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Huawei Watch D2 review: Blood pressure monitoring at its best
7:09 pm | October 21, 2024
Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Health & Fitness Smartwatches | Tags: , , , | Comments: Off

Huawei Watch D2 review: One-minute review

If we had a 'best for blood pressure' category in our best smartwatches buying guide then the Watch D2 would be instantly catapulted into this position. It supersedes the Watch D that was released in 2022, and is looking set to reignite a watch series that was otherwise going to be consigned into the depths of smartwatch history.

Blood pressure monitoring in a smartwatch is an incredible achievement, a reality made possible through an airbag strip located behind the main watch strap. At first, I thought the strip would get in the way and be too uncomfortable to wear on a daily basis, but I was wrong. It sits neatly as part of the strip and (if anything) provides an extra layer of comfort.

Blood pressure readings appeared reliable and accurate, although the watch did struggle relatively regularly to get a reading at all. It required a certain level of accurate positioning on the wrist. I appreciate it's a medical piece of equipment, but I'd like to see increased predictability in the Watch D3.

As good as the Watch D2 is for blood pressure monitoring, it is equally let down by its lack of advanced smartwatch features. At a cost of £350 (around $400 / AU$700), I'm disappointed not to see the ability to make contactless payments, listen to music through Spotify or Amazon Music, or even listen to audio messages on WhatsApp.

I know a lot of the cost can be attributed to the advanced blood pressure capabilities, but I think that has limited this watch to a rather niche group of people and their needs. Wide market appeal might therefore be lacking.

The watch is certified by both the EU's Medical Device Regulation body and China's National Medical Products Administration. This opens up an almost global market, but the distinct lack of release in the US might further hamper appeal.

Having worn this watch for a number of weeks, I'm left with an overall positive feeling. It looks great, performs well, and provides an adequate extension to my smartphone. There's still room for improvement, which I'm sure will come in future releases but for now the D2 represents an important step in smartwatch development.

Huawei Watch D2 review: Specifications

Huawei Watch D2 review: Price and availability

Huawei Watch D2

(Image credit: Future)
  • £349.99 in the UK
  • Not available in the US / AU
  • Also available in China

The Huawei Watch D2 is available in the UK at a price of £349.99. Blood pressure monitoring is certified by the EU's Medical Device Regulation body. The device is also available in China but that's as far as Huawei's market's stretch.

Huawei continues to be banned in the US, which seriously limits the company's markets. Otherwise, the watch isn't cheap and is missing a few key smartwatch features at this price point, although the revolutionary blood pressure monitor makes up for it.

  • Value score: 4/5

Huawei Watch D2 review: Design

  • Good-looking design
  • 1.82 inch AMOLED
  • Thick watch

Upon taking the Watch D2 out of the box my first impressions of the design were pretty positive. The 1.82-inch AMOLED display takes centre stage, providing a substantially sized screen for showcasing watch faces, health data, and notifications.

The colour display has a resolution of 480 × 408 pixels with a PPI of 347. Text and graphics look absolutely fantastic with a high level of clarity, definition, and vibrancy. There were no signs of pixelation or definition problems.

The display is encased by a black or gold case, which frames the watch nicely. Considering how impressive the display is, it would benefit from a much thinner bezel, especially at the top and bottom of the display. The watch itself is sized at 48 × 38 mm. The aluminium alloy case continues back to the rear of the watch where a black plastic panel takes over. The thickness is 13.3 mm, although this is at the thinnest location and excludes the sensor area.

This is one of my biggest gripes with the watch design: like its predecessor, it's just far too thick. The sooner Huawei is able to recess that sensor further into the watch the more comfortably it will sit on the wrist.

Huawei Watch D2

(Image credit: Future)

To the side of the watch is a rotating crown and a function/ECG button. These perform well and enhance the overall operation of the watch. I did find myself using the touchscreen more than the buttons but they're there if you want them.

The watch is built with premium materials, giving significant strength to the quality and level of durability. I had no concerns that I was going to damage the watch or that any individual parts weren't going to stand the test of time.

There are two watch strap options, including 'Black Fluoroelastomer' and 'White Composite Leather'. I was testing the former. The material looks great and, more importantly, feels nice on the wrist. The locking mechanism provides a quick and easy way to take the watch on and off.

The blood pressure monitor airbag strip is directly connected to the watch strap itself. I couldn't initially see how this was going to be comfortable but, in reality, it provided an extra level of cushioning.

The watch ships with a wireless USB-A charger, which is better than most that I have tested. The watch magnetically connects to the charger and doesn't require the watch to be in any particular orientation.

  • Design score: 4.5/5

Huawei Watch D2 review: Features

Huawei Watch D2

(Image credit: Future)
  • Blood pressure monitoring
  • Extensive tracking capabilities
  • Lacks advanced key smartwatch features

The single biggest standout feature of the Huawei Watch D2 is the Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring (ABPM). ABPM is delivered through a 26.5 mm ultra-narrow mechanical airbag that is attached to the inside of the watch strap. It inflates quickly and easily, providing everything required to take this vital health metric. The idea behind the feature is to provide blood pressure monitoring at will without a large cuff. So, whether you're working, exercising, relaxing, or sleeping, it's now easier than ever to perform ABPM tests.

The Watch D2 lets users run a 24-hour auto-monitoring plan. This is helpful for noticing trends across a whole day, including when you're sleeping. Do be prepared to be woken up through the night though unless you have a special skill of sleeping through the air-bag inflation.

Huawei Watch D2

(Image credit: Future)

Another relevant feature is the ECG analysis. Huawei have improved their technology from the Watch D, now providing more accurate and responsive results. If you're interested in this level of detail, then you can get the data required to help you identify the potential presence of common heart conditions.

Additionally, Huawei have included a sleep mode that includes heart rate, SpO2, respiratory rate, and abnormal breathing tracking. As you wake in the morning, you can see detailed results through the Huawei Health App. It also includes white noise, natural soundscapes, and relaxing music to help you get to sleep.

The Watch D2 also includes a range of smartwatch features, including notifications, making and receiving calls, and listening to offline music. Unfortunately there are quite significant limitations, including the inability to make contactless payments, listen to WhatsApp audio messages, or listen to music through Spotify or other music providers. It's all got to be done through your phone.

  • Features score: 4.5/5

Huawei Watch D2 review: Performance

Huawei Watch D2

(Image credit: Future)
  • Accurate blood pressure monitoring
  • Good exercise tracking
  • Responsive display

ABPM is a rare commodity in a smartwatch, so I was keen to test the accuracy and reliability of the feature. Having set the watch up and got the watch and my arm in position, I proceeded to set the watch off on its monitoring. With the air-bag inflating, I was keen to see what the results would be.

I ran the same tests numerous times and gained very similar results, which showed a pleasing level of consistency. I'm aware of what my normal blood pressure levels are and the watch delivered results within that spectrum.

I did have some problems with reliability and at times, I couldn't get the watch to take the measurement at all. This will have mostly been down to my incorrect positioning of the watch but despite that, I would like to have seen more consistent monitoring capabilities.

Other health tracking metrics are measured with ease, as they don't require quite the same level of mechanics or precision on positioning. Its sleep tracking accurately detected all my wakings as well as times that I was in deep or light sleep.

I then took the watch out and about while I walked, ran, played football, and cycled. The D2 picked up GPS without any problems at all and accurately detected where I was located. All of this was displayed on maps and I experienced no problems with the watch getting this wrong. Metrics were all recorded and tracked without problem and the Huawei Health app proved a faithful companion for digging deeper into those.

Battery life is advertised as six days with normal usage. I experienced a range of different lengths with a greater range when I was only doing exercise tracking and basic smartwatch features as well as a shortened range when using it more intensely.

  • Performance score: 4.5/5

Should I buy the Huawei Watch D2?

Buy it if...

You want regular blood pressure monitoring
Being able to perform ABPM at will is one of the best features of the Watch D2. It's fast, effective, and a big leap in smartwatch technology.

You want a top-quality display

The 1.82-inch AMOLED display looks fantastic thanks to the 480 × 408 pixels resolution with 347 PPI.

You want great battery life

The Watch D2 has an impressive battery life especially considering what monitoring and tracking it is performing. Battery life does reduce significantly if regular ABPM is performed.

Don't buy it if...

You want advanced smartwatch features

There is a distinct lack of contactless payments and the ability to listen to music on streaming services.

Huawei Watch D2 review: Also consider

Apple Watch Series 9
The Apple Watch Series 9 is the best smartwatch for most iPhone users. It offers a Double-Tap gesture, all-day battery life, and excellent health features. Read our full Apple Watch Series 9 review.

Suunto Race S
One of the best watches for runners or athletes in general. Fantastic tracking features and a long battery life provide users with everything required to get exercising. Read our full Suunto Race S review

Huawei Watch D2: How I tested

I've enjoyed wearing the Huawei Watch D2 for several weeks and have tested as many of its features as I possibly could. I focused on blood pressure monitoring, ECG analysis, and exercise tracking. I tracked walking, running, football, and cycling to give a good spread of activities.

I paired the watch with the Huawei Health app to get the complete health tracking experience offered by Huawei.

