I’ve tested my fair share of AR smart glasses in the past few years, and the Xreal One glasses might be the best smart glasses I’ve tried.
Xreal’s expertise shines through with these specs, which not only boast an impressive full-HD 120Hz OLED image with vivid colors, impressive contrast, and a 600-nit brightness, but also solid audio courtesy of Bose.
Headphones will still deliver better audio, but these smart glasses don’t feel incomplete without a pair of cans – something I can’t say of their rivals.
Though if you’re picking up the Xreal One you’ll probably also want to grab Xreal’s Beam Pro – a smartphone-like companion device that adds features like easy spatial photo capture without an iPhone 15 Pro, and two USB-C ports.
The Beam Pro starts at $199 / £189 for a model with 128GB of storage and 6GB of RAM, and while it’s not technically required it compliments the Xreal One so well that it feels like you’re missing out without it.
You can also connect the glasses to a suite of compatible USB-C devices instead like most smartphones, laptops, and game consoles (though for the latter you might need an add-on HDMI adapter). It’s perfect for watching your favorite show or playing a game on a giant virtual display, or for working privately on sensitive work documents in the office, or while you’re traveling, as only you can see your screen.
At $499 / £449 the Xreal One are approaching the pricier end of the scale, but with solid specs these glasses justify their cos, and are worth picking up if you want premium performance.
Xreal One: Price and availability
(Image credit: Xreal)
The Xreal One is available to buy in the UK and US from Xreal.com for $499 / £449.
This puts it at the mid-range price for AR glasses – it’s more expensive than older and more budget-friendly options like the Xreal Air 2 and RayNeo Air 3S, but less expensive than high-end standalone AR glasses like the Xreal Air 2 Ultra, and the upgraded (and soon to release) Xreal One Pro.
Value: 3.5/5
Xreal One: Design
Wired USB-C connection
82g, comfy for long stretches
Electrochromic dimming shades
The Xreal One doesn’t reinvent the wheel when it comes to Xreal’s AR glasses design. That is, at a glance it looks like a pair of sunglasses – albeit with a thick frame and large displays situated behind the lenses.
Just as on other wired AR specs the USB-C cable feeds into a port at the end of the left arm, and can be connected to a suite of USB-C devices that support DisplayPort – or to other devices with the right cables and accessories like an HDMI-to-USB-C cable.
Meanwhile the right arm features all of the buttons. On the bottom of the arm you’ll find a Red button which when pressed switches between Anchor mode and Follow mode (which anchors the screen in space or has it follow you as you move your head), and a brightness bar – you make the screen brighter, or change the electrochromic dimming intensity between three levels.
On top you’ll find a small black ‘Quick button’ for toggling between your display and dimming settings and transparency mode – which takes away your screen and resets the lenses to clear, so you can see what’s going on around you.
There are no volume controls on the specs, so you’ll need to rely on your device’s audio controls.
(Image credit: Future)
During my tests I only really used them on max brightness with the dimming turned up to full, as this created the best viewing conditions, though the transparency mode toggle came in handy a few times, and when using the Xreal Ones in a dark environment it was handy to turn the brightness down a tad so there wasn’t as much glare.
To find the best fit for you there are three arm angles so you can tilt the screen, and three nose pad options, so you can have the glasses sit correctly on your face. In my testing, after adjusting the specs I was able to comfortably wear the glasses, which weigh just 84g, for hours at a time with no trouble.
The Xreal One glasses also come with a cleaning cloth and a hard carry case so you can keep them clean and easily transport them and their cable.
Design score: 5/5
Xreal One: Performance
Impressive Bose audio
Full-HD, 120Hz image at 600-nit brightness
Pairs with a plethora of USB-C devices
Instead of beginning with the visual quality of the Xreal One (which is great by the way – more on that in a moment) I want to start this section by praising their audio. Normally, smart glasses audio is bordering on bad – the small open-air speakers produce a hollow sound that's passable for watching films, but a pair of headphones often feel like a necessity rather than an optional add-on. Thanks to Bose engineered sound that’s not the case with the Xreal One specs – the audio performance is one of their best features.
They’re not perfect for music, but compared to the Xreal Air 2 there's a stark improvement. This makes the immersive movie and TV show watching experience significantly better without requiring any headphones, meaning the specs feel like a more complete package out of the box. What’s more they seem to be less leaky than on previous models – audio can still be heard by people sitting close by, but it’s a lot better.
Now for the visuals. The Xreal One specs boast a 1080p image produced by Sony Micro-OLED displays that boast a peak 600nits perceived brightness, a 120Hz refresh rate, and a 50-degree field of view.
The end result is an image that looks really good. Yes it’s only Full HD quality but the colors are beautiful, and the excellent contrast is super-handy when you're trying to follow the action in dark scenes (though you’ll need the brightness set to max).
I’ve been using the smart specs to stream Daredevil: Born Again (it’s superb by the way), Invincible season 3 (also great), and play games using my PC and PS5 by connecting them to the specs via HDMI adapters.
The high refresh rate and low lag help to ensure that games look smooth, and it was a blast to watch the action unfold on a giant 147-inch virtual screen.
(Image credit: Future)
While using them with my PC I also gave the specs a whirl for working. Having your documents laid out on a larger monitor was certainly handy, but one big advantage I found was these specs are excellent for working privately, especially while traveling. I could be writing up an embargoed story on a train or flight, and because only I can see my virtual laptop screen I don’t have to worry about people looking over my shoulder and seeing any information they aren’t meant to.
I just wish the Nebula app for Mac wasn’t still in beta, and that the also in-beta Windows app was easier to find (I had to go through Reddit rather than Xreal’s own website).
While you can use the Xreal One glasses with a plethora of USB-C devices, by far your best bet is the Xreal Beam Pro. It’s a smartphone-like add-on that's built by Xreal to be the perfect companion to its glasses, and the company has thoroughly succeeded in that regard. If your budget can stretch to purchasing the Xreal One and a Beam pro in a bundle, do it.
Performance score: 4.5/5
Should you buy the Xreal One glasses?
Buy it if…
You want top-end AR entertainment These are the best AR glasses of this kind we’ve tested, thanks to their impressive sound and image quality.
You want privacy These specs allow you and only you to see what’s on your phone or laptop screen with the right display settings, which makes them ideal for things like working on sensitive documents on your commute.
You don’t have headphones These smart specs feature some of the best audio I’ve heard during my testing of different brands. Headphones are still better than the glasses audio-wise, but they don’t feel like a must-have with the Xreal One, as they do with other smart glasses.
Don’t buy it if…
You aren’t getting the Xreal Beam Pro Xreal’s glasses shine when paired with its Beam Pro add-on. You don’t technically need it, but it makes the specs feel like a complete package, which makes it feel more like a necessity.
You don’t have a big budget The Xreal One are great but also pricey. There are solid and cheaper alternatives out there that you could look at instead.
You want 4K No smart glasses yet boast 4K, so if that’s a resolution milestone you’re waiting for you’ll need to wait a little longer.
Also consider
Xreal Air 2 If you want to stick with Xreal, the Xreal Air 2 or its electrochromic dimming-enhanced Xreal Air 2 Pro are both solid options that cost a little less – though expect a slightly less good image and noticeable inferior audio. Read our Xreal Air 2 reviewView Deal
Meta Quest 3 While not a direct competitor to Xreal’s glasses, the Quest 3 is an XR product that you should consider if you want to experience what VR and MR have to offer – it’s simply superb. Read our Meta Quest 3 reviewView Deal
How I tested the Xreal One glasses
I spent a few weeks testing the Xreal One specs for different use cases – gaming, entertainment, and productivity. I mostly used them at home on my couch, in bed, or at my desk, but I also made sure to take them with me on a couple of flights I took, and also used them during my commute a few times to get a sense of their capabilities in different environments.
I hooked them up to my PC, PS5 and smartphone (a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6), but my main connected device of choice was the Xreal Beam Pro. It’s the ideal companion for Xreal’s AR smart glasses, and worth picking up if you’re buying the Xreal One.
With native 8K content still pretty elusive (though no longer flat out unfindable), buying an 8K TV might not sound like it makes much sense. The new Samsung QN900F, though, builds spectacularly on the successes of 2024’s mind-alteringly brilliant Samsung QN900D 8K range to keep the 8K TV flag flying high.
For starters, at £4,899/$4,299 for the 75-inch version of the Samsung QN900F we’re focusing on here, it’s relatively affordable by Samsung's premium 8K TV standards. It also uses the remarkably effective glare-free screen found in the Samsung S95D OLED, one of the best TVs of 2024; carries no less than 256 neural networks to apply AI enhancements to smart features, picture quality and audio quality; and supports a comprehensive array of gaming features, including support for frame rates up to 165Hz.
The QN900F’s latest (gen 9) Tizen smart system supports a typically huge range of streaming services, as well as offering AI-enhanced systems for finding content tailored to the viewing habits of different members of your household. Its powerful, cinematic multi-channel sound system ups the big screen’s immersive potential substantially, too.
The star of the show, though, is undoubtedly its eye-popping pictures, which combine phenomenal brightness and ultra-vibrant colour with, crucially, a new level of upscaling for converting non-8K sources to the screen’s native 8K resolution. It’s this, in particular, that builds on 2024’s QN900D efforts in making our previous cynicism about 8K TVs a thing of the past.
Samsung QN900F review: Prices and release date
The QN900F's 8K resolution and clean upscaling make pictures look detailed and lifelike (Image credit: Future)
Release date: March 2025
65-inch: £3,599 / $3,299 / around AU$5,240
75-inch: £4,899 / $4,299 / around AU$6,825
85-inch: £6,899 / $5,499 / around AU$8,730
The QN900F is at the vanguard of an expansive swathe of TVs Samsung is bringing to market in March 2025. All three screen sizes of the QN900F should be available in the UK and US this month, with launch pricing for each model shown above.
Samsung QN900F review: Specs
Samsung QN900F review: Benchmark results
Samsung QN900F review: Features
The QN900F has four HDMI 2.1 ports with 4K 165Hz support (Image credit: Future)
8K FALD VA panel with mini-LED
HDR10, HLG and HDR10+ HDR support
Gaming support up to 4K 165Hz with VRR
While sales of 8K TVs might not have set the world on fire so far (in fact, Samsung is currently the only brand consistently sticking with them), the QN900F’s 7680x4320 native resolution is undoubtedly its main feature. After all, while true 8K sources are still scarce, Samsung’s upscaling processors can turn any video that comes the TV’s way into 8K, so if that processing is good enough, there’s still scope for the TV’s 8K resolution to count.
Fitting an 8K pixel count into the screen massively reduces the pixel pitch of any resulting images, of course, potentially making for a denser, smoother, more realistic image, especially when you get to screen sizes of 75 inches and up.
The 75QN900F fits its 8K resolution into a VA-type panel, which usually bodes well for contrast, and it lights all those tiny pixels using a mini-LED backlight system driven by 52x28 (1,446) local dimming zones. That’s a very high zone count for what is essentially Samsung’s entry-level 8K TV for 2025, raising hopes of an extreme contrast performance with minimal backlight clouding and haloing interference.
At the other end of the contrast scale, measurements taken using the Calman Ultimate image testing and calibration software and Portrait Displays’ G1 signal generator and C6 HDR5000 colorimeter reveals peak brightness levels as high as 2,350 nits on a 10% HDR test window. That much brightness will surely test the local dimming system, but Samsung has risen to similar challenges before with aplomb.
Potentially further boosting the 75QN900F’s contrast is its glare-free screen filter – something its predecessor lacked. This does an almost uncanny job of suppressing and rejecting reflections from your room.
Colours are delivered by a Quantum Dot system capable of covering a measured 89.28% of the DCI-P3 colour spectrum used in most HDR mastering, and all aspects of the pictures are controlled by Samsung’s latest NQ8 AI Gen 2 processor.
This processor should have a particularly strong impact on upscaling sub-8K content to the TV’s native 8K resolution, but also feeds into features such as a Real Depth Enhancer Pro system for creating a more three dimensional effect, auto HDR remastering for converting SDR to HDR, and an AI Motion Enhancer system. The processor also plays a part in delivering what Samsung claims should be much wider effective viewing angles than you would normally get with LED technology.
The AI features extend to an AI Mode option you can call in for any of the TV’s presets, which analyses the incoming content and ambient room conditions in a bid to constantly optimise the picture and sound quality. The more puritanical AV fans out there won’t like the sound of this at all, of course - but it is all strictly optional. I’ll be looking at how well it works in the next section.
Features Score: 5/5
Samsung QN900F review: Picture quality
High resolution and high brightness combine with powerful contrast in the QN900F's picture (Image credit: Future)
High brightness and contrast
Vibrant colours
Excellent backlight control
The QN900F improves so much over its 2024 equivalent model that it’s hard to believe it isn’t actually Samsung’s flagship TV for 2025. The step-up QN990F series is really going to have to go some to be better than this.
