The importance of connectivity is such a given these days, it's normally hard for a monitor to stand out by that metric. But the new 34-inch ultrawide HP Series 7 Pro 734pm meets that challenge handily thanks to one of the most comprehensive features sets around, putting it immediately in the running among the best business monitors we’ve tested.
Highlights include Thunderbolt 4 in and out, an additional USB-C input, a multi-port USB hub, ethernet and more. Along with the explicit connectivity of physical ports, this monitor's 5MP pop-up webcam further adds to its connected functionality by enabling a great video conferencing experience.
The 34-inch widescreen form factor also makes for a great basic productivity proposition and the use of LG's IPS Black panel technology puts it at the cutting edge of LCD technology when it comes to inherent contrast and colour performance.
All that said, this is a very expensive display, especially for a 34-inch ultrawide model. That makes the relatively low 3,440 by 1,440 resolution and mediocre pixel density that comes with that a little hard to stomach. Likewise, the limited HDR support included is that much more conspicuous at this price point.
HP Series 7 Pro 734pm: Design & features
(Image credit: HP)
Nicely engineered
Fantastic connectivity
Strong productivity package
Specs
Panel size: 34-inch
Panel type: IPS Black
Resolution: 3,440 x 1,440
Brightness: 400 cd/m2
Contrast: 2,000:1
Pixel response: 5ms GtG
Refresh rate: 120Hz
Colour coverage: 98% DCI-P3
HDR: VESA DisplayHDR 400
Vesa: 100mm x 100mm (bracket included)
Inputs: DisplayPort 1.4 x1 in, DisplayPort 1.4 x1 out, HDMI 2.0 x1, Thunderbolt 4 in with 100W PD, Thunderbolt 4 out with 15W PD, USB-C with 65W PD
HP's latest ultrawide productivity monitor, the HP Series 7 Pro 734pm, is very nicely put together. The stand base and vertical support are both made from robust alloy and the rest of the chassis is plastic but fairly high quality. Of course, that's the least you'd expect at this elevated price point.
With slim bezels on three sides and a mix of black and silver surface finishes, it's a tidy, reasonably slick device even if you probably wouldn't pick it purely on looks. More likely to swing it in your favour is the outstanding array of connectivity. For starters, you get both Thunderbolt 4 in and out, the former with fully 100W of power delivery for keeping a laptop charged.
There's also a further USB-C input with 65W of power delivery, plus a KVM switch, multiport USB hub and ethernet. That means you could actually share this monitor across two different laptops, keeping both charged and connecting them to a range of peripherals like keyboard, mouse and external storage, all hooked up to the display.
(Image credit: HP)
Oh, and you can also use those inputs to run two PCs fully in parallel thanks to split-screen capability, which includes HP's Device Bridge 2.0 for secure file sharing. For the record, HP Device Bridge 2.0 supports both PC and Mac.
Notably, all the ports including the power connector are located within easy reach on the rear of the chassis. You don't have to reach or peer under the lower bezel to connect any cables and the manner in which they all exit perpendicular to the rear of the chassis helps with cable management, too.
To that you can add a 5MP AI webcam. It pops out of the top bezel, which ensures full physical security and offers built-in AI functionality including face tracking and lighting adaptation.
As for the 34-inch LCD panel itself, it's the latest IPS Black technology from LG with enhanced contrast. However, it offers a pedestrian if conventional 3,440 by 1,440 native resolution, which makes for unimpressive pixel density.
It also only meets VESA's DisplayHDR 400 standard, which means that it's not a true HDR display and doesn't support local dimming. Still, there's decent colour coverage at 98% of DCI-P3 gamut.
HP Series 7 Pro 734pm: Performance
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Punchy IPS panel
Great webcam
Low pixel density
The HP Series 7 Pro 734pm sports LG's cutting-edge IPS Black panel tech. On paper it offers much higher inherent contrast than competing IPS screens at 2,000:1. Anything from 1,000:1 up to 1,300:1 is more typical for IPS.
In practice, however, it's hard to see the difference in subjective terms. If you want really good inherent LCD contrast, VA panel tech offers up to 4,000:1 and a more noticeable upgrade in terms of black levels. Of course, OLED and its per-pixel lighting is the ultimate in contrast performance, but that's a whole different type of display.
Either way, IPS Black does make for very accurate colours, something which HP has capitalised on with a very nice factory calibration setup in sRGB mode. You can also choose from DCI-P3 and a range of other gamut presets or go with a user-defined solution.
Strictly speaking, this isn't a professional grade content creation monitor. But it is Pantone Validated and well enough set up for mainstream image and video editing workflows. The HDR 400 certification means there's no local dimming and indeed limited actual HDR support. But it does ensure 400 nits peak brightness and a very punchy over experience. This is a vibrant, pleasant display to use day-to-day.
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The exception to that is the mediocre pixel density. The 3,440 by 1,440 native resolution stretched over the gently curved, 21:9 aspect, 34-inch LCD panel makes for a pixel density of just 109DPI. For context, a 32-inch 4K monitor comes in at about 140DPI, a 27-inch 4K screen at 165DPI.