Fear The Spotlight review: Blumhouse’s debut horror game is full of heart
7:00 pm |
Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Gaming | Comments: Off
Review info

Platform reviewed: PC
Available on: Nintendo Switch, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PC, MacOS, and Linux
Release date: October 22, 2024

You've definitely heard of Blumhouse. The production company is known for making some of the best horror movies out there, and most recently, has turned its attention to the world of the best horror games. Admittedly that's a big, bold move as all eyes will be on them to make sure their horror vision translates just as well when it's interactive, away from the big screen.

I'm happy to report they're starting on a high note with the narrative horror game Fear the Spotlight, a short title developed by Cosy Game Pals. When a séance goes horribly wrong (honestly, when will people learn?), the player character Vivian must navigate an abandoned school to find out what happened to her friend. The setup, while simple, invites the player to unravel a dark mystery while trying to escape with their own life. It combines that eerie high school setting seen in some slasher movies with plenty of interactivity for gamers. Unlike the The Dark Pictures Anthology, this isn't an interactive movie, and you have plenty of opportunities to go off and explore.

Big Buffy Energy

A girl sits in front of a ouija board with two candles either side of her

(Image credit: Blumhouse Games)

Aesthetically, it's hard for me to not compare this to the 90s supernatural TV hit Buffy the Vampire Slayer. This is a huge compliment, of course, because Buffy is iconic and this really seems to embody some of the stuff I loved about that show. Clueless high schoolers messing with the occult, a cool character and her nerdy best friend, that grainy VHS overlay throughout, an eerie high school setting with plenty of secrets buried. The entire feel of it is really fun, I loved the retro style and the little nods to the genre. Fear the Spotlight seems to have been made with a lot of love for the horror genre and its fans, and that shines throughout the game.

The school is even called Sunnyside High, and Buffy's is called Sunnydale. Look, I'm just saying these developers have excellent taste and I've clocked it. The developers have teased this is a great entry-level game for those wanting to try out horror, and while I agree, there's plenty for long-time fans of the genre to love too.

We also need to talk about the Silent Hill vibes. The spotlight that follows you is reminiscent of Pyramid Head himself, and they can appear at any time. If you're clever about it, you can predict when these scenes will happen based on the number of conveniently placed furniture to hide behind, but I definitely got shocked a few times when I was going about my business and they just appeared. The suspense is off the charts throughout, and you need to be as stealthy as possible. That wasn't great for me when my gaming style is very much me running in and attacking things as fast as possible, but hey, it's nice to try something new!

Hide and (hopefully not) Seek

The player character hiding behind a desk while the spotlight hunts

(Image credit: Blumhouse Games)
Best bit

Mysterious figures watch the player character, illuminated by a torch

(Image credit: Blumhouse Games)

While Fear the Spotlight does not rely on jumpscares, it's still incredibly tense. Some visuals will stick in your mind for a while, like the screenshot above, where you're navigating this creepy atmosphere expecting something to jump out and grab you. It never does, but you'll find your heart rate elevated just a little. As Hitchcock once said: "There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it."

Fear the Spotlight is a stealth-heavy game. You have to navigate the abandoned halls of the school avoiding the spotlight character, who can show up out of nowhere. You need to pay attention and be quick on your feet, hiding wherever you can and getting your timings just right. You have two opportunities; they can catch you once, and then they'll drop you, but if you're caught again, the game resets to your last saved checkpoint. Thankfully the checkpoints are pretty frequent so you won't end up back at the very beginning or be punished too severely.

Frustration can set in when you have to avoid threats while also running back and forth doing fetch quests because there are plenty of puzzles to solve throughout the game. I personally got stuck on one particular one for about 15 minutes before realizing the solution was painfully obvious, so it's the kind of game where you can get in your head a bit. Or maybe I'm just stupid, I'll let you be the judge of that. Technically, it's easy to navigate, the controls are smooth and the puzzles work as they should... when you've actually figured them out, that is.

If you love logic puzzles and constant tension, you will very likely have a great time with Fear the Spotlight because it's impossible to relax at any point. There's this constant vigilance throughout, it sucks you in and I found myself really worried about Amy's wellbeing.

It's a very immersive experience throughout. The player character's breathing can become erratic, so you need to be mindful of this. You can find inhalers hidden around the school which boost your health and stops the screen from blurring red at the sides, and your character from freaking out. Inhalers are a very useful tool especially nearing the end of the game when things get more difficult, so it might be wise to use them strategically. You are completely unarmed, aside from a few tools that can help you crawl through vents and repair things, so your only option is to hide.

The unstable breathing teamed with the vibrations from the controller I used dialed the tensions up, so I would recommend giving that combination a go even if you are playing on a PC. The game is designed in such a way that you truly feel a part of it, and this is one of Fear the Spotlight's greatest successes.

Accessibility

There is a range of subtitling options in Fear the Spotlight. Though the only spoken language is English, you can find many other languages in the display settings.

As well as allowing players to use a controller or mouse and keyboard, the display can be tinkered with too. While Fear the Spotlight does have a grainy, retro feel, you can switch that up in the Graphics menu. The game gives you the option to change the frame rate, and V-Sync, as well as display variations such as TV Filter and Ambient Camera Wobble. I played with a maximum TV Filter to make it more atmospheric, but I can see why people would prefer to turn that down as it can get a little distracting.

 Should I play Fear the Spotlight?

A girl hides behind a column while a spotlight hunts

(Image credit: Blumhouse Games)

 Play it if…

You love stealth in horror games
If sneaking around avoiding danger is more your style, you'll be doing a lot of that during Fear The Spotlight. You're just a high school kid so you're not carrying around a huge inventory of weapons, so don't even try to attack the enemy.

You're a fan of puzzles
If you're the kind of person who loves solving things, you'll love Fear the Spotlight as most of the 6+ hour playtime requires you to solve an array of logic puzzles. Don't lose your head!

Don't play it if...

You want a fast-paced horror experience
If you're all about tense chase scenes, jumpscares, and running around, Fear the Spotlight won't give you any of that. It's a slow, creeping pace that requires you to unravel the truth about the school, so you'll be doing a fair amount of reading and tracking down objects.

You want a game to play long-term
Fear The Spotlight is a very quick game. If you're locked in, figuring stuff out, and advancing, you can complete it in around 6 hours. Since it's a fixed story, there's not much replayability here unless you're achievement-hunting. It's very much a one-time experience.

 How we tested Fear the Spotlight

I tested Fear the Spotlight for around six hours and finished the main game. Once you have completed the story, you unlock a secret bonus level which I have not yet tested at the time of this review.

I played the game using a Lenovo Legion 5-15ACH6H Gaming Laptop with Beats Flex wireless headphones and a PS5 DualSense Wireless Controller. I also did additional testing with the laptop’s built-in keyboard and Steelseries Aerox 9 Wireless Gaming Mouse, to check that the game ran smoothly in both modes.

Xiaomi Smart Band 9 review: the cheapest fitness tracker you should consider buying
6:41 pm |
Author: admin | Category: Computers Fitness Trackers Gadgets Health & Fitness | Tags: | Comments: Off

Xiaomi Smart Band 9: One-minute review

Not many tech brands are as prolific in making cheap fitness trackers as Chinese giant Xiaomi; the brand cut its teeth on making inexpensive alternatives to top-end smartphones, tablets, and smartwatches, and it’s the same with gadgets like the new Xiaomi Smart Band 9.

The second of its budget fitness gadgets released in the West in 2024 after the Smart Band 8 Pro, the Smart Band 9 doesn’t compete with the giants of the wearable world in terms of specs or features. The Xiaomi won’t go head-to-head with your Apple Watches, Garmins, or Fitbits in terms of health monitoring.

Instead, the Xiaomi Smart Band 9 offers a useful core of features at an impressively low price. It’s the cheapest fitness tracker that I could find sold online from a brand I’d ever heard of, and it dramatically undercuts some big-name rivals such as Fitbit.

These core features include sleep tracking, step counting, heart rate monitoring, and calorie counting; turn on certain sports modes and you get a lot more. The results are reasonably accurate too, although it’s not pinpoint precision, and there is no GPS offered.

You can also use the Xiaomi Smart Band 9 as a smartwatch-lite, with notification handling, music control, and weather reports. A few rough edges in this area reflect the price: notifications could be buggy, initial pairing was tricky, and raise-to-wake didn’t always work as intended. But my annoyance would wear off when I remembered the price, and most of the time it worked fine.

As affordable fitness trackers go, this is one of the best on the market right now, but it’d be best enjoyed by people who haven’t tested others. It’s a great entry-level option for people who are new to the health monitoring game and want to test out a gadget to do so, without breaking the bank.

The Xiaomi Smart Band 9 on a man's wrist in front of a green park.

(Image credit: Future)

Xiaomi Smart Band 9: Specifications

Xiaomi Smart Band 9: Price and availability

The Xiaomi Smart Band 9 on a man's wrist in front of a green park.

(Image credit: Future)
  • On sale now
  • Goes for $60 / £34.99 / AU$79.99
  • Undercuts most rivals but not the post-discount Band 8 Pro

The Xiaomi Smart Band 9 was released in late September 2024 alongside a few other gadgets from the company, which included a redesigned Xiaomi Watch 2 and the Xiaomi Buds 5.

You can pick up the tracker for $60 / £34.99 / AU$79.99, so this falls decidedly into the catchment area for our list of the best cheap fitness trackers. The cost represents a slight price hike of $10 in the US, though in the UK and US, it hasn’t changed in price.

