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The Narwal Freo Z10 robovac mopped my home better than it vacuumed and that’s not its only quirk
2:44 am | July 15, 2025

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Home Robot Vacuums Smart Home | Tags: , , , | Comments: Off

Narwal Freo Z10: Two-minute review

I’ve tested quite a few brands of robot vacuums in the last decade, but this is my first Narwal. I was quite excited to try it out as I’ve read good things about the company’s previous robot vacuums from TechRadar’s other reviewers. That includes our Narwal Freo Z Ultra review, where it “smashed [its] mopping tests”.

The Narwal Freo Z10, a slightly cheaper version of the Freo Z Ultra, is very much cut from the same cloth – it too is a fantastic mop but, like its more expensive sibling, carpets are not its forte. Actually, I will go so far as to say that vacuuming in general isn’t its forte.

It’s 15,000 Pa suction looks good on paper, but it took two consecutive vacuum runs at its highest suction setting for it to pass my vacuuming tests. And that’s just hard floors. It struggles even more on carpets, although if you are patient, it will clean about 80% of hair off the fibers, but that’s not a lot considering there are other robot vacuums I’ve tested recently that do a better job.

The other big issue with the vacuuming is the self-cleaning of the onboard dustbin. Even though I can hear it say “self-cleaning started” and it makes the appropriate noises, dust and debris from several vacuuming sessions just kept compacting inside the onboard bin to a point where I had to pull out the hair and dirt myself to increase suction.

And while its anti-tangle brushes do what they promise, I found that the hair strands it invariably misses sucking up from hard floors get collected by the mop pads as clumps that I have to pick up myself.

So while I question the Freo Z10’s vacuuming prowess, I can’t fault its mopping – and the evidence is there to see in the color of the dirty mop water. The kind of tiles I have in my apartment require high waterflow rates, and the Narwal Freo Z10’s Wet Mopping setting was perfect – however, this mode guzzles water. I had to refill the clean water every time I did a full-home cleaning. If you have wood floors, though, you shouldn’t need to worry as the lower water settings will treat the planks kindly.

While I didn’t mind refilling fresh water in the middle of a cleaning session, I can’t quite forgive how basic the map in the app is. It can be edited, of course, but that’s fiddly to do if your rooms aren’t precisely placed squares or rectangles.

Even that is a small issue compared to my experience with single-room cleaning. This defaults to the Customized Mode option in the app and I think it's badly named. The assumption would be that you can set up custom cleans here (those are, in fact, saved as Shortcuts, by the way), but you have to keep editing it for every room clean you want to do – your living room may not need as much cleaning as your dining room, for example, and switching from one to the other means you’re constantly editing that mode.

Then there’s the Freo Mind automatic cleaning mode which, in theory, uses AI to determine the best clean for the room or full house, but oh boy, does it get it wrong most of the time. During my testing, it invariably cleaned my living room multiple times before moving on to do just a basic cleaning in the rest of the apartment. In one such session, it mopped the living room four times, the dining room twice, while the entry hallway and the home office got just a single mop!

The one really good thing about the Freo Z10 is its intelligent use of detergent. It automatically takes some only when it thinks a floor space needs deeper mopping. This automatic detergent use happens in the Freo Mind mode and I could tell when it was using the soap by keeping an eye on the dirty-water tank for suds after each room’s mopping was done over multiple sessions.

Despite its excellent mopping capabilities, it’s hard to get over the fact that the onboard dustbin doesn’t self-empty properly and the app isn’t well thought out either. For just a robot mop, it’s priced too high.

Branding on the top of the Narwal Freo Z10 robot

(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

Narwal Freo Z10 review: Price & availability

  • First shown at CES in January 2025; released April 2025
  • Available in the US and Australia, but not in the UK
  • List price: $1,099 / AU$1,999

Despite being cheaper than the flagship Narwal Freo Z Ultra (which retails for $1,499/ AU$2,499), I can’t really say that the Freo Z10 is ‘affordable’ at its full price of $1,099 / AU$1,999. I can’t even say it’s competitively priced because it’s not quite the efficient cleaner I was hoping it would be.