The result of that lower pixel density includes slightly rough looking fonts and a very slightly pixelated look and feel compared to higher density displays. This is far from unique to the HP Series 7 Pro 734pm, it's the norm for most 34-inch ultrawide panels. But given the four-figure price tag in both the US and UK, that's a little hard to swallow.
Still, the 120Hz refresh and reasonably zippy pixel response, the latter adjustable via four levels of pixel overdrive, certainly make for a versatile display. This isn't a gaming monitor, for instance, but it will turn its hand to that task very well, indeed.
Another highlight is the 5MP AI-powered webcam. It's certainly a cut above the norm for integrated webcams. It offers sharp, clear image quality and good colours. The AI face tracking also works reasonably well, even if it's a little laggy.
Less impressive are the integrated speakers. They put out plenty of volume, but it's a pretty thin, unpleasant din and not even a decent substitute to good laptop speakers, let alone a full desktop audio solution.
HP Series 7 Pro 734pm: Final verdict
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HP is asking a lot of money for this 34-inch ultrawide display. In return you get fantastic connectivity and productivity features. There's Thunderbolt 4 in and out, support for two laptops attached and charging at the same time, KVM functionality, split screen, file sharing, ethernet, the works.
The 34-inch widescreen form factor is also great for multi-tasking and generally getting things done, while the IPS Black panel technology makes for a great viewing experience in terms of colours and vibrancy, even if the heightened contrast compared with "conventional" IPS technology isn't exactly obvious.
The 5MP AI webcam also performs better than most integrated webcams and adds to the overall utility and connectedness of this monitor. The one really obvious shortcoming is the 3,440 by 1,440 resolution and resulting low pixel density.
That's very much the most common resolution for a 34-inch ultrawide panel. But at this price point, the low pixel density is pretty conspicuous, something an upgrade to the 5K2K resolution of 5,120 by 2,160 pixels would fix.
Normally, 5K2K wouldn't be in the mix, it's a fairly rare and premium option. But with a price tag into four figures in both the US and UK, you'd be justified to expect a premium experience. As it is, if you're OK with the pixel density, this is otherwise a really excellent productivity display and an exceptional feature set.
Nothing officially announced its mid-range duo, the Nothing Phone (3a) and Phone (3a) Pro. The two devices share many similarities and are based on the same platform, but as the name implies, the Pro version adds a couple of extra features, better cameras and a different design.
Nothing Phone (3a) Pro
Starting with the Phone (3a) Pro, the handset is built around a 6.77-inch OLED panel protected by Panda Glass. The panel is touted to reach 1,300 nits outdoors and supports a 120Hz refresh rate and 10-bit color depth. The Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 is responsible for driving those pixels, and...
The Nothing Phone 3a Pro (officially Nothing Phone (3a) Pro but I’m not typing that many parentheses) is the most interesting phone you can buy for less than $500 / £500 / AU$850, and if you’ve been craving something different than the cheerful bubblegum styling of cheap Android phones, you should consider the Nothing Phone 3a Pro no matter your price range.
For a full $140 / £150 / AU$150 less than the cheapest iPhone, the iPhone 16e, you can get the Nothing Phone 3a Pro, which has a larger screen with a 120Hz refresh rate, a bigger battery and faster charging, plus more storage and more RAM.
You also get a camera with 3x optical zoom, a feature unheard of at this price range. Most cheap phones give you wide, ultra-wide, and macro cameras, not a real zoom lens.
And all of that comes before I get to the Nothing Phone 3a Pro’s unique design (unique except for the nearly-identical Nothing Phone 3a), which takes a stripped-down approach so far that you can literally see into the back of the phone as if you have x-ray vision.
This see-through look a signature of Nothing Phone devices, along with the cool Glyph LED lights, though the Nothing Phone 3a Pro looks a bit more restrained and polished than previous models. It looks more like a circuitry subway map than an accidental phone autopsy.
The Nothing Phone LED lights are here, in a simple ring rather than an enigmatic ‘Glyph’ arrangement like I saw on the first two Nothing Phone devices. The Glyph system is more than just decorative, it’s actually quite functional and a bit nostalgic.
I remember when the LED lights were a key selling point for cell phones and I’d spend time customizing my friends’ light cues along with their designated ringtone. Nothing Phone 3a Pro let me do that again, assigning light patterns to my friends and family. I even had fun banging out my own patterns on the glyph-maker software.
I give Nothing a lot of credit – there are few phones with a feature like the glyph that is this fun. Most phones are just a slab of glass with cameras on the back. Samsung might give you a pen, but you pay a lot for it. With the Nothing Phone 3a Pro (and Nothing Phone 3a), you get the unique glyph feature that's entertaining on its own and adds unique flair to your calls and alerts.
That said, this is still a decidedly bargain phone, with a less-powerful chipset inside and limited support for US networks. I saw plenty of lag and stuttering performance on this phone, more than I’ve see on slightly more expensive and powerful phones like the OnePlus 12R or even the Google Pixel 8a.