The first thing that hits you like a lightning bolt is how bright the QN900F’s pictures are. This is especially true in the rather OTT Dynamic mode, but also hits home hard in the extremely watchable Standard preset. Even the Filmmaker Mode, though, which is designed to track the UHD Alliance’s preference for accuracy to industry mastering standards and minimal processing, retains a satisfyingly punchy look, with strong HDR highlighting to go with its generally more balanced and nuanced approach.
The extreme brightness is especially effective with aggressively mastered HDR footage, but the screen also adapts itself pretty much perfectly to milder HDR fare. Nothing looks forced or strained. Even SDR footage converted to HDR by the HDR Remaster option enjoys an uptick in light and colour range without looking weird or unbalanced.
At least as important as the QN900F’s impressive brightness, though, is the fact that it’s delivered without the backlight system exhibiting either heavy backlight blooming or any general greyness in dark scenes or dark picture areas. In fact, black levels are nothing short of outstanding for LCD technology, hitting essentially OLED-level black depths during fades to black, and maintaining a surprisingly inky and consistent (as in, cloud- and halo-free) look even with shots that combine lots of very bright and dark elements.
Samsung has managed to accomplish the QN900F’s exceptional LED contrast, too, without pursuing its old habit of dimming down stand-out brightness elements to stop light blooms appearing around them. The level of backlight control achieved by the NQ8 AI Gen 2 processing is so sophisticated and granular that such overt local dimming activity just isn’t needed any more.
Suppressing backlight blooming and greyness as well as the QN900F does hasn’t come completely string-free; there’s some minor crushing of shadow details in the Standard and Movie modes. But this is seldom serious enough to be distracting, and in any case it can be improved by just nudging up the TV’s Shadow Detail setting one or two points.
The QN900F’s high brightness contributes to a gorgeously rich, satisfying colour performance, too. This is most vividly obvious in the Standard preset - so much so that I’d say most QN900F buyers will find this mode irresistible for most day-to-day viewing conditions. Especially as Samsung has clearly worked hard with its latest Standard preset to try and make it deliver much more immersive and consistent pictures than the mode typically has in the past.
If you switch to a more mild, accurate preset such as Movie or Filmmaker Mode, you won’t get to ogle the most vivid extremes of the QN900F’s colour capabilities, but the wider colour range still plays its part in unlocking both more subtlety and more expressive shading than last year’s equivalent Filmmaker Mode offered.
In other words, no matter what picture preset you like the best, the much more thoughtful colour and light management of the new panel and attendant processing engine means it will look equally fantastic in its own specific way.
The QN900F's thick, chamfered frame lends itself well to displaying art from the Samsung Art Store (Image credit: Future)
While it’s telling that I’ve focused so far on picture attributes that don’t directly relate to its native 8K resolution, this doesn’t mean that resolution doesn’t still matter. It is now possible to find and play native 8K videos on Youtube, and while the quality of these can be variable to say the least (you have to watch out for videos that say they’re 8K in their titles when they actually aren’t, too), the good ones reveal to a wider audience at last what some of us lucky TV reviewer types have known for years: that true 8K looks absolutely spectacular.
That’s partly because 8K looks incredibly sharp and detailed, as you might expect. But more because something about the extra density of the image somehow breaks down the usual sense that you’re watching a picture on a TV, leaving you feeling more as if you’re literally looking at reality. And that’s especially true when an 8K clip features some decent HDR encoding.
Crucially, though, the QN900F not only looks better than 4K TVs with native 8K content. Samsung’s latest 8K upscaling efforts are the best they’ve ever been, managing to make 4K sources look sharper, more textured and more dense than they would in their native resolution, while simultaneously making the upscaled results look more natural and refined than they have been on previous Samsung 8K TVs.
This is chiefly because, I think, the upscaling system has got even cleverer about detecting the difference between noise and actual picture information in a sub-8K source as it goes about figuring out how the millions (and millions) of pixels it needs to add to the picture should look.
Even fairly grubby, compressed HD sources make the journey up to 8K on the QN900F without becoming artificial looking, or suffering with exaggerated source artefacts. SD is a stretch, unsurprisingly - though even here the results only look a bit soft rather than becoming flat out ugly or messy.
Playing around with Samsung’s AI Mode yields some interesting results. Initially I found its picture optimization features a little over the top, causing some distracting processing side effects. Most notably slightly peaky skin tones, slightly forced bright highlights, and some processed-looking motion. Tweaking one or two picture settings to help ‘train’ the AI Mode, though, can help it quickly deliver much smarter results. Ultimately, I wouldn’t say I felt particularly compelled to use the AI Mode picture setting, not least because the TV does such a fantastic job even without the extra AI help. But it’s certainly good enough to at least be worth trying out.
There are a couple of other niggles to report. Default motion settings with 24fps films in the otherwise stunningly watchable Standard mode are a bit of a blunt instrument, generating a few distracting side effects. You can address this problem yourself, though, by choosing a custom setting for the Picture Clarity set of options, and turning noise reduction off while setting the power of the motion and judder reduction elements to somewhere below five each.
The second issue is that while colour saturations and contrast hold up well when viewing the TV from down its sides, the otherwise miraculously well-controlled backlight blooming suddenly starts to become noticeable.
Most of the initial niggles with the QN900F prove ultimately fixable within its menus, though, and anything left is so puny against the picture’s overwhelming strengths that it’s barely worth mentioning, honestly.
Picture quality score: 5/5
Samsung QN900F review: Sound quality
The QN900F's 4.2.2-channel built-in speakers convey a soundstage with impressive scale (Image credit: Future)
4.2.2 channel speaker array
70W of total audio power
Excellent detail placement and soundstaging
Samsung has backed up the QN900F’s stellar pictures with an excellent audio system. Particularly impressive is the scale of the soundstage it produces. Sounds are cast beyond the TV’s physical boundaries to left, right and even, to a more limited degree, upwards, getting a decent multi-channel effect from Dolby Atmos soundtracks that’s taken to another level, too, by Samsung’s Object Tracking Sound system.
This system manages to place sound effects and vocals so that they actually seem to be coming from the correct part of the image – or the correct place just beyond the image’s edges, where appropriate. The OTS system manages to track the motion of multiple noisy objects in an action scene frame, too, so that soundtracks always appear busy and precise – and, as a result, more engaging and clear.
The QN900F’s speakers deliver a decent amount of dynamic range too. Trebles at one end of the spectrum sound crisp and clean but also well-rounded rather than harsh or over-exposed, while bass reaches reasonably low while projecting powerfully enough to stop action scenes from sounding thin or one-dimensional.
Some of the film world’s most extreme and sustained bass rumbles push the QN900F’s speakers right to their limit, so that low frequencies started to sound a little ‘stuck’ inside the TV. But the speakers always just stop short of succumbing to really distracting amounts of bass-induced crackling or distortion.
The sound is powerful enough overall, too, to be able to shift up a few gears as action or horror sequences build towards a climax, without falling away when the going gets really tough. Dialogue is always clear and well contextualised, meanwhile – especially as Samsung’s AI-driven dialogue enhancement system is always ready to lend a vocal-boosting hand if a particular source or ambient noise in your room is making dialogue hard to pick up.
The AI Mode, if you choose it, does a pretty effective job of expanding the scale of the soundstage. This can cost the sound a little bass heft at high volumes, but you can improve this considerably by tweaking the low frequency elements of the TV’s graphic equaliser.
If I had to find a fault, the sound overall doesn’t have quite as much forward impact as you get with the very best sounding rival TVs, but overall the QN900F’s sound is a healthy improvement over many of Samsung’s other recent TVs.
It’s worth adding that the QN900F supports Samsung’s Q-Symphony feature, where its speakers can join forces with those in a Samsung soundbar to deliver a larger, more detailed soundstage.
Sound quality score: 4.5/5
Samsung QN900F review: Design
The QN900F's support feet can be set narrow or wide, and there are two different height adjustments (Image credit: Future)
Chamfered screen frame
Glare-free screen can look like a painting
Multi-position feet
The QN900F’s design is quite a change from previous equivalent models, switching from the usual barely-there screen bezel approach to an unusually wide, dark grey chamfered frame that looks more like something you’d find holding a painting rather than a cutting-edge TV screen. Which, actually, is exactly the impression Samsung wants the QN900F to give, as its at the heart of a campaign to expand the sort of design thinking that’s served Samsung so well with its The Serif and, especially, The Frame lifestyle TVs.
Personally, I’m torn over the QN900F’s new look. When you’re watching TV on it, the frame’s width feels a touch too much, and the dark finish lacks the glamour of the gleaming, ultra-slim frames of previous equivalent 8K models. If you’re using the TV’s Ambient Mode abilities, though, where you can play a still photo, gentle video or digitised artwork on the screen as a screensaver, the painting-style frame looks great. Especially with the new matte glare-free screen completing the painting-like impression.
The QN900F ships with a pair of rather spindly looking feet. These feet can, though, be attached in multiple ways: either set quite wide apart or close together, depending on how wide the furniture you’re putting the TV on is, and at two different height levels to potentially provide more space under the screen for a soundbar to sit.
You can also wall mount the QN900F, of course, and the reasonably slender, tiered rear panel lends itself well to this. I can’t help but wonder, though, whether the performance of the bank of eight mid-range speakers built into the TV’s rear might be compromised if the drivers are pressed up against your wall.
One last design point to mention is Samsung’s Art Store. Originally designed for Samsung’s lifestyle TVs, this service allows people who subscribe to it to choose from a library of thousands of digital and digitised artworks to use as screen savers in the TV’s Ambient Mode.
Design score: 4/5
Samsung QN900F review: Smart TV and menus
The QN900F's Tizen 9.0 smart interface (Image credit: Future)
Tizen 9.0 smart system
Extensive voice control support
Dedicated Gaming Hub menu
The QN900F uses Samsung’s own Tizen platform to deliver its smart interface and services, which is mostly very good news. What was once a rather over-complicated interface with some questionable content prioritisation decisions has gradually morphed into a sophisticated and helpful interface, bolstered by the introduction of handy new shortcut options, one of the most intuitive and in-depth voice recognition systems in the TV world (including a far-field mic), and some really impressive AI-driven talents when it comes to both recommending content based on the viewing habits of different members of your household, and advanced content searching.
New AI-driven features added to Tizen for its latest generation include an AI To Search feature that identifies which actors are in what you’re watching and does in-depth searches across all its available sources to find other films or TV shows those actors are in; a Live Translate feature that translates foreign language dramas with real-time subtitles; and a new Generative Wallpaper feature that can conjure up screensaver images to suit your described mood.
The Tizen menu system now features an attractive and usefully organised home menu that becomes more useful over time as the QN900F learns your viewing habits. The home screen also provides a link to a dedicated Gaming Hub page, which I’ll go into more in the next section, while the app support includes pretty much every streaming service anyone could ever want. The only significant absentees in the UK are Freeview Play and Freely – but you can access the individual catch up services for all of the main UK’s key terrestrial broadcasters. The QN900F also features an ATSC 3.0 tuner for receiving Next-Gen digital TV broadcasts in the US.
Smart TV & menus score: 4.5/5
Samsung QN900F review: Gaming
Samsung includes its Solar Cell rechargeable remote control with the QN900F (Image credit: Future)
Gaming Hub menu
Game Bar menu with multiple gaming aids
4K 165Hz gaming support
The QN900F is a beast of a gaming display that ticks all the feature boxes you could want from the best gaming TVs. All four of its HDMI ports can support high frame rate 4K gaming feeds. Those high frame rates can stretch to 165Hz this year (up from 144Hz in 2024) for anyone with a PC powerful enough to take advantage of that, and variable refresh rates are supported right up to this eye-catching new frame rate peak. The VRR support is available in the AMD FreeSync Premium format as well as the basic HDMI format, too.
Gaming HDR is supported in the HDR10+ and HGiG approaches as well as basic HDR10, and low lag gaming modes are available for all those HDR options. This lag reduces to a fantastically low (especially considering the QN900F has to upscale graphics to the screen’s 8K resolution) 10ms with 60Hz sources with the TV’s Game mode in play. There are also options, though, to increase this lag slightly in return for mild motion smoothing processing with low frame rate titles that aren’t particularly dependent on fast reaction times.
There are also sophisticated options for magnifying and even repositioning a game’s mini map, brightening dark picture areas without affecting bright areas to make enemies lurking in the shadows easier to see, and calling up an onscreen target reticle to give you an aiming edge over your rivals.