The only other robot vacuum cleaner that comes in at this price point that I would recommend is the Ecovacs Deebot T30 Omni (£799 / AU$1,749), but it isn’t widely available and it's got no detergent dispenser. This cheaper Deebot even beats out the Freo Z10 in terms of performance too, vacuuming and mopping well, although the Narwal is the better mop despite boasting higher suction (15,000 Pa vs 11,000 Pa).

If you want more intelligent features, which the Freo Z Ultra can provide, you’re obviously going to need to spend more. For example, the Dreame L40 Ultra available in the US and the UK with 11,000Pa suction has a list price of $1,499.99 / £999 (unavailable in Australia), but take it up a notch and the 12,000Pa Dreame X40 Ultra with detachable mop pads will set you back a whopping $1,899 / £1,299 / AU$2,799. Similarly, the Eufy Omni S1 Pro, with its interesting slimline design but with a maximum of 8,000Pa of suction costs $1,499 / £1,499 / AU$2,699.

Of course, as with any all-in-one robot vacuum, you will also need to take into consideration the ongoing cost of maintaining the Freo Z10. Replacement dust bags will cost you $19.99 in the US for a set of two, while it’s AU$29.99 for a set of three Down Under. Similarly, when it comes to replacing the mop pads, a pair will cost you $19.99 / AU$39.95. That said, each dust bag will last you up to 120 days and the mop pads a lot longer.

What you might require more frequently will be the detergent, which will set you back $29.99 / AU$59.95 for the 19.6oz/580ml pack. Again, I say ‘might’ need frequently – this will depend on how often the machine thinks it needs to use soap on your hard floors. So that 19.6oz/580ml bottle might well last months.

• Value score: 3.5 / 5

Narwal Freo Z10 cleaning around a chair leg on a tiled floor

(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

Narwal Freo Z10 review: specs

Suction power:

15,000Pa

Onboard bin capacity:

Up to 1L (compressed)

Dust bag capacity:

2.5L

Clean water tank capacity:

4.5L

Dirty water tank capacity:

4L

Reservoir capacity:

N/A

Mop lift:

12mm

Noise level:

up to 55dB

Battery capacity:

5,200mAh

Runtime:

up to 210 minutes

Charging time:

up to 2.5 hours

Dimensions (L x W x H):

Robot = 355 x 350 x 107.7 mm; base station = 431 x 426.8 x 461.5 mm

Weight:

Robot = 4.6kg; base station = 11.3kg

Narwal Freo Z10 review: Design

  • Curvy but solid base station
  • Robot tucks right inside base station
  • Features a detergent dispenser

The Freo Z10 robot vacuum isn’t very different from other vacuum bots, featuring a small turret on top to house some of its sensors, and it's quite similar to the one supplied with the Narwal Freo Z Ultra. The main difference between the two siblings is that the Freo Z10 lacks the camera that the Ultra model has.

I do love the curvaceous look of the base station, though, which is unique to the Freo line. It’s quite different.

What I didn’t expect is how heavy the whole thing would be to take out of the box it came in. You see, the robot is already tucked inside the base station in the packaging, so you’re essentially trying to lift about 11 kilos in one go out of the box. Other robot vacuums come with various parts packed separately, making them easier to set up out of the box.

Well, if you’re prepared to haul out a heavy machine, the rest of the setup is simple. You just need to fit the cleaning tray inside the base station, slip the robot in, then attach the base station extension ramp.

Compared to some other robot vacuums I’ve tested recently, the Freo Z10's base station is broad, so be sure you have enough space around it for the robot to safely maneuver in and out of the base station.

What sets the Freo Z10 apart from many other brands is that it has two side brushes rather than just one. Both feature two tufts of bristles, but one has them placed closer together, while the other is further apart.

The side brushes turn at different speeds sometimes, depending on what the Freo Z10's DirtSense technology is telling it, or if it’s along a room edge. On paper, the varying speeds should help it push hair and dirt more effectively towards the central bar brush under the robot, but in reality, that doesn’t work as well as I had hoped (more on this in the Performance section).

The central bar brush is anti-tangle and, in the six weeks I’ve used the Freo Z10, I’ve never had to clean it. It pulls everything into a small onboard dustbin that, unlike other such robovacs, doesn’t have a lid, but the filter can be taken off for cleaning.