At that price the Smart Band 9 easily undercuts our best-in-class Fitbit Inspire 3 as well as other rivals like the Huawei Band 9, Samsung Galaxy Fit 3, Honor Band 9, and Amazfit Bip 3 Pro. If you’re looking for an affordable wearable from a respected tech company, this is one of the cheapest you’ll find before you venture onto the dark side of Amazon.

The only thing it doesn’t undercut is its predecessor, the Xiaomi Smart Band 8 Pro. That launched earlier in 2024 for $99 / £60 / AU$95 but only six months on from its release, I’ve found it from multiple retailers at half its launch price. This chunky fitness tracker is the Band 9’s biggest rival, and I’ll look more at this competitor right at the bottom of this review.

  • Value score: 4.5/5

Xiaomi Smart Band 9: Design

The Xiaomi Smart Band 9 on a man's wrist in front of a green park.

(Image credit: Future)
  • By-the-numbers fitness tracker
  • Bright 1.62-inch AMOLED screen
  • Band is TPU but other options on sale

Experienced fitness tracker customers will find no surprises in the Xiaomi Smart Band 9.

The screen is a 1.62-inch AMOLED panel with a 192 x 490 resolution, 60Hz refresh rate, and 1200 nits max brightness. This latter is a big upgrade over past models and it makes it easier to see the screen in direct sunlight. Automatic brightness has also seen an upgrade and I never found any issues with its performance, which is the best testament to its efficacy.

I’ve previously had issues with Xiaomi bands (and other fitness trackers) struggling to pick up touch, especially if my hands were wet, but that wasn’t the case for the 9th-gen model. I found the screen wonderfully convenient.

The Xiaomi Smart Band 9 on a man's wrist in front of a green park.

(Image credit: Future)

Some may find the lack of any physical buttons a little confusing, but it’s easy to get used to a solely gesture-based navigation system.

The band’s body measures 46.53 x 21.63 x 10.95 mm and weighs 15.8g, and it’s made of aluminum, unlike some past models. This makes it feel nice and sturdy, and its 5ATM water resistance ensures it won’t get damaged from submersion in water. It’s also one of the smaller fitness trackers I’ve tested, which will be good news for people who don’t like bulky wearables.

A few different color options for the Smart Band 9 are going on sale depending on the region – black, silver, light blue, rose and gray options are all available with straps that match.

The band Xiaomi sent me had its default TPU strap which you can see in the images, as well as a magnetic loop one. The former was a little fiddly to use when I was putting the watch on, but I found the latter would slowly slip during use, leaving me with a slightly looser band. As a result, I ended up using the default band most – Xiaomi launched the Smart Band 9 with a few different straps you can buy online, but I only tested these two.

  • Design score: 4.5/5

Xiaomi Smart Band 9: Performance

The Xiaomi Smart Band 9 on a man's wrist in front of a green park.

(Image credit: Future)
  • 21-day battery life
  • No GPS but heart rate and other trackers
  • 155 fitness modes, varying in usefulness

According to Xiaomi, the battery life of the Smart Band 9 is 21 days – in my experience that’s almost accurate, as I reached 20, but with an above-average amount of workout tracking during that time in order to test the watch (including an 8-hour long run at one point, which barely dented the battery bar).

That’s a competitive battery life, with most rivals tapping out at two weeks or 14 days, so if you get battery anxiety this is the fitness tracker to get.

Looking at the fitness performance, as you can imagine for the price you’re not getting the most robust or razor-accurate tracking of all time, but I didn’t find it was ever way out.

GPS tracking is done using connected GPS to your smartphone, so you can’t ditch your mobile when going for a run or walk, and accuracy won’t necessarily be quite as high as with a GPS watch. However, it’s not wildly inaccurate either – after an entire marathon I was only several hundred meters off my companions’ more accurate devices.

The Xiaomi Smart Band 9 on a man's wrist in front of a green park.

(Image credit: Future)

That theme of ‘in the right ballpark’ is reflected in the watch’s other tracking elements too. Heart rate, step count, and moving minutes all felt reasonably correct when compared to other devices. That wasn’t as true for sleep tracking, which sometimes errantly thought I was asleep when I was reading in bed. However its breakdown of sleep stages was useful, and it’s not something you can expect in all budget fitness trackers.

There are 155 fitness tracking modes by my count, which range in usefulness. Some, like running, indoor rowing, and swimming, provide useful information specific to the activity, but most purely measure time, calories burned, and heart rate. I won’t knock that though as I found the first and last useful during gym sessions to space my sets out.

Digging deep into the menus you can find some pretty odd workout modes like auto racing, chess, and mass gymnastics, but again these all just measure heart rate and time.

I’d recommend the watch most of all for runners, not only because it provides you with pretty in-depth information about your activity, but because of various ‘running courses’ which are basically interval training sessions. The watch will advise you when to run and at what speeds, which can be useful for people trying to build up their cardio.

Xiaomi also charts a ‘Vitality score’ which is a weekly points system to chart whether you’re doing enough exercise per week. It only seems to monitor logged activities though, so if you walk for 20,000 steps but haven't set it up as an activity to measure, that’s nil points for you!

  • Performance score: 3.5/5

Xiaomi Smart Band 9: Features

The Xiaomi Smart Band 9 on a man's wrist in front of a green park.

(Image credit: Future)
  • Mi Fitness app used on phone
  • Music playback, notification handling and more
  • Some bugs with app and watch

You use the Xiaomi Mi Smart Band 9 alongside the company’s smartphone app, called Mi Fitness. Pairing the band and the phone was pretty fiddly, a fact I thought could be down to my own ineptitude until I realized that our Xiaomi Smart Band 8 Pro reviewer had the same issues with that device, which you can read about here.

Not only is pairing a pain, but some parts of the Mi Fitness app weren’t in English, as you can see from the images attached to this review. Otherwise, it’s a useful place to collect all your fitness data, including more than you can find on the watch itself.

You can also use it to change watch faces, and Xiaomi’s done a great job at creating some good-looking faces that collate all your data into one screen. I was taken with the one you can see me using in the review images – it’s easy to quickly scan for information.

Using your phone, you can set up some non-fitness features of the phone which are pretty useful. You can control music playback from your wrist (well, skip and pause tracks as well as change the volume, but you can’t hunt through Spotify for the perfect running track). You can turn on an alert on your phone if you’ve lost it, activate Do Not Disturb from your wrist, and check the weather.

Image 1 of 3

Xiaomi Mi Fitness user interface

Mi Fitness' health and wearables pages. (Image credit: Future)
Image 2 of 3

Xiaomi Mi Fitness user interface

Mi Fitness' sleep, heart rate and workout pages. (Image credit: Future)
Image 3 of 3

Xiaomi Mi Fitness user interface

Mi Fitness' running records. (Image credit: Future)

A feature that should be useful is notification alerts, so your wrist will buzz if your phone gets a notification. It’s handy if you get an important email or text but the band wasn’t always fantastic at handling them. Sometimes it’d repeatedly give me alerts for persistent notifications (ie notifications about the weather, or WhatsApp telling me it was checking for new messages) or send me individual notifications for new texts in busy group messages, instead of bundling them together as some other fitness trackers do.

My most annoying incident with notifications was at 6 am one morning. The fitness tracker had apparently decided I was awake, and so was able to take incoming alerts – I wasn’t, but its constant buzzing with new notifications changed that soon enough! Perhaps this is more an issue with the sleep tracking than the notification system, but it fits in here.

Another issue I found is that the watch’s raise-to-wake (which turns on the display when you turn it to face you) only worked about half the time. I often had to tap the display to see the time.

These gripes may sound annoying, but I’ve been testing cheap fitness trackers for years, and overall the experience of using the Smart Band 9 was a lot smoother than I’m used to – it’s just not perfect.

  • Performance score: 3.5/5

Xiaomi Smart Band 9: Scorecard

Xiaomi Smart Band 9: Should I buy?

The Xiaomi Smart Band 9 on a man's wrist in front of a green park.

(Image credit: Future)

Buy it if...

You don’t have a fitness tracker
If you’re a workout tech aficionado, the Smart Band 9 will seem barebones, but it’s designed to help people get their foot in the door with the idea of measuring your health this way.

You want to save money, but not cheap out
One of the cheapest reliable fitness trackers around, the Smart Band 9 should be the first port of call for people who want to save money on their tech.

You’re a technophobe
Finickity pairing aside, a fitness tracker like the Band 9 is a lot easier for technophobes to handle than a fancy smartwatch, and is lighter to wear too.

Don't buy it if...

You want to ditch your phone
The lack of built-in GPS in the Xiaomi Smart Band 9 means you can’t measure your workouts unless you bring your phone with you.

You want dedicated sports tracking
Some trackers will offer you in-depth tracking for specific exercises but for most in its roster, the Xiaomi tracker only measures your calories and heart rate, which might not cut it for everyone.

Also consider

Xiaomi Smart Band 8 Pro

This same-company rival offers a bigger screen and GPS tracking, however its battery life isn't as long. At RRP it's pricier but most places sell it for cheaper now.

Read our full review

Fitbit Inspire 3

Fitbit's most affordable fitness tracker gives you lots of the company's top-notch tech. It's affordable, but not Smart Band 9 affordable.