Finding game sources is a doddle, too, as the Tizen interface provides a clearly labelled dedicating Gaming Hub, which brings together all your HDMI inputs that have gaming sources attached alongside every gaming streaming service Samsung TVs now have access to.
The QN900F’s OTS audio system proves very useful for gaming thanks to the accuracy with which it places sound effects around the TV’s frame, and finally, best of all, graphics look fantastic on the QN900F’s screen.
The TV’s brightness and colour punch are beautifully to the fore, backed up by more inky black levels and a breathtaking level of sharpness and detail that constantly reminds you this is an 8K TV. The high and variable frame rate support delivers all these pixels of gaming beauty with outstanding fluidity and responsiveness, too.
There’s a touch more backlight blooming in Game mode than you get with video content, perhaps. But I only really noticed this in menus, where there can be bright text appearing against a dark backdrop; it seldom bothered me during game play.
I know pro-grade gamers will always want to play fast-response games, at least, on a small monitor. But the vast majority of more casual gamers will struggle to go back to a small screen if they get to experience the gaming joys of the QN900F.
Gaming score: 5/5
Samsung QN900F review: Value
The QN900F's thick frame bucks the trend of Samsung's previous ultra-slim Neo QLED TVs (Image credit: Future)
More expensive than 4K equivalent
Upscaling of 4K and lower-res content adds value
Substantially cheaper than flagship QN990F series
The QN900F series isn’t cheap compared with even Samsung’s most premium 4K TVs. So you certainly can’t say that 8K doesn’t still attract a substantial premium, especially now that Samsung has ditched its previous, more affordable QN800 and QN700 8K ranges.
There is at least a small amount of native 8K content available on YouTube now with which to unlock the full 8K capabilities of 8K TVs, though, and Samsung’s upscaling is now so good that even 4K footage consistently benefits from being translated into 8K.
It’s also worth saying that the QN900F is substantially more affordable than Samsung’s flagship 8K TV for 2025, the QN990F series. Those models - which ship with external wireless connectivity, support ground-breakingly high frame rates and carry even more powerful sound systems - go for £4,999 / $5,499 for the 65-inch, £6,499 / $6,499 for the 75-inch, and £9,499 / $8,499 for the 85-inch.
Value score: 4/5
Should I buy the Samsung QN900F?
Dual bass drivers on the TV's rear convey the ".1" subwoofer channel in Atmos soundtracks. (Image credit: Future)
Buy it if...
You want a truly next-gen picture quality experience The QN900F backs up its core 8K resolution with all the colour range and subtlety, sharpness and contrast it needs to fully unlock that resolution’s potential.
You’re a gamer The QN900F’s response time, eye-catching picture attributes, impressive game-friendly connectivity and support for ultra-high frame rates make it a fantastic gaming display.
You want a TV that turns into a painting when you’re not watching it The QN900F’s anti-glare matt frame, wide chamfered screen frame and extensive collection of digital artworks really can turn it into a work of art when you put it into its Ambient mode.
Don't buy it if…
You can’t afford it Samsung and other brands sell some excellent 4K TVs for substantially less than the QN900F costs. So while the QN900F justifies its price, it’s probably not worth getting yourself into debt for!
You want Dolby Vision Samsung has never supported Dolby Vision HDR on its TVs, so it can’t always take in the very best version of every source you might feed it.
You’re not prepared to tweak a few settings Getting the best out of the QN900F means making a few tweaks to things like noise reduction and motion processing. So if you’re not prepared to do that, even for a TV as deserving of your time as this, maybe you should go for a cheaper, more basic model instead.
Samsung QN900F review: Also consider...
TCL 98Q9BK If you want to base your home cinema thrills more on screen size than resolution, TCL’s 4K-resolution 98-inch 98Q9BK delivers startlingly bright, colourful and contrasty pictures at a truly epic scale, as well as delivering strong gaming capabilities. All for substantially less money than the QN900F costs.
LG G4 As well as giving you a couple of inches more picture, the LG G4 uses OLED technology rather than LCD, meaning every pixel produces its own light and colour for an exceptionally precise image. The G4’s micro lens array technology helps it deliver good brightness for OLED, too - but it’s only a 4K resolution screen.
Samsung QN900D If you’re quick you can still pick up Samsung’s 2024 8K QN900Ds for a few hundred pounds less than the 2025 QN900Fs cost. Though the QN900Fs do deliver a few very worthwhile picture quality and smart feature advances over their predecessors, of course.
Tested with 4K Blu-rays, multiple streaming platforms and resolutions, Freeview HD broadcasts, and HD Blu-rays
Reviewed in both dark and light dedicated test room conditions, on its feet in both corner and flat wall positions
Not least because we needed to test it out with our collection of native 8K test material and the small collection of 8K YouTube videos that are now available on top of all our usual 4K test sources.
Those 4K sources, which included 4K Blu-rays and streams, needed to be scrutinised with the TV’s 8K upscaling in mind, too. As did the collection of varying quality HD and SD sources we cruelly also decided to push the QN900F hard with!
The TV was tested in a variety of locations, including 10 days in a regular living room environment in both corner and mid-wall placement positions, and in a wide range of ambient light conditions, from total black out to all the curtains open on a bright sunny day. The majority of the really critical testing was done in a darkened room with 4K and HD Blu-rays, to ensure source and environmental consistency with our other tests.
Finally, as ever we put the QN900F through a barrage of objective tests using Portrait Displays’ Calman Ultimate analysis software, G1 signal generator, and newly released C6 HDR5000 light meter.
Launched in January 2025, the Roborock Saros 10 is a premium robot vacuum with some seriously cutting-edge features. Primary among these is a navigation puck that retracts down into the bot when it senses it's entering a low-height space. That, combined with a suspension system that can bounce it over tall thresholds, means this bot can reach places other robovacs can't.
On test, I found that both these features worked reliably well. And while the pop-down puck will only really come into play in homes with furniture that's a quite-specific distance off the floor, if you do fall into this category then this robotic will prove a game-changer. No more shifting the sofa once every six months to find a horrifying amount of dust sitting below it!
I was also impressed with the Saros 10's cleaning powers. Suction is strong enough to pull large volumes of dog hair off carpeted floors without fuss, and the anti-tangle roller does exactly what it's designed to do. Mopping is good, too, with the lowest mopping modes creating only the lightest mop; perfect for floors that are sensitive to too much moisture. On balance, I still think spinning mop pads (such as those that feature on the Saron 10's sister model, the Roborock Saros 10R) do a better job of scrubbing, but I did like how the additional mini side mop on the Saros 10 got right up to the edges of rooms.
I should also give special mention to the impressive hands-off dock, which not only empties dust and charges the bot (in double-quick time), but also dispenses detergent, washes the mop pads with hot water, and dries them with warm air. All this while looking far more stylish than basically any other dock I've seen in all my time reviewing robovacs.
At list price, the Saros 10 is far from cheap, but it's roughly in line with other brands' top-of-the-range models offering similarly advanced features. If you just want decent cleaning and are happy to take care of some of the maintenance tasks yourself, there are cheaper options to be found. However, if you're after an advanced model that makes use of the very latest tech and requires minimal intervention from you, this might be the best robot vacuum for you. Read on for my full Roborock Saros 10 review.
(Image credit: Future)
Roborock Saros 10 review: price & availability
List price: $1,599.99 / £1,499.99 / AU$2,999
Launched: January 2025
Available: Worldwide
The Roborock Saros 10 was one of three new Roborock robot vacuums announced at CES in January 2025, alongside sister model Saros 10R and the Saros Z70, which has a mechanical arm.
At list price direct from Roborock, the Saros 10 costs $1,599.99 in the US, £1,499.99 in the UK, and AU$2,999 in Australia. At time of writing, it isn't available via any third-party retailers, but it may come to Amazon at some point.
That price puts it firmly into the premium bracket for robovacs. In fact, it's one of the most expensive models we've tested so far, although its price is roughly in line with many other brands' top-of-the-range models. Build quality, performance and featureset help justify that price somewhat, and I'm not going to score it down too much on price because I'm glad this kind of innovation exists in the robovac world – plus, it's a truly excellent robot vacuum. Having said that, I'd still hold out for a discount (or for the price to come down over time) before buying one.
This is a super-advanced robot vacuum, and you don't need to spend this much to get an appliance that will keep your floors clean. For most people's needs, there are models at even half the price that will do the job – especially if you're willing to sacrifice the mop washing / drying / self-cleaning dock functions, all of which will bump up the price significantly.
Note, however, that there are a couple of ongoing costs to factor in, too. The first is replacement dust bags, although with a 2.5-liter capacity, each bag should last a decent amount of time. The second is floor cleaner: Roborock recommends you use only its own branded detergent, and I'm disappointed to report it's very expensive.
Value for money score: 4 out of 5
Roborock Saros 10 specs
Roborock Saros 10 review: design
Pop-up navigation puck and bouncy chassis for traversing thresholds
Bulky but smart mirrored self-empty dock, with mop cleaning
Side mop and brush, and split main roller for directing hair
The bot itself looks similar to your standard disc-shaped robovac, but the main difference here is that rather than having a fixed navigation puck, it has one that can pop up and down. It will generally be up (this allows for better navigation); however, it will retract when the bot is docked and if it senses it's entering a low-height space.
On the front there's also a camera and additional navigation elements. The camera can also be used as a security cam, or to check in on your pets while you're out.
(Image credit: Future)
Flip it over and you'll find two chunky wheels and a smaller front wheel, all of which can raise and lower independently to get the bot over tall thresholds. It's designed to be able to traverse thresholds up to a total of 1.6 inches / 4cm in height, including double-step thresholds, using the same AdaptiLift technology included with the Roborock Qrevo Curv. The bot learns the best process for each threshold in the mapped area.
The roller is rather unusual. It combines rubber fins and bristles, and is split in the middle to allow hair to escape into the bin, rather than becoming tangled and requiring you to then manually cut it off.
There's a spinning side brush that tucks itself away when it isn't in use. Again, the design is a little unusual: it has two arms, which sit near each other and extend at a slanting angle, to resist hair from becoming tangled.
There's a D-shaped mop pad and anti-tangle roller design (Image credit: Future)
For mopping, the Saros 10 has a fixed, D-shaped mop pad. This has two vibrating zones that are designed to help dislodge dirt, and can also press down on the floor. (It's still not my preferred style – I find dual-spinning discs do a more thorough scrubbing job, which is the reason for docking a half-mark in this section).
There's also a tiny extra side mop designed to get closer to the edges of rooms. Cleverly, if you opt for a mode where the mop isn't needed, it can drop the mop off in the dock, so there's no danger of damp carpets.
The onboard dustbin is hidden beneath a magnetic top panel (Image credit: Future)
The panel on the top of the robovac is magnetic, and can be removed to reveal the onboard dustbin. You shouldn't need to access this often – only if the self-empty process fails because something has jammed the mechanism. Presumably there's also a water tank in there, but I couldn't find it.
Dock design
The Saros 10 dock is one of those does-it-all units that not only charges the bot and empties its small onboard dustbin, but does a whole load more besides. It can refill its onboard water tank, disperse detergent, clean the bot's mop pads (at up to 176ºF / 80ºC), dry them (at 140ºF) over the course of a few hours, and also clean itself (at up to 176ºF).
It's designed to be able to recognize what's on the mop and adjust the temperature to suit; so it knows to use hotter water for grease and coffee stains than items such as mashed potato.
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The dustbag sits between a press-to-open front hatch (Image credit: Future)
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Clean and dirty water tanks are beneath another door on top (Image credit: Future)
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The dock has mop cleaning and self-cleaning capabilities (Image credit: Future)
As such, the Saros 10 is fairly bulky. However, it's one of the best-looking docks I've seen, with a smart, mirrored front that simply reflects the rest of your room back at you. So if it looks messy, that's on you.
The dustbag is hidden behind a front flap that opens when you press it, and two large water tanks (one for clean, one for dirty from cleaning the mop) are housed in the top, again behind a door.
There's a removable ramp up into the dock, and inside you can see the brushes for cleaning the mop pad.
Design score: 4.5 out of 5
Roborock Saros 10 review: performance
Excellent vacuuming on higher settings; can handle pet hair
Mopping also very good on higher settings – edge mop is useful
Navigation great but object avoidance unreliable
Setup was painless. I unpackaged the bot, left it to charge on its dock, and then was prompted to complete a quick mapping run. Here, the bot made its way briefly into each room, looked around a bit, then left. It then provided me with a suggestion of what it thought the rooms were, and their floor types.
By default, the navigation puck is up while the bot is cleaning (Image credit: Future)
I was testing this bot in a town house with multiple levels, so I repeated the process for each floor, carrying the bot up to each level to do so (advanced though this robovac is, it still can't climb stairs).
