbs to replace every light in the Albert Hall daily for four and a half years.

So what exactly is Prime Day? Can you trust the deals or is Amazon at it? And when will Prime Day 2017 be anyway? Read on for the answers to these questions and some you might not have thought of.

When is Amazon Prime Day 2017?

Amazon Prime Day 2017 will fall on July 11, though in the UK it will start at 6pm on July 10. In the US it'll run from 9pm Eastern to midnight Pacific.

What's the point of Prime Day?

Prime Day exists to promote Amazon’s Prime subscription service, which Amazon says is the best deal in the history of shopping. Prime Day is for Prime members, many of whom will sign up for a free trial of the service so they can get the deals. Once signed up, many of them stay as Prime subscribers.

Why Amazon Prime Day matters

If you’re looking for bargains, Prime Day 2017 is important - not just for gadgets, but for any kind of item. For example, on Prime Day 2016 Prime members bought 215,000 pressure cookers, 200,000 pairs of headphones, 24,000 hammocks, 23,000 Roomba robots and 14,000 Lenovo laptops. 

The crucial difference between Prime Day and Black Friday/Cyber Monday - other than it being Amazon’s idea - is that November’s deals are geared towards gifting, because of course it’s the holiday season. Amazon Prime Day is more about personal shopping, either for treating yourself or for saving money household items.

more deals than black friday

Will Prime Day 2017 be more exciting than last year?

That depends on what you’re planning to buy. Discounts on Amazon’s own products - the Amazon Echo, Fire TV Stick, Fire Tablets and Kindle e-readers for example - are pretty much guaranteed, and there will be stacks of lightning deals on the day too. Unless Amazon decides to do things radically differently this year it’s going to be a really mixed bag, with laptop deals next to handbag deals next to power tools and prosecco. If only there was a website beginning with “T” and ending in “echradar.com” to find the best deals so you don’t have to delve through the dross. Hang on… there is!

As you’d expect, we’re going to be hyped up on energy drinks throughout Prime Day on both sides of the Atlantic, finding the deals that you really don’t want to miss.

Do I need a Prime subscription to get involved? 

Yes and no. While Prime is for Prime customers, there will be other deals on the day that are open to everyone - it’s just that with lightning deals, which tend to have limited stock, the Prime users get to see them before anybody else. That means some of the very best deals can be gone long before people who aren’t Prime members get to know about them.

That doesn’t mean you need to pay for a Prime membership, though. You can sign up for a free trial and take full advantage of all the Prime benefits, including Prime Day. But don’t forget to cancel the trial afterwards if you don’t intend to continue. If you don’t, you’ll be automatically billed for membership when the trial period ends.

Are there special Prime deals for students? 

Yes. Amazon Student gives you Prime membership for £39 per year instead of the usual £79, and it’s completely free for the first six months. It’s worth considering not just for Prime Day, but for the included TV, music and movie streaming.

What to expect from Prime Day 2017

We’d expect Prime Day 2017 to follow the template of the last two Prime Days. In the week or two before hte big day, we'll see an enticing Amazon Prime subscription discount. Then on the day itself deals will be grouped into two category: Deals of the Day, which tend to be the most eye-catching and which are available in big numbers, and Lightning Deals, which cover every conceivable kind of product, have limited availability and often sell out very quickly. In the latter case Prime members get to see the deals before non-members.

prime only

Top deals to expect on Prime Day 2017 

All the Amazon things
Last year’s biggest sellers included the Amazon Fire TV Stick, the Amazon Kindle Fire tablet and the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite. Spot the trend? This year we’d expect those items to be joined by the Amazon Echo, Amazon Echo Dot and Amazon Echo Look - so whatever you do, don’t buy an Amazon device this side of Prime Day unless you like spending more money than you need to.

PS4 and Xbox One
The current generation of consoles is well established and there aren’t any limited supply problems for the PS4 and Xbox One, so we’d expect some serious discounting on Prime Day 2016 - although probably not for the PS4 Pro, which is still relatively new. With the Pro out there and the Xbox One X incoming we think Prime Day could see some exciting deals, especially on bundles: they have more wiggle room when it comes to pricing than console-only offers.

4K TVs
Working out the value of a TV can be difficult: the pace of change and strength of competition means that even the most cutting-edge TV goes from can’t-afford to cheap-as-chips in an incredibly short time. Pay no attention to the RRP / MSRP, though: use a service such as PriceSpy or CamelCamelCamel to see if what looks like a great deal is just Amazon getting round to matching rivals’ prices. There will be lots of genuine deals, however, so Prime Day 2016 is a good day to look for a new TV.

Laptops and gaming laptops
We’re constantly monitoring laptop deals not just on Prime Day, but every day. There’s lots of flexibility in laptop-land, and we’d expect Amazon to take advantage of that to drop the price of big-name laptops quite dramatically. Keep a particular eye on Lenovo, Asus and HP laptops, which tend to see discounting across multiple models.

Home electricals
House stuff might not be glamorous, but you can save an absolute packet on everything from pots and pans to food processors on Prime Day. As we mentioned earlier it’s a big day for buying hammocks, pressure cookers and robot vacuum cleaners.

The top 5 deals of Prime Day last year:

Microsoft Surface Pro - £210 off
There were lots of great laptop deals on Prime Day 2016, with a whopping £210 off Microsoft’s superb Surface Pro 4. There was nearly £200 off the Surface 3, £90 off Lenovo Ideapads and even money off Chromebooks: the Lenovo N22 Chromebook dropped from £160 to just £100.

Gibson electric guitars - 20% off
Amazon might not be the first place you’d think of when it comes to guitars, but if you were looking for a great price on a great guitar last year then it was the place to go - especially for Gibson’s more expensive models, which were on sale with whopping 20% discounts. Sadly our budgets didn’t stretch to top end Les Pauls, so we bought a whole bunch of heavily discounted Epiphone guitars instead.

Xbox One Guitar Hero Bundle - £105 off
We described this as an “epic party deal”: an Xbox One, Guitar Hero Live, a guitar controller and a bundled Kinect Value Pack with camera and three family-friendly games. At just £235 for the lot that was extraordinary value for money.

HDTVs and 4K TVs: up to £100 off
We’ve written elsewhere about TV deals that were too good to be true, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t genuine discounts on Prime Day. You could save up to £100 on a wide range of TVs including HD, 4K and 3D models, and there were discounts on home cinema projectors too.

Motion activated toilet nightlight: 25% off
Okay, this one probably isn’t a must-have - but it does demonstrate the depth of Amazon’s Prime Day discounting. If toilet nightlights aren’t your thing, you could get money off LED flashing gloves and other fairly niche products. As Amazon told CNBC: “What could be weird to one person may be wonderful to someone else.”

Amazon Prime Day deals 2016

Prime Day 2017 FAQ: what it is, when it happens and where to get the best deals 

What is Prime Day?
It’s Amazon’s annual birthday celebration, when it discounts more than 100,000 products of all kinds.

When is Prime Day 2017?
Amazon hasn’t said yet, but we’re guessing that Prime Day 2017 will be held on Tuesday 11 July 2017. Prime Day 2016 was the 12 of July, which was the second Tuesday of the month. This year that falls on the eleventh. 

Is Prime Day 2017 Amazon only?
The name is Amazon’s, yes, but in 2016 plenty of other retailers decided to try and spoil Amazon’s fun by running their own doorbuster sales.

Argos ran a “Big Sale” with discounts on PS4s, TVs, kitchen items, Android tablets, laptops and Dysons; Currys PC World offered “mega deals” with 10% off TVs, built-in appliances and Hi-Fi systems as well as deep discounts on laptops and consoles;

John Lewis had a clearance event discounting towels, tablewere, furniture and garden furniture, Lenovo laptops, Bluetooth speakers, tablets and smartwatches; and Ebuyer treated us to the ultimate Dad joke with its Optimus Day of discounts

Are Prime Day deals real?
Yes and no. They’re real in the sense that you’re paying less than the official price for things, but sometimes that official price was just silly. 

Like many retailers, Amazon is very keen on comparing prices against RRPs (MSRPs in the US) that nobody really expects anybody to pay - so for example in 2013 the Wall Street Journal noted that an Amazon deal of 45% off a $1,799 Samsung HDTV wasn't quite so impressive: the previous month, Amazon had been selling the same TV for $997.99, so the actual saving was less than ten dollars. Such deals are essentially the same thing as supermarket wine promotions or amazing, never-ending furniture sales.

If you have a particular product in mind it's worth keeping an eye on the prices now to make sure the deals are genuine on Prime Day. We find sites such as PriceSpy invaluable, as they enable you to see exactly what prices are being charged for specific things - not just big purchases, but smaller items such as video games too.

Some of the deals will clearly be paper bargains like the one the Wall Street Journal reported, but that doesn't mean all of them will be. Amazon will have been bargaining hard with key suppliers to cut the prices it pays for some products, and it'll sell some high-profile items as loss leaders in the expectation of cross-selling, up-selling and, well, selling. From Amazon's point of view it can lose money on big deals and make it back from Prime subscriptions and by shifting stock it wants to get rid of anyway.

Where can I find the best Prime Day deals?
Right here. We scour all the top retailers’ Prime Day deals so that you don’t have to - and we tell you whether the deals are worth getting excited about too. Whether it’s a 4K HDR OLED TV or an Xbox One controller, if it’s discounted we’ll have the details here. 

How do I get the best Prime Day 2017 deals?
Know what you want, know what you can afford to spend and know the market: you’ll often spot interesting price hikes in June to enable amazing-looking discounts on Prime Day. Pay particular attention to real prices, not RRPs: TVs are particularly bad for this, with sets whose RRP is eleventy billion pounds routinely selling for five hundred quid. Sites such as CamelCamelCamel and PriceSpy enable you to tell if you’re looking at a legitimate bargain or some timed tomfoolery.

It’s also a very good idea to be flexible: for example, if you fancy a Sony 4K TV then think about the features you want rather than a specific model number: the BRV123ABD54-88C-9218-B may not be discounted on Prime Day, but an almost identical set with the specification you want probably will be.

Can I get cashback on Prime Day deals?
Sometimes, yes. Your debit card or credit card may offer cashback on purchases. It’s definitely worth looking into, not just for Prime Day but for any online shopping. 