I had no problem using my Nothing Phone 3a Pro on AT&T’s network in the New York area. Nothing says some users might have to call AT&T or Verizon to have their phone’s IMEI (a network identifier) whitelisted, or approved, by the carrier. T-Mobile fans should have no problem at all.
Performance issues aside, it’s almost sad that Nothing hasn’t created an even more premium device above the Nothing Phone 3a Pro, because it’s clear that plenty of work went into the interface and design, and phone fans who normally shun cheap phones might enjoy the minimalist and unique NothingOS. Don't knock it until you've seen it.
The Nothing Phone 3a Pro feels special. This isn’t a pared back phone like the Galaxy A56, which is like a Diet Galaxy S25. The Nothing Phone 3a Pro improves on previous Nothing Phones with a more durable design, a better display, versatile cameras, and faster performance all around. This is the best Nothing Phone ever, and this is one bargain phone you shouldn’t ignore.
Nothing Phone 3a Pro review: price and availability
$459 / £449 / AU$849 with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage
Available in the US through Nothing Beta program
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
The Nothing Phone 3a Pro will be available worldwide in one configuration for $459 / £449 / AU$849. You can choose a white or shiny grey exterior and get 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage inside. That’s a respectable amount of storage and RAM for the price – much more than the 8GB/128GB you'll get on the Samsung Galaxy A56.
While not quite this cheap, for a bit more you can buy the Google Pixel 8a or OnePlus 12R. Both of those phones get discounted frequently to match the Nothing Phone 3a Pro’s price, but those phones were both new in 2024. Samsung’s new Galaxy A56 will cost about the same as the Nothing Phone 3a Pro, but that phone won’t hit the US until much later this year.
Most of the world can simply order the Nothing Phone 3a Pro through Nothing.tech or a retail partner, but in the US there are a couple of hoops to jump through. Nothing saves money by cheaping out on radio bands, so the Nothing Phone 3a Pro doesn’t support every single band on the three major US carriers.
If you use T-Mobile in the US, you’re in luck with the most supported bands, but AT&T support lags a bit, and Verizon users will be missing enough bands that it might make sense to look elsewhere if you need the best cell service possible.
For this reason, Nothing sells the Nothing Phone 3a and Phone 3a Pro in the US under a ‘Beta’ program so that users will be aware of what they are missing. I used the Nothing Phone 3a Pro in the New York area on AT&T. I got a text message from AT&T right away that my phone wasn’t supported. I ignored the message and used the phone normally for the rest of the week and I had no noticeable issues. Network speeds were good.
Value score: 5/5
Nothing Phone 3a Pro review: specs
The Nothing Phone 3a Pro uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 chip, which is a fairly new platform from Qualcomm, so it can support all of the latest software as well as upcoming AI features, should Nothing decide to add more machine learning.
The most outstanding spec is the 3x optical zoom camera, which is unique in this price range. Nothing uses periscopic lens technology, like you’ll find on the Galaxy S25 Ultra’s 5X zoom lens, to add reach.
Otherwise, the large display is noteworthy for its high refresh rate and brightness, both of which top Apple’s latest supposed-bargain iPhone 16e. Across the board, you won’t find much better specs on a smartphone without spending hundreds more, and Nothing also gives you the unique Glyph lights around back.
Nothing Phone 3a Pro review: design
Totally unique transparent design with LED Glyph lights
A bit thick and heavy, but not too much
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
The Nothing Phone 3a Pro stands out, even in the muted grey and white color options available. At first glance, friends who saw the transparent back, with its roadmap of flat ribbon cables and antenna lines, asked what was going on with my phone.
Folks who caught a glimpse when the Glyph lights flared always wanted to know what phone I was using.
The design is decidedly tech-forward, and the Glyph light patterns, with their matching sound cues, and the minimalist NothingOS interface only reinforce this feeling. Most phones try to disappear behind the display and the content, but the Nothing Phone 3a Pro begs to be seen from every angle. I was looking for opportunities to place this phone face down so I could watch it ring.
The design is so unusual that you won’t notice it feels a bit cheap. The seams are not as perfectly aligned as the edges on a Galaxy S25 or iPhone 16. The phone is thick – at 8.4mm, it’s thicker than an iPhone 16e or Galaxy A56.
The transparent back is glass: a Chinese knock-off of Gorilla Glass called ‘Panda Glass’ instead of plastic like previous Nothing Phone devices. The camera bump is huge and unapologetic, with textured lines that draw a circle around the frame. The Glyph lights ring the cameras, and can also act like a ring light when you’re shooting.
The Nothing Phone 3a Pro features a new Essential Key, which is a button that will take a screenshot or record a voice memo. It won’t just store these entries, it feeds them into an Essential Space app that analyzes your notes with AI to give you summaries and answers. In practice… it needs work. I hope the Essential Key gets repurposed in a future NothingOS update so that it can do a bit more.
Design score: 3/5
Nothing Phone 3a Pro review: display
Big, bright display with a fast refresh rate
Not as bright in our tests as Nothing claims
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
The Nothing Phone 3a Pro features a huge, 6.77-inch AMOLED display that can refresh at a variable rate up to 120Hz. It looked bright, colorful, and smooth in my time reviewing the Phone 3a Pro. There was some stuttering, but I suspect the slower chipset was to blame, as the display could handle whatever video content or fast-scrolling lists I threw its way.