The initial plans were generally very accurate. After they'd been created, I went back in and corrected room types, removed unnecessary areas (it included the stairs when mapping higher levels, although its cliff sensors reliably prevented it from trying to go down them), and added no-go areas.
Vacuuming
On the vacuuming front, there are five power levels to choose from: Quiet, Balanced, Turbo, Max and Max+ (there's a battery life warning with this mode). You can also opt to clean the space once or twice. I did find this bot a little noisy in vacuum-only mode, but it certainly wasn't any louder than a manual vacuum.
To try out vacuuming, I first set off the Saros 10 to clean each floor of the house, using a mix of different power levels, in vacuum-only mode. After cleaning, and before the bot returned to the dock, I inspected the onboard bin to see what it had gathered collected.
The Saros 10 did a great job of pulling pet hair from the carpeted rooms (Image credit: Future)
I found Turbo mode was enough to extract plenty of dog hair from carpeted floors, and even more if I amped it up to a higher power mode. I was also impressed that the bot had no trouble auto-emptying, even when full with hair. I could hear the tell-tale "whoomph" sound as the wodge of dog hair made its way from the onboard bin to the dock dustbag.
I was also generally impressed by the roller design – there was next-to-none of my long hair wrapped around it at the end of a vacuuming session. That isn't the case with some of the robovacs I test.
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Oats and tea on carpet before the suction test... (Image credit: Future)
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... and after one pass with the Saros 10 (Image credit: Future)
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... after two passes with the Saros 10 (Image credit: Future)
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... and after three passes, bumped up to Max+ mode (Image credit: Future)
To test how the Roborock Saros 10 handles different kinds of debris, I ran TechRadar's standard suction tests. I sprinkled a teabag of dry tea on the carpet, alongside a handful of oats. I then ran the vacuum over them. On first pass in Turbo mode, the results were a little disappointing – the bot failed to pick much up, and what it did, it spat back out on a different area of carpet.
I ran another spot clean in Max+ mode and was far more impressed. This time, the bot picked up most of the debris, both large and small. To be clear, this is a tricky test. I went back over the tea spillage area with my Dyson Gen5detect vacuum and even that struggled to get the very last specs of tea from the carpet.
It's worth pointing out here that, in general, robot vacuums are designed for maintenance cleans – for deep cleaning, you'll still want to keep one of the best manual vacuums to hand. Among robot vacuums I've tested, the Saros 10's suction performance in general was very good.
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Oats and tea on a tiled floor, ready for the suction test (Image credit: Future)
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The results after one pass with the Saros 10 (Image credit: Future)
I ran the same test with tea and oats on a hard, tiled floor. This time, the bot picked up almost everything first time in Turbo mode, albeit with a fair bit of flicking around of debris. The only remaining bits were in the grouting cracks, and I managed to get those by remote-controlling the bot over the relevant area afterwards.
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Oats and tea sprinkled along the edge of a room (Image credit: Future)
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The Saros 10 did a decent, but not perfect job of clearing it (Image credit: Future)
To assess this bot's edge-cleaning powers, I sprinkled team and oats along the edge of the tiled kitchen. It did a pretty good job of clearing it, although it did ping everything around a bit, and there were a few remnants left that it was quicker to tackle with a manual vacuum that try and get the bot to handle.
Mopping
There are four mopping levels to choose from – Mild, Standard, Intense and Extreme. These increase not just the amount of water used, but also the enthusiasm of the scrubbing. Standard mode is really very light; I found the floor had almost completely dried by the time the bot had finished cleaning the room.
That's great news if you have floors that are sensitive to too much moisture – wooden floors, for example. However, if that's not the case and you want a more thorough mop, you'll want to deploy one of the higher mopping modes.
The Standard mopping mode is quite light (Image credit: Future)
You can choose for the bot to mop only, vacuum first and then mop, or do both at once. I tend to avoid combination mopping and vacuuming since it will often lead to messy rollers and side brushes, due to the combination of water and dry debris. In mop-only mode, the Saros 10 really is extremely quiet.
On test, I found it could take a while for the mop pads to fully saturate, and especially in Standard or Mild modes. Initially, I could see damp streaks on the floor where the bot had cleaned incompletely. However, the tiny extra side mop does a good job of getting right up to the edges of rooms.
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Smeared ketchup waiting to be cleaned (Image credit: Future)
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After a couple of passes, there was still a little left (Image credit: Future)
For my mopping test, I smeared a tiny bit of ketchup on a tiled floor and left it to dry. After one pass in Standard mode, the Saros 10 had hardly cleaned up any of it. Amping it up to higher mop levels yielded better results.
On balance, while this bot does a good job of mopping, I still prefer the spinning dual disc-shaped mop style when it comes to pure scrubbing power.
Navigation and obstacle avoidance
The pop-up puck is an interesting one, because in reality it's a very specific situation in which it's actually useful – you need furniture that's taller than 3.3inches / 8.2cm but shorter than 4.5inches / 11.4cm (the height where the puck wouldn't need to retract) off the ground. If you have that, though, it's super useful.
There's only one piece of furniture in my testing house that falls into the correct bracket, and the puck worked exactly as stated here. It also didn't impede navigation at all, although said piece of furniture is quite small, so it probably didn't present the biggest challenge.
I also ran TechRadar's standard obstacle avoidance tests, placing a sock, a charge cable, and a shoe on the floor, spread apart. I also added a box of tissues, for good measure. Results were mixed here.
The bot tried to eat the sock. It successfully identified and avoided the shoe, and at first also the tissue box, although it then went back and pushed it around a bit.
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As expected, the Saros 10 didn't spot this cable (Image credit: Future)
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It did avoid my shoe, but pushed around the tissue box for a while (Image credit: Future)
The Saros 10 also chewed the cable. That isn't a massive surprise, because I've yet to come across a robot vacuum that can successfully spot cables. However, it's something Roborock specifically states the Saros 10 can do, so it's disappointing in this regard.
In general use, however, I found this robovac pretty good at obstacle avoidance. There are various bins, speaker bases and ornaments on the floor that it successfully avoided – but as mentioned, it isn't quite the "exceptional" obstacle recognition and avoidance promised by Roborock.
Advanced features include the ability to use the robot to hunt out, photograph, and even video-call your pet. I did not try these features, because I suspect the dog would find such an intrusion wildly unsettling rather than reassuring.
Any photography and video features are turned off by default. To enable, you have to manually press some buttons on the robot vacuum, and you also have to be the primary account holder.
Battery life
I can't fault the Saros 10's battery. While it's less of an issue with robot vacuums than a cordless stick vacuum – because the bot will automatically return to the dock to charge whenever it runs out of juice, before resuming its cleaning task – it's still helpful for a robot to offer decent runtimes. That's especially true if you're going to use it in a house with multiple floors, where it can't always get back to its charge dock without help.
The Saros 10 managed an impressive amount of cleaning on a single charge. I was concerned that the Max+ mode – which comes with a "battery draining mode" warning – would run the battery down super quickly, but on test it trundled through three complete room cleans in vacuum-only Max+ mode (from a not-full battery in the first place) before running out of juice. Impressive.
(Image credit: Future)
Roborock also promises fast charging; it claims the dock will take the robovac from flat battery to full in 150 minutes. On test, I found this accurate. I went from 14% battery (at which point the bot told me it needed to return to dock to recharge) to 100% in under two and a half hours. If it goes flat mid-task, the bot will also figure out how much more power it needs to complete the task, and only charge to that point, for maximum efficiency.
Dock performance
Based on a couple of weeks of testing, the dock seems to be performing as stated. I've experienced no issues with the bin failing to empty completely, and the washing function seems to be working as claimed based on how clean the mop pads look and how dirty the water in the waste water tank is.
I'll update this section when I've been using the bot a little longer, and have a more complete view of the dock performance over time.
Performance score: 4 out of 5
Roborock Saros 10 review: app
Lots of settings for precise control
... but will also figure things out automatically, if you prefer
Generally very usable, with a few usability quirks
The Roborock app is well designed and nice and usable, although it can take a little time to learn your options and explore all the settings at first – in part because there are so many of them. There are also a few areas I found unhelpful. For example, to swap between different floorplans in a multi-storey home, you need to go via the "edit map" menu, which feels unintuitive.
Otherwise, mapping is straightforward, and you have the option to set no-go zones and invisible walls, as well as removing sections that are added in error. You can also add furniture, and create cleaning preferences for different rooms and floors.
Strangely, you can't manually select the floor type for each room. You can create "carpet areas", but this is fiddly – no areas can overlap, making things tricky if the plan includes carpet rooms and hard floor rooms. The app will automatically identify floor type, but the areas that have been designated as carpet isn't always clear. I'd prefer to be able to set this as a backup – no one wants a mopped carpet.
A relatively new addition to the setup is SmartPlan 2.0, which uses AI to customize the cleaning route, suction power and mop settings based on the bot's knowledge of its environment and previous use. Roborock says it can even reduce suction power during designated "quiet hours".
In short, you can have as much or as little control as you want here. If you don't want to get involved, you can basically leave the bot to figure out everything on its own, and it will do a very good job. Alternatively, you can really dig into the different features and set up everything exactly as you want it.
App score: 4.5 out of 5
Should you buy the Roborock Saros 10?
Buy it if...
You have low-sitting furniture The retractible puck is a game-changer if you have furniture that's between around 3.3in / 8.2cm and 4.5in / 11.4cm off the ground. It means this bot will be able to successfully clean this space, no shifting of furniture required.
You have tall room thresholds The Saros 10 can clear thresholds up to 1.6in / 4cm tall, and it will learn the best way to get over each one and replicate it each time, too.
You want a hands-off option The dock takes care of pretty much all maintenance tasks, from cleaning and drying the mop pads to dispensing detergent. It looks good, too.
You have delicate hard floors The lighter mop modes are very gentle and use only a little water, making them perfect for hard floors that are sensitive to too much moisture.
Don't buy it if...
You'd prefer no pop-up puck It worked very well on test, but if you don't like the sound of the retractible puck then Roborock has a couple of models that use a newer navigation approach and don't require a puck at all: the Saros 10R and the Qrevo Slim.
You're on a budget The Saros 10 doesn't come cheap, and there are plenty of lower-priced options on the market that will work perfectly well for many people's needs – especially if you're not fussed about advanced features such as the retractible puck and in-dock mop pad cleaning.
You want the very best mopping I found the mopping very good here, but not as rigorous as the dual spinning disc-style mops. We were also very impressed with the roller mop found on the Eureka J20 robot vacuum, which continually siphons off dirty water and replaces it with clean water.
Roborock Saros 10: alternatives to consider
Eufy X10 Pro Omni
At time of writing, this bot sits at the top of our best robot vacuum ranking as the model we recommend to most people. It's significantly cheaper than the Saros 10 but not as cutting-edge. There's no pop-up puck here; threshold clearance is much lower; it can't dispense detergent; plus the dock is significantly less stylish. However, it still cleans extremely well, and the mop is great (it uses the dual spinning pads).
The 10R is the sister model to the 10, and it's extremely similar, except it uses a different navigation method. Rather than the retractible puck, it uses a new form of LiDAR that doesn't need a puck at all. We found it worked extremely well when we tested it. It also swaps the D-shaped mop pad for two spinning discs.
I used the Roborock Saros 10 regularly for two weeks in a four-storey town house that has a mixture of carpeted and tiled floors, and houses a very hairy cocker spaniel. I used it to map and clean each of the levels, exploring the different settings and modes. For a more objective performance review, I ran TechRadar's standard suction tests (using dry tea and oats on hard and carpeted floors), mopping tests (using ketchup and juice on a hard floor), and obstacle avoidance tests (using socks, a cable and a shoe). I compared my experience of the Saros 10 against other robot vacuums I've tested, in terms of both ease of use and cleaning performance.
The Turtle Beach Stealth 700 Gen 3 is a wireless gaming headset compatible with numerous platforms, thanks to its Bluetooth integration and two USB dongles.
While it’s largely free from the typical gaming accouterments – there’s no RGB lighting, for instance – it still cuts a conspicuous figure thanks to its ultra-wide drivers, so this isn’t exactly a headset you can travel around with. Virtually all of the best PC gaming headsets out there have a lower profile than this.
Thankfully, it’s not as heavy as it looks, although some gamers might prefer something lighter. Personally, I didn’t have an issue with this aspect of the Stealth 700 Gen 3. What bothered me more was the lack of headband padding, which resulted in an achy head even after short sessions.
The comfort around the ears is much better, though. The earcups provide plenty of padding, and glasses wearers shouldn’t have a problem either. My only gripe is that they’re very large, and the fit wasn’t snug enough to secure them in place when I moved around more emphatically. For normal head movements, though, the Stealth 700 Gen 3 stay in place just fine.