Am I protected when I buy on Prime Day?
Yes. In the UK, anything you buy from a company online is covered by a wealth of consumer protection legislation including the Consumer Contracts regulations, which give you the same rights as with any other online purchasing - including the short-term right to return items even if they aren’t mis-sold or defective. 

How can I stay safe on Prime Day?
There’s a good chance that spammers and scammers will latch on to Prime Day much as they have with Black Friday and Cyber Monday, so be wary of unsolicited emails or links to deals on social media no matter how legitimate they look: anything asking for card details or login details is a scam. If you’re on a PC, make sure your security software is up to date. Many suites automatically block known scam sites.

Amazon Prime Day: Tech deals

20% off fashion at Amazon.co.uk
Save on fashion items including clothes, shoes, purses, bathing gear and loads more until the end of the day! This is one of the few deals that will run from now until the end of Tuesday so fill your, err, boots.

PlayStation 4 Pro with Horizon: Zero Dawn with 3 games only £349.99
Our general rule nowadays is don't pay the default £350 for a PS4 Pro on its own. With this bundle you can get Horizon: Zero Dawn, WipEout: Omega Collection and call of Duty: Infinity Warfare thrown in for free.

- Get the PS4 Pro 1TB on its own for £339.99

PlayStation Plus: Get 15 months for just £29.99!
Absolutely amazing deal on a 15-month PlayStation Plus subscription here. Get it for just £29.99 which is about £25 less than the usual price.

Amazon Prime Day: Tech deals

20% off fashion at Amazon.co.uk
Save on fashion items including clothes, shoes, purses, bathing gear and loads more until the end of the day! This is one of the few deals that will run from now until the end of Tuesday so fill your, err, boots.

PlayStation 4 Pro with Horizon: Zero Dawn with 3 games only £349.99
Our general rule nowadays is don't pay the default £350 for a PS4 Pro on its own. With this bundle you can get Horizon: Zero Dawn, WipEout: Omega Collection and call of Duty: Infinity Warfare thrown in for free.

- Get the PS4 Pro 1TB on its own for £339.99

PlayStation Plus: Get 15 months for just £29.99!
Absolutely amazing deal on a 15-month PlayStation Plus subscription here. Get it for just £29.99 which is about £25 less than the usual price.

Amazon Prime Day: Tech deals

20% off fashion at Amazon.co.uk
Save on fashion items including clothes, shoes, purses, bathing gear and loads more until the end of the day! This is one of the few deals that will run from now until the end of Tuesday so fill your, err, boots.

PlayStation 4 Pro with Horizon: Zero Dawn with 3 games only £349.99
Our general rule nowadays is don't pay the default £350 for a PS4 Pro on its own. With this bundle you can get Horizon: Zero Dawn, WipEout: Omega Collection and call of Duty: Infinity Warfare thrown in for free.

- Get the PS4 Pro 1TB on its own for £339.99

PlayStation Plus: Get 15 months for just £29.99!
Absolutely amazing deal on a 15-month PlayStation Plus subscription here. Get it for just £29.99 which is about £25 less than the usual price.

Posted in Uncategorised

Black Friday 2017: all you need to know about the biggest shopping day of the year

On Black Friday weekend last year, adults in the UK spent an average of £117 each. That's a total spend of £6.45 billion - enough to buy every British man, woman and child a Fire TV Stick, a pair of glasses that make your eyes think you're on magic mushrooms and 16 of those awesome twangy things that also act as door stops.

Black Friday is the biggest shopping day of the year, every year, and this year it falls on November 24. The deals will start will before then though - expect crazy offers at all of the big retailers like Argos, Amazon, John Lewis, Tesco Direct and Mobiles.co.uk from the beginning of November and probably even before that.

It’s ironic that Black Friday drives so much traffic to websites like TechRadar, because the term used to refer to more traditional types of traffic - the name was first used by US police to describe the traffic gridlock that occured when everybody hit the shops at the same time.

Black Friday still happens on the highstreet, but increasingly the best deals - and the most shoppers - are online. And that's why every year TechRadar rounds up all of the best deals - so you can find the best value offers on the nicest stuff and be confident you're getting the best price for you.

Black Friday deals quick links

When is Black Friday and what is it exactly?

Black Friday is always the Friday that immediately follows the Thanksgiving holiday in the US - so Black Friday 2017 will take place on November 24.

Black Friday - and increasingly by the year, Black November - is the starting gun for the Christmas shopping season, and it’s famous for what retailers call 'doorbusters' - deals so good that shoppers will try and break down the front doors to get at them.

Inevitably that means it’s also slightly infamous, with each year delivering a new selection of YouTube delights depicting keen shoppers slugging it out for the right to claim a limited number of probably-awful but super cheap 4K TVs.

Things got so bad on Black Friday 2014 that ASDA, Wal-Mart’s UK brand and the firm largely responsible for bringing Black Friday to the UK made the decision to not 'do' Black Friday at all. That proved to be an expensive decision.

By comparison, in 2014 John Lewis UK reported that its Black Friday sales were the highest weekly sales in the company’s 150-year history. Check out our best John Lewis Black Friday deals 2017 hub for more information.

So this November, expect all the main retailers like Amazon, Argos, John Lewis, Currys and ASOS to be running deals across every range of products. Black Friday is traditionally the home of deals on electricals, clothing and shoes - but you can also expect hot promotions on everything else from mobile phone contracts to VPN services and broadband subscriptions.

Black Friday @ the UK's biggest retailers:

Argos.co.uk:

Argos loves Black Friday - and it's really good at it too. Argos was one of the very first retailer to see Black Friday for what it really is - an amazing opportunity to shift large quantities of electricals from games consoles to coffee machines and tumble dryers. Consequently, you can expect Argos in 2017 to go at it hard, with Black Friday deals running all the way through November. The deals at Argos tend to get stronger as the month goes on, so it's worth keeping your powder dry in the first few weeks. That being said, last year Argos did promise that if it reduced the price of any deals before the end of November, they'd refund you the difference. See our Argos Black Friday article

Amazon.co.uk:

Amazon is arguably the one site responsible for creating Black Friday as an online shopping phenomenon. It always takes a highly innovative approach to Black Friday as both a retailer and a market place. Expect Amazon to run Black Friday deals across every conceivable product category. Many people consider it to be the benchmark for online prices - it's always worth checking Amazon before buying things online. There's a good chance you'll find a cheaper price. See our Amazon Black Friday article

John Lewis:

John Lewis has never seemed too keen on Black Friday. The highstreet and online department store has always refrained from using any kind of "Black Friday!" signage and messaging, preferring instead to use more on-brand words such as "Sale" and "Clearance". If Argos is the best retailer for going all-out on Black Friday, John Lewis is the best for keeping it all a bit more reserved. Expect to see a precision-based approach from this site - plenty of strong deals on popular items it things it can shift in bulk like Surface Pro 2-in-1 laptops, iPads, Motorola smartphones and 4K TVs. As always, John Lewis' excellent 'never knowingly undersold' scheme will also be in play, so if you spot a cheaper price at any of its highstreet + online competitors like Currys, John Lewis will match it. See our John Lewis Black Friday article

Currys.co.uk

Currys.co.uk is another highstreet + online brand that doesn't tend to talk about Black Friday too much. It's part of the Dixons Carphone group, which also includes brands like PC World, Carphone Warehouse, Mobiles.co.uk and iD Mobile. Most Dixons Carphone brands talk about 'Black Tag' deals - "it's not Black Friday, it's a Black Tag event!" Nevertheless, Currys will be a consistent and reliable source of strong deals throughout November (and we noticed it did experiment with some Black Friday branding last year). The buying power of Currys means it's often able to undercut its rivals and offer exclusive products to its customers. Expect loads of tempting deals throughout November and particularly in the week before Black Friday, starting Saturday November 18 - and then a huge explosion of mega deals on Black Friday itself. See our Currys Black Friday article

Mobiles.co.uk

Mobiles.co.uk is the place to be if you're planning on upgrading your phone between now and the end of the year. You'll find that all of the best deals of the year will all be found within the month of November, with strong offers becoming more frequent from as early as the beginning of October. Expect absolute pandemonium in the mobile deals market throughout the whole period as the voucher code machine goes into hyperdrive, with cheapest ever deals on popular phones like the iPhone 8, Samsung Galaxy S8 and probably even the iPhone X. Because Mobiles.co.uk is part of the Dixons Carphone group, it's able to utilise its buying power and economies of scale to offer prices that its rivals simply can't match.

Game.co.uk

Game.co.uk usually launches all its mega Black Friday deals on consoles and games on the Thursday evening. The last couple of years, the deals have gone live at 8pm but we wouldn't be surprised if it happens even earlier this time. The site tends to struggle under the load as soon as it puts its offers live - many of the very best offers have limited stock allocations and so you need to be quick if you're going to get a dream bundle deal. Expect great prices across the spectrum, from console games, consoles, bundles to PlayStation Network and Xbox Live subs and GTA V shark cards.

Tesco direct

Tesco direct has developed a reputation as being the source of many of the very best deals on Black Friday each year. The buying power it has developed with its highstreet stores puts it in a very strong position to offer cheapest ever prices on games consoles and 4K TVs. It might not be the first retailer that springs into your mind when you think about online retail, but it's a big name and it's getting bigger. Tesco direct was the first site to sell the Sony PS4 for £149.99 last year so you can be sure it'll be going hard at it again this year. See our Tesco Black Friday article

The impact of Black Friday in the UK

Black Friday has transformed the Christmas shopping season, for better and for worse.

James Miller, senior retail consultant at Experian Marketing Services, told the BBC that “there is little doubt Black Friday has dramatically changed the way people shop in the run-up to Christmas and has created an expectation of deep discounts that arguably did not exist before,” while a report by LCP Consulting found that nearly one-third of UK and US retailers believe that Black Friday is “unprofitable and unsustainable."

Before Black Friday became a big deal, the run-up to Christmas was a great period for retailers: we’d buy loads of presents for others and for ourselves, and retailers would make huge piles of money. Then Black Friday happened, and all of a sudden many of us were browsing the bargains for the presents to put in Santa’s sack. Money spent on deeply discounted products in November is money that won’t be spent on more profitable products in December.

According to research by Verdict Retail, there is “no evidence” that Black Friday “stimulated demand”: Black Friday is essentially a black hole that sucks in a big part of people’s pre-Christmas shopping. We buy more but pay less for it.