I wonder if this display is overkill for Nothing Phone 3a Pro. NothingOS is nearly monochromatic, and in fact there is a monochrome mode if you want to eliminate all colorful distraction from your phone. Maybe Nothing should have developed a unique display to play into those strengths, instead of competing on color and brightness with Samsung and Google.
Nothing claims the Nothing Phone 3a Pro can hit 3,000 nits at peak brightness, but in our Future Labs tests we couldn’t manage half that brightness level. We still saw peak brightness well over 1,000 nits, which is great, but not what Nothing claims.
Display score: 3/5
Nothing Phone 3a Pro review: software
NothingOS offers a unique look and plenty of widgets
Nothing Phone 3a Pro gets 3 years more Android, 6 years more security
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
The Nothing Phone 3a Pro uses NothingOS on top of Android 15, and NothingOS could really be considered a Theme and Widget combo pack. It doesn’t add a whole lot of useful features to Android, but instead it succeeds by taking away distractions.
By distractions, I mean color and shapes. The look of NothingOS can best be described as a monochrome, low-resolution, dot matrix theme. There's an actual monochrome mode you can enable, but the basic NothingOS theme is mostly black and white, with graphics that reduce iconography, like clouds and the sun in the weather app, to a series of large dots.
It kind of works, if you like this style. Nothing even includes an AI wallpaper generator, a feature very en vogue with the smartphone elite, though in this case the choices are much more limited than you’ll find on a Galaxy or Pixel phone.
On my Galaxy I might create a ‘lamp of flowers in pink and purple,’ with thousands of possible combinations of nouns and colors. On my Nothing Phone 3a Pro I can choose ‘flora’ and ‘iridescent’, and up to 30 total combos. What you get ends up looking like a wallpaper that Nothing might have included with its phone anyway.
If you press the new Essential Key twice, you open a new Essential Space app, where you can find the screenshots that you took and the voice memos you saved. Only the screenshots that you capture using the Essential Key end up here. If you press the power button and volume down, you get a screenshot in your Gallery, but not in the Essential Space. Weird.
Honestly, I didn’t have any use for the Essential Key or Essential Space during my time with the Nothing Phone 3a Pro, and I didn’t feel I was missing anything except a better use for the new button. I rarely take screenshots or record voice memos, and I’m not going to change my behavior for this phone, so if you’re like me, you won’t see the benefit. Hopefully Nothing will add more to make this useful for more people.
Software score: 3/5
Nothing Phone 3a Pro review: cameras
Good cameras (but not as good as Nothing's bragging)
A 3x optical zoom lens is unique at this price
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
The people have spoken, and people say they want three cameras, so most cheap Android phones come with three cameras, but none of them give you optical zoom like the Nothing Phone 3a Pro. The Nothing Phone 3a Pro has a clever, versatile array of cameras, making it a solid pick if you need a real zoom lens.
Most phones at this price give you a fine wide-angle camera, a mediocre ultra-wide, and a terrible, low resolution macro camera. The Galaxy A55 and the Motorola Edge 2024 offer that camera setup, for instance. Nothing gives you a lot more camera bang for your buck.
You get a real 3x optical zoom with a periscope lens, which just means it’s more compact than a normal zoom lens. You also get a big 50MP sensor on that zoom lens, in addition to the 50MP main sensor. The ultra-wide sensor is only 8MP, but who cares when you have all that zoom.
The selfie camera is a 50MP sensor as well, which is too much for selfies. I ended up with a file that is six times as large as an iPhone 16 Pro selfie, even though it doesn’t have as much detail or clarity.
The image quality from the Nothing Phone 3a Pro is fine, but not incredible. The Pixel 8a will give you better images in this price range, at least with its main camera, though it only shoots up to 12MP. The Nothing Phone 3a Pro can shoot 50MP images, but you have to dig through settings to make that happen, otherwise you get a standard 12MP file.
It’s clear from the image samples that there is a lot of AI processing going on with the Nothing photos. On the zoom photos, I could get a pretty good shot overall, but if I look closely the image takes on an oil paint quality that makes it clear a computer filled in a lot of gaps and erased all the noise.
Before this phone launched, Nothing teased us by claiming that its new cameras would be as good as an iPhone. It’s not even close, but the Nothing Phone 3a Pro is not a bad camera. It takes much better photos than any Motorola phone I’ve used, and it has more versatility than comparable Samsung Galaxy A-series phones. It’s a solid camera setup for the price.
Camera score: 4/5
Nothing Phone 3a Pro review: camera samples
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Nothing Phone 3a Pro review: performance
Performance is good enough to get by
There are more powerful phones with less style
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Nothing took a step up with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 chip inside both the Nothing Phone 3a and Phone 3a Pro, but the platform still isn’t quite fast enough to keep up with the demands of Android 15 and NothingOS. I encountered plenty of lag in my time with the phone, often bad enough that the screen would stop responding to taps and then would catch up all at once. It was frustrating, but it didn’t happen too often, not every day.