The general build quality is good too, even if the materials used in its construction aren’t always the most premium. The foldable microphone is a nice touch, and feels equally well made, with an easy opening mechanism and plenty of stability when down.
There are four buttons on the Stealth 700 Gen 3, allowing for plenty of on-the-fly adjustments. There are also three scroll wheels, with two for controlling the volume from Bluetooth and transmitter sources independently, meaning you can realistically listen to music or take calls on your phone at the same time as receiving game audio from your PC or console.
Further tweaks are possible using Turtle Beach’s Swarm 2 peripheral software (on PC), allowing for some detailed output and input configurations, as well as reassignment options for the Mode button and one of the wheels, although these are limited.
The sound is great for both gaming and other forms of entertainment, including listening to music and watching content. All frequencies are clear and well-balanced, while the Bass Boost mode imparts a noticeably fuller low-end without diminishing overall quality, although small amounts of distortion can intrude with higher volumes. The microphone is less impressive, but it offers enough clarity to get by and the noise gate works well to block unwanted sounds from being picked up.
The Stealth 700 Gen 3 connects quickly via the wireless transmitter and over Bluetooth, and both work in tandem well. However, I did experience occasional dropouts on PC; whether the issue was with the headset or my particular setup is hard to tell, but if the former, hopefully, this is something that can be fixed with an update.
Battery life is excellent and seems in line with Turtle Beach’s 80-hour claim, as after a couple of days of use via Bluetooth and the transmitter across multiple platforms, it only dropped by between 5-10%.
It sits in the middle of the market in terms of price, costing about the same as the Razer BlackShark V2 Pro, which is one of the best wireless gaming headsets around. However, this headset packs in more features than the Stealth 700 Gen 3, as well as excelling in virtually every other area. There’s also the Epos H3, which is one of the best cheap gaming headsets around, although you will have to settle for a wired connection.
While both these gaming headsets might offer better value, the Stealth 700 Gen 3 isn’t far behind. It puts in an admirable effort at this price point, with sound quality that punches above its class. There are a few comfort and usability issues, but I don’t think they’re dealbreakers at this price.
(Image credit: Future)
Turtle Beach Stealth 700 Gen 3 review: price and availability
$199.99 / £179.99 / AU$399.95
Available now in three color options
Mid-lane pricing for a gaming headset
The Stealth 700 Gen 3 costs $199.99 / £179.99 / AU$399.95 and is available now in three colorways: Black, White, and Cobalt Blue. There are models with various compatibility options for Xbox, PlayStation, and PC, although all cost the same.
The Razer BlackShark V2 Pro, one of the best wireless gaming headsets in our view, is the same price (and even slightly cheaper in the UK). This headset has great output and input quality, formidable build quality, and more tweaks and customizations than the Stealth 700 Gen 3, such as THX Spatial Audio compatibility. Battery life is also great, making it a tough headset to beat at this price point.
If you want to spend a lot less on a gaming headset, then the Epos H3 is one of the best wired gaming headsets around and can be found at a significant discount from its original price. We think this headset offers superb sound and great levels of comfort for the price. A wireless variant is also available, although this is quite a lot more expensive.
Turtle Beach Stealth 700 Gen 3 review: Specs
(Image credit: Future)
Turtle Beach Stealth 700 Gen 3 review: design and features
Very bulky
Plenty of physical adjustments
Some useful features and customizations
The Turtle Beach Stealth 700 Gen 3 maintains a rather muted appearance, steering clear of the gamer gaudiness afflicting some other gaming headsets; there’s not even any RGB lighting. It is, however, quite bulky, with extremely wide drivers – perhaps the widest I’ve seen on a gaming headset – so it still isn’t what you’d call discreet.
It feels well-made, though. It might not employ the most premium materials, but they feel relatively solid and are put together well. The fold-away microphone is also a nice touch, with its hinge mechanism offering a smooth operation, while at the same time providing plenty of stability once done. However, while the Stealth 700 Gen 3 isn’t as heavy as you might imagine, those who are sensitive to weighty headsets should still take heed that it’s heavier than some others in this sector.
The earpads are very thick, which helps make the headset comfortable to wear. Turtle Beach specifically mentions the Stealth 700 Gen 3 as being glasses-friendly, and I can say I found this to be the case, as I experienced no aches or fatigue from wearing them over the arms of my frames.
These pads are also uniquely shaped, vaguely following the contours of an actual ear lobe, which I found worked quite well in my case, although they were perhaps a little too large for me; since the headband is quite wide too, they don’t fit as snuggly as those on other headsets, although this is only a problem with more vigorous head movements. The large opening also means that it should accommodate most ear shapes and sizes.
Driver-height adjustments are easy to make yet hard to move accidentally. The drivers also rotate ninety degrees, allowing you to comfortably hang them around your neck. The headband, however, is less comfortable. While the padding looks soft and plush, it compresses far too easily, meaning the harder material inside pressed onto the top of my head, causing aches even after short periods of time.
(Image credit: Future)
There are various buttons on both drivers: the CrossPlay switch is used for toggling between the two transmitters (one for Xbox and one for other platforms), a Bluetooth button, and a Mode button for cycling sound profiles – although unfortunately, the voice prompt doesn’t tell you which mode is currently selected, which some Razer headsets do.
The power button can also be tapped to toggle the Superhuman Hearing mode, although on occasion this failed to work, requiring me to power off and power on the headset to make this button operational.
Oddly, there are three scroll wheels on the Stealth 700 Gen 3: one is for mixing game and chat levels, while two are for volume – one for Bluetooth sources and the other for transmitter sources. This may seem like overkill, but it helps to allow for the Stealth 700 Gen 3 to showcase one of its unique features: simultaneous playback from Bluetooth and transmitter sources, with the ability to control the volume of both independently.
It does mean you’ll have to learn the positioning of each wheel when you want to make adjustments on the fly. Thankfully, though, each wheel is small enough to prevent the layout from feeling cramped, and they’re easy to operate once you’re able to locate them, providing smooth yet controlled adjustments.
Only one of the wheels can be reassigned using Turtle Beach’s Swarm 2 software, with options to adjust the levels of the mic monitoring, chat, bass boost, treble boost, or the noise gate of the mic.
Swarm 2 offers further customizations and tweaks. The aforementioned Mode button can be reassigned too, although the only optional function besides its default is toggling the noise gate.
Various sound presets are available in Swarm 2, including Bass Boost, Bass and Treble Boost, and Vocal Boost. You can tinker with each of these presets – or create a custom preset – by cutting or boosting 10 different points across the frequency band by 9dB, ranging from 32Hz to 16kHz. This means you have plenty of scope to tailor the audio to your preferences.
There’s also a setting called Superhuman Hearing, which is designed to elevate certain in-game sounds, such as footsteps and gunshots. As for mic settings, you can adjust the sensitivity for pick-up, the monitoring level, and the noise gate, all of which are useful input settings to be given.
(Image credit: Future)
Turtle Beach Stealth 700 Gen 3 review: Performance
Impressive sound
Passable microphone
Some connectivity issues
I was generally impressed with the audio of the Stealth 700 Gen 3. All frequencies are clear and balanced, while the Bass and Treble Boost mode considerably enhances the low end without being overbearing, and is great for both gaming and listening to music. This mode can introduce distortion when you crank the volume up, but it's easily tamed by lowering the volume slightly. I found the Vocal Boost less usable, as it significantly reduces overall fidelity.
The Superhuman Hearing mode was somewhat useful in certain scenarios, but I ultimately preferred leaving it off. When playing Counter-Strike 2, the footstep setting did make such sounds more prominent, but at the cost of noticeably deteriorating the overall audio quality. The same can be said for the gunshot setting, which also didn’t seem to make gunshots easier to discern either. Having Bass and Treble Boost turned on provided the best experience for me, providing clear audio with plenty of impact and fullness.
For an integrated microphone, the quality is passable, although it doesn’t provide the greatest vocal clarity. The noise gate feature, though, is useful and does indeed block unwanted sounds from coming through.
Connecting to a PC via the USB transmitter is as simple as plug-and-play. The same is true of when connecting to consoles, being as easy as the best PS5 headsets and best Nintendo Switch headsets. Bluetooth was also easy to set up with my phone, and I couldn’t detect any discernible difference in sound quality. I had no issues playing games on my PC (via the dongle) and listening to music from my Google Pixel 7a (via Bluetooth) at the same time either.
However, the Stealth 700 Gen 3 can take a couple of seconds to reconnect to a PC when powering it back on after sleep, and I experienced a few unsolicited disconnects from my PC after a bleep from the headset that I couldn’t explain.
It’s possible the issue lies with my PC rather than with the Stealth 700 Gen 3, although I haven’t experienced this issue with other gaming headsets. Thankfully, I was able to get the sound back quickly, and hopefully a firmware update will fix the issue if it is indeed a fault with the headset.
On a more positive note, the battery life of the Stealth 700 Gen 3 is great, with the 80-hour claim made by Turtle Beach appearing to hold true, as it only dipped between 5-10% after a few days of varied use.
(Image credit: Future)
Should I buy the Turtle Beach Stealth 700 Gen 3?
Buy it if...
You want great gaming audio The sound from the Stealth 700 Gen 3 is clear and impactful, making it great for gaming and music listening, and the Bass Boost improves the sonics further.
You want plenty of physical adjustments With four buttons and no less than three scroll wheels, adjusting various settings while gaming is easy.
Don't buy it if...
You have a sensitive head While I found the earpads perfectly comfortable, the headband doesn’t have enough cushioning, resulting in aches.
You want a low profile… in every sense The Stealth 700 Gen 3 is about the chunkiest gaming headset I’ve ever used, so if you want something sleek and discreet, this isn’t it.
Turtle Beach Stealth 700 Gen 3 review: Also consider
Razer BlackShark V2 Pro The Razer BlackShark V2 Pro is one of the best gaming headsets around, as it barely puts a foot wrong in any aspect: It’s comfortable, well-built, has great sound and features, and has a long battery life to boot. It’s the same price as the Stealth 700 Gen 3, and since it’s slightly more well-rounded, it might just have the edge.
Epos H3 If you’re on a serious budget, then the Epos H3 is the best wired gaming headset in our view, thanks to its superb sound and comfort levels that punch above its low price. There’s also a wireless variant available, although naturally, it’s more expensive.
I tested the Stealth 700 Gen 3 for several days, during which time I used it for gaming, listening to music, and watching video content. I tried it with numerous devices, namely a Windows 10 PC, a PS5, and a Nintendo Switch. I connected to these systems via the wireless USB transmitter and Bluetooth where I could.
I played games such as Counter-Strike 2and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl, where detailed sound and vocal clarity are of the utmost importance. I also recorded my own voice to test how the microphone sounded.
I have been gaming for over 20 years, and during that time I have experienced numerous headsets from a wide range of brands and across various price points. I have also reviewed multiple gaming headsets previously.
Boulies Master Rex gaming chair: One-minute review
The Boulies Master Rex is a relaxed gaming chair with an integrated leg rest and various adjustments for improved comfort and versatility.
It’s a good-looking chair, and the Charcoal Grey finish on my review unit made it appear even smarter, although I found the black suede accents a little jarring and unnecessary. Overall, though, this is a relatively understated gaming chair that wouldn’t look out of place in any environment.
I also had the water-repellent fabric finish which was very nice, feeling as good as the finishes on the best gaming chairs around. The rest of the chair is similarly premium, although the head pillow isn’t quite up to the same standards, with a cheaper-feeling material and lacking plushness – but it’s still sufficiently comfortable and supportive.
The seat is quite soft for a gaming chair, providing plenty of cushioning, and is wide enough to comfortably accommodate various frames and sitting styles. The same can be said of the backrest, and I was especially thankful for the very forgiving side bolsters, which cushioned my elbows nicely whenever they made contact.
The Master Rex also features built-in lumbar support, which is adjustable for both height and prominence. I found it comfortable with plenty of support, although I wish it went a little lower, as it doesn’t really get that close to the bottom of the backrest.
What’s more, the two dials on either side for adjusting the lumbar can be awkward to turn while seated and require too many turns to reach their minimum and maximum respective settings, which can make it a chore to set.
I had no such problem when adjusting the armrests on the Master Rex, however. These are very stable and solidly constructed, yet I still found them comfortable to lean on. Again, though, I wish they had a lower minimum height, as well as a more inward bias. However, these are issues I experience with many gaming chairs.
The tilt mechanism was more disappointing, as it failed to easily rock, requiring some force to rock backward, even on its most amenable setting. Yet again, the adjustment dial for it was too laborious to use, owing to the large range between its two extremes.
Worse, however, was the recline mechanism. There’s plenty of range in its angles, but the mechanism itself felt rough and notchy, and I sometimes struggled to lock it in place. I also had similar issues with the Boulies Elite.