According to Mike Watkins of Nielsen UK, “Whilst Nielsen analysis shows that Black Friday in November 2014 did not deliver incremental food sales it did serve to kick start what was the slowest start to Christmas trading in over 10 years. Perhaps that’s the primary objective in these changing times.”

Gary Booker, CMO at Dixons Retail, told Marketing Week that Black Friday negatively affects purchases in the following weeks: “It takes sales out of what would have been key early weeks in December,” he said, and multiple reports show that since Black Friday has taken off in the UK we’re spending less money on Boxing Day, our previous favourite for bargain hunting.

That means retailers need to think very carefully about Black Friday: they can discount in the hope they’ll make up for the lower margins with higher volumes, or they can decide not to take part in Black Friday and potentially lose sales to rivals who do.

Predicting the best Black Friday deals of 2017:

iPhone 8
We know that Apple’s 2017 iPhone 8 is likely to be dramatically different from the current model, we can reasonably expect it to go on sale in September or October at the latest, and we know that iPhone 8 Black Friday deals will be very popular - so this one’s a slam-dunk. Expect similar discounts to 2016 chopping £100-plus off the up-front price, and Apple to offer gift cards across the range. We’d expect some decent deals on iPads too as Apple refreshes the line-up this year.

Samsung Galaxy S8
Black Friday 2016 saw really good deals on the Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, with the Black Friday voucher code BLACKFRI2 wiping out the upfront cost altogether on a £29.99 per month contract. That was a fantastic deal, and we’re expecting to see similarly great Galaxy deals on the Samsung Galaxy S8 in 2017.

PS4 Pro
Black Friday 2016 was all about the PS4 Slim, and Black Friday 2017 will be all about the PS4 Pro. As with 2016 we’d expect the very best deals to be on bundles, with some of them costing only a little more than the PS4 Pro itself, so start working on your game wish list: a bundle’s only a good deal if it includes the games you actually want to play. Up to now, the PS4 Pro is holding its RRP but you can expect that to change later this year, particularly when Microsoft has launched the Xbox One X...

Xbox One X
Microsoft’s got a pro console too, and unless something goes wrong with the release schedule it will be on sale on November 7 - right in time for Black Friday 2017. As with the Xbox One in 2016 we’d expect to see the very best deals on bundles, rather than on the console itself: there’s more wiggle room for the retailer there, so they can afford to be more daring with the discounts.

4K HDR OLED TVs
Black Friday 2016 was positively packed with TV deals, including nearly half-price deals on selected OLED TVs. High-end sets are where the really expensive RRPs are, and the ever-advancing world of telly tech means those prices can only be sustained for a fairly short time. If you’re in the market for the kind of TV whose price tag wouldn’t look out of place on a car, Black Friday 2017 could be a very good day for you indeed.

The deals on Black Friday 2017 won't be so crazy

Black Friday 2014 was particularly silly in the UK: while grown men and women knocked each other over to try and get cheap Polaroid TVs in supermarkets, men and women knocked over loads of websites too. Many retailers weren’t prepared for the volume of online traffic and their servers couldn’t cope.

Other firms that hadn’t thought Black Friday was a particularly big deal tried to get in on the action. The result felt rather like some firms were running around with a pricing gun, discounting whatever they spotted.

Black Friday 2015 was very different. Websites coped just fine - although some raised eyebrows with “oh! We’re so busy you’ll have to queue!” warnings that seemed more about marketing than reflecting actual demand - and retailers had a strategy in place. Where previous Black Fridays were crazy, Black Friday 2015 was calm. The difference? Planning.

Retailers knew what to expect, had struck deals with suppliers well in advance and approached Black Friday like any other shopping event. There were still bargains to be had, but it certainly didn’t feel like bargain-conscious customers were getting one over on panicking retailers.

Black Friday 2016 was different again: for many big-name retailers, instead of everything happening on one day, their sales were spread over an entire week from the Monday before Black Friday to Cyber Monday, the Monday immediately after. Cyber Monday used to be a separate event, the day everybody panicked and thought “oh no! It’s nearly Christmas and I haven’t bought any presents!” before visiting Amazon on their work PCs. But in 2016 it was just another part of Black Friday Deals Week.

As Experian’s Richard Jenkings told the BBC, “The Black Friday promotions at the end of November are the start of a longer, more drawn-out peak season, which begins with most of the activity online and then moves in-store as we get closer and closer to Christmas day.”

The best Black Friday deals:

Every year, we load up with pizza and energy drinks to scour the entire internet for the best deals. These were some of our favourite deals from Black Friday last time out:

1. £125 off the iPhone 7
Apple’s iPhone 7 may have been new but that didn’t mean you couldn’t get a Black Friday deal. With the code BLACKNOV125 you could get £125 off the up-front cost of an iPhone 7 - and no, the contract wasn’t more expensive to compensate.

2. £130 off the PS4
The PlayStation 4 is a brilliant console, and last Black Friday it was a brilliant bargain too: there was £130 off the 1TB model and bundles costing as little as £189. Very chopped 34% off the price of some of its PS4 bundles and Amazon cut 20%.

3. £40 off the iPad Air
There were lots of iPad bargains on Black Friday 2016 including £40 off the iPad Air, £30 off iPad Pros and up to £50 off iPad Minis. Apple wasn’t offering those discounts, but it did bundle gift cards with various products.

4. £900 off an LG OLED TV
How’s this for a discount: Black Friday meant a massive £900 off the LG OLED55B6V TV, bringing its price down to a much less frightening £1,899. There was also £550 off Sony 4K TVs and up to £300 off Panasonic TVs.

5. Huge savings on Xbox One bundles
The 4K Xbox One S was just £199 with Minecraft and Forza Horizon thrown in, and prices were slashed all over the place for every conceivable combination of console, controllers and games. There were good deals to be had on accessories too.

Why to expect from Black Friday 2017:

The last few Black Friday deals periods saw many retailers taking baby steps, but in 2017 they’re all grown up. That means they’ve been poring over their spreadsheet models since the last Black Friday, and they know exactly what they’ll be doing this year. And the first thing they’ll be doing is trying to beat Black Friday by starting their deals early. What started as Black Friday weekend became Black Friday week, and this year we expect some big-name retailers to start discounting long before that.

We've already started predicting what bargains some retailers will have, so you can find out the best Currys Black Friday deals 2017 and best John Lewis Black Friday Deals 2017 before anyone else.

Early discounting makes sense for many reasons: it spreads the load on their websites and shops, and more importantly it means the news of their deals won’t be buried amid the avalanche of Black Friday announcements. So keep your eyes peeled - and keep visiting our deals homepage - from early November, and maybe even earlier than that.

Something we saw a lot of in 2016 and expect to see even more of in 2017 is a sliding scale of discounting: we noticed deals got bigger and better as the month progressed. That’s likely to recur in 2017, with reasonable deals at the beginning of the Black Friday period and more exciting but limited quantity deals on Black Friday itself. The emphasis will be on the more expensive products where retailers can cut prices but still make a decent profit.

Black Friday 2017 FAQ: what it is, when it happens and where to get the best deals

What is Black Friday?
Black Friday is the Friday immediately after Thanksgiving. It’s a day when retailers offer big discounts to kick-start the holiday shopping season.

When is Black Friday 2017?
Black Friday 2017 will be Friday, 24 November.What is Cyber Monday?Cyber Monday is the Monday immediately after Black Friday.

When is Cyber Monday 2017?
Cyber Monday 2017 will be on Monday, 27 November.What is Black Friday deals week?It’s the week that includes Black Friday. Retailers are increasingly offering deals before and after Black Friday itself so they stand out from the crowd.

Are Black Friday deals real?
Yes, although in some cases the discounts have been negotiated well in advance with suppliers. As with any sales you’ll see a mix of genuine bargains, discounted end-of-line stock and mysterious things found in the back of a warehouse somewhere. In 2016, consumer magazine Which? accused retailers of some pretty dodgy behaviour.

Where can I find the best Black Friday deals?
Right here on TechRadar of course! We scour all the top retailers’ Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals so that you don’t have to - and we tell you whether the deals are worth getting excited about too. Whether it’s a 4K HDR OLED TV or an Xbox One controller, if it’s discounted we’ll have the details here.

How do I get the best Black Friday 2017 deals?
Know what you want, know what you can afford to spend and know the market: you’ll often spot retailers charging higher than usual prices in October so they can offer amazing discounts on Black Friday. Pay particular attention to real prices, not RRPs: TVs are particularly bad for this, with sets whose RRP is eleventy billion pounds routinely selling for five hundred quid. Sites such as CamelCamelCamel and PriceSpy enable you to tell if you’re looking at a legitimate bargain or some timed tomfoolery.

It’s also a very good idea to be flexible: for example, if you fancy a Sony 4K TV then think about the features you want rather than a specific model number: the BRV123ABD54-88C-9218-B may not be discounted on Black Friday, but an almost identical set with the specification you want probably will be.

Can I get cashback on Black Friday deals?
Sometimes, yes. Your debit card or credit card may offer cashback on purchases, and sites such as Quidco often offer cashback for new customers of big-name online shops. It’s definitely worth looking into, not just for Black Friday but for any online shopping.

Am I protected when I buy on Black Friday?
Yes. In the UK, anything you buy from a company online is covered by a wealth of consumer protection legislation including the Consumer Contracts regulations, which give you the same rights as with any other online purchasing.

How can I stay safe on Black Friday?
Black Friday brings out the scammers as well as the sellers, so be wary of unsolicited emails or links to deals on social media no matter how legitimate they look: anything asking for card details or login details is a scam. Phishing sites do big business on Black Friday, so be extra suspicious - and if you’re on a PC, make sure your security software is up to date. Many suites automatically block known scam sites.

Posted in Uncategorised

The 7 best apps for finding brilliant food on the go

You’re out with friends or family in an unfamiliar place, and there’s a terrible noise: it’s your stomach, demanding food.

The problem? You’ve got no idea where to find a decent eatery that will please everyone. You could stalk the streets, scanning for the nearest recognisable fast food joint, or get a bit fancy and type ‘restaurant’ into Google Maps. 

Unfortunately, neither option gives you the inside scoop on where’s good to eat – but help is at hand, in the shape of myriad dedicated on-the-go eating apps. 