The Nothing Phone 3a Pro isn’t going to be the best phone for hardcore games like Call of Duty Mobile or PUBG, but it will do fine with casual games like Balatro and Marvel Snap. Vampire Survivors choked the phone when the screen filled with enemies, but it recovered quickly enough that I didn’t lose the round.
Frankly, the competition at this price doesn’t offer much better performance – the Pixel 8a isn’t winning any benchmark crowns. If you want a fast phone for less, the OnePlus 12R is your best bet, otherwise you’ll just need to spend more if you want a serious mobile gaming machine.
Performance score: 2/5
Nothing Phone 3a Pro review: battery
Great battery life and excellent charging speeds
No wireless charging
(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Battery life on the Nothing Phone 3a Pro was excellent, and the phone had no trouble lasting me a full day on a single charge with battery to spare. The phone also charges very quickly, though Nothing skimps by not offering any charger in the box, fast or otherwise.
The Nothing Phone 3a Pro can charge up to 50 watts, and I tested it with my own variable charger that can charge up to 50W or more. The Phone 3a Pro charged very quickly, and I got to 100% in just over 50 minutes, which is even faster than Nothing claims. That’s faster than the Galaxy S25 and the iPhone 16.
With a 5,000mAh battery inside (and a very dark, black interface), the Nothing Phone 3a Pro conserves power nicely. In our Future Labs tests, the Phone 3a Pro lasted just under 15 and a half hours, almost the same amount of time as the Samsung Galaxy S25. In my real world tests, I had no trouble taking photos and working through a full day on a single charge.
Battery score: 5/5
Should you buy the Nothing Phone 3a Pro ?
Buy it if...
You like the look You won’t find anything that comes close to the Nothing Phone 3a Pro design, with its unique transparent back glass and minimal interface.
You like the lights It’s surprising no other phone maker is using LED lights for notification, but Nothing gives you lights, sounds, and a composer to make your own rings.
You love the price For everything you get – the versatile cameras, unique design, great battery and charging – this phone is a steal, and worth a look over phones that cost much more.
Don't buy it if...
You play a lot of mobile games This is not a powerhouse phone; its Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 processor could sputter at times. Skip it if you need real smartphone power.
You don’t like the look or the lights There’s not much else going for the Nothing Phone 3a Pro that is unique, besides the design and the low price. But that’s enough for many folks.
You plan on keeping your phone for years The Nothing Phone 3a Pro will get three years of Android updates, but after that this phone will be far behind even mid-range performers and you may have problems.
Nothing Phone 3a Pro review: also consider
Google Pixel 8a The Pixel a-series phones are a great value, offering many of the features you’ll find on the flagship Pixel phones, with very similar camera image quality as well. Read our full review of the Google Pixel 8a
Samsung Galaxy A56 The brand-new Galaxy A56 gives you tons of Samsung AI features and great specs for a price that is comparable to the Nothing Phone 3a Pro. Read our hands-on review of the Samsung Galaxy A56
How I tested the Nothing Phone 3a Pro
I used the Nothing Phone 3a Pro for a week before this review was published. In that time, I tested the phone extensively, alongside the Nothing Phone 3a, using the same work and personal apps and accounts on each.
I used the Nothing Phone 3a Pro for taking photos, communicating with work colleagues using messages and Slack, and conducting video conference calls. I played games, and edited photos from my Google Photos library.
I connected the Nothing Phone 3a Pro to a Pixel Watch 3 and Nothing Buds. I also connected an Xbox wireless controller to play games. I connected the Phone 3a Pro to my car for multimedia and to other Bluetooth speakers for audio.
I tested the Nothing Phone 3a Pro on my personal AT&T Wireless account in the New York City area, including Connecticut, the Hudson Valley, and New Jersey, with no trouble.
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Infinix launched the Note 50 series today, starting with the first two phones in Indonesia. The Note 50 and Note 50 Pro are based on LTE-only chipsets, but adopt a new design and larger batteries compared to their predecessors.
Infinix has outfitted the Note 50 and Note 50 Pro with the Helio G100 chipset from Mediatek. While it's unfortunate that there isn't a different SoC, Indonesia is lagging behind with its 5G deployment.
Both phone share the same footprint and display – a 6.78" AMOLED panel with Full HD+ resolution. The size and resolution are the same as on the Note 40 and...
A new vivo phone is coming to join the quickly expanding Y300 series. The phone is called Y300i and its model number V2444A was listed on the China Telecom website with its full specs sheet, and images, revealing yet another affordable midranger.
vivo Y300i
The phone packs a 6.68” LCD with HD+ resolution, and we expect the panel to have up to 120 Hz refresh rate because vivo is using the same screen in numerous other devices from the Y series.
The chipset is Snapdragon 4 Gen 2, and we know from the listing the phone will have three memory options – 8/256 GB, 12/256 GB, and...
This review first appeared in issue 354 of PC Pro.
Jabra’s PanaCast 50 video bar ensures that no-one feels left out, with its triple 13MP 4K camera turret presenting a full 180° horizontal field of view (FoV). What’s more, lurking inside this 650mm wide cylinder is an 8-microphone beamforming array teamed up with pairs of 50mm woofers and 20mm tweeters.