The integrated leg rest failed to impress, too. Sliding it in and out wasn’t the smoothest, and there was a fair amount of wobble to it when retracted. It’s well padded, but it’s a shame it only extended as far as my calves – and I’m not a tall person.
Assembling the Master Rex proved easy enough solo, although lining up the cushion gaskets when attaching the tilt mechanism to the seat base can be frustrating. Also, the rubber washers for the leg rest poles fell off too easily, and the machining on some screws was subpar. Despite these niggles, though, the Master Rex was easy to put together on the whole.
The Master Rex isn’t what you’d call cheap, but the quality and features on offer here help to make it a more reasonable proposition. It’s still less than the Secretlab Titan Evo 2022, although this is the best gaming chair around as far as we’re concerned. If you really want to save money, though, the Corsair TC100 Relaxed is a great pick for budget hunters.
In the main, the Master Rex has enough comfort, adjustability, and quality to make it a gaming chair worth recommending. A few features fall short of expectations, but not by enough to reject the Master Rex entirely from your consideration.
(Image credit: Future)
Boulies Master Rex gaming chair review: Price and availability
$479.99 / £409.99 (about AU$762)
Available now
Cheaper than some rivals
The Master Rex costs $479.99 / £409.99 (about AU$762) and is available now with PU leatherette and water-repellent fabric upholstery options. The former comes in black and brown, while the latter comes in Charcoal Grey, Ash Grey, and Como (green).
While it sits towards the higher end of the market, the Master Rex is still less than the regular Secretlab Titan Evo 2022, which we think is still the best gaming chair overall. That chair doesn’t come with a leg rest, but the brand does make an add-on accessory – although this carries a hefty price tag.
If you want to spend a lot less than either the Master Rex or the Titan, the Corsair TC100 Relaxed is the best budget gaming chair around in our view. It doesn’t quite have the same high build quality as its rivals, and the assembly process isn’t the best, but it’s still a comfortable and well-designed seat.
Boulies Master Rex gaming chair review: Specs
Boulies Master Rex gaming chair review: Design and aesthetics
Solid construction
Soft, premium fabric
Integrated lumbar and leg rest
The Master Rex sticks to Boulies’ typical aesthetic, with a more formal approach to traditional gaming chair design. It has a relaxed bucket-style backrest, while the seat base has no bolsters to hem you in – which I’m personally thankful for.
The water-repellent fabric I had on my test unit was smooth to the touch, feeling premium yet durable without the scratchiness that can plague some fabric finishes. Its stitching also appeared executed to a high standard, while the dark grey finish looked smart and sleek. The black suede accents seemed superfluous, though, and didn’t really add much in terms of form or function.
Most aspects of the Master Rex seem very well constructed. The frame and wheelbase are solid yet not too heavy, and the casters glide easily on hard and soft surfaces alike, without any catching on the latter. I was also thankful for the softness of the backrest side bolsters, which made them very comfortable on my elbows.
(Image credit: Future)
The 4D arm rests are another highlight, offering plenty of stability while being easy to operate. They have a hard-wearing surface yet are still comfortable, and are wide enough to accommodate most forearms.
The Master Rex also includes a leg rest that slides out from underneath the seat. However, the mechanism doesn’t retract smoothly, catching slightly as you pull, and there’s a fair amount of wobble when it’s out all the way, which doesn’t exactly inspire confidence. What’s more, the leg rest itself is quite thick, which means that when stowed, it gets in the way if you want to sit with your legs bent underneath you.
The Master Rex also comes with integrated lumbar support, so no back cushion is required. A head pillow is included, although this doesn’t feel as premium as the rest of the chair, owing to cheaper-feeling material and lack of plushness. It doesn’t attach magnetically either, relying on an elastic strap instead.
Boulies Master Rex gaming chair review: Comfort and Adjustability
Useful adjustments
Integrated lumbar support
leg rest issues
I found the Master Rex a comfortable chair to sit in. The seat is soft and generously cushioned, more so than the seat on the Boulies Elite, for instance. It’s also pleasingly wide, allowing for various sitting styles.
Combined with the similarly plush backrest, this helps to make the Master Rex one of the most comfortable gaming chairs. The inbuilt lumbar support also provides sufficient back support, although I wish it went further down, as even on its lowest setting, it sat in the middle of my back more than I would’ve liked.
What’s more, adjustments are awkward to make while seated, owing to the positioning on the dials. Neither dial is labelled either, so you’ll have to refer to the manual and remember which one adjusts which parameter. Worse still, there are far too many rotations between their minimum and maximum settings, which only adds to the difficulty of making adjustments. At least the adjustments they do provide are meaningful.
The recline mechanism of the Master Rex doesn’t fare much better in this regard. As I found with the Boulies Elite, it’s too notchy and rough, and I often struggled to lock into position.
(Image credit: Future)
The tilt mechanism is a further oddity. I found that no matter how much I loosened the dial underneath, it was still too resistant to allow for easy rocking. And as with the lumbar adjustment dials, it requires far too many turns between each end of its extremes. I did, however, like the lever for toggling the tilt lock, as it moves horizontally rather than vertically, which I found more convenient to operate when seated.
On the other hand, the 4D arm rests on the Master Rex are hard to fault. All manner of pivots, rotations, and slides are possible, so most users shouldn’t have a problem getting a comfortable setup. I only wish they went lower and slightly further inwards, but I have this gripe with most gaming chairs I try to some degree; all things considered, they still offer sufficient comfort for extended periods.
The party piece of the Master Rex, though, is the retractable leg rest. I found this comfortable thanks to the amount of padding it provides. It can be adjusted for length, depending on how far you pull it out. However, it doesn’t extend all that far, and I wish it was long enough to rest my heels rather than just my calves, and a little more width wouldn’t have gone amiss either.
What’s more, despite its thickness, it still doesn’t sit level with the seat, meaning your feet dangle below you somewhat. While it’s nice to have, these drawbacks make the leg rest more of a gimmick rather than a feature you’ll want to use regularly.
Boulies Master Rex gaming chair review: Assembly
Putting together the Master Rex was a relatively quick process. I managed to build it by myself without help, although as with many gaming chairs, it can prove difficult and onerous when installing the seat onto the wheelbase, but this was still perfectly manageable.
There were a few other niggles, though. Firstly, when installing the tilt mechanism to the seat base, you’re required to insert small cushion gaskets in between the two before attaching the bolts. These spacers remain completely loose while you do this, which means they’re all too easy to displace and makes the process very fiddly.
In addition, the small rubber washers for the leg rest poles fell out when I took them out of their packaging – so take care not to lose them. Also, some of the screws had some machining damage to them; they were still perfectly functional, but this doesn’t exactly speak highly of Boulies’ quality control.
Ultimately, though, these are small grievances, and the whole process was relatively quick and easy compared to some other gaming chairs I’ve built in the past.
(Image credit: Future)
Should I buy the Boulies Master Rex gaming chair?
Buy it if...
You want plenty of cushioning The Master Rex has a very soft seat, which is surprising given the brand’s Elite model is on the firmer side. The backrest is well cushioned with soft bolsters, too.
You want a leg rest The Master Rex is one of a relatively small number of gaming chairs to include an integrated leg rest.
Don't buy it...
You want rock regularly The tilt mechanism of the Master Rex is too stiff, even on its loosest setting, so serial rockers might want to look elsewhere.
You want a smooth recline As with the Elite, the Master Rex suffers from a poor recline mechanism that’s very notchy and hard to lock in place at times.
Boulies Master Rex gaming chair review: Also consider
Here are some alternatives to the Boulies Master Rex:
Secretlab Titan Evo 2022 An erstwhile favorite for many, the Secretlab Titan Evo 2022 is all things to all gamers: it’s comfortable, well made, and versatile. Starting prices aren’t cheap, though, and costs can escalate dramatically depending on the finish and configurations. But there’s a reason it takes our top spot as the best gaming chair around – and we’re hardly alone in this. Read our Secretlab Titan Evo 2022 review.
Corsair TC100 Relaxed If you want to save your money but still have a comfortable chair for gaming, the price-performance ratio of the TC100 Relaxed is hard to beat. We found it comfortable and stylish, although we could tell savings had been made on some parts. The assembly wasn’t the smoothest, either, but it’s still a good value proposition. Read our Corsair TC100 Relaxed review.
(Image credit: Future)
How I tested the Boulies Master Rex gaming chair
Tested for several days
Made various adjustments
Years of gaming chair experience
I tested the Master Rex for several days, and used it for gaming and for working. I used it on hard floors and on a large rug, and made every adjustment I could.
I have been PC gaming for decades, and during that time I’ve owned a variety of chairs, including those made for gaming, such as the Secretlab Titan, and office chairs, such as the Steelcase Leap.
I have reviewed other gaming chairs previously, including another Boulies model, the Elite.
Setup of the SmartWings motorized shades definitely took some doing. The included screws were so soft that they were stripped right away. Still, we got them installed. Then, getting them up and running also took a bit of doing and required a call to customer service to get everything connected properly. Once all that was done, the blinds worked like a dream. They do everything you want smart blinds to do. You can connect them to just about any platform such as Apple HomeKit, Amazon Alexa, Samsung SmartThings, and Google Assistant via Matter over Thread. Control them with your voice, tap to operate them on your phone, or set up automations. Open and close them all the way or just partially. You can also just use the included remote control.
The blinds are battery-operated, and can be recharged via a wall outlet or with a small solar panel that attaches to your window. I installed the blinds over a month ago, and I haven’t had to recharge the battery yet. I set up an automation in Apple HomeKit so the blinds open at sunrise and close at sunset, which works beautifully.
You can order SmartWings Smart Shades directly from the SmartWings website or from Amazon. The price varies by size but starts at $154.99 (£119.50/245.92 AUD.) I selected the Zebra Blinds; the size and style you see in my photos goes for $424.95 (£327.74/674.13 AUD.) You will need to measure your window precisely before ordering; I’d recommend watching the video on SmartWings’ website to ensure you do it correctly.
There are many styles and colors from which to choose; I selected the "Zebra Shades 60% Blackout Translucent 75mm Eloise" style with the light grey fabric.
Value score: 4/5
SmartWings Motorized Smart Shades: design
Attractive
Smooth and quiet operation
Not the easiest to install
You will need a drill in order to install the SmartWings blinds. The included screws are soft and thread quite easily. If you're not careful, you may need to find alternative screws in order to get the blinds installed.
(Image credit: Karen Freeman / Future)
Other than the screw threading issue, installation is fairly straightforward with a power drill and the included instructions and hardware. The solar panel is a simple peel-and-stick application.
Then you'll need to set up the blinds with your smartphone or device of choice. You'll also need to have a home hub of some kind if you want to be able to control your blinds from outside the home. I used my iPhone to set it up in Apple HomeKit and my mini HomePod as a hub. This also took some doing, as the included instructions aren't the most clear. After talking to SmartWings' customer service, which was remarkably easy to get ahold of, I was able to get the blinds up and running.
(Image credit: Future)
The underside of the blinds motor has a small button and a USB-C port. The USB-C port is used for charging; you can charge up the blinds using the solar panel or directly to a wall outlet. The button is used during setup. It's hard to press and hold that button with a finger so the customer service rep I spoke with recommended using a pencil eraser to get the necessary traction. That worked great.
You may notice that the blinds seem a bit narrow for my window. That's entirely on me, since I measured the blinds for an "inside the frame" placement before realizing that my window frame doesn't allow that kind of installation. I had to install it on the outside of the frame instead, so the blinds don't fit perfectly.
(Image credit: Karen Freeman / Future)
I think these blinds look just fine. There are probably prettier smart blinds out there, but the simple, streamlined look works for my space. I do wish they'd been a little easier to set up and install, but luckily that only needs to be done once. Overall, they are well-designed blinds. Watching them open and close is actually kind of mesmerizing and soothing.
Design score: 4/5
SmartWings Motorized Smart Shades: performance
No app download necessary
Matter motor over Thread protocol allows you to use any platform
Motor is smooth and quiet
Because the SmartWings Smart Blinds have a Matter motor which uses the Thread protocol, they are platform agnostic. This means that you can set up the blinds to work with any platform, such as Google, Samsung, Amazon, or Apple. I'm Apple everything, so I set it up on my iPhone in Apple's HomeKit. You don't even need to download a SmartWings app; I just used the Home app on my iPhone.
If you only need to control your blinds from within your home, you could just set it up on your smartphone and leave it at that. However, if you want to be able to control your blinds from anywhere, you'll need some kind of home hub. I used my Apple HomePod mini.
Once you get everything connected, control is very straightforward. Just tap the controls on your smartphone. The iPhone Home app allows you raise and lower the blinds to a specific percentage, use Siri to control the blinds, and set up Automations so your blinds open and close automatically when you want. Of course, you can also just use the included remote control, which has its own holder that you can attach to the window frame.