Read our full review

Edifier Stax Spirit S10 review: fantastic-sounding earbuds with a few issues in the feature set
4:00 pm |
Author: admin | Category: Audio Computers Earbuds & Airpods Gadgets Headphones | Tags: , | Comments: Off

Edifier Stax Spirit S10: Two-minute review

Since I started testing the Edifier Stax Spirit S10, I’ve dropped the words 'planar magnetic' into conversation when describing them a few times. Given the number of blank looks I received at the phrase, I feel it’s important for me to explain it, given that it is the key selling point of these premium earbuds – and they may still enter our best earbuds buying guide as 'best planar magnetic buy' or similar.

A planar magnetic driver is a kind of flat headphone or earbud driver that's fragile, expensive and typically bigger than dynamic (cone-shaped) drivers, but it can offer a wonderfully balanced, detailed sound with less distortion – when done well. Planar earbuds are, as opposed to the homophone, definitely not plainer than dynamic ones.

The vast majority of devices touting planar magnetic drivers are headphones, including Edifier’s Spirit Stax S3 and S5, so the trick the company has pulled with the Stax Spirit S10 is using this tech for a new set of wireless noise-cancelling earbuds.

Cue earbuds lovers asking what audiophiles already know: “Do the Stax Spirit S10 sound good?” The answer is a resounding yes: they sound fantastic for true wireless earbuds, offering better audio than beloved rivals from Apple and Samsung. The dynamic range is wonderful, with pronounced bass and crisp treble, and I found them great for listening to anything from acoustic pop to synthwave and post-rock. The maximum volume could do with being a touch higher, but beyond that, it’s impossible to fault the sound of the Edifiers.

So why don’t the Edifier Stax Spirit S10 deserve a five-star review? Well, it’s hard to give a five-star review to a product with a five-star price like the Edifiers, given how high expectations are when you’re paying more for them than rival AirPods and Galaxy Buds. But that’s not the reason that the Edifier sheds a whole star.

The real reason is that the S10 have a few rough edges in the usability department that many rivals do better. My first gripe was pairing: they literally wouldn’t pair to my phone to begin with (leading me to blow the buds off for another pair I was testing initially, and it was only when I was about to hit ‘send’ on a message to my editor to tell her that the buds weren’t working that they finally decided to get their act together). Of course, this was just my personal experience – I'm unable to promise you'll have the same issues when trying to pair a set to your phone or tablet – but as someone who's tested literally scores of wireless earbuds, it's unusual and note-worthy for buds to simply refuse to pair to my trusted source devices. 

All through the testing period, they were slow to connect to my phone, and the odd droppage here and there when I was out and about got in the way of my listening.

Lastly, the S10 are the first of Edifier’s Stax Spirit devices to have Active Noise Cancellation. But you might not be able to tell, because it’s incredibly light-touch. There are various modes to pick from, but even the strongest struggled to filter out moderate chatter in my office, and the adaptive mode was, there’s no other word for it, ‘janky’. 

The Edifier Stax Spirit S10 in front of a sunset.

(Image credit: Future)

It’d sometimes change modes when I was sitting still, leading to a noticeable change in my audio despite not affecting the noise levels beyond it too much – and it changes dramatically. I wish there was an antonym for ‘seamless’ in a tech context; whatever it is, that’s how the adaptive noise cancellation sounds.

Edifier also triggers my pet peeve of audio companies: having multiple different pairing apps. I spent half of the testing period with Edifier Connect on my phone, thinking that the Stax Spirit S10 didn’t have an app, and it took me a while to realize that I actually needed to have downloaded EDIFIER Connex. Come on, Edifier!

Audiophiles are probably used to overlooking annoying quality-of-life issues in the quest for perfect sound, and the Stax Spirit S10 will be an enjoyable stepping stone in that journey. A comfortable fit, support for a nice range of codecs and other branded technologies, plus a distinctive look all help me overlook the strange quirks of the buds. 

Edifier Stax Spirit S10 review: Price and release date

The Edifier Stax Spirit S10 in front of a sunset.

(Image credit: Future)
  • Announced in September 2024
  • On sale in the US
  • Cost $299 (roughly £230, AU$450)

Edifier announced the Stax Spirit S10 in September 2024 and released them shortly afterwards, so they’re available to buy in some regions right now.

In the US, you can buy the Spirit S10 for $299 – that price converts to roughly £230 / AU$450. I can’t find them on sale from trusted retailers in the UK or Australia but Edifier does sell gadgets in both regions, so we could see it roll out the earbuds to those places in the future. 

As you can tell from this price, the Edifiers are premium earbuds aimed at discerning buyers. They match in price the Technics EAH-AZ80 which top our list of the best earbuds and cost more than the AirPods Pro 2 and Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro (individually).

Edifier Stax Spirit S10 review: Specs

Edifier Stax Spirit S10 review: Features

The Edifier Stax Spirit S10 in front of a sunset.

(Image credit: Future)
  • 5-hour buds battery, 18-hour with case, when ANC is on
  • Noise cancellation leaves a lot to be desired
  • Some connection issues

The Edifier Stax Spirit S10 offer all of the features you’d expect in premium headphones… but they don’t all work perfectly.

The battery life is an example. Edifier doesn’t offer a battery estimate for the buds themselves, but says the case will offer 18 hours of playback with ANC on or 28 with it turned off. That’s not a huge number compared to competitors.

In my own testing, the Spirit S10 buds didn’t even last for five hours of playback when ANC was turned on – that’s one of the weakest battery lives I’ve tested in earbuds (it's close to that of the much cheaper AirPods Pro 4 with ANC, with noise-nixing deployed). They got to 4:55:17 until one earbud ran out, and the other was left on 6%. Based on Edifier’s case predictions, I’d estimate that the buds would last for 7 hours of listening if you don’t use ANC.

I didn’t find the battery-sapping ANC that great either; it did a fairly poor job at cancelling background noises. In my office it only succeeded in taking the edge off low-level surrounding chatter or the hum of the microwave, and alongside busy roads and railways it barely made a difference.

There are several different ANC modes: high, medium, ambient sound, wind reduction, adaptive and off. I stuck to high due to the fact that, as I said, it still didn’t feel like much, however I fiddled around with the others too. In adaptive, the modes would change for seemingly no reason, making quite dramatic and sudden shifts from time to time – this was often more than a little distracting.

The Edifier Stax Spirit S10 in front of a sunset.

(Image credit: Future)

The ANC is controlled by the tie-in app: EDIFIER Connex, which isn’t Edifier’s only audio app, confusingly. I tried to set it up with Edifier Connect for a while, which isn’t the right app.

Connex lets you play with an equalizer (and two presets), toggle noise cancellation, turn on a high-latency gaming mode, change the function of the on-bud buttons, turn off (or on) wear detection, change your audio codec and do a few other functions which we see in wireless earbuds. There are also a few extras which you don’t: you can change how sensitive the bud buttons are, which I appreciate, and also change the volume of low battery and connectivity prompts.

Something else I need to raise is that I had real connection problems when first setting up the buds – I could pair them once, but after that my phone just couldn’t find the buds, The way I solved the problem (admittedly after a week) was by unpairing the device and re-pairing it several times. 

Also, even once the buds worked well, they’d always take a short while to connect to my phone. It wasn’t dramatic, but I’d always have to wait a few seconds before listening to music, wondering if they'd dropped out again. I even accidentally played my playlist out loud a few times, before getting wise to the fact that pairing from the case takes the Stax Spirit S10 a while longer than most earbuds I've tested.

  • Features score: 3/5

Edifier Stax Spirit S10 review: Design

The Edifier Stax Spirit S10 in front of a sunset.

(Image credit: Future)
  • Clamshell case which holds the buds
  • Thick stems give a distinctive look
  • Buds stay in the ear well

The Edifier Stax Spirit S10 come in a ‘clamshell’-style case, which you open up to reveal the buds within. This case weighs 56g, is just a hair bigger than a golf ball, and has a USB-C port for charging. It’s definitely not the smallest headphone case I’ve seen, but it protected its contents well.

The earbuds themselves are fairly distinctive looking due to the width of the stem; you’re not going to confuse these for AirPods any day. The large size doesn’t really add to the ‘bulk’ of the buds, so it’s not an issue – it didn’t affect their ear grip from my experience – and it screams to people “these are serious earbuds for serious audiophiles!”.

The Edifier Stax Spirit S10 in front of a sunset.

(Image credit: Future)

For most of my testing period, the Spirit S10 were reliable at sticking in my ears. This was even the case through most of a gym session, until I hit the treadmills, so I wouldn’t recommend them for running with. They also fell out when I was doing certain stretches on mats so, again, these aren’t work-out buds unless you’re doing slower and more upright exercises.

The stems bear touch controls which you can customize in the Edifier app, but you’re meant to ‘pinch’ to trigger the control and I could never work out the right place to squeeze to get a reliable result. 

You’re getting IP54-rated protection with both of the buds – this means that they’re mostly protected against solid particles (sand or dust), but can only survive splashes of water. Don’t wear them swimming, then.

  • Design score: 3.5/5

Edifier Stax Spirit S10 review: Sound quality

  • Planar magnetic drivers provide fantastic balanced sound
  • Equalizer gives lots of customization over sound
  • Max volume could be higher

The Edifier Stax Spirit S10 in front of a sunset.

(Image credit: Future)

Any downsides that come from planar magnetic drivers (here 12mm ones) are easily outmatched by the positives: The Edifier Stax Spirit S10 sound really, really fantastic. 