Speaker tracking is a cut above the rest, too, as the PanaCast 50 incorporates no fewer than nine Edge processors, including two Edge AI chips. These allow it to provide integral video analytics, apply always-on people counting and use Jabra’s Virtual Director technology to focus on the active speaker and zero in on them with its automatic 6x digital zoom.
The camera provides a USB-C port for BYOD meetings or connection to a permanent room computer. Jabra also offers two-room system solutions where one partners the camera with its Android-powered touchscreen tablet while another comes with Lenovo’s ThinkSmart Core + Controller devices.
The kit includes a wall-mounting bracket, with the optional aluminum table stand costing £63. We also checked out Jabra’s Bluetooth remote pad (£39), which provides camera and audio controls plus direct access to whiteboard sharing.
We reviewed the model with a grey fabric cover, but Jabra also offers a black version for the same price. Whichever model you choose, you’ll find integral Wi-Fi 5 services plus a 10/100 Ethernet port at the back for remote management using Jabra’s free Xpress web portal.
BYOD installation is easy: you simply connect the camera to a USB port on a Windows or macOS host computer and wait for the drivers to load. It will work happily with any UVC-compliant VC app, but don’t forget to download Jabra’s Direct app otherwise you’ll miss out on a wealth of features.
The app’s camera controller window allows you to play with the image quality, set a zoom level, move the camera view and save two presets that can be accessed from the remote. From the general settings tab, you can control people counting, enable the Virtual Director and turn on the new dynamic composition feature, which puts the four most recent speakers in a split screen.
The PanaCast 50 can be remotely managed and delivers superb video quality(Image credit: Future)
A large monitor is recommended, since the highest resolution is a very wide 3,840 x 1,080 pixels. The PanaCast’s army of Edge CPUs come into play here as they apply Jabra’s patented video-stitching technology to produce a single image from the three camera feeds.
This works perfectly as we couldn’t see any joins and the cameras deliver a pin-sharp image with great color balance and contrast. Speaker tracking is very responsive, too: we could walk around our meeting room and, even without speaking, the camera followed us while we were moving.
Jabra’s microphone expertise shines through. Remote participants could hear us clearly at a five-metre distance, and the quad speaker combo was just as impressive. Jabra won’t beat Biamp’s 2023 Excellence award-winning Parle VBC 2500 as the PanaCast 50 lacks a little in the bass department, but it delivers a clean and clear sound quality with a 65% volume level quite sufficient for our 24m2meeting room.
Remote monitoring and management are good, with the Xpress portal providing analytics on camera and room usage. “Packages” group camera settings together and, when you install the local Jabra Direct app, just copy a package URL to it.
You can remotely apply settings that override the local app. During room creation, you add a device serial number and apply maximum and safety participant capacities. The camera uses its people-counting skills to provide room usage details and will warn you if the room is over capacity.
This sleek cylinder delivers great video and audio quality, fast speaker tracking and a wealth of advanced features. Jabra’s Xpress web portal offers smart remote management services, and the super-wide view helps make the PanaCast 50 ideal for all-inclusive meetings.
This review first appeared in issue 354 of PC Pro.
Fedora Linux is refreshed every six months, with version 39 shipping in November 2023, 20 years (and one day) since the first iteration’s debut. It was originally a spin-off of Red Hat Linux, but the tables have been turned and it now forms the basis of Red Hat Enterprise Linux and CentOS Stream.
Of the five versions on offer, we reviewed the desktop build, which sits alongside server, cloud, containerized and IoT editions. Each release receives support for 13 months, with version 40 scheduled to appear in April 2024, and build 39 reaching end of life in November 2024.
Fedora has a free-to-download media creation tool, much like Microsoft’s equivalent for Windows, and the Raspberry Pi imager for the single-board computers. This writes the latest build to a bootable thumb drive. Use this to start up, and you’ll encounter one of the best installers we’ve come across. It’s simple, straightforward and painless.
System requirements are 4GB of memory and a 40GB SSD, although Fedora Project notes that it’s possible to run the OS on less than this.
Our installation featured a slim selection of pre-installed applications, including Firefox 119, Rhythmbox Music Player, Boxes virtual machine environment and the latest edition of LibreOffice – release 7.6. However, we needed to install our own email client, as well as common creativity tools such as GIMP and Inkscape. You can do this through the integrated software tool, where we found 61 updates waiting to be processed on first launch. This isn’t as drastic as it sounds, as many of them were fonts and codecs.
The Flatpak package manager is enabled and, if you prefer to update manually, Fedora uses the DNF package manager for RPM.
Where some distributions are just now managing the transition from the X11 display server technology to Wayland, Fedora began that process several releases back, and release 39 marks the 14th edition since it completed the transition. Wayland’s frequently touted benefits, not just by Fedora but in general, include greater security and better performance.