(Image credit: Karen Freeman / Future)
Once you take the time to set up your SmartWings Smart Blinds with your platform of choice, the possibilities are endless. I used Apple HomeKit set mine to open at sunrise and close at sunset, but you could also set them up to open and close at specific times or when you're doing certain activities. I also frequently use my voice to tell Siri to open and close the blinds, fully, or part way. It all works quite smoothly and the mechanism isn't loud at all.
Performance score: 4.5/5
Should you buy the SmartWings Motorized Smart Shades?
Buy it if
You want to control your blinds from your phone or tablet
The SmartWings Smart Blinds allow you to do all the things you want from smart blinds from any platform you like.
You want custom blinds
You don't have to choose from just a few sizes; you can get the blinds to fit the precise measurements of your window. Plus, there are many color and style options.
Don't buy it if
You're on a tight budget
I don't think the price is unreasonable for custom smart blinds, but you might go another way if these give you sticker shock.
You want the easiest installation/removal
You do need a drill and some patience to install these. They may not be ideal for renters since you'll be drilling holes in the window frame.
SmartWings Motorized Smart Shades: also consider
Looking for something a little different? Here are two other options you might want to consider.
SwitchBot Roller Shade
SwitchBot makes a roller blind on a budget. It does work with a variety of platforms and SwitchBot's own app. Choose from a variety of sizes and you can even swap out the fabric for one of your choosing. View Deal
SwitchBot Blind Tilt
Save some serious dough using your existing blinds and adding this handy device. It's renter-friendly since there is no drilling required. Read our SwitchBot Blind Tilt review to learn more.View Deal
How I tested the SmartWings Motorized Smart Shades
I installed the SmartWings Motorized Smart Shade in an office window in my home. I set it up with Apple HomeKit on my iPhone and my HomePod mini as a hub. I spent several weeks with the blinds before reviewing. I controlled the blinds various ways during that time: the Home app on my iPhone, my voice and Siri, and the included remote control. I also set up an Automation in HomeKit to have the blinds open at sunrise and close at sunset.
VistaPrint offers eight photo book sizes in square, portrait, and landscape formats, which range in size from 13 x 10cm (5.1 x 3.9 inches) to 39 x 29cm (15.4 x 11.4 inches). You can have up to 120 pages in a single photo book, although you’ll have to pay £1.50 extra for every two pages beyond 24. Layflat binding is also available on selected sizes for an extra £1.50 per page, and two stocks are available to choose from: Standard and Premium Glossy, the latter of which costs £10.50 more. A photo cover costs an additional £6.50.
The editor for creating a VistaPrint photo book is available both online in a browser and offline as an app for Windows or macOS systems. Books can be created from scratch or using VistaPrint’s Smart Assistant, which judges your best photos from those you’ve uploaded and automatically sets the layout, while still letting you edit as you wish.
(Image credit: Future)
Navigating the editor is easy thanks to its clear interface and toolbars for easy access to common elements. I created a book from scratch, although, annoyingly, VistaPrint still thrusts a preset layout upon you, which adds to the labor as you delete the blocks you don’t want.
On the other hand, if you need some inspiration, a menu of template layouts is available for instant insertion, with options containing various combinations of image and text blocks.
Inserting photos is simply a case of inserting image blocks and adding your photos, which can be done in three ways: uploading them in bulk and selecting them from a menu, clicking on a block to bring up a file explorer, or dragging and dropping the file from your computer.
(Image credit: Future)
You can then drag the corners and sides to resize your photos as you see fit. However, you’ll be disappointed if you want exact measurements, as there aren’t any, so you’ll have to rely on your eye. Thankfully, moving boxes can be made using the arrow keys, which certainly helps with fine-tuning layouts.
Other common keyboard shortcuts also work in the editor, such as those for copying, pasting, and undoing. However, you can’t select multiple blocks with Ctrl- or Shift-clicks, which is a shame.
Snap lines for horizontal and vertical centers are present, although somewhat frustratingly, they don’t always appear. For instance, I didn’t get a vertical center line when trying to align an image block on the back cover. However, both horizontal and vertical snap lines also appear when lining up a block with another, which is very useful.
(Image credit: Future)
When you click on an inserted photo, a popup menu appears with a slider that lets you zoom in and out of the image within its box. You can also drag the image around within the box, allowing you to effectively crop photos with ease.
This menu also has options for moving your image to the front or to the back relative to other boxes, as well as rotate and flip functions. There’s also a filter menu with Black & White and Sepia effects to choose from.
There’s also an Auto Enhancement feature, but there’s no explanation as to how this actually works. As far as I could tell, it makes images brighter, which works well in some cases, but can lead to overexposure and oversaturation in others. More annoyingly, I couldn’t find a way to turn it off permanently; the best I could do was click the delete enhancement button in the top toolbar, but I had to do this every time I inserted a new photo, which was mildly irritating.
(Image credit: Future)
Different background colors are available should you want them, but the options are limited since there’s no color wheel or hex code input for inserting any shade you like.
There are far more framing and masking options, ranging from basic looks to more ostentatious offerings. Various clip art stickers are available too. As for text, VistaPrint offers a good number of fonts to choose from as well, along with the usual point sizes, colors, and basic formatting options.
(Image credit: Future)
There are a few snags with the editor that are worth pointing out. Firstly, I couldn’t find a way to remove a frame or mask once inserted, which was frustrating and meant I had to delete the block entirely to eliminate it. I also couldn’t scale our TechRadar logo small enough to fit along the spine, despite being able to fit text here.
Other issues include black backgrounds obscuring the margin lines of the spine, and smaller images appearing with strange artifacts, which thankfully remedies itself once you zoom in, so it seems this is merely a GUI issue.
Popups occasionally appear reminding you to save your work, although an autosave feature wouldn’t have gone amiss. Saving is usually quite quick, although it was somewhat sluggish when returning to a saved session.
(Image credit: Future)
I also had a popup stating that photos were taking longer to load than usual when starting a new session, recommending I wait before making further changes to the book. Thankfully, this was only a momentary issue.
The projected delivery date for my order of a XL Square (30 x 30cm / 12 x 12 inch) photo book was two weeks, and unfortunately, unlike other services, there’s no expedited option for quicker turnarounds.
Such photo books cost £49.99. I was lucky to catch VistaPrint in a sale, so claimed a 40% discount, bringing my order to £35.69, which included a photo cover and a few extra pages beyond the default 24. Delivery cost an extra £5.50, bringing my overall total to £41.19, although orders over £40 have free delivery.
(Image credit: Future)
The book arrived about four days earlier than estimated, which was a pleasant surprise. However, unfortunately there was some damage to the top of the spine and consequently the inside corners of nearly every page, as if it had been crushed from the top.
This wasn’t exactly surprising given how thin the cardboard sleeve was, with no bubble wrap or protective padding of any kind around the book. Thankfully, the damage was subtle, and much of it was hidden from view by the curve of the pages towards the binding.
The printing quality was excellent, though. Images were sharp with no blurring or artifacts. Colors were rendered with plenty of accuracy and vibrancy, which was especially noticeable on full-page spreads, making them a real highlight of the book.
However, some images and text had a slightly jagged edge to them, as did the solid blocks of color, which also contained a few outlines in a darker shade. There were also a few stray dots of color on white backgrounds, but these were infrequent and hard to notice owing to their minute size.
On the whole, though, the VistaPrint photo book delivers pleasing results, especially for those looking to showcase larger photos. Combined with its capable and intuitive editor, this is a service worthy of your attention.
Should I buy the VistaPrint photo book?
Buy it if…
You want an easy editor to use For the most part, the editor is clear and simple, and various standard keyboard shortcuts can be used to make things even easier.
You want a good price VistaPrint’s photo books are good value for money, undercutting many of its rivals, and by a considerable amount in some cases.
Don't buy it if…
You want precision and color options Unfortunately, VistaPrint’s photo book editor provides no photo measurements nor a color wheel or hex code input for backgrounds and solid blocks of color.
You want a quick turnaround Two weeks is the fastest delivery time VistaPrint provides, which is a shame since there are quicker services out there (I did receive mine earlier than expected, though).
VistaPrint photo book review: also consider
Shutterfly If you’re looking for precise control over photo resizing, then Shutterfly could be for you. It displays image dimensions in inches, which is very useful for those with specific layout requirements. The options for tailoring templates are limited, and we didn’t find its editor the easiest to use, but it’s still competent enough. Read our Shutterfly photo book review.
Mimeo Mimeo offers another simple and easy to use photo book creator, which we found helped to offset its rather limited design and material choices compared to the competition. We also thought the shipping costs were too steep, but if you prize a great user experience and a high-quality end product, this could be the service for you. Read our Mimeo photo book review.
How I tested the VistaPrint photo book
Made and ordered photo book
Followed TechRadar's photo book template
I used VistaPrint’s online editor to order a 12 x 12 inch (30 x 30cm) XL Square photo book with 28 pages, following our TechRadar template, which includes a variety of photos, containing both people and landscape, with varying colors palettes and exposure levels, as well as some black and white images.
Our template also contains various page layouts, in order to test the versatility of the service in question, both in terms of its editing capabilities and the final result.
Plesk has been around for a long time and is supported by many hosts. You also have the option to migrate to cPanel should you decide that Plesk isn’t for you. Plesk also supports a wide array of Linux and Windows operating systems, so you have a lot of options for installing it on various server setups.
Plesk has a straightforward and fair pricing model - you pay for how many websites you use. This makes it great for average web hosters who need the flexibility of Plesk and don’t plan on hosting tons of websites. It is also a good choice for web agencies who plan on hosting websites on behalf of their clients and want predictable pricing. If you plan on hosting lots of websites all for your own use, then cPanel or sPanel offer cheaper plans.
Ease of use
Plesk has the most cohesive user interface of all the admin panels, combining the server-side administration into the same user interface as the website management interface. This has benefits and drawbacks. On the one hand, it’s nice to have the server management presented in a manner that is friendly to non-technical users, but at the same time, it feels a little frustrating to use if you are technical. There’s considerably less of the underlying technical details exposed to users, which is great if you’re worried about breaking things, but if you’re a tinkerer, then you might prefer the more raw experience that cPanel provides. Plesk not only works great on mobiles but even provides a dedicated mobile app so you can manage your websites on the go.
Support
Web server support
It supports a wide array of different web servers and languages. Apache is installed by default, with the option to install Nginx as a reverse proxy, which gives you the best of both worlds. Litespeed is supported, but there’s no support for the free alternative, OpenLitespeed, so expect additional costs.
Database support
Microsoft SQL, MySQL, and PostgreSQL are all supported, making Plesk a great choice for those who need more powerful database options.
Language support
Support programming languages include PHP, Javascript/Node, Perl, Ruby, Python, .NET. There’s even docker support via an official extension, which means effortless support for virtually any language and setup.
Backups
Plesk offers a pretty standard array of backup options with good support for remote backup providers. FTP, Amazon S3, Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive are all supported.
Extensions and apps
Plesk has the most impressive extensibility out of any of the admin panels we’ve tried. Along with the usual one-click installers such as Softacolous, you can also install extensions to manage your social media, page speed, harden your WordPress installations - it really does have it all. There’s even a pretty powerful site builder included, meaning you can build your website with zero coding knowledge.
Security
Not only does Plesk come with the usual security software, but it also goes the extra mile to make them more user-friendly. We particularly like how user-friendly the web application firewall is, providing an extra layer of security against malicious requests without overly complicating it. Plesk includes both VirusTotal and Imunify for virus scans with an option for paid upgrades. Kernelcare and other paid security hardening services are available.
Final verdict
Plesk is truly leading the way with the admin panel. It has remained fresh and up-to-date, offering a lot of the latest and greatest software. Everything is easy to use and packaged in a way that isn’t intimidating to non-technical users. It would be nice to see better out-of-the-box performance optimisation, something that sPanel really excels at, but Plesk offers a more broad set of capabilities. It does an incredible job of being both extremely powerful and customisable, without being overwhelming for non-technical users. The bottom line is that if you want an admin panel that does everything and packages it up nicely into a very user-friendly package, then it might be worth splashing a bit more on Plesk.
Operating system support: AlmaLinux, CloudLinux, Rocky Linux and Ubuntu
Portability to different platforms
cPanel is probably one of the most popular admin panels, so it’s no surprise that it’s supported by many hosts. They also include migration tools to migrate between servers and even from a Plesk control panel. Since cPanel is so popular, most alternative admin panels have a migrato,r meaning that if you decide cPanel isn’t for you, you can still easily switch to other admin panels such as Plex or sPanel.