But which one is best? App stores are packed with restaurant and street food guides, but – much like the eateries themselves – it’s hard to know which to go for. 

Which one will really find you somewhere good that serves what you want, when you want it and for the price you want to pay?


But download these fine choices, and you’ll be chowing down on brilliant, affordable fare in no time.

1. Yelp

Price: Free iOS / Android
Best for: Local knowledge

Yelp’s contents aren’t focused solely on restaurants, but its army of volunteer reviewers do a superb job of sharing local knowledge.

The main strength of this app is finding out whether a new restaurant used to be a House of Salmonella, or if the vegan options are really worth walking a few minutes further for, thanks to the ‘behind the scenes’ information from previous visitors.

Searching for a place to eat is speedy – the app  uses either your phone’s GPS or a location you specify, and you can search by cuisine, food type or phrases such as ‘best burgers’ for more targeted suggestions. 

It’s worth paying particular attention to reviews by ‘Elite Yelpers’, as they’re the ones who post the most and seem to steer you towards the best places to eat.

2. OpenTable

Price: Free iOS / Android
Best for: Special offers

OpenTable powers the online booking services for many restaurants, meaning it’s in a prime position to fill unbooked tables with special offers – and as a user, that means you can both nab a spot at a top eaterie and possibly save money too.

You’ll often find that participating restaurants run special offers earlier in the evening, and if you like the sound of one you can book it from within the app (imagine solving the issue of where to go, only to find you can’t get in…). 

The map can be a bit slow to access – by the time it loads you may have started eating the phone – and it only shows OpenTable clients, so don’t be surprised if a specific place you’ve seen on your travels doesn’t appear in your search results.

3. TripAdvisor

Price: Free iOS / Android
Best for: Sheer coverage

TripAdvisor users review a wide variety of things for the tourist, and do so rather frequently – so even the anonymous chain restaurant down the road from us has 493 reviews.

As with most online ratings we’d advise you to treat the 5-star and 1-star verdicts with caution, to avoid restaurant owners and their friends painting an overly-rosy picture at one end of the scale, and vindictive customers, or rival restaurateurs pretending to be ordinary customers, at the other.

But when it comes to sheer numbers, both of featured establishments and customer opinions, TripAdvisor is hard to beat, and will mostly give you reliable information on where it’s worth spending your money to fill your belly. 

We find it particularly useful when travelling – although we’re also big fans of sitting at home, reading restaurateurs’ restrained responses to angry customers they clearly want to murder.

4. Where Chefs Eat

Price: £10.99 / $13 / AU$18 iOS
Best for: Insider info

Where Chefs Eat is best known for the printed tome, which asks 600 leading chefs about 3,200 restaurants in 70 countries to create one of the most authoritative restaurant guides around. 

The app takes that information to your smartphone and plugs in location awareness, so you can see if anywhere nearby has a top chef’s seal of approval. It’s only useful if you’re in a busy metropolis, and be warned: while most reviews of the app rate its recommendations positively, a number of users appear to have had problems.

The main one appears to be with the map crashing the entire app, which isn’t ideal given the entire point is using the map to help you find the right places to eat.

However, given the extremely valuable information the app offers for those looking for finer dining (and the fact the crashing issue doesn’t affect all phones) we’d say it’s still worthy of a place on the list, but be aware of Apple’s app returns policy if you choose to fork out for this pricier title.

5. Urbanspoon

Price: Free iOS / Android
Best for: City slickers

Urbanspoon is an established app, and its recent tie-up with the globe-straddling Zomato restaurant recommendation system means it’s even better at recommending the right places to eat for your budget.

The collaboration means you’re covered for food choices in the US, Canada and the major cities of the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, plus it integrates with services such as OpenTable (in the US) and Bookatable (in the UK) so that you can book as well as browse. 

It’s jam-packed with information, and the app itself is regularly updated to iron out any niggles.

6. BritishSt.Food

Price: Free iOS / Android
Best for: British Street Food. Funny that.

Yes, this is just for the Brits, but it’s worth mentioning if only to show how such an app should be done. 

The fad for street food now has an excellent app to go with it, with simple colour-coding making it clear on the map whether a particular vendor is open, due to open or currently closed.

As with the outdoors food craze itself, the app is less exciting the further you get from England’s most populated places: trying the app in Glasgow we found just three vendors, and two of those were closed (although things get much more tasty and well-stocked in places like London or Bristol).

Listings are written by the vendors themselves, but users can leave ratings, which are worth looking at to get a real sense of how good the food actually is. 

Don’t expect TripAdvisor-style screens showing review after review – this is currently a fairly niche app with relatively few users – but the reviews submitted seem honest enough, and offer a quick fix if you don’t want to head indoors to eat.

7. Foodspotting

Price: Free iOS / Android
Best for:
Diners who know what they want

All the other apps we’ve listed here are based around helping you find specific restaurants, but Foodspotting is all about types of food – so when you let it access your phone’s location, it shows specific dishes rather than eateries. 

You can use it in two ways: by browsing dishes, like a kind of Tinder for your taste buds (although you can’t reject a burger based on its profile), or by searching for specific meals to find out where they’re available and how many users loved them. 

In a nice touch the app links out to Yelp for reviews and additional opening information, so you can find a place and then double-check that it meets your criteria with the help of like-minded munchers.

This article is brought to you in association with Tesco Mobile

Posted in Uncategorised

Versus: iPhone 7 vs iPhone 6S

Versus: iPhone 7 vs iPhone 6S

The iPhone 6S was a "tock" model on the tick/tock cycle of Apple design: the ticks introduce new hardware, and the tocks improve the internals.

That means the iPhone 7 is launching in a tick year. But from outward appearances at least, the iPhone 7 is another tock. Are appearances deceptive? Let's find out.

Design

The iPhone 7 looks like the iPhone 6S. There are differences, but they're subtle: the almost-disappeared antenna lines, the new, solid-state Home button, the move from space grey to plain black. But there's an interesting new color option, a glossy Jet Black, and there's a big change to the overall design: the headphone jack is no more.

iPhone 7

That's bad news for iPhone musicians and for anyone who likes listening to wired headphones while charging their phone, but you do at least get a Lightning-to-3.5mm adapter so you can use your existing headphones.

The iPhone 7 is also stereo, cleverly utilizing the earpiece speaker for a second stereo speaker. Apple says it's twice as loud as the iPhone 6S.

The disappearing headphone jack has also enabled Apple to make the iPhone 7 water and dust resistant to IP67.

The move to Lightning means that the earbuds are now Lightning too. Apple would no doubt recommend we go for their innovative, expensive and eminently lose-able wireless AirPods, which will cost around £160 and will go on sale later this year.

Display

The iPhone 6S has a retina display, and it delivers 1,334 x 720 pixels at 326ppi. It's crisp, but it lacks the fine detail of the much denser AMOLED panels in high-end Android devices. The panel is a backlit IPS LCD, and it has 3D Touch to recognize hard presses on icons.

iPhone 7

The iPhone 7 display looks identical, because it largely is. It's brighter, though, with 25% more brightness, and it has a wider color gamut for better color reproduction. But it still looks a bit old-fashioned compared to the Super AMOLEDs of Android flagships.

Power and OS

Apple designs its own SoCs (System on a Chip) rather than use off-the shelf Snapdragons, and the iPhone 7 has the latest A10 processor. The A10 Fusion is a quad-core processor with two high-performance cores and two energy-efficient cores and a dedicated processor deciding which cores should do what. Apple says performance is 40% better than the A9 processor, and that the processor is more energy efficient too.

iPhone 7

The iPhone 6S processor is an A9, a dual-core 1.8GHz processor with six-core graphics and 2GB of RAM. Storage options are 16/64/128GB and as ever, there's no microSD slot for additional storage.

With the iPhone 7, Apple finally dropped the completely useless 16GB option. Storage tiers are now 32GB/128GB/256GB, unless you want Jet Black. That isn't available in the 32GB configuration.

The iPhone 6S shipped with iOS 9 but will get the free iOS 10 upgrade this month. The iPhone 7 runs iOS 10 as standard.

Camera

The iPhone 6S abandoned the megapixel race in favor of better quality, so while the 12MP sensor doesn't look great on paper it's a genuinely good smartphone camera. Its Live Photos added some fun to family photography and it's capable of shooting 4K video at 30fps. It's just a shame that Apple decided to keep the optical image stabilization for the larger and more expensive iPhone 6S Plus.

iPhone 6S

The iPhone 7 gets optical stabilization this time, and its aperture is improved to f/1.8 for better low light performance. The TrueTone flash now has four LEDs and can compensate for flickering artificial light, and the FaceTime camera delivers 7MP with stabilization.

Once again the best camera is reserved for the bigger and pricier Plus, which gets a clever dual-camera setup.

Battery

Apple likes thin, and that means the iPhone 6S has to get through the day with just 1,715mAh of battery. It manages it, mostly, but it's disappointing compared to rival devices and Apple's own iPhone 6S Plus.

The good news is that the iPhone 7 addresses that, achieving Plus-style battery life without the bulk. Apple says you can expect an extra two hours of daily use from the iPhone 7 compared to the iPhone 6S, and that some people will get even more than that.

Release date and price

The iPhone 6S has been on sale for a year, and up to the launch of the iPhone 7 it was priced at £539 ($649, AU$1,079) for the 16GB version, £619 ($749, AU$1,229) for the 64GB and £699 ($849, AU$1,379) for 128GB.

The iPhone 7 will go on sale on September 16th, with pre-orders going live on the 9th. The 32GB version costs $649 (£599, AU$1,079), 128GB is $749 (£699, AU$1,229) and 256GB is $849 (£799, AU$1,379).

Verdict

iPhone 6S

It's a tock, but it's a pretty big tock: the camera and battery improvements address the key criticisms of the iPhone 6S, delivering the benefits of the Plus model without its trouser-threatening size - although price-wise the new iPhone 7 is only £20 less than last year's Plus price.

But we predict a big change is coming next year, so if you're happy with your current iPhone there's little reason to upgrade just yet - and waiting another year means you'll be able to save up for some decent wireless headphones too.