While it’s supposed to self-empty each time it finishes a vacuum run, I found that dirt just kept compacting inside and I had to manually pull it all out via the two holes (one facing the bar brush, the other towards the base station) as it was beginning to affect the suction.

The mop pads are slightly triangular in shape to help them get into corners, which they do better than most of the rounded mop pads on other similar robovacs.

The curvaceous base station features a deep cavity that practically engulfs the entire robot when it’s docked, something I haven't seen on any other brand of robot vacuum I've tested. I like that the bot is barely visible, it's a clean aesthetic.

As with similar models, the base station has the capability of emptying out the onboard dustbin into a 2.5L dust bag which, incidentally, is supposed to compact the dirt to accommodate about 3L. As I’ve mentioned though, the self-empty did not work for me and the dust bag remains nearly empty even after six weeks of use at the time of writing.

Beside the cavity for the dust bag is space to fit a bottle of detergent and one comes in the box – the Freo Z10 will automatically take detergent only when it’s needed, which is an intelligent function I appreciate.

On the top of the base station are a few buttons that allow you to control the robot without needing to reach for your phone each time. And under the top cover are two plastic tanks – one for clean water and the other for the dirty mop water.

With some silver accents on the white unit, the Freo Z10 is a well-designed robot vacuum – I just wish it performed as good as it looks.

• Design score: 4 / 5

The undercarriage of the Narwal Freo Z10

(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

Narwal Freo Z10 review: Performance

  • Excellent mopping and good obstacle avoidance
  • High suction on paper doesn’t translate in performance
  • Auto-emptying of dustbin doesn’t work; mops get washed even when not used

Starting off with using the Narwal Freo Z10 was a wonderful experience – it connected to my home’s Wi-Fi instantly and was set up within a minute, ready to map my apartment.

Mapping took about six minutes for the one-bedroom space, but I have to admit I wasn’t quite enamored with the final map that was created (more on this later in the App Control section).

The test space for this review, which measures approximately 40sqm, includes wall-to-wall carpet in the bedroom, with the rest being tiled floors throughout.

The Freo Z10’s first cleaning run was fantastic! It did a decent enough job on the carpet (although I have tested others that did slightly better), but I was thrilled with how well it mopped.

Vacuuming

My initial vacuum run with the Freo Z10 was satisfactory, so I went into full testing mode with high expectations from its 15,000 Pa of suction.

It has four vacuum settings – Quiet, Normal, Strong and Super Powerful – and you can choose to have it vacuum up to three times in a single session. One thing I have to note right up front: even on the Strong setting, the Freo Z10 is comparatively very quiet. It’s only when you switch to Super Powerful that it truly makes its presence felt.

In my testing, I wasn’t particularly impressed with the Quiet and Normal settings as it barely sucked up anything – hair strands and visible dust remained on the hard floors and carpets looked untouched. Strong, though, is fine for hard floors, although I found it needed to be set to Super Powerful for the best possible vacuum on carpets.

Case in point: while performing TechRadar’s standard tests of vacuuming oats and tea on carpets and hard floors, I found that the Freo Z10 needed two sessions in the highest suction setting to pick up all the oats from tiles, but I could still see some tea on the tiles (to be fair it’s tea from a bag, so fine particles). I also sprinkled some talcum powder to test suction of very fine particles and it wasn’t able to do a good job even after two passes. I had to use my Dyson V15s Detect Submarine to clean the remaining tea and talcum powder off the tiles.

It was a similar experience on carpets, although here it even struggled to clean up the larger oats pieces too. In the bedroom, where my hair collects on the carpet fibers each day, it managed to clean about 80% of the strands, so a little disappointing compared to the Ecovacs Deebot T30 Omni and the Roborock Qrevo Edge I've previously tested in the same area.

Long story short, I’m really not impressed with the Freo Z10’s vacuuming prowess, but it works in a pinch if you need a quick job done before guests arrive – provided the onboard dustbin isn't already full to reduce overall suction.