Instead of charging by website, cPanel offers unlimited websites and chargers based on the number of users you have. If you’re planning on hosting a lot of websites, but all for your own use, then it can make it slightly cheaper, although not as cheap as SPanel. However, if you plan on hosting just a few websites or having lots of user accounts, then it will be more expensive than the alternatives. Reselling is available for their plans starting at 46.99/mo, making it slightly cheaper than Plesk for reselling.
Ease of use
cPanel’s ease of use is a mixed bag. It has areas that can be a little daunting for new users, but once you’re familiar with it, it becomes pretty easy to work out where things are. There’s no mobile-specific app, but that’s not required since the web version works well on mobile. The server admin part of cPanel is a lot more daunting than the individual website management section, and the server admin part definitely feels like it would be daunting to non-technical users - although it is nice to have the additional flexibility you get from exposing the raw, technical, internals. The beauty of cPanel’s popularity is that there are plenty of tutorials and videos you can watch if you’re not quite sure how to do something.
Support
Web server support
Nginx is supported via free plugins and some command line dabbling, but we’d expect to see a server as popular as Nginx to be supported out of the box. Lightspeed is available but that is a commercial application and requires an eye-watering $25/month license. It would be nice to see support for the free alternative OpenLightSpeed, which is available in sPanel. Overall, cPanel doesn’t offer the breadth of web server support that Plesk does, and it doesn’t provide the performance-optimized web server support that sPanel offers. It does offer clustering, meaning you can join multiple servers together and split the load between them, but that’s quite an advanced feature and not something the vast majority of users will need.
Database support
Supports both MySQL/MariaDB out of the box. Postgres is supported but involves running a command line script, which, again, isn’t ideal for less-technical users - although once it’s installed, then the user interface has very good support for it.
Language support
Supports PHP, Java, and Ruby out of the box, with support for more if you’re willing to install and manage them yourself. We’d expect a mature admin panel such as cPanel to support many more languages.
Backups
Supports offsite backups. Has a good selection of remote backup providers: S3, BackBlaze, FTP, Google Drive, Rsync and WebDAV.
Extensions and apps
Supports Softaculous. It also has a number of paid extensions but nothing that isn’t supported by Plesk. It is very extensible if you’re willing to dabble with the command line, and there’s lots of documentation provided on how to tweak things, but really, an admin panel as mature and expensive as cPanel should have more click-and-play extensions to justify its cost.
Security
Clam AV virus scanner, which is a good virus scanner, with support for more advanced ones such as ImunifyAV (at a cost). 2 factor auth, which is good. Automatic updates are an additional $3/month. This includes ModSecurity as a web application firewall, which I personally trust over an AI solution.
Final verdict
Hosting has changed a lot in the last decade, with new performance-focused web servers, advanced databases and powerful new languages becoming increasingly popular. Unfortunately, cPanel has done little to keep up with these advances, supporting pretty much the same setup it has for the last decade or more. Whilst there is plenty of documentation covering how to install these newer alternatives, it’s really something that cPanel should be supporting out of the box by now. Given the increase in pricing cPanel has seen over the years, it costs just as much as considerably better alternatives such as Plesk. cPanel is historically a very popular and well-known admin panel, so it will be familiar to a lot of seasoned hosters and, despite its shortcomings, its familiarity is often enough to make it people’s go-to admin panel. The bottom line is: unless you already feel most comfortable in cPanel or you plan on reselling, there’s no real reason to choose it over sPanel or Plesk.
In a year packed with big-budget blockbusters and standout indie gems, South of Midnight carves out its own space by delivering the polish of a AAA title while embracing the bold, stylized vision often found in smaller-budget games. Since being acquired by Microsoft Game Studios some years ago, Montreal-based developer Compulsion Games has refined its knack for high-concept mid-tiered AA release through a mythic adventure of the American South. Simply put, there are games released at twice the price point of South of Midnight ($39.99)that don’t provide this well-rounded experience.
Review info
Platform reviewed: Xbox Series X Available on: Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC Release date: April 8, 2025
Players step into the role of Hazel, a young woman caught in the middle of a magical conspiracy as she searches for her mother following a hurricane while uncovering her family’s legacy. A captivating story filled with rich characters alongside fascinating world-building, South of Midnight stands out thanks to vivid stop-motion-inspired visuals, outstanding music, and heartfelt voice acting stand out in presentation alone. Most importantly, the Game Pass exclusive feels authentic and honest about its point of view.
Thankfully, there’s also an incredibly solid game beneath the audio/visual package and a charming story. South of Midnight doesn’t radically innovate in the gameplay department, nor does it even try to. What matters most in the action adventure is the execution which is led by tight controls during traversal and combat.
Across the 10-15 hours of the single-player game, players will guide Hazel through the Southern town of Prospero as she searches for her mother. Earlier on in the story, our heroine learns of her destiny as a Weaver, magical individuals who battle evil creatures called Haints with enchanted crochet hooks. As Hazel embarks on her hero’s journey, she’ll also find her way by learning about the past of many past and present residents of Prospero besides her own family history. Along the way, she'll befriend a talking catfish(who also serves as the narrator), fight her mother’s bartending ex-boyfriend, who transforms into a monstrous flying creature, understand the mysterious disappearance of a pleasure boat in a swampland occupied by a giant mermaid looking for her lost son and much more.
(Image credit: Compulsion Games)
Tight Combat and traversal
During exploration, controlling Hazel is fairly simple with the left stick used for movement, the left stick used for camera control, A button for jump. As the story goes along, there are layers added to that through double jumps, dashes, wall-running, and the like. Like many of its inspirations like Prince of Persia or Uncharted, there’s plenty of climbing, wall shimming, and balancing as well. All of these feel fantastic when used, even if the core mechanics aren’t necessarily new. However, the way it's used to push the story keeps things moving along without getting boring. For example, the early moments of Hazel learning about her powers in the earlier chapters (there are 14 chapters in total) is through the last Weaver who helped Black slaves escape captivity.
Once the third chapter comes along, this is where the main gameplay loop comes into play where players collect spirits in blue glass bottles that relate to a local legend within a specific location. This is done through combat sections that have players enter an arena and fight the Haints. Destroying the dark creatures wreaking havoc on the land of Prospero is a fluid, accessible, and visually rewarding experience. Using those magical crochet hooks, players attack and initiate combo-based attacks via the X button and dodge with the B button which if done at the right time can turn into a parry. Later on, players can also manipulate enemies using trigger and bumper inputs to push and pull them, adding depth to encounters. Many of those powers have cooldown moments in order to avoid exploitation while also serving as a tool for fairly simple puzzles.
Once enemies are weakened, purifying them with the Y button finishes them off while also restoring a bit of health. A lock-on system enhances targeting precision too by clicking on the left thumb stick. Defeating all enemies in a combat scenario transforms thorn-covered corrupted areas into vibrant, flower-filled landscapes—an eye-catching reward that enhances the game’s visual appeal. Combat is relatively simple and doesn’t necessarily get complex until the narrative’s midway point where Hazel can face six or seven enemies at once. During the later combat scenarios, it does get a bit difficult for the camera to keep up with Hazel which can lead to some light moments of frustration. Even in death, checkpoints are generous with a really silly respawn animation.
(Image credit: Compulsion Games)
The stand-out moments of combat does come in the form of big boss fights that will challenge players' understanding of Hazel’s powers with some offering some light puzzle elements. One surprising boss battle even features a clever twist during its conclusion and defines the real antagonist of South of Midnight even if that character is fairly obvious during the first couple of chapters. That final confrontation with the antagonist definitely goes left into a finale that does somewhat come off as anti-climactic yet well-meaning.
Following combat, players also begin to learn more about the mystery of a particular area they’re trying to get through such as how a boy transformed into a tree or how a mysterious giant spider got attached to several missing children among others. After Hazel collects enough spirits for the bottle and begins to discover the mystery of a particular area, this leads to a chase sequence from a mysterious creature as she makes her way to the bottle tree.
The flow of the game usually consists of traversal looking for spirit bottles and other collectibles later down the line, combat scenarios, and the big chase sequence after all the required spirits are collected. Though the game is incredibly linear, players can get a guide on where to go next with the press of a button. Interestingly enough, there are some beaten paths where players can upgrade an incredibly light combat skill tree or enhance their life bar.
A nice switch-up roughly halfway through the game comes in the form of an overwhelmingly cute stuffed crochet doll named “Crouton.” The cuddly individual serves as a companion one can control during exploration by hitting the right bumper. Crouton can also be thrown into other areas to explore where it can be controlled directly by the player. It can also get through spaces Hazel is too large to crawl through to activate different switches and can even be used in combat. When fighting the Haints, Hazel can use the doll to possess enemies to attack others. This later addition does a better job of keeping combat and traversal somewhat fresh.
(Image credit: Compulsion Games)
Art and audio that doesn’t miss
With an incredibly cool story and lore alongside solid gameplay, holding all of those elements together is the presentation. Visually, South of Midnight is one of the best-looking games of the year so far when it comes to art direction. The first introductory stop-motion animation before the start screen sets a fantastic tone that transitions well into the real-time gameplay and cut scenes.
The game embraces a distinctive stop-motion aesthetic, enhanced by rich art direction and clever technical choices. Its animation style features intentional frame skips, giving it a handcrafted, cinematic feel reminiscent of Coraline, The Nightmare Before Christmas the Spider-Verse films. This unique approach blends artistic flair with modern performance, running smoothly at a consistent 60 frames per second. Other more technical highlights of the visuals include great lighting, texture work without any noticeable pop-in, and shadow work. The result is a game that looks like a beautifully animated film coming to life, setting it apart visually from a lot of games released this year.
South of Midnight’s audio is just as captivating as its visuals, delivering a rich, immersive soundscape that elevates the entire experience. The soundtrack, already praised for its deep-fried charm, consistently maintains a high standard of quality from start to finish. Drawing from American roots genres like blues, jazz, and country, the music is layered with a sweeping orchestral touch that adds emotional depth.
Best bit
The mid-game introduction of Hazel’s absurdly cute enchanted crochet doll and companion named “Crouton.” adds new warmth to the story while cleverly elevating gameplay.
This sonic blend is the result of recordings done in both Nashville and London’s legendary Abbey Road Studios, merging Southern soul with cinematic grandeur to create a sound that’s both grounded and transcendent. That doesn’t even count moments during gameplay and most boss fights where music features lyrics that move the narrative along in a major way. Then there’s fantastic voice acting that truly brings these characters to life. In addition to the magnificent script writing, every single character from lead to supporting cast is perfectly cast including Adriyan Rae as Hazel. The Southern accents can get really thick too.
South of Midnight is a rare gem that seamlessly blends imaginative storytelling, satisfying gameplay, and top-tier presentation. Compulsion Games delivers a title that feels as if it punches above its weight, offering a visually stunning, emotionally rich journey through a myth-laced Southern gothic world. From the moment Hazel begins her search for her mother to the last climactic battles against haunting enemies both big and small, the game constantly surprises with its heart rooted in deep respect for American Southern culture. While it may not reinvent the wheel, South of Midnight executes its vision with precision and flair, proving that a thoughtfully crafted experience can rival—and even surpass—many of its higher-priced contemporaries.
(Image credit: Compulsion Games)
Should you play South of Midnight?
Play it if...
You need an affordable action adventure with a rich narrative that won’t take up too much of your time South of Midnight delivers a focused single-player experience that keeps things concise, offering an engaging story with several standout moments along the way.
You love magnificent visuals and audio components that are truly unique The stop-motion-inspired visuals and striking art direction are definite highlights, but it’s the blues-infused orchestral soundtrack, complete with lyrical moments that echo the story, that truly steals the show.
You like solid platforming and combat Though the mechanics themselves don’t reinvent the wheel, the controls are tight and feel great regardless of traversal or combat.
Don't play it if...
You want something a bit more challenging and explorative outside of the linear path There are some light exploration moments for players who want extra experience points to spend on additional combat skills or health and lore extras, but South of Midnight is a linear experience.
You need a game that offers up something fresh Players familiar with the traversal and combat of many 2000s decade of action adventures and the like know exactly what to expect; for better or worse.
Accessibility
South of Midnight offers a robust suite of accessibility features. Players can expect customizable menu narration, detailed subtitle and caption options, and adjustable fonts to support those with audio or visual needs. This even extends to removing the animation frame skip in favor of smoother animation. While the game is relatively approachable on its default difficulty, it also includes a variety of gameplay tweaks designed to accommodate players with different disabilities. Some of these include help from in-game navigation and combat tweaks to exploration help.
(Image credit: Compulsion Games)
How I reviewed South of Midnight
I played a finished build of South of Midnight on Xbox Series X and my playtime lasted nearly 15 hours. After completing the game on normal difficulty, I spent additional time exploring its harder modes and diving into the rich lore woven throughout the experience.