I most appreciate the balanced audio you’re getting from the S10. You can hear every line of music as though they’re spread out in Avid Pro before you, and they’re all totally equal, from the lowest rings of the bass guitar to the screechiest soprano; the whisper of the hi-hat and the sniffs of the cold-addled drummer are all even.

Such a balanced mix helps you appreciate the song as it was intended to be listened to, as Edifier isn’t blowing up the bass until it drowns out everything else, or positioning the treble as so dominant that you’d think every song is acapella.

If you like your music a certain way then there is an equalizer in the app (hidden in the ‘Sound effects’ menu) which lets you listen to the default balanced mix, Dynamic (ie bass-heavy), Electrostatic (treble-heavy) or a customized mode with an in-depth equalizer to play around with. However I found the default Original mix so great that I preferred it during testing. 

The Edifier Stax Spirit S10 in front of a sunset.

(Image credit: Future)

Don’t worry about any distortion here, as another effect of planar magnet drivers is that it’s far less frequent. In fact, I didn’t notice any distortion during testing, however that may be partly because the Stax Spirit S10 don’t go very loud.

At the maximum volume, I found the S10 to put out music at a comfortable listening level… when I was at home in my quiet flat. Out and about, I’d often find myself struggling to make out parts of a song, especially with the lackluster ANC doing the bare minimum to cancel noise. If I had to commute into an office much more than I do, I’d probably opt for alternate earbuds. These aren’t the worst buds I’ve tested for volume issues, with the Nothing Ear still wearing that – crown? – but the Edifier really could do with being a touch louder.

True audiophiles (or technophiles) will appreciate the range of tech standards and codecs that the S10 support. These earbuds connect using Bluetooth 5.4 and support Snapdragon Sound, Google Fast Pair, aptX Audio, aptX Adaptive, aptX Lossless, LHDC, LDAC and Hi-Res Audio Wireless. To use these better-quality protocols, you’ll need a streaming service that offers them (not Spotify), plus a source that can support them in addition to just using the Edifier buds – but if you want the highest resolution a wireless connection can bring, these earbuds will not be a barrier. 

  • Sound quality: 4.5/5

Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro review: Value

The Edifier Stax Spirit S10 in front of a sunset.

(Image credit: Future)
  • High-price earbuds with sound quality to match
  • Feature set needs to improve for better value

To answer simply on whether the Edifier Stax Spirit S10 offer value for money: of course they don’t. No premium earbuds do, not when great-sounding alternatives exist for under $100/£100/AU$200.

The nature of tech is that you get diminishing returns as you slide up the tower of price, and so the Stax Spirit were never going to offer you competitive value for money, and they’re not designed for shoppers on a budget. 

Sure, they sound better than rivals, but they also cost more than these competitors too. Plus the feature set doesn’t work perfectly, and beyond the audio output there are no killer features here worth paying top dollar for. The Edifier Stax Spirit S10 are for audiophiles who have money to spend on their passion, don't care about ANC, and don’t need to get the most efficient value for their money.

  • Value: 3.5/5

Should I buy the Edifier Stax Spirit S10?

Buy them if...

Don’t buy them if…

Edifier Stax Spirit S10 review: Also consider

Technics EAH-AZ80
Triple device multi-point connectivity, LDAC support, supreme fit and excellent call-quality are just four reasons to buy these earbuds. The excellent sound is one more – but there's no dust ingress protection and they're just as pricey as the Edifiers, despite a May 2023 release date. See our Technics EAH-AZ80 review for the full scoop

How I tested the Edifier Stax Spirit S10

The Edifier Stax Spirit S10 in front of a sunset.

(Image credit: Future)
  • Tested for 4 weeks
  • Tested at home, in the office and on walks

The Edifier Stax Spirit S10 enjoyed a prolonged testing period; I used them for roughly a month to write this review, which meant I could really put them through their paces. I used them alongside an Android phone, mostly – so I could benefit from their support for LDAC. 

I tested the buds at home, in the office, commuting between the two and on an international holiday; most of my listening was on Tidal or Netflix, but I tried other music and video streaming services as well as calls, podcasts and more.

My tech reviewing history for TechRadar spans more than five years now, including lots of earbuds – and a few pairs of Edifier headphones.

  • First reviewed in October 2024
Sonic x Shadow Generations review: one of the best games in series history, and Sonic Generations
4:00 pm |
Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Gaming | Comments: Off
Review info

Platform reviewed: PS5
Available on: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, PC
Release date: October 25, 2025

Sonic x Shadow Generations is somewhat analogous to Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury, packaging a remaster of a beloved series game with a brand new, decently sized campaign. And it’s that campaign, Shadow Generations, that alone makes this compilation of lightning-fast platformers worth checking out.

Shadow Generations is simply phenomenal, showcasing some of the best 3D level design the series has seen since Sonic Adventure 2 way back on the Dreamcast and GameCube. You’re getting 12 levels across 6 unique stages, all wrapped up in a compact hub zone packed with collectibles and optional challenges. And of course, having even more excellent remixes of fan-favorite Sonic tracks is always going to be a welcome addition.

Shadow Generations is such a high-quality experience from start to finish - so much so that it honestly makes Sonic Generations feel relatively weak in comparison. This is no fault of the 2011 game, of course (the port here is genuinely fantastic) but I had decidedly less fun revisiting what I once considered to be one of the best Sonic games in comparison to its new sibling.

That might be down to the fact that its remaster here has seen very few changes beyond the re-recorded voiced dialogue and an overall bump in resolution and image quality. Sonic Generations is still very much worth playing, but remains dragged down by the relatively poor Classic Sonic stages and largely boring side challenges required to unlock the boss fights.

That said, you’re still getting tons of great Sonic (and Shadow) content here, especially as it's not a full-priced game. Not only does that make Sonic x Shadow Generations much easier to recommend, but I can confidently say that your time and money are worth it for the Shadow portion of the game alone.

A Shadow of myself, just who am I?

Sonic x Shadow Generations

(Image credit: Sega)

Let’s kick off with Shadow Generations, as I reckon that’s where most of you are going to start especially if you’ve already played Sonic Generations. Shadow’s campaign does take place alongside Sonic’s - instead of celebrating the blue hedgehog’s birthday, Shadow is investigating a disturbance on the Space Colony Ark from Sonic Adventure 2.

Back on Sonic’s side, the Time Eater thrusts him and his friends into a purgatorial dimensional rift as it does in the original Sonic Generations. For Shadow, the fluctuation causes him to come face to face with Black Doom, his arch-nemesis and main antagonist of 2005’s Shadow the Hedgehog. From here, Shadow attempts to escape Space Colony Ark, only to find himself in an empty hub world all of his own.

The story is fairly straightforward here and handles Shadow’s tragic past in a pretty safe and inoffensive manner. That’s not to say it’s ineffective - his reunion and closure with Maria and Gerald Robotnik is genuinely touching and the final scene is masterfully done (even getting me to well up a little bit) - but you shouldn’t go in expecting anything especially bleak. Personally, I think that’s for the best; Sonic Frontiers showed that the series can be capable of sincere, reflective storytelling, and you’ll find more of that in Shadow Generations.

All hail Shadow

Sonic x Shadow Generations

(Image credit: Sega)

If you were disappointed by the short length of stages in Sonic Forces and Sonic Frontiers' Cyberspace segments, then you’ll be happy to know Shadow Generations’ levels are much lengthier and robust. On average, a single level will take you between five to six minutes your first few times through, and each has a plethora of alternate routes to explore and a handful of collectibles to find.

Best bit

Sonic x Shadow Generations

(Image credit: Sega)

Shadow Generations is excellent from front to back, with highlights here being the Kingdom Valley, Chaos Island, and Rail Canyon stages. They showcase some of the best 3D Sonic level design in series history, and even the 2D sections impress with fantastic set pieces and clever usage of 2.5D camera angles.

The six stages in Shadow Generations are split into two acts. Act 1 is typically the more impressive one, given they are fully 3D from start to finish. Most of the Act 2 levels are broadly side-scrolling, but feel much more dynamic thanks to - once again - intricate level design and some super clever 2.5D camera work. These levels may play out in two dimensions, but they sure don’t feel like it.

Upon charging up a gauge by defeating enemies, Shadow can call upon the power of Chaos Control. This freezes time, enemies, and obstacles for around five seconds, and it can be used cleverly to reach new routes in a stage if activated at just the right time. Much of the fun in Shadow Generations comes from playing levels multiple times and learning the best moments at which to execute Chaos Control in order to discover shortcuts you had no idea were there. Level design in this regard is, overall, extremely thoughtful, and finding new paths and shortcuts is a satisfying reward.

Then there’s the open zone, known as White Space. This is a large map that Shadow can explore at any time when not in a stage, itself filled to the brim with collectibles and platforming challenges. By collecting music, artwork, and story emblems in each stage, you can spend them to unlock a treasure chest in White Space, which will in turn make a relevant piece of content available to view in the Collection Room. There are 96 of these chests to find in the overworld, giving you plenty of optional content to discover.

White Space is great fun to just run around and vibe in. While I do wish there was an option to listen to the music you unlock while exploring it, it’s nonetheless a place you’ll spend a lot of time in if you’re shooting for 100% completion. On that note, playing through all the stages for the first time will likely take you around four or five hours. But going for full completion could easily take you upwards of 10-12; there’s just that much to find and do.