Mopping

Interestingly the Freo Z10 robot doesn’t have a water reservoir onboard – it just goes back to the doc to repeatedly wet its mop pads. Despite that I was quite impressed with how well it mopped – a pleasant relief after seeing its lack of vacuuming strength.

Its slightly triangular mop pads can manage to get into corners, but temper your expectations for corner cleaning as there's just not enough pressure exerted on the edges of the mop pads to be effective. On the rest of the floor though, the 8 Newtons of pressure it exerts can mop up dried and wet stains well, although the waterflow rate you choose will determine how well.

On the kind of tiles I have in my apartment, the Wet Mopping option was best for dried-up dusty stains and wet sauce spills. A single run was good enough to clean up the former but I found it sometimes needed to be run twice in an area to clean up the latter. It's a slightly different story if there's dried sauce spills on the floor – three turns in the Wet Mopping mode did the trick during my testing, although it will depend on what exactly it's cleaning up.

The 6-week-old washed mop pads of the Narwal Freo Z10

(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

For everyday mopping, however, I found the Normal waterflow option to work well and, if you have wood floors, the Low setting will treat them kindly.

One thing to note though: the Freo Z10 guzzles water much more than other robot vacuums I've tested, particularly on the Wet Mopping mode, and I had to refill the clean-water tank every time it did a full-house mop. It's not a deal breaker because it really does a good job.

Another thing to keep in mind about its mopping is related to its lack of vacuuming: because it doesn't always pick up all the hair or fur from a floor, I found the mop pads gather the strands and leave them on the floor as damp clumps. Not ideal at all and that means it's hard to recommend it for households with pets.

Complementing the mopping is the Freo Z10's obstacle avoidance. It's the first robot vacuum that I've tested that was able to avoid cables in its path. While it tried to swallow up a very slim Lightning cable for an iPhone, it easily avoided three other USB-C cables I put in its path while testing.

Anything a little bigger and that's an even easier job for the Freo Z10 to avoid. Footwear, slim furniture legs, even little tea-light holders (I have a floor-height shelf under my entertainment unit that most robovacs climb onto) are all left in peace. However, beware the sock on the floor – the Freo Z10 will try and swallow little booties or no-show socks, like practically every other robot vacuum.

Its navigation is a mixed bag, though. It's fine as long you don't move things around after its map has been created, but shift a chair even a little bit and it does tend to get confused.

I noticed this first when I left a large package in a corner that was cleaned on a previous run. While it avoided banging into the box, it moved around it a few times to figure out it couldn't get to that space it had previously roamed. To test this again, I moved my living room chairs a little (just by a couple of inches) and, lo and behold, the precise back and forth movement the Freo Z10 usually employs was messed up and that also meant it went around in circles a few times before getting back to its dock after its job was done.

It never got lost during my testing, but it definitely doesn't quite like things out of place.

Base station performance

Like many other similar robovacs, the Freo Z10's base station is multipurpose, requiring minimal human intervention and, for the most part, that's true. All you need to do is remember to refill the clean water as needed and empty out the dirty so it doesn't begin to grow its own little ecosystem.

It's mop washing is arguably the best I've seen in any robot vacuum. Even after six weeks of use, the mop pads still look quite pristine despite the color of the dirty water being, well, very dirty. I was impressed with the Deebot T30 Omni's washing, but this surpasses even that. Narwal's use of hot-water washing and hot-air drying is very effective indeed.

This could perhaps be attributed to the fact that the mops get washed even if they didn't get used. Every time I did a vacuum-only run (whether it was a single room or the full house), the mops always got washed. I hadn't experienced this with the previous robovacs I'd tested, so it took me by surprise. This also meant that the base station was consuming more power than was necessary as the hot-air drying can take a few hours.

Another feature I appreciate here is the 'disinfecting' of the bin and dust bag. It uses hot air to keep things dry so as to avoid growing bacteria and fungus inside and, after weeks of use, there's no smell anywhere to indicate otherwise.

Now, I can forgive the excessive mop washing I suppose but, as I've already mentioned, the lack of self-emptying of the robot's dustbin is worrying. Where most robot vacuums return to their docks to repeatedly empty their bins in the middle of a vacuum run, the Freo Z10 doesn't – it waits till the job is finished to do so. I can hear the robovac say "self-cleaning started" and the base station suction can be heard but, obviously, no emptying takes place and this subsequently starts affecting the suction power of the bot.