Versus: iPhone 7 vs Samsung Galaxy S7

Versus: iPhone 7 vs Samsung Galaxy S7

iPhone 7 vs Samsung Galaxy S7

It's like Batman vs Superman, except not rubbish: we're talking about the smartphone superhero smackdown between Apple's latest iPhone, the iPhone 7, and Samsung's Galaxy S7.

Have we reached peak smartphone or is there still a substantive difference between the Apple and Android ways? Let's find out.

Design

Samsung stopped copying Apple some time ago, and the Galaxy S7 is a sleek, classy and mature-looking handset with a pretty Gorilla Glass back and a screen-dominated front.

It looks and feels good in the hand, although it also feels as slippy as the iPhone 6S did. If we had a penny for every time we dropped one of those, screen repairs wouldn't have been quite so bad for our wallet.

Galaxy S7

The iPhone 7 looks like a refined iPhone 6S, but there are some significant differences. The most obvious is the disappearing headphone port, which Apple has dumped partly to help it achieve IP67 water and dust resistance, partly to make room for an improved taptic engine, and partly because it wants us to spend £160 on its fancy-dan new wireless headphones.

iPhone 7

You get an adapter in the box but it means you can't charge and use the headphone adapter at the same time. iPhone musicians will miss the jack socket too.

The home button has been changed too. It's solid state and pressure sensitive, with the ability for third party apps to control its behavior.

And in a clever touch the earpiece speaker now acts as a second stereo speaker, which Apple claims helps the iPhone 7 deliver twice the volume and a wider frequency range than the previous iPhone. You're not going to make it the centerpiece of a block party, but it should be a lot better for watching YouTube in the kitchen.

Display

Samsung is rightly praised for its displays, and the one in the Galaxy S7 is a cracker. Its 5.1-inch Super AMOLED delivers 2,560 x 1,440 pixels at an impressive 577 dpi, and AMOLED's ability to light individual pixels without requiring a full backlight means its Always On feature shows notifications without waking up the rest of the screen. It's one of the best displays ever fitted into a smartphone.

iPhone 7

Apple's retina displays fell quite far behind Samsung and other Androids, and with the iPhone 7 that's still the case. The 4.7-inch IPS LCD still delivers 1,334 x 720 pixels at 326ppi, although it's 25% brighter and has a wide colour gamut for better colour reproduction.

Power and OS

The Galaxy S7 is powered by Samsung's own Exynos processor in Europe and a Snapdragon 820 in the US. The former is an octa-core processor and the latter quad-core. Both version get 4GB of on-board RAM and 64GB of storage, and the much-missed microSD card is back with support for up to 256GB of additional storage.

Galaxy S7

As ever, the OS is Android - Marshmallow in this case - with TouchWiz on top. Samsung has banished the bugs and much of the bloat that used to make TouchWiz irritating, and the result is fast and smooth.

Apple designs its own silicon, and the silicon in the iPhone 7 is the A10 Fusion. Apple says it's 40% faster than the A9, with two high-performance cores handling the hard stuff while two more energy-efficient cores do the less demanding work.

Storage has finally increased - the options are now 32GB, 128GB and 256GB, although the Jet Black model will only be available in 128GB and 256GB versions.

Camera

Both Samsung and Apple turned their backs on megapixels in the last twelve months. Apple went for a bigger sensor, while Samsung introduced dual pixel sensors that mean its 12MP main camera produces images far superior to rival cameras with many more megapixels.

It records 4K video at 30fps and includes optical image stabilization to help with low light and fast subjects.

iPhone 7

For the iPhone 7, Apple has improved the camera again - although once again the sweetest camera is in the bigger and considerably more expensive iPhone 7 Plus, which gets a clever dual-camera setup for DSLR-style portraits.

The non-Plus 7 has to make do with improvements to the 12MP, 4K sensor, optical image stabilization, a four-LED flash and a new image signal processor. The aperture is improved too, with f/1.8 promising significantly better low-light performance.

Battery

Apple was criticized for the battery in the iPhone 6S: at just 1,715mAh it seemed awfully small for such a big device.

The Galaxy S7 battery delivers 3,000mAh. Thanks to Android's improved battery management and features such as Doze Mode and Always On meaning you can check key things without lighting up the whole display, the Samsung has more than enough juice to get through a typical day without fuss.

Apple hasn't disclosed the specs of its iPhone 7 battery just yet, but it promises much improved battery life: on average, Apple says, moving from the iPhone 6S to the iPhone 7 will give you an extra 2 hours of battery life in daily use.

Release date and price

The Galaxy S7 is already out, and it's a very impressive $750 (£569, AU$900).

iPhone 7

The iPhone 7 will go on sale on September 16th, with pre-orders going live on the 9th. Apple's iPhone Upgrade plan will launch in Apple Stores in the UK on the 9th too and it's already up and running in the US. Sorry Australia.

The prices aren't too bad with the 32GB version at $649 (£599, AU$1,079), 128GB at $749 (£699, AU$1,229) and 256GB at $849 (£799, AU$1,379).

Verdict

Both Samsung and Apple have their fans and haters, and as both phones are evolutionary steps forwards we don't see many people switching sides.

On paper the Samsung is clearly the best. It has a superior screen, a better processor, more storage and a lower price.

But as ever, Apple delivers a superior overall experience thanks to its control over the hardware and software. Is that worth paying an Apple premium for? Many people think it is, and the iPhone 7 is unlikely to change that.

The curious case of the vanishing iPhone button

The curious case of the vanishing iPhone button

The iPhone 7's hidden secret

It looks like the iPhone home button's days are numbered. Multiple rumors say that the fingerprint scanner on the iPhone 7 - but more likely its 2017 successor - will sit inside the screen, rather than having dedicated hardware.

The change isn't just cosmetic, though. It would make the iPhone more secure and offer fewer mis-reads when trying to unlock your phone. It sounds pretty space age though, so we spoke to the experts to find out how the technology works, and why Apple is even considering it this early on.

The TouchID sensor in iPhones from the iPhone 5S onwards uses capacitive technology, which can detect the presence of conductive material such as skin (or cat paws).

The ring around the button detects when your finger is there, and the sensor then takes a high-resolution image of your fingerprint.

It's clever, but it isn't perfect. If water, for example, it gets between the sensor and your finger then TouchID often goes in a huff. And of course, any physical button is a potential way for water to get inside the device.

Earlier this year, LG Innotek demonstrated a fingerprint sensor that lives underneath a smartphone's glass, in a tiny space cut into the glass's underside.

Innotek

As Beopmin Oh from LG Innotek's communication team explains to TechRadar:, "With this module the sensor is not exposed to the outside of the glass, so the manufacturer can produce a sleek design.

"The fingerprint recognition area can also be indicated by various patterns, and the high-strength cover glass protects the sensor from coming into contact with water or being damaged by scratches."

LG expects to see the sensors in smartphones but also in other ID-related applications, such as vehicle/driver identification. But what about Apple? "I'm sorry, but I can't tell you the specific information of any customer."

On the cards

"We believe that the next step in high-end smartphone design is to remove the physical buttons," Ulf Ritsvall, marketing director of Fingerprint Cards, told TechRadar.

Fingerprint Cards believes that buttonless sensors are a "natural step" forward for the technology.

Fingerprint Cards is company whose FPC1200 series fingerprint sensors have been designed specifically for mounting under glass, ceramic or other substances.

These sensors already appear in models from the likes of Huawei, and its 1200 series sensors are in devices such as the Vivo X7 and X7 Plus. The under-glass sensor is "scheduled for the second half of 2016". Any firms in particular? Ritsvall would rather not comment.

Ultrasound of the underground

Both LG and Fingerprint Cards use capacitive sensors, which detect electrical resistance. But there's another option: ultrasound.

In May 2016, Apple was awarded a patent for various biometric technologies - including an ultrasound version of Touch ID. And ultrasound is something the sensor firm Sonavation knows all about. In November 2015, it announced SonicTouch Ultrasound Biometric Authentication for mobile devices and the Internet of Things.

Sonavation's VP of marketing, Ilene Grimes, told us: "One of the great advantages of ultrasound is that unlike capacitive sensors, the high-frequency acoustic impediography (i.e. sound waves) can penetrate through a variety of obstacles: glass, metal, OLED, plastic and more."

"With glass, each device manufacturer has the option to build their cover display with glass of varying thicknesses, as the thicker the glass the more protective. Some devices have glass covers that are 400 microns and some use 700 microns or even thicker.

"Sonavation's technology can image through thicknesses greater than 1mm."

Sonavation

That's impressive: LG's sensor works up to 280 microns, so ultrasound is significantly better at penetrating substances such as glass.

But as Fingerprints Cards' Ritsvall points out, that comes at a price: battery.

"Ultrasound sensors have substantially higher power consumption," he says - and that's crucial while battery chemistry stubbornly resists any great technological leap forward.

"Even comparing competitors' capacitive sensors we have 2-5 times lower power consumption and is one reason behind our success," he says.

Dirty secret

There's more to life than a marginal difference in battery life, though. Ultrasound does offer some improvements over capacitive sensors, as Ilene Grimes explains: "Ultrasound is not adversely affected by environmental elements such as dirt, oils or lotions. In fact, these elements actually enhance the coupling between the fingerprint and the sensor."

The sensors also capture more data, "making verification infinitely more secure".

Naturally, we asked Sonavation whether its sensors might be going into phones from a company beginning with "A", but Grimes wouldn't comment on who it might or might not be working with.

However, the firm clearly wants be on as many devices as possible: Grimes says that its SonicTouch systems "have been designed and architected to support any mobile or Internet of Things solution." Beyond the interest in what Apple's doing, adding this technology into all of your gadgets would lead to an ultra-secure smart home - or help identify different users so they get their personal settings instantly.

Buttonless sensors are clearly coming, and we should see the first under-glass sensors this year. But as with any new way of doing things, teething troubles and yield issues (where production creates too many unusable iteams) mean that manufacturers introducing them will most likely incur additional costs in the short term.

While putting sensors underneath the glass is a "natural step", Fingerprint Cards' Ritsvall says it's a step you'll see in higher-end phones first.


"The premium phones that will be equipped with these sensors are less caring about the price tag," he says. "The design is much more important."

Revealed: the iPhone of 2020

Revealed: the iPhone of 2020

Revealed: the iPhone of 2020

The iPhone has had an enormous impact in a very short time, and the innovations kept on coming: from introducing multi-touch in the first iPhone to the debuts of the App Store, Siri, Touch ID, 64-bit processing and 3D Touch, Apple has taken cutting-edge tech and made it mainstream.