The selection of pre-installed apps includes the latest edition of LibreOffice(Image credit: Future)
The default desktop environment is Gnome 45, which isn’t a huge step up from 44. There are some welcome touches, though, such as subtly redesigned window elements, where two-tone colorways and full-height sidebars tidy things up. There’s also an improved workspace indicator in the top left corner. Click it once and you get an overview of your open windows, some of which might otherwise be hidden, alongside a quick way to switch between desktops. It’s useful, but you can achieve the same result by pressing the Super key.
There’s also a new Image Viewer, which Fedora notes has also been rewritten for high performance, while Gnome search has also been reworked with a focus on speed. The improvements don’t only apply in the Files app, but across several core Gnome tools, such as Software and Characters.
If you don’t get on with Gnome, there are several alternative builds – Spins in Fedora parlance – running the lightweight XFCE desktop, KDE Plasma or Cinnamon, among others. Cinnamon, as used by Linux Mint, is often touted by advocates of Windows-to-Linux switching as a reason to choose that distro.
There’s also a handful of immutable deployments, which keep OS code and apps separate, as with Nitrix. By making the core of the OS read-only, it can’t be hijacked by malicious actors or corrupted by a bad or incomplete update. The result is a more secure environment, for use in sensitive workplaces such as finance and government.
Fedora scored 1,105 in our Geekbench single-core test and 3,053 in the multicore section. These figures were broadly similar to what we saw in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux-based Rocky Linux, which, while slightly lagging in the single-core tests, was around 1.8% faster on the multicore tests. In neither case should it make any noticeable difference in day-to-day use.
With one of the best thought-out installers and a wide choice of desktop environments, there’s much to like about Fedora, which is why it’s our runner-up to Ubuntu. The default installation was minimal, but many will appreciate this, and all the tools you could possibly need are waiting in the software manager.
That Fedora is a primary source for Red Hat Enterprise Linux should fill you with confidence, and the fact it’s available with a variety of desktops will make it immediately familiar, whether switching from Windows or a Debian-based rival.
Apple CEO Tim Cook took to X to tease another product launch. Following the iPhone 16e introduction last month, Apple is now focusing on its Air lineup. Based on previous reports this teaser should be about the upcoming 13” and 15” MacBook Air models equipped with the Apple M4 chip.
This week. pic.twitter.com/uXqQaGNkSk— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) March 3, 2025
For reference, Apple launched its M3 MacBook Airs exactly one year ago. Apple is also expected to launch refreshed 11” and 13” iPad Airs with the M3 chip, which could very well be part of this upcoming launch. Apple is also rumored to...
This review first appeared in issue 354 of PC Pro.
Many distributions are available in full-fat and light editions. Zorin and Linux Mint are good examples, each giving a choice of Gnome- or Xfce-based ISOs. Debian with Raspberry Desktop, which closely resembles Raspberry Pi OS, is different. Available for PCs after a decade as the default OS for the eponymous single-board computer, it uses neither Gnome nor Xfce, but PIXEL, the Pi Improved Xwindows Environment, Lightweight, which itself is based on the lightweight LDXE desktop manager.
Don’t let the “lightweight” moniker put you off. PIXEL sports many features familiar from rival environments, including a menu bar, application menu, desktop icons and context menus. It does lack some frills, though. There are no widgets, as there are in Mint, you can’t snap windows to the edges of the screen for easy arrangement, and it lacks Zorin’s visual flair.
However, it does boot extremely quickly, it has every feature you’re likely to need, and its options and settings are as easy to find as they are to understand.
The operating system’s original name – Raspbian – hint at its Debian roots. In fact, you could be forgiven for thinking you were installing stock Debian when working your way through the installer, as there’s no mention of Raspberry Pi to be found.
It’s built on Bullseye (Debian 11) and the Linux 5.10 kernel, both of which are starting to show their age. Debian is currently at 12.2 (Bookworm), on which the regular Raspberry Pi OS for single-board computers is based, and it supports the 6.1 kernel.
Where Raspberry Pi has produced its own imager for setting up Raspberry Pi OS, which also handles user creation, configuring SSH, establishing Wi-Fi credentials and so on, the process for installing Debian with Raspberry Pi Desktop is much like that for most other distributions. Download the ISO, write it to a bootable USB drive, and boot the installer from there. Around ten minutes later, we were sitting in front of the desktop, with a full complement of essential applications ready to be used.
The pre-installed office suite is LibreOffice 7.0.4 (the latest is 7.6), Claws is installed to manage mail, and the default web browser is Chromium. Other applications can be installed via the Add/Remove Software tool, or using APT through the Terminal. We opted for the latter to install Firefox and Thunderbird, and in each case it set up version 115. This is particularly welcome where Thunderbird is concerned, as 115 marked a significant interface refresh, which makes the suite a more pleasant environment in which to spend the working day.
The Add/ Remove Software tool isn’t as friendly as some others(Image credit: Future)
Elsewhere, the list of pre-installed apps is a reminder that Raspberry Pi is popular in STEM environments, coding and automation. Both Geany Programmer’s Editor and the excellent Thonny IDE are in evidence, alongside Scratch and Mu. So is the SmartSim circuit designer.