Maintenance of the unit involves needing to refill and clean out the tanks and, every few days, washing and drying the filter on the bin of the bot. What should be minimal intervention, however, also included emptying the bin myself after a few uses, which is far from ideal.

Narwal Freo Z10 vacuuming oats on a colorful rug

(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

Battery life

Narwal says that the Freo Z10's 5,200mAh battery will run up to 210 minutes on a single charge, but that of course depends on what settings you use.

Despite having it set to max suction (Super Powerful in the app) and at the highest waterflow rate, I found the Freo Z10 could do a single full-house vacuum-then-mop session without needing to go back to the mains to charge.

It needed to top up when it was set to 2x vacuum and 2x mop in the Meticulous cleaning pattern.

The Freo Z10 runs all the way down to about 5% before making its way back to the base station and, in my case, juices up till it's about 45% to complete a job if may have left unfinished.

So when it comes to battery life, I really can't complain.

• Performance score: 3 / 5

Narwal Freo Z10 review: app control

  • Basic map that's fiddly to edit
  • Able to save plenty of Shortcut routines
  • Freo Mind AI mode is not efficient

If there's one thing all robot vacuums have in common is a subpar app experience. I've said this before with the Ecovacs app and a colleague has complained about it with Dreame too. The only brand that has a wonderful, albeit over-the-top, app experience is Roborock.

Sadly the Narwal Freo app can't compete with Roborock and is even more disappointing than the Ecovacs Home app.

Now, don't get me wrong, it's perfectly functional, but the map is very basic and if your home isn't divided into near-perfect squares and rectangles that align well, it's hard to edit the map to accommodate rooms perfectly. In my case, I couldn't edit the entry hallway in my apartment to the correct size, which I was able to do in the Roborock and Ecovacs apps.

That's not a deal breaker, to be honest, and the Narwal Freo app actually does one thing better than Ecovacs – offer a Shortcuts list that accessible from the device's home page. You can set up several routines in this list and it makes for quick and easy access for frequently used cleaning runs (for example, carpet-cleaning only or after-dinner cleaning).

Screenshots from the Narwal Freo app

(Image credit: Narwal)

What's confusing is a Customized Mode within the app that it defaults to when you pick a room or zone cleaning. While I can see why it's there, it's rather annoying as you constantly have to edit that one option for each room or zone clean.

Case in point: I clean my dining room more often than the rest of the apartment but each run has different requirements. I might have set it to do a vacuum-then-mop session one afternoon, but the next time I might want just mopping and I have to edit the Customized Mode for each. The next day I might need to vacuum my bedroom only (which is carpeted) and I have to delve into the Mode to change things.

It doesn't take long, but when using it every day or two, it does become rather annoying. Other brands have a more seamless room or zone cleaning app experience in my opinion.

Like other premium robot vacuums released in the last year or two, the Freo Z10 also features an AI mode called Freo Mind. In theory, this automatically picks the best cleaning option for your home based on previous sessions but, in reality, I found it to be very inefficient.

In the six weeks of testing, it has cleaned my dining room more than any other space in the apartment, but it doesn't leverage that knowledge. Instead, it chooses to do multiple cleaning sessions in my living room, which hardly ever gets dirty (the dining room is where everyone congregates), but does maybe one or two cleans elsewhere.

This means it's using up its battery life, so chances are it will take the entire day to finish cleaning a home when set to Freo Mind as it will need to repeatedly charge itself. It will also require you to refill the clean water repeatedly if it mops one space multiple times.

After trying out Freo Mind a few times, I gave up on it and never went back – Narwal will need to work on it to make it a little more efficient.

• App score: 3.5 / 5

Narwal Freo Z10 robot outside its base station

(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

Should I buy the Narwal Freo Z10?

Attribute

Notes

Score

Value

It's not cheap, but compared to similar options, it's well priced. However, taking its overall performance into account, it's an expensive mop.

3.5 / 5

Design

It's a well-designed, sturdy robot vacuum with a curvaceous base station that I'm personally fond of.