So it's a bit disappointing to see leaks suggesting that the iPhone 7 isn't going to be much different from the iPhone 6. But what about a little further in the future, when promising new technologies benefit from Apple's massive R&D budget and make their way into Apple products?

We've enlisted the help of Dr Kevin Curran, Ulster University Reader in Computer Science and group leader for the Ambient Intelligence Research Group, IEEE Technical Expert and Royal Academy of Engineering/Leverhulme Trust Senior Research Fellow, to find out what the iPhone of 2020 could really offer.

Talk, don't tap

The iPhone will probably still have a touch-based interface, but you'll spend less time using it. You'll unlock your iPhone with your voice, fingerprint or face, and you'll get Siri (and bots from the likes of Facebook and Amazon, whose Alexa is more flexible and seems to do a better job of voice recognition than Siri) to handle most of your everyday actions, whether that's finding information, arranging appointments or ordering takeaway.

Apple has also patented methods for controlling apps and hardware by squeezing or twisting the device, taking advantage of flexible components such as the casing, battery or display. Speaking of which…

A bent or flexible screen

iPhone concept

2020 might be a bit early, but flexible displays are coming. An origami iPhone is some way off, but a less rigid device has possibilities for new input methods and avoidance of bendgate-style warping.

The 2020 iPhone will still be recognisable as a smartphone, though: phones that appear to consist of nothing but a transparent, foldable pane of glass look great in pictures, but the tech to make them won't be ready for a long time.

In the shorter term "sapphire screens promise the end to all tears," Dr Curran says, while "other promising materials such as graphene could revolutionise design due to its incredible strength, lightness and slimness. We should also see more ultra thin, ultra-bendable glass such as Corning Willow."

One technology many people thought we'd see in iPhones by now is the transflective LCD, which is a display that reflects light so it's legible in direct sunlight. There's a transflective LCD in the Sony Smartwatch 3, but it suffers from the same problem as other transflective displays: in anything other than really bright sunshine it looks awful, with washed out colors and poor contrast.

If Apple could find a way to add a reflective layer that didn't look terrible it'd make a huge difference to the iPhone's stamina: transflective displays don't need to be backlit in daylight, which means they use tiny amounts of energy.

The most important iPhone screen might not be the one in the iPhone, however. As we've already seen with the Apple Watch and CarPlay, the iPhone can be the brains of other systems: it does the work and they show the results.

The iPhone 2020 could and will do more with both the Watch and the car - not to mention the Apple Car - and it could connect to other displays in your home via HomeKit, or screens at work or on your commute.

It would be just as gregarious with its inputs, too, connecting to sensors in your car, your home or even your clothes.

More power

processor

Four years before the iPhone 6S, the iPhone 4S boasted a 1GHz dual-core, 32-bit Apple A5 processor with 512MB of DDR2 RAM and 8 to 64GB of storage.

Today the iPhone 6S has a 1.84GHz, 64-bit Apple A9 chip with 2GB of DDR4 RAM and 16 to 128GB of storage. On that basis and assuming the laws of physics don't throw a spanner into Moore's Law, by 2020 the iPhone should be doing around 4GHz per core with 4GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.

How many cores will it have though? In 2013, ARM president Simon Segars predicted smartphones with 16 or 32 cores, noting that while even octa-core processors might seem "crazy" they were imminent and would prove useful: "as you put all this performance in," he said, "somebody will think of something to do with it."

Octa-core processors are in phones now, so it isn't inconceivable to have smartphones doubling or trebling the core count by 2020. That means they'll be more powerful than many of today's PCs and Macs.

All-day battery life

iPhone 6S

The iPhone 4S had a 1,430mAh battery and the iPhone 6S Plus has 2,915mAh; with some Android devices already packing 5,000mAh batteries, a 6,000mAh battery in four years isn't far-fetched.

However, almost every iPhone has essentially delivered the same amount of battery life irrespective of the size of its power pack: as Apple gets better batteries it makes them smaller and demands more of them, so daily recharges are still the norm.

"Battery life advances seem to proceed at a steady rate," Dr Curran says. "On average, we only see improvements in capacity of 6% per annum, so by 2020 we can only really expect a 25% improvement - and it can be hard to isolate battery improvements as we tend to upgrade to higher powered devices with higher pixel densities and faster processors."

That's likely to be the case for the 2020 iPhone too, although wireless charging and fast charging - again, common in Android already - will make the routine less painful.

But more advanced battery technology is on the horizon, and Apple has been looking at all the possibilities: from hydrogen fuel cells to solar energy capture or lithium-ion "microbatteries" that deliver thousands of times more power and charge almost instantly, there are multiple ways for future iPhones to last longer.

"Each week, you can be sure to read about some new battery breakthrough, where in the future we will charge our devices in seconds, but these are to be taken with a pinch of salt," Dr Curran says.

"There are promising breakthroughs with regard to lithium-sulfur, supercapacitors, hydrogen fuel cells, solid state batteries and others, but history should tell us to be cautious about any new dramatic claims in having solved the problem of packing energy into a battery.

Quite simply, the smaller the battery, the higher the cost-per-watt becomes."

However, "If I had to bet on two battery technologies that may be adopted by Apple in 2020, then I would name lithium-sulfur and magnesium-ion." Will Apple ever deliver a battery you don't have to worry about? "This is one thing that will not happen!" Dr Curran says.

Another possibility is to put transparent solar cells in front of the display. Apple has so many solar-related patents that Patently Apple has an entire section dedicated to the subject, and photovoltaic smartphone screens aren't sci-fi: Kyocera demonstrated a prototype smartphone with Sunpartner Technologies' Crystal solar glass at MWC 2015.

An astonishing camera

Huawei P9

Multi-lens, multi-sensor cameras will be the norm in 2020, at least in larger phones: the iPhone 7 Plus is expected to gain an extra lens this year. Apple spent $20 million acquiring LinX Computational Imaging, whose two, three and four-sensor setups claim to rival DSLR quality. But multi-sensor cameras aren't just about image quality.

LinX's technology can refocus like a Lytro camera, and can do amazing things such as removing the background of a video - in real time.

Not only that, but it can apparently accurately measure three dimensional spaces, delivers incredibly accurate facial recognition and makes a perfect camera for augmented reality apps. If even half of the claims are true, the 2020 iPhone camera will be astonishing. Just don't buy the 16GB model.

"I believe dual-lens rear cameras like the Huawei P9 will be the norm," Dr Curran predicts, with "still images, photo and video that includes input from both cameras, bite-size video clips and action shots that include separate shots of movement in the same frame. They are in effect turning the smartphone into a miniature broadcasting centre."

Thermal cameras may be a trend too, Dr Curran suggests, especially for specialist tasks such as detecting heat loss or overheating equipment and seeing in total darkness.

AR/VR

Apple VR

Apple has filed multiple patents for head-mounted displays over the years - its first video headset patent was filed in 2006 - and in 2013 it acquired PrimeSense, whose patent portfolio included designs for augmented reality glasses and a phone with a built-in projector - designs that tie in nicely with Apple's 2008 patent for a "desk-free computer", which used a projector for its display and took input from multiple wireless sources.

Factor in the January hire of VR legend Doug Bowman and it's clear that Apple is keenly interested in VR.

Apple has a track record of letting other firms make the mistakes with new tech, so we wouldn't expect any VR/AR product until Sony, Steam, Samsung and Oculus have battled it out, but the 2020 iPhone should certainly have enough grunt to deliver a decent VR/AR experience.

"Augmented Reality integration will happen," Dr Curran says. "The AR supporting tools are growing and the price of the AR camera rigs are coming down month upon month." Dr Curran also expects projectors to be common in smartphones by 2020. In a perfect world, his 2020 phone would have "a built-in 8K projector that doesn't drain my battery."

Connectivity

5G logo

5G is predicted to be fairly widespread by 2020, although Dr Curran predicts 2025 as a more likely date for widespread coverage unless you live in South Korea. But it should be worth waiting for, delivering the killer combination of very high speeds, very high capacity and very low latency.

Mark Zuckerberg reckons 360-degree video will be 5G's killer app, and both AR and VR would benefit too. But 5G might prove to be the fallback, in cities at least: Next Generation Hotspot (NGH) and Wi-Fi Passpoint would enable you to roam across super-fast Wi-Fi networks without having to log on to each new network you joined. NGH Wi-Fi already has the backing of more than 30 phone network operators worldwide.

While hype around 5G is building, it's worth keeping some perspective. "What we do know is the International Telecommunication Union allows carriers to call anything 4G so long as it offers a 'substantial level of improvement in performance and capabilities' over 3G. So we can speculate that 5G will simply be anything significantly better than 4G," Dr Curran says.

However, the combination of Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) base stations and multiple phone antennae should deliver "significantly better" data and coverage.

The iPhone already has NFC for Apple Pay, and that's likely to be used for more forms of authentication: in the US, banks are working on cardless ATMs that support Apple Pay, and the same technology could replace any keycard by 2020.

The 2020 iPhone will also likely have the indoor equivalent of GPS, partly thanks to Apple's acquisition of indoor mapping firm WiFiSlam: you'll be able to ask Siri how to get to a particular point in a mall, stadium or train station just as you currently ask for directions to addresses.

"Expect to see devices like cars, cameras, microwaves, washing machines, thermostats and so on being controlled through the phone," Dr Curran says. "NFC is playing a larger role in close-range data-sharing and mobile payments. Wireless charging may become the dominant method. Communication protocols will increase with standards such as Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth and Miracast."

And your phone will sport more sensors too. "We will start to soon see EKG, pulse, slipped pressure, temperature, and humidity sniffers included also. This will enable more accurate environmental sensing, not to mention medical uses."

Everything you need to know from Apple’s iPhone SE launch

Everything you need to know from Apple's iPhone SE launch

Your one stop guide to the Apple iPhone SE launch

Apple

There wasn't a One More Thing this time. Not even something like the iPod Hi-Fi.

You didn't watch the Apple event. You had stuff to do and anyway, who wants to hear Tim Cook say "amazing" and "magical" for two hours?