VLC and an image viewer are both pre-installed, but GIMP (for bitmap graphics), Inkscape (vectors) and Shotwell (photos) all need to be installed manually – if you use them. Again, this can be done through the Add/Remove Software utility, but this isn’t as friendly as the equivalent installers in Ubuntu, Mint and co, presenting sometimes extensive lists of options in response to a search, each accompanied by the same default icon. You might occasionally find yourself scratching your head, wondering which you need.
PIXEL includes a Recommended Software tool, which does allow you to sidestep both the software installer and APT for a handful of common applications, but the three mentioned in the previous paragraph are absent. We’d like to see them included in the next refresh.
While we’ve griped about a few aspects of Debian with Raspberry Pi Desktop, there’s much to recommend it. It’s extremely fast to boot, the PIXEL interface is refreshingly distraction-free, and it’s compact enough to be a reasonable option for running full-time from a USB thumb drive.
Yes, it’s starting to look outdated in places (note that it was released in July 2022), but Raspberry Pi tells us an update is planned, which is expected, although not guaranteed, to arrive before Easter. In the meantime, if you’re looking to recycle some older hardware as a no-frills workhorse, or want to use the same environment on your single-board computer and desktop, this distro could be just what you’re after.
This review first appeared in issue 354 of PC Pro.
AI seems to be everywhere lately, and that includes the world of home networking: D-Link’s latest “smart router” proudly wears its AI credentials on its sleeve. As we’ll see, this is definitely a case where the buzzword oversells the reality, but if the R32 is short on smarts it makes up for that in value. As we went to press, it cost only £73 inc. VAT on Amazon, making it one of the cheapest Wi-Fi 6 routers around.
The Eagle Pro AI R32 is the successor to last year’s Eagle Pro AI R15, which was similarly cheap and looked almost identical. The main difference between the two is what you might guess from the name: the new model is just over twice as fast as the old one, in terms of wireless bandwidth. It supports connections of up to 800Mbits/sec on the 2.4GHz band, while the 5GHz radio goes up to a maximum speed of 2.4Gbits/sec. There’s also more wired bandwidth available, as the R32 gains an extra Ethernet socket at the back, to make up a full quartet of gigabit LAN ports.
Aside from those sockets there’s not much to see: no USB, no multi-gig connectors and only four LEDs on the front to show you the status of your power, internet and Wi-Fi. But that’s fine – do you really need more?
Four LEDs on the front show power, internet and Wi-Fi statuses(Image credit: Future)
Getting set up is delightfully simple, via either D-Link’s Eagle Pro AI mobile app or the router’s built-in web management interface. There isn’t a huge amount to configure, but D-Link builds in more features than you might expect from such a cheap device. For example, a basic quality-of-service tool lets you assign different priority levels to individual clients, and you can also enforce internet access schedules and time limits for kids’ devices.
For added security, you can flick a switch to replace your ISP’s default DNS with secure DNS from Google or Cloudflare, offering protection from hijacking attacks. There’s a basic configurable firewall, too, and an unexpected treat is an incoming VPN server, plus integrations with no-ip. com and dyndns.com to provide easy external access to your home network.
If you want to use the R32 as a Wi-Fi extender for an existing network you can alternatively switch it into bridge mode – or use mesh mode to connect two or more units together and spread your wireless signal over a wider area. Remember, though, that beaming mesh traffic back and forth between wireless stations eats into the bandwidth available for your devices, so you’re trading off performance for range.
Finally, let’s not forget the R32’s promised “AI” capabilities. In practice, this simply means the router periodically checks its Wi-Fi channels and tunes its beamforming settings to get the best connection to your clients. These are welcome features, to be sure, but it’s a pretty egregious overreach of the term AI.
Never mind; you’re probably not buying a £73 router in the expectation of a world-class feature suite. The real question is, how does the thing perform? And the answer is very well – at close range. I tested the R32 by hooking up a NAS drive to one of its Ethernet ports, then hawking a laptop around my home and measuring upload and download speeds as I copied a set of 100MB test files to and from the NAS.
(Image credit: Future)
Initial findings were very positive. I was delighted to see an average download speed of 85.5MB/sec in the same room as the router, and when I moved downstairs to the living-room I still got a speedy 72.9MB/sec.
Unfortunately, the R32’s four little antennas aren’t beefy enough to keep up that sort of performance all through my home. Speeds fell to 25.8MB/sec in the kitchen and 21.1MB/sec in the bedroom; that’s still ample bandwidth for typical internet tasks – a 4K HDR video stream requires about 4MB/sec – but it’s still a pretty precipitous drop.
Unsurprisingly, the R32 fared worst in the bathroom at the back of the house. Here I could clearly see my file transfers momentarily hang and resume several times during my tests, so while the eventual average download speed of 5.5MB/sec might sound fine for web browsing or cloud syncing, it’s patchy: I’d rather not rely on it for video calls or online gaming.
Does this mean you should steer clear of the R32? It really depends on what you want from a router. Those who need reliable wide-area coverage should consider spending the extra £50 on the Asus RT-AX59U: as well as more stable long-range coverage, it will give you a broader range of software features. However, if you just want basic connectivity across a few rooms, the R32 will fit the bill very nicely – there’s no need to pay more.