Touching on Sonic Generations

Sonic x Shadow Generations

(Image credit: Sega)

If you’ve never played Sonic Generations before, then you’re getting exceptional value for money in Sonic x Shadow Generations. The entire 2011 game is present and accounted for here. If you’re unfamiliar, that’s nine stages, broken into two separate acts - one for Classic Sonic and another for Modern Sonic. The former is a side-scrolling affair, while the latter is more akin to the 3D ‘boost era’ titles of the time like Sonic Unleashed and Sonic Colors.

Sonic Generations now has upscaled resolution and a more stable 60fps framerate by way of the new performance mode (a 30fps quality mode is enabled by default, though I strongly recommend making the switch to performance for better responsiveness). Voiced dialogue has also been re-recorded with the current cast of Sonic voice actors, and it’s much better than what we originally had with an overall stronger direction. There is also a new collectible in each stage in the form of Chao - adorable little creatures who’ll appear in the overworld once rescued. They’ll also unlock some bonuses in the collection room, too.

Besides that (as well as the addition of the drop dash for both Classic and Modern Sonic), very little has changed in Sonic Generations. While still an excellent game in its own right, the lack of changes only exposes its flaws even more, especially when stacked up against Shadow Generations. 

Sonic Generations - then and now - simply misses the mark on numerous fronts. The Classic Sonic stages just don’t feel very good to play, with awkward physics and momentum that are a far cry from the smoothness of the original Mega Drive trilogy. Level design is also very hit-or-miss for both Classic and Modern, the latter of which also has an abundance of side-scrolling segments that do not mesh well with Sonic’s ability to boost at high speeds. As for Classic, the field of view is a little too narrow for comfort, making running into unexpected hazards a common occurrence. 

Accessibility

There aren't a ton of available accessibility settings in Sonic x Shadow Generations, aside from a fairly robust amount of options for the camera. Here, you can adjust sensitivity and distance from the player character. 

There is also an option to adjust the deceleration speed in Shadow Generations, allowing you to set the momentum to your liking. Subtitles are present, too, as well as options for voiced dialogue in a variety of languages including English, French, German, Italian, and Japanese. I think an option to better highlight enemies, obstacles and potential pathways would be really beneficial here, especially given the high-speed nature of the game.

Should I play Sonic x Shadow Generations?

Sonic x Shadow Generations

(Image credit: Sega)

Play it if...

You’ve never played Sonic Generations before
If you’ve not played Sonic Generations, you’ve got two pretty substantial campaigns to play through, full of unlockable content and some fantastic levels. 

You love Shadow
Shadow Generations does the character justice, especially after years of being absent from the series canon or otherwise straight up being mishandled by Sega. He’s cooler than he’s ever been in this game, meaning Shadow superfans are going to be delighted with what Sonic Team has cooked up.

Don't play it if...

You’re not much of a completionist
There’s plenty to do in Sonic x Shadow Generations. But if you’re the type to finish a game once and move on, then you’re only getting around 4-5 hours of new content here with the Shadow Generations campaign. 

How I reviewed Sonic x Shadow Generations

I played Sonic x Shadow Generations for around 12 hours on PS5. That was enough time to finish both included games and get near to 100% completion in Shadow Generations. I also spent some time collecting Chao and filling out the collection room in Sonic Generations. I played the game with a DualSense Edge controller on my LG CX OLED TV, often making use of the JBL Quantum 910P gaming headset to listen to the game’s exceptional collection of remixed Sonic tracks.

First reviewed October 2024.

PCSpecialist Zircon Extreme review
10:39 am |
Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Pro | Comments: Off

This review first appeared in issue 361 of PC Pro.

Zircon is a gemstone not to be confused with the synthetically produced cubic zirconia. Instead, it’s a naturally occurring gold-hewed mineral that comes in a variety of shades. PCSpecialist clearly considers its high-end entry to be a bit of a gem and it’s certainly packed with cutting-edge components.

Despite the return of the non-Pro AMD Ryzen Threadripper, PCSpecialist opted not to go with this variant for the Zircon Extreme workstation. Instead, it uses the 32-core AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro 7975X. This offers 64 threads and runs at the same frequencies as the non-Pro version – a base 4GHz with 5.3GHz boost. However, the Pro processor supports eight-channel memory and has 128 PCI Express 5 lanes, so can offer higher memory bandwidth while supporting many more high-speed peripherals than the vanilla Threadripper.

Strangely, however, although PCSpecialist has included a healthy total of 256GB DDR5 RAM memory running at 4,800MHz, this is supplied as four 64GB DIMMs rather than eight 32GB ones. This means that you can’t take advantage of the extra bandwidth from the eight-channel memory capability unless you add another four DIMMs. On the plus side, while we don’t envisage 256GB feeling like too little during the lifetime of this system, the Asus Pro WS WRX90E Sage SE motherboard has four DIMM slots free for upgrade and seven PCI Express 5 x16 slots, although one of these only operates in x8 speed mode.

Despite the Threadripper Pro having a significantly higher price than the equivalent Threadripper, PCSpecialist has still managed to include AMD’s flagship graphics acceleration. The Radeon Pro W7900 has 6,144 Stream processors and a huge 48GB of GDDR6 frame buffer with 864GB/sec of bandwidth.

PCSpecialist Zircon Extreme - 2

(Image credit: Future)

PCSpecialist has taken a traditional approach to storage with the Zircon Extreme, providing one faster, smaller drive for the operating system and apps allied with a larger, slower one for general data. The former is hardly small, however. It’s a 4TB Samsung 990 Pro NVMe M.2 unit, although this is a PCI Express 4 drive, delivering 7,463MB/sec sustained reading and 6,985MB/sec sustained writing in CrystalDiskMark 8. The data drive is a 10TB Seagate IronWolf Pro 7,200rpm conventional hard drive, capable of 262MB/sec reading and 258MB/sec writing. This enterprise-grade disk comes with a three-year data recovery service and a 2.5 million-hour MTBF backed by a five-year warranty.

The chassis is also conventional – a Fractal Define 7 XL. This is the larger sibling of the case supplied by InterPro this month. This version includes eight 2.5/3.5in drive brackets and two 2.5in brackets, with up to 23 drive positions possible. PCSpecialist has equipped the chassis with a potent 1,000W Corsair RMx series PSU, so you can happily add power-hungry components to this system.

PCSpecialist Zircon Extreme - 3

The chassis includes eight 2.5/3.5in drive brackets and two 2.5in brackets (Image credit: Future)

Unsurprisingly, with the same number of cores of the same generation as the Scan £10,000 system’s AMD Ryzen Threadripper, the Threadripper Pro in the Zircon Extreme performs very similarly in CPU tests. The PC Pro media benchmarks score of 866 is just one point lower, with identical video-encoding and multitasking results of 816 and 1,096 respectively. Only the image-editing score drops behind at 274. The Cinebench 2024 multi-CPU rendering score of 3,493 is a tad ahead of the Scan, too, although the Blender Gooseberry frame took 165 seconds, around 10 seconds longer. We can’t help thinking that all these results would have been higher had PCSpecialist taken advantage of the Threadripper Pro’s eight-channel memory.

The flagship Radeon Pro W7900 certainly shows how much AMD has to offer graphics acceleration these days, though. The SPECviewperf 2020 scores of 291 in 3dsmax-07 and 1,057 in maya-06 make this the fastest system for 3D animation viewsets this month. CAD and engineering workloads are also impressive, with 210 in catia-06, 278 in creo-03, 772 in snx-04 and 598 in solidworks-07, although these aren’t the fastest in every area. The GPU also delivers the second-best inferencing performance with Geekbench ML at 28,093 and a third best 17,255 in LuxMark 3.1 OpenCL.

Overall, this is a very competent system from PCSpecialist with great performance across the board, but spending extra on the Pro version of the Threadripper without providing eight memory DIMMs is a missed opportunity.

We've listed the best business computers.

Scan 3XS GWP A1-R24 review
10:29 am |
Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Pro | Tags: | Comments: Off

This review first appeared in issue 361 of PC Pro.

AMD was just in the process of launching its Ryzen 9000 Series processors as we were putting this Labs test together, and we’ve managed to squeeze our first look into the roundup. It comes from Scan in the form of the 3XS GWP A1-R24 workstation.

Just as the 14th generation of Intel Core CPUs don’t make any radical changes over the 13th generation, the Ryzen 9000 doesn’t diverge greatly on paper from the 7000 series, with core counts still ranging from six to 16. Even the clock rates haven’t progressed. The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X in the Scan system is a 12-core CPU with a base 4.4GHz clock and 5.6GHz boost. The 7900X it replaces has a 4.7GHz base clock and 5.6GHz boost. The 16-core 9950X is similarly no on-paper leap over its 7950X predecessor.

However, the CPU is now produced on a 4nm process instead of 5nm, which should enable more cores to run closer to boost speeds than the previous generation. There’s also support for 5,600MHz memory instead of 5,200MHz. Scan has gone even further, supplying 64GB of 6,000MHz DDR5 RAM as two 32GB DIMMs, leaving two slots free for upgrade on the Asus ProArt B650-Creator motherboard.

Scan 3XS GWP A1-R24 - 2

(Image credit: Future)

Scan has managed to go one better than the 4000-series Nvidia RTX graphics we would normally expect at this price and includes the 4500 Ada Generation instead. This sports 7,680 CUDA cores compared to 6,144 for the 4000, and 24GB of ECC-backed GDDR6 frame buffer operating at 432GB/sec, compared to 20GB at 360GB/sec.