But there's a problem: people will be talking about it tomorrow, so you need the facts. We've got 'em. Here's everything you need to know about the iPhone SE event, from the hardware Apple unveiled to the bits that sent us to sleep.

Missing it was a smart move

Carekit

Caring about privacy, the environment and health and stuff is all very important and very laudable, but while it's great that Apple is making a stand against the FBI, moving to all-paper packaging, powering its Singapore operation with solar arrays on top of 800 buildings and making real progress with its medical research platform HealthKit, that information is not what you want to linger on when all you want to know is what the iPhone SE costs.

Fifteen minutes into the keynote and the only iPhone we'd seen was one that was being taken apart to become a drill bit.

There are some new Apple Watch bands. Woo!

Watch

"Now we're going to talk about products," Tim Cook said, 25 minutes in. And then he unveiled… NYLON APPLE WATCH STRAPS AND SOME NEW COLOURS! The crowd jumped to its feet and danced with joy, ecstatic at the innovation they were seeing on screen. Yes, we're being sarcastic. More usefully, there was a price cut too: the Apple Watch is down to $299, a reduction of $50, but there wasn't any mention of any next generation Watch. To be fair we didn't expect to see the second generation Apple Watch tonight, so we weren't disappointed. Bored, yes. But not disappointed.

The iPhone SE is small and (sort of) cheap

iPhone SE

Apple shifts lots of four-inch iPhones even though they're getting on a bit, so it's made the iPhone SE to target those customers: people who don't want ginormous screens with price tags to match, and the Chinese market where the four-incher is king.

It comes in white, black, gold and rose gold, looks very like the iPhone 5S, and it's essentially an iPhone 6S in a smaller case.

It has the 12MP iSight camera, Live Photos, 4K video and faster 4G and Wi-Fi than the iPhone 5S, but it doesn't have the 3D Touch pressure sensing of its bigger sibling, the basic storage is still just 16GB and the fact battery life wasn't mentioned means it'll be crap.

Prices start at $399/£359, which is cheap by iPhone standards.

There's a new version of iOS too

iOS

iOS 9.3's headline new feature is called Night Shift, and it automatically changes the colour balance to make your screen more yellowish at night.

The theory behind it is that the bluer light of normal phone screens plays merry hell with your sleep, so moving to a warmer colour balance at night should make it easier to fall asleep.

Or you could just watch a recording of tonight's keynote. iOS also gets password protected Notes, app suggestions inside the Health app, some tweaks to Apple News and some improvements for education and CarPlay. It's out now.

The new iPad is called the New iPad Pro

iPad

The latest iPad is the same size as an iPad Air, but it's an iPad Pro like Apple's giant tablet.

It has clearly been designed with business users in mind - carrying the big iPad Pro is like carrying a desk around - and Windows PC switchers: Apple calls it "the ultimate PC replacement". It has a Smart Keyboard like its bigger sibling that turns it into a laptop, and it supports the Apple Pencil too.

That's good news for artists, designers, architects and anybody who fancies a bit of digital doodling. It also gets the same camera specs as the iPhone SE, which is terrible news for anybody stuck behind iPad Pro owners at gigs. Prices are $599 for 32GB, rising to $899 for 256GB. It's powerful, but pricey.

There's a genuinely innovative new feature in the new iPad Pro. Apple calls it a True Tone display, and it uses twin sensors to detect the colour temperature of the lighting - so direct sunlight has a different tone to LED lighting, or the lighting in your home.

The iPad Pro detects this and adjusts the screen colours accordingly, making the screen behave more like a piece of paper. A $599 piece of paper, yes, but the creative types are going to go mad for it.

There wasn't a One More Thing

iPhone

Apple fans' favourite bit of Apple events is the end, because that's when Steve Jobs used to do his famous "There's one more thing" big reveal.

That was when the real star of the show would be revealed - and at this event the One More Thing was, er, nothing. No speed-bumped MacBook Pros or MacBooks with a couple of spare expansion ports. No iPad socks.

The event petered out after a bit about Apple's new office building, which was as fascinating as a bit about anybody's new office building can be.

We didn't even get Jonathan Ive broadcasting from the white room Apple keeps him locked inside. Predictions of Apple's doom after the passing of Steve Jobs may have been hilariously wrong, but boy do we miss his showmanship.

It wasn't the worst keynote ever

Event

We tend to associate Apple keynotes with big product reveals - the iPod! The iPhone! The iPad! - but many past Apple events were even duller than this one, which at least did have some high-end products to talk about.

If you were following Apple back in 2006, its spring event unveiled slightly tweaked Mac Minis, the ill-fated iPod Hi-Fi and some iPod cases. And that was it. Never mind "boom!" That wasn't even "part!"

This time we got a new iPhone and new iPad in the middle of the cycle for both of those devices - we know that September is going to yield a new iPhone 7, and probably a refresh to the Apple Watch (cunningly named the Apple Watch 2) and probably a new version of the iPad Pro.

So given that will be the 'big' event, seeing this much hardware in March is something we wouldn't normally expect.










Opinion: Google has lost control of Android

Opinion: Google has lost control of Android

Remember Stagefright, the Android vulnerability that affected nearly 1 billion phones running Android versions from 2.2 to 5.1? Well, you may have heard that it's back - and it's even nastier than before.

Where the first version of the vulnerability could be accessed via an MMS message, Stagefright 2.0 can travel via specially adapted and apparently innocuous MP3/MP4 files - and those files can be stored inside apps, so just avoiding freebie music or movie files won't protect you.

The most important thing about Stagefright isn't what it does or how it travels, though. It's what it shows. And what it shows is that there is a massive security problem that affects almost every Android device, and Google needs to solve it - because there's every chance that the next vulnerability will be much more devastating.

All the world's a Stagefright

Here's how security vulnerabilities are supposed to be handled. One, a researcher discovers an issue. Two, the people who make the software find a solution. And three, the solution is then made available, ideally by automatic update. That's what Windows does, and what Apple does. It isn't always as fast as it should be, but at least once the fix exists it's available almost instantly.

Here's how it works with Android.

1. A researcher discovers a vulnerability.
2. Google says "la la la can't hear you" for a year or so.
3. After lots of media coverage Google says it'll fix the hole.
4. Google creates a fix and promises to bring it to the Nexus range in two or three months.
5. Google gives the fix to manufacturers who say they'll roll it out at some point, maybe, when they get round to it.
6. The manufacturers get round to it and submit their version to the phone networks, who say they'll totally bring it out at some point, oh yes siree!
7. The vulnerability that the fix will eventually fix evolves so that the fix doesn't fix it any more.
8. Google says "la la la can't hear you".

Let's talk about Steve Jobs because Android fans really like that

Eight years after unveiling the iPhone, Steve Jobs told the D5 conference what he thought of the phone networks, especially US ones. "The carriers now have gained the upper hand in terms of the power of the relationship with the handset manufacturers," he said. "And they're starting to tell the handset manufacturers what to build."

He was right, and that's the reason for HTC's recent comments that it couldn't commit to the monthly software updates Google wants. It's not that HTC doesn't want to update its devices. It's that it can't guarantee that the carriers will update HTC's devices.

"We will push for it," HTC America president Jason Mackenzie said on Twitter, adding later that "Nexus and unlocked is a completely different story. If product requires third-party certification it is not in your full control."

That isn't just an HTC problem. It's an Android problem. And it's a problem that Apple simply doesn't have.

'If you like Apple so much, why don't you marry it?'

In security terms, Apple has a massive advantage over Android: it doesn't have to persuade anybody but its users to install a security patch. And most of them do: five days after iOS 9 launched, 50% of compatible devices had it (and immediately encountered a host of irritating bugs, although that's another story). Apple then put out the iOS 9.0.1 update two days later, and we can be pretty confident that most iOS 9 users have it.

That simply doesn't happen on Android, because no matter how good Google is at issuing patches, it then has to persuade manufacturers, carriers, or both, to issue those patches. And that causes fragmentation, where some people get updates and lots don't.

In August, Open Signal's OS analysis found that where 85% of iOS users were on iOS 8, 13% on iOS 7 and just 2% on earlier versions (iOS 9 hadn't then shipped), just 12.4% of Android users were on Lollipop. 39.2% were on KitKat, 37.4% on Jelly Bean, 5.1% on Ice Cream Sandwich and 5.6% on Gingerbread.

That fragmentation also disproportionately affects budget buyers: when you read the list of devices that'll be patched in any Android update, the flagships are usually first. Midrange? Maybe, if you're lucky. But manufacturers and carriers rarely bother with the lower budget models.

Android's best feature is also its biggest problem

In many respects Google's lack of control over Android is laudable. It means you can choose from a massive array of devices to suit every kind of person, usually at a range of prices too, and there's nobody telling you what features you can and can't have or what apps you can and can't download.

And that's great. But the lack of control Google has over Android security is a massive weakness.

It's clear that some carriers and some manufacturers simply aren't doing enough to keep Android up to date. Google's Project Zero team is great at pointing out security issues in rivals' products, but it's throwing its stones from inside a glass house. Android users deserve better.










Get the fastest possible internet connection at home, work and on the move

Get the fastest possible internet connection at home, work and on the move

Introduction

Intro

Whether you're hard at work or streaming HDTV, a decent internet connection is essential – but for many of us our connections aren't as fast as we'd like them to be. If your streaming is struggling or your Google Docs are dawdling, there are lots of ways to ensure you get the fastest possible connection wherever you work, play or travel.

Check what you can get

BT Infinity

If it's been a while since you last shopped around for broadband, it's worth taking another look – with Virgin Media and BT Infinity merrily running cables around the place, high speed internet is becoming much more widely available.

Virgin's headline speeds now exceed 150Mbps, while Infinity currently goes up to 76Mbps. If you can't get either of those you might still be able to get a faster broadband service – according to Ofcom the average UK broadband speed is now 22.8Mbps. Cities skew that somewhat, averaging around 40Mbps, but suburban speeds still average 20-28Mbps and rural areas 10-17Mbps.

Use 4G instead

London cellular

If you're in a good coverage area, the 4G mobile network may well be faster than a building's overloaded Wi-Fi access point. If your laptop or tablet doesn't have a cellular modem you can still access the 4G network if you have a compatible phone – recent iPhones, Android and Windows Phone handsets have personal hotspot modes. Such modes create local Wi-Fi networks that you can connect other devices to, and those devices can then take advantage of the phone's 4G connection.

Avoid obstacles

Asus router

Whether it's 3G, 4G or Wi-Fi, any wireless technology suffers from attenuation – the strength of the signal degrades over distance, or if it's blocked by obstacles such as walls. Different frequencies cope better than others, so for example low-frequency 4G suffers less than higher-frequency 3G from attenuation by buildings and other obstacles.

If you're using a phone, going outside generally improves signal strength; with Wi-Fi, getting closer to the router, ideally with a line of sight connection, does the same.

Move the router

Wire mesh

Wi-Fi routers, especially older ones, suffer quite badly from obstacles – and you might not even know those obstacles are there. For example, mirrors and the wire mesh (pictured) used in some plastering jobs can play merry hell with Wi-Fi signals, and interference from next door's baby monitor or older Bluetooth devices could be causing problems too.

If your router doesn't seem to be delivering the goods, try changing its radio channel to see if interference is the culprit; if not, try physically relocating the router to see if the signal's being blocked by something.

Use wires

Powerline

Cabled internet connections are faster than wireless ones, but if you'd rather not run Ethernet cables around a building then powerline networking is the next best thing. Powerline networks use the electricity mains circuit to transmit data, and the very fastest adapters are capable of speeds up to 1.2 gigabits per second.

Those speeds are very unlikely, however: in our tests of multiple powerline adapters we achieved real-world speeds of around one-fifth of the quoted maximums – although that's still perfectly adequate for connecting the likes of games consoles, smart TVs and other internet-enabled devices, or for creating a network anywhere you can't run cabling.

Extend your network

Extender

If you already have a really good router but your Wi-Fi signal simply doesn't reach all the places you need it to, investing in a Wi-Fi extender such as Netgear's EX6200 is an excellent idea. An extender connects to your existing network where the signal is strong and then re-broadcasts the signal to areas where the existing router doesn't reach.

It's not the first thing you should try – adding an additional wired Wi-Fi access point will be cheaper, and if your router isn't a good one upgrading it will be more effective than extending it – and cheap extenders are pretty awful, but if you need a wireless way to make your signal stretch then a good extender is a sound investment.

You can also turn a router into a range extender by following our how-to here.

Use the right standards

Standard

If you're connecting wirelessly, the fastest speeds are on networks that use the 802.11ac standard, which runs at up to 1.3 gigabits per second. Next fastest is 802.11n, which runs at up to 450Gbps in ideal circumstances. Older Wi-Fi standards run much slower: 802.11g delivers 54Mbps and 802.11b offers just 11Mbps.

Of course, you don't always have a choice here – if a coffee shop's router is 54Mbps you can hardly demand they upgrade it – but if you're buying the hardware, 802.11ac is by far the fastest. Note that your devices will also need to support the standard to benefit from the increased speed.

Avoid everybody

Countryside

Wireless networks only have so much available bandwidth, and that's shared between users – so if you have ten people connecting simultaneously to a 54Mbps Wi-Fi router, they're getting one-tenth of the bandwidth each. The reality is actually worse than that, because wireless connections have a lot of headroom – the data used to keep the connection live – and that reduces bandwidth further. If you're trying to get online in a coffee shop or other public place, it pays to go when it's quiet.

Dump older devices

Dump older devices

Many routers are backwards compatible with earlier Wi-Fi standards, and that's handy – but if you connect an older device running 802.11b to a router running in mixed mode to support older standards, that device will slow the network down for everybody. That's because the router needs to do extra work to keep everybody's connections stable, and performance takes a big hit as a result.

(Image: Macinate/Flickr CC BY 2.0)

Use the right frequency

Router

Different wireless standards use different radio frequencies. 802.11b and g use the 2.4GHz band, which is very crowded not just with computers but with phones, baby monitors and other wireless devices too. 802.11n can use either 2.4GHz or 5GHz, and 802.11ac is 5GHz only.

5GHz networks run much more quickly than 2.4GHz ones, especially in areas where there are lots of other wireless networks in operation, although the trade-off is that they don't have quite as much range. For the fastest possible wireless network, buy 802.11ac equipment – the next best option is 802.11n at 5GHz.










Phone week: How to make an album on your smartphone

Phone week: How to make an album on your smartphone

Making sweet music

Music

Albums have been recorded in all kinds of places. Nine Inch Nails built a studio in the house where Charles Manson's gang murdered five people, Radiohead created the critically-acclaimed OK Computer in Jane Seymour's mansion and the enterprising rapper Prince Harvey recorded his debut in a New York Apple store.

But weirder locations are still to come because now you can make and even release music using your smartphone.

Although smartphones have been able to record audio for years, most people stuck with PCs and Macs for serious music-making. They had the necessary horsepower for multi-track recording and sequencing, high-quality sampling and an array of additional effects.

But mobile phones have caught up quickly. The idea of recording albums on tablets is old hat now and having a big-screened mobile phone means you can take the studio with you wherever you go.

Here's what you need to make a masterpiece on your mobile.

  • This article is part of Phone Week, celebrating the best bits about brilliant smartphones and tablets as part of the lead up to the TechRadar Phone Awards. To find out what the iPhone 7 could look like, how a phone could survive in space or how to buy the perfect smartphone for you, bookmark TechRadar's Phone Week hub and check out all the great new features coming throughout the week!

Step 1: Get the right mobile for music

How to make an album on your smartphone

The right mobile will have a big screen, as much storage space as you can afford and an Apple logo on the back. We're not being biased here: the range of music apps and peripherals for iOS devices is astonishing, and while it's perfectly possible to make an album on Android, the choice of apps is a lot smaller.

Of the current collection, the iPhone 6 Plus is the money-no-object choice, but an iPhone 6 running the latest iOS will do just fine too. You may need Apple's Lightning to USB Camera Adapter (or the Camera Connection Kit on iPhones with dock connectors) if the audio kit you want to connect has a USB plug on the end of it.

Recent Android phones are perfectly capable of recording music too, and our pick of the Android crop is the Samsung Galaxy S6, which is enormously powerful thanks to Samsung's new Exynos engine.

More importantly, it supports USB OTG (On The Go), which means you can connect USB audio interfaces to it and they'll work.

Can't afford an S6? Don't worry: just make sure your phone supports USB Host Mode and OTG (Google its model name and "host mode" to check).

Step 2: Get the right connections

How to make an album on your smartphone

You could use your phone's mic to record audio – Prince Harvey's album is entirely vocal because he was limited to display computers' built-in mics – but if you want use external instruments or just get a better quality voice recording, you'll need an audio interface.

We really like the iTrack Solo, which connects to iOS devices' Lightning ports, and delivers an instrument connection and an XLR mic connector (including power for fancy microphones). We also like the iRig Pre for mics and the iRig 2 for guitars.

Many USB controllers including the Alesis Control Hub USB work, but as they're USB you'll need to connect them via the Camera Connection Kit. The iRig works on Android too, as do stacks of USB audio interfaces.

You aren't limited to vocals or live instruments. MIDI keyboards and triggers, such as Novation's LaunchPad Mini, work happily with music apps on both iOS and Android, either by connecting directly (as the LaunchPad Mini does) or via a USB MIDI interface.

One word of warning: bus-powered devices – that is, devices that rely on the USB or Lightning port for power – can only draw so much juice from mobile devices and may not get enough if they were designed for desktop use. If that's the case, you'll need to stick a mains-powered (or otherwise) USB hub between the audio device and your phone.

Step 3: Write your masterpiece

How to make an album on your smartphone

Phone apps can be as useful for writing music as for recording it. We've stumbled across countless happy accidents in SoundPrism (iOS) while finding Propellerhead Figure (iOS, Android) to be an absolute hoot and a surprisingly useful creative tool. Native Instruments' iMaschine (iOS) is an excellent audio toy box and SPC Music Drum Pad (Android) is great fun for electronic artists.

We'd also recommend that iOS users mess around with the Smart Instruments in Apple's GarageBand, which can help you discover interesting chord progressions.

One of the most entertaining ways to compose music is with looping, where you take a bit of sound, repeat it and then loop more things on top. Loopy for iPhone would be great value even at £20, but at £2.29 it's ridiculously good value for money. On Android, would-be loopers should head for LoopStack or the sample-tastic Caustic 3, which is free to try and just £5.99 to unlock completely.

Step 4: Record your songs

How to make an album on your smartphone

iOS users are particularly blessed here: there are stacks of really good recording and production apps available from some of the music world's biggest names.

We'd recommend starting with something simple, though. While it's limited in what it can do, Apple's £3.99 GarageBand is really easy to use and includes inter-app audio so that you can record compatible sounds from music apps into your GarageBand project.

While many big-name multitrack apps are iPad-only, there are still some gems for iPhone owners. At just £9.99, NanoStudio is a steal: it can handle six MIDI tracks (16 if you buy an in-app purchase) and includes a great synth and drum machine.

Intua's BeatMaker 2 (£13.99) is worth a look, as its drum machine and synth are supplemented with multitrack recording, and Xewton Music Studio (£10.49) has excellent multitracking and import/export options. It's a shame that many of the instruments are in-app purchases, but that's the downside of ultra-low App Store pricing.

On Android, the king of music apps is Audio Evolution Music Studio, which can import almost anything, record and play back multitrack audio, sequence MIDI (if you pay for the in-app purchase) and achieve many of the same editing tricks as a desktop app.

Once again, the in-app purchasing isn't ideal, but with a sticker price of £4.49 you can't really complain if the developers want to make a little more cash for making a genuinely useful music production tool.

Step 5: Wow the world

Soundcloud

There's no point in creating a masterpiece if nobody gets to hear it. In a digital age, making your music available to stream means potentially reaching a lot of people.

The number one song streamer is SoundCloud, which is widely supported by music apps (including GarageBand). You can't make money from SoundCloud, however, so it's worth exporting your songs to a PC or Mac and uploading to Bandcamp.com, where you can charge real cash money.

The new streamer in town is, of course, Apple Music, whose Connect feature enables you to communicate with fans. It doesn't sell your music in iTunes – for that you'll need to go via a third party such as CDBaby – but you can use it to plug other online things or upload tracks. It's iOS-only so if you're an Android user you'll need to blag or borrow an iPhone or iPad.

  • Do you have a favourite music app or add-on that we've missed? Let us know in the comments!