The storage is more modest, however. Only one drive has been included, although it’s a fast one. The 2TB Corsair MP700 NVMe M.2 unit operates at PCI Express 5 speeds to deliver an impressive sustained read speed of 12,278MB/sec in CrystalDiskMark 8, with sustained writing of 7,904MB/sec.

Scan has opted for the regular version of the Fractal North Charcoal chassis with the A1-R24. This is a stylish case with wooden slats down the front that make it look more like designer furniture than a PC. The chassis offers a couple of 2.5/3.5in drive mounts, and a couple of 2.5in-only ones, should you need to expand the storage. The PSU included is the 750W Corsair RMX750, which isn’t hugely potent but should be enough for this set of components.

Scan 3XS GWP A1-R24 - 3

Wooden slats on the front of the case make it look more like designer furniture than a PC (Image credit: Future)

This system had the fewest cores of any entry this month – half as many as the Intel workstations – but it wasn’t the slowest, showing the capability of the new Ryzen 9000 series. The PC Pro media benchmark result of 761 beat the 24-core Intel CPU supplied by InterPro and the 16-core AMD processor from the previous Ryzen generation in the Armari Magnetar PrMM16R9. This includes the best image-editing result this month of 359, competent video encoding of 716, and multitasking of 924, which wasn’t far behind the 32-core systems in the test. The Cinebench 2024 multi-CPU rendering result of 1,873 was the slowest this month, but only 6% behind the Armari’s Ryzen 9 7950X, which has a third more cores. Notably, the single-core Cinebench result was 16% faster. Similarly, the Blender Gooseberry frame render took 324 seconds, which sits in between the two 24-core Intel CPUs this month – despite having half the cores. This bodes well for the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X when it arrives.

The GPU-based performance from the Nvidia RTX 4500 Ada Generation unsurprisingly sits between the 4000 and 5000 we have in other systems. The SPECviewperf 2020 scores of 206 in 3dsmax-07 and 729 in maya-06 promise great 3D animation, while 165 in catia-06, 226 in creo-03, 789 in snx-04 and 491 in solidworks-07 mean CAD and engineering will be smooth. The Geekbench ML result of 24,416 means AI inference is midway between the other Nvidia cards, as is 15,285 with LuxMark 3.1 OpenCL.

With just 12 cores against systems boasting 16 or 24 in this price category, and 32 or 64 in the higher class, the Scan 3XS GWP A1-R24 acquits itself surprisingly well, showing that the AMD Ryzen 9000 series is a welcome upgrade over the 7000 series. Had this system included the 16-core Ryzen 9 9950X, it could have been our Labs Winner.

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Scan 3XS GWP A1-TR64 review
9:54 am |
Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Pro | Comments: Off

This review first appeared in issue 361 of PC Pro.

Scan is the second manufacturer this month to take advantage of the return of the non-Pro AMD Ryzen Threadripper CPU. However, Scan has opted for a lesser model than Armari, enabling more potent graphics acceleration and a different performance balance as a result for this workstation.

Specifically, Scan chose the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7970X. This is the 32-core variant, which offers 64 threads and a base clock of 4GHz with a 5.3GHz boost. Of course, with AMD processors that have Precision Boost Overdrive enabled, the actual frequency will depend dynamically on power and temperature. Otherwise, the specifications are the same as the Armari CPU, with quad-channel memory support and 48 PCI Express 5 lanes plus 24 PCI Express 4 lanes.

With a cheaper processor than Armari, Scan has spent some of its savings on providing double the memory. There are four 64GB GDDR5 DIMMs, enabling quad-channel bandwidth and running at 4,000MHz. These are ECC modules, too, for enhanced stability. The Asus PRO WS TRX50 Sage WiFi motherboard supports a maximum of 1TB, but you probably won’t need any more memory in the lifetime of this system.

Another area where Scan has spent its CPU savings is in the graphics acceleration. We’ve seen 6000-series Nvidia RTX GPUs in the higher workstation price category before, but Scan has gone one rung down to the 5000 Ada Generation. This has a huge 12,800 CUDA cores and 32GB of ECC-backed GDDR6 frame buffer delivering 576GB/sec throughput.

Scan hasn’t entirely pushed the boat out when it comes to storage, however, with only a single drive included. It’s still relatively large and very fast, though. The 4TB Corsair MP700 NVMe M.2 unit operates at PCI Express 5 speeds, delivering 12,354MB/sec sustained reading and 11,758MB/sec sustained writing when we tested it in CrystalDiskMark.

Scan 3XS GWP A1-TR64 - 2

(Image credit: Future)

If you need more, the good-looking Fractal North XL chassis offers two 2.5in drive mounts and two 2.5/3.5in mounts, so you can easily add more. The North XL’s wooden slatted front bears a more than passing resemblance to a freestanding heating unit created by a leading Swedish interior designer. Scan has also included a 1,000W Corsair RMx1000 PSU, which should handle all the powerful components with aplomb.

With half the cores of Armari’s high-end entry this month, the Scan system was never going to get close to it in CPU tests where this was the key aspect. The overall PC Pro media benchmarks score of 867 is still the second highest this month, with superb results of 281 in image editing, 816 in video encoding and 1,096 in multitasking. The Maxon Cinebench 2024 multi-CPU result of 3,459 falls marginally behind the PCSpecialist Zircon Extreme, coming third in the Labs. The Scan took 155 seconds to complete the Blender Gooseberry render, the second fastest.

Scan 3XS GWP A1-TR64 - 3

The Fractal North XL chassis contains a 1,000W Corsair RMx1000 PSU (Image credit: Future)

While the Scan system can’t compete with Armari’s 64 cores, its more powerful GPU makes it one of the best this month for real-time viewport acceleration and GPU-assisted computation. The Nvidia RTX 5000 Ada Generation provides very competitive SPECviewperf 2020 3D animation results of 255 in 3dsmax-07 and 814 in maya-06. CAD and engineering workloads are even better catered for, with 202 in catia-06, 222 in creo-03, an incredible 1,210 in snx-04 and 609 in solidworks-07. But the W7900 is significantly faster in 3D animation.

The GPU delivers an impressive 27,069 for inferencing with Geekbench ML and 20,282 with LuxMark 3.1 OpenCL. To underline the power of this GPU, when rendered on CUDA the Blender Gooseberry frame took only 75 seconds to output – the second fastest GPU result we’ve seen.

The Scan GWP A1-TR64 is a more balanced system than Armari’s £10,000 offering. It’s also about £500 cheaper. However, the Armari is not so behind on graphics acceleration as it is ahead on CPU tasks, and that gives it the win overall. Scan still earns five stars and a Recommended award for good reason: if your workflow is more skewed towards intensive real-time viewsets and GPU accelerated computation, it’s a better choice. And it looks great, too.

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Zyxel Nebula FWA505 review
9:44 am |
Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Pro | Comments: Off

This review first appeared in issue 361 of PC Pro.

Zyxel’s Nebula NFWA505 is designed to deliver wire-free internet access. This compact desktop Wi-Fi router teams up 5G with Wi-Fi 6 services and targets a wide audience including small businesses, SOHOs, mobile workers, pop-up stores and those that can’t get decent fixed-line broadband speeds.

The FWA505 replaces Zyxel’s older NR5101, but is more competitively priced and sees a design refresh, with all ports arranged vertically at the rear. The status LEDs have been moved from the base to the front of the unit and it also sports a pair of smaller TS-9 connectors at the back for optional external aerials.

Two gigabit ports are provided, with the first offering LAN or automatic WAN failover services and the second used for connecting other devices to its network. Its Wi-Fi 6 AP is AX1800-rated and delivers speeds of up to 1,200Mbits/sec on its 5GHZ radio and 573Mbits/sec on the 2.4GHz one.

As the model name indicates, the FWA505 can be cloud-managed from Zyxel’s Nebula Control Center (NCC), and the price includes a one-year Pro Pack license, with subsequent years costing around £28. You’ll need to familiarize yourself with its local web console, though, as unlike Zyxel’s fully compliant Nebula wireless APs and security routers, the FWA505 doesn’t broadcast cloud SSIDs and can only be configured from its own interface.

Zyxel nebula fwa505 - 2

Two gigabit ports are provided on the rear of the router (Image credit: Future)

It’s easy enough to deploy as the web interface loads a wizard to get you started. Zyxel supplied our review unit with a Vodafone 5G SIM installed in the micro-SIM slot in the base, which provided instant cellular internet access.

The web console opens with a dashboard showing the status of local and internet connections, cellular status and details of wireless networks. A default SSID is provided for both radios and, although it uses the weaker WPA2 encryption, the encryption key is randomly generated and you can easily swap to the more secure WPA3.

Up to four SSIDs are supported, with three secure guest wireless networks already configured for you. These can be modified as required with the Guest WiFi tickbox enabling L2 isolation so users on these SSIDs only get internet access.

Network security is present and correct, with the router’s firewall offering three protection levels that can be quickly selected using a slider bar. Custom firewall rules comprising protocols, port numbers and ACL (access control list) entries can be created, while parental control profiles limit internet access to specific days and times and enforce URL and keyword blocking.

The gigabit WAN port can be used for internet access and teamed up with the mobile SIM for failover. We tested this by pulling the cable out and the router automatically swapped over to its 5G SIM in one minute.

The FWA505 also delivers respectable wireless speeds. Copies of a 25GB test file between a Windows 11 Pro workstation equipped with a TP-Link Archer TBE550E Wi-Fi 7 adapter and a server on the gigabit LAN averaged 107MB/sec at close range, dropping to 85MB/sec with the router ten meters away in an adjoining room.

Zyxel nebula fwa505 main image

Nebula provides remote access to its local web console from the cloud (Image credit: Future)

Adding the FWA505 to our NCC account was simple as we scanned its QR code from an iPad running the Nebula iOS app. A mobile router status widget is added to the site dashboard and selecting it provides more hardware details, a location map and remote firmware upgrade services, plus views of WAN and cellular status and information about wired and wireless clients.

The NCC Pro Pack license increases traffic monitoring from 24 hours to 30 days but, more importantly, enables a remote configurator. Select this from the router’s Live Tools section and it will establish a secure HTTPS remote web console session so you can access all its settings.

Any small business and remote workers that want to go completely wireless will find the Zyxel Nebula FWA505 an affordable solution. It’s well designed, easy to use, delivers respectable wireless performance and can be remotely managed from Zyxel’s Nebula cloud portal.

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Cosori Dual Blaze Twinfry 10L Air Fryer review: a top-notch gadget with some frustrating drawbacks
5:00 pm | October 20, 2024
Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Home Small Appliances | Tags: , , | Comments: Off

Cosori Dual Blaze TwinFry 10L Air Fryer: one-minute review

The Cosori Dual Blaze Twinfry 10L Air Fryer is a solid choice of air fryer for those with larger households or who entertain on a regular basis. With its basket able to be used as one large (albeit slightly narrow) space, or split into two separate zones, this is a versatile appliance that will make mealtimes much easier. What's more, thanks to its handy app, you can control the device from your phone and set the two baskets to separate cooking times and temperatures. Thanks to Sync Cooking, you can even set two foods to finish at the same time, or with Match Cooking, set two baskets of separate foods to cook at the same settings.

We largely had great results across this air fryer's six cooking functions, but found a few disappointing outcomes with basics like vegetables. Considering this device's hefty price tag, we'd expect close to perfection every time.

Despite this, the Cosori Dual Blaze Twinfry 10L Air Fryer is a convenient, solid family air fryer - as long as you have the room for it.

Cosori Dual Blaze Twinfry 10L Air Fryer with drawer open to show baskets

(Image credit: Vic Hood)

Cosori Dual Blaze Twinfry 10L Air Fryer: price and availability

  • Price: £289.99 (about $380 / AU$560)
  • Available in UK from Amazon
  • Unavailable in US and Australia at the time of writing

The Cosori Dual Blaze Twinfry 10L Air Fryer has an eye-watering price tag of £289.99 (about $380 / AU$560), putting it at the higher end of air fryer prices. Amazon UK does appear to drop the price occasionally by around £40, however.

This air fryer seems to have limited availability right now. I've only been able to find it at Amazon UK, with even the Cosori website directing me to the third-party retailer. Whether that's because of limited availability or air fryer enthusiasts snapping up stock, I'm not sure, but I found no mention of it on Cosori's Australian and US sites.

  • Value score: 4/5

Cosori Dual Blaze Twinfry 10L Air Fryer: specifications

Cosori Dual Blaze TwinFry 10L Air Fryer: design

  • Easy-to-use interface
  • Sleek, matt black design
  • No windows
  • Large capacity, but bulky

The Cosori Dual Blaze Twinfry 10L Air Fryer is a mammoth of an air fryer, at 33.8 x 51.8 x 31.3cm. If you've got limited counter space, you may find its size (accounting for the 13cm space requirement at the back) quite imposing in your kitchen. If you choose to store it away when you're done, you're going to need a big cupboard.

The air fryer has a sleek, matte black design and an easy-to-use digital interface, where you can choose from one of six cooking functions and easily set the required temperature and time for its zones. The appliance's basket is very versatile: you can use it as one large, 10-liter basket (the Grandzone), or two separate 5-liter baskets (Dual Zones) - with a divider breaking up the sections - or just use one of the 5-liter baskets. These sections are able to be controlled separately using the air fryer's interface or via an app (which I explain more in the next section).

Cosori Dual Blaze Twinfry 10L Air Fryer on kitchen counter

(Image credit: Vic Hood)

While the Dual Blaze TwinFry is easy to set up and use, I did have some gripes with its bulky design. For one, it makes it very frustrating to clean as, while the basket, crisper plates, divider, and included tongs are dishwasher safe, you need a pretty big dishwasher to fit that basket in.

If you opt to hand wash it instead, you need to contend with its size - which I found very tricky. In addition, this bulk can make it challenging to get certain foods out of the basket/s, especially if you have two separate foods being cooked. While the tongs allowed me to easily pick up wings from one side, I had more difficulty finding the angle and device that would remove the chips from the other - without accidentally scraping the non-stick basket coating.

Likewise, when I wanted to shake my roasties on one side, I accidentally shook my roasting beef joint on the other. This air fryer definitely would have benefited from two separate baskets that can connect as one instead - and a window.

Cosori Dual Blaze Twinfry 10L Air Fryer control panel and display

(Image credit: Vic Hood)
  • Design score: 3.5/5

Cosori Dual Blaze TwinFry 10L Air Fryer: performance

  • Convent app compatibility
  • Great results for most foods…
  • …but some basics were a bit disappointing

The Cosori Dual Blaze TwinFry 10-Litre Air Fryer is miles better than the manufacturer's disappointing TurboBlaze - which I reviewed around the same time. While it doesn't have the same number of functions, the results are (mostly) much better and it's much more convenient.

The Dual Blaze TwinFry can be paired with the VeSync app on your phone, which is easy to set up and allows you to control the time and temperature of the Grandzone and Dual Zones from your phone. While the app's list of recipes is limited, and I wish it would give a bit more guidance on cooking times, its Sync Cooking and Match Cooking features are brilliant. With Sync Cooking, you can put one type of food in one basket and a different one in the other basket, then using the app, set each basket's individual cooking times and temperatures.

Fries and wings cooked using Cosori Dual Blaze Twinfry 10L Air Fryer

(Image credit: Vic Hood)

The air fryer then ensures the two baskets finish cooking at the same time, starting the one that takes longer first then automatically turning on the second when the first has its amount of cooking time left. It makes cooking a meal with different components much easier: just throw everything in, set the app, and track it from there. Match Cooking, on the other hand, lets you put different foods, with the same amount of cooking time and temperature, in each basket.

Sync Cooking cut down the time of testing considerably, letting me add chicken wings to one zone and fresh fries to the other, with both finishing at the same time. The wings were crispy and succulent and my chips were crispy on the outside, but fluffy inside - perfection, with little hassle.

Beef and vegetables cooked using Cosori Dual Blaze Twinfry 10L Air Fryer

(Image credit: Vic Hood)

Frozen fries, on the other hand, weren't as successful, with smaller chips dropping through the crisper plate and the ends burning a bit on those that survived. Similarly, with the Roast setting, I found my broccoli florets had burnt ends, but my carrots worked well, and the Dehydrate setting left my oranges still pretty juicy after four hours. I largely followed the instructions of the included Quick Start Guide booklet, but it's somewhat limited and I advise not always taking it at face value.

While my broccoli was a bit disappointing, the Dual Blaze TwinFry really proved its worth when making a roast. I was able to pop potatoes for roasting in one zone and my beef joint in the other, using Sync Cooking to ensure they finished around the same time. The beef came out to perfection, medium-rare inside but with a flavorsome crust on the outside, while my roasties were crispy on the outside but fluffy inside. Toast, too, was a breeze to make.

Beef cooked using Cosori Dual Blaze Twinfry 10L Air Fryer

(Image credit: Vic Hood)

And while the design is quite imposing, the air fryer isn't that loud when on, clocking in around 62 decibels on average. It did mean we had to raise our voices a bit to talk, but no more than most kitchen appliances. Those with small children, or are clumsy like me, will be pleased to hear the outside of the air fryer doesn't get too warm either, only around 25C - cool enough to touch without getting burned.

  • Performance score: 4/5

Should you buy the Cosori Dual Blaze Twinfry 10L Air Fryer?

Buy it if

You have a big household or enjoy hosting

The 10-liter capacity of this air fryer makes it a solid choice for those who need to cook bigger meals.

You regularly make meals with varying components

Sync and Match Cooking make it easy to cook different foods, without having to keep your own timer or anything going cold. View Deal

You don't need a bunch of bells and whistles

Other air fryers have a lot more functions, but the Dual Blaze TwinFry doesn't need them. It has fewer options, but does them well.View Deal

Don't buy it if

You've limited kitchen space

This big boy takes up a lot of room, so may be less suited to those with less counter space - or a small sink for washing up.View Deal

You're on a tight budget

This air fryer doesn't come cheap. If you're on a tight budget (or don't think you'll use it enough to justify the cost), then you can find other great options for less.View Deal

How I tested the Cosori Dual Blaze Twinfry 10L Air Fryer

I used the Cosori Dual Blaze Twinfry 10L for several days, cooking a wide variety of foods including fresh and frozen fries, chicken wings, fresh vegetables, and cake. I tested all the air fryer's various modes (including dehydrate, which I used to dry orange slices) and used all of the mobile app's features. I cleaned the air fryer in line with the instructions provided in the manual. For more details, see how we test.

First reviewed October 2024

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