4 / 5

Performance

While its mopping and obstacle avoidance are good, the basic task of vacuuming isn't its best attribute. Moreover, the lack of self-emptying is concerning.

3 / 5

App control

With a fiddly map, an annoying Custom mode and subpar Freo Mind performance, the Narwal Freo app needs work.

3.5 / 5

Buy it if...

Mopping is important to you

If there's anything the Narwal Freo Z10 does better than many other robot vacuums, it's mop. Moreover, its mop washing is one of the best I've seen.

You have a lot of things lying around the house

Home owners with clutter on the floor will appreciate the Freo Z10's obstacle avoidance. Sure, it might swallow up a tiny Lego piece, but it's one of the few robovacs I've tested that doesn't get tangled up in cables.

Don't buy it if...

You want good vacuuming prowess

Mopping might be the Freo Z10's forte, but the basic task of vacuuming is questionable, especially since I found the self-emptying isn't what it's advertised to be. If you have pets, you'll want to look elsewhere for a better robot vacuum.

You want an efficient robot vacuum

The whole idea behind a premium robovac is automated cleaning, but Narwal's Freo Mind isn't the best option to use, so you will need to set up several routines. Moreover, constantly washing mops even when they haven't been used isn't the best consumption of power.

You want a seamless app experience

Most robovacs don't have a good app, but Narwal's Freo is arguably one of the most basic ones I've used.

Narwal Freo Z10 review: Alternatives

Ecovacs Deebot T30 Omni

If you can find the Ecovacs Deebot T30 Omni where you live, I think it's one of the best-value robot vacuums you can get, and it's often discounted too. It has all the essential features of a premium robovac, and an interesting design as well, and performs well for a bot that has a maximum of 11,000Pa of suction
Read my in-depth Ecovacs Deebot T30 Omni review

Narwal Freo Z Ultra

If it's a Narwal you have your heart set on, you might be better off spending the extra cash on the Z Ultra as it performed better in our tests. While vacuuming carpets isn't its thing, it still aced its mop tests.
Read our in-depth Narwal Freo Z Ultra review

How I tested the Narwal Freo Z10

  • Used three times a week for six weeks
  • Set up different custom routines and performed room cleans
  • Tried different suction and waterflow settings

Narwal Freo Z10 on a carpet

(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

As previously. mentioned, I tested the Narwal Freo Z10 in an apartment with mixed flooring, which gave me a good opportunity to assess both vacuuming and mopping prowess.

I tried all four suction modes and the different waterflow rates for both options, I set up various Shortcuts (or custom routines) and tried room cleaning too. I also delved into the settings in the app to adjust various options, particularly for the base station, and repeatedly checked the dirty-water tank for detergent use.

I also conducted TechRadar's standard tests for both vacuuming and mopping, scattering oats and tea from a bag onto both a carpet and tiles, and allowing a dollop of ketchup to dry.

I've previously tested several robot vacuums, including two in 2025 prior to the Freo Z10, giving me plenty of experience to compare performance and user experience.

Read more about how we test vacuums

[First tested July 2025]

The lack of smart features made me quick to judge this Dyson purifying fan, but its impressive performance quickly turned things around
9:00 am | June 15, 2025

Author: admin | Category: Air Quality Computers Gadgets Home Small Appliances | Tags: , , | Comments: Off

Dyson Purifier Cool Gen1 TP10 Purifying Fan: two-minute review

The Dyson Purifier Cool Gen1 TP10 Purifying Fan is a tower fan and air purifier combo that helps you beat the heat while improving the quality of the surrounding air.

Available in the US, UK, and Australia, you can find the Dyson Purifier Cool Gen1 TP10 Purifying Fan with a list price of $429.99 / £449.99 / AU$799 at Dyson or third-party retailers. As I write this, there are discounts available at Dyson US and Amazon UK, reducing the price to $299.99 / £349.99, so it’s worth checking if there are savings to be made before you buy.

With its bladeless loop amplifier, glossy plastic, and metallic finishes, the Dyson Purifier Cool Gen1 TP10 Purifying Fan has the modern, clean aesthetic we’ve come to expect from the brand. Generally, it’s available in a white and nickel colorway, but there’s a bonus option of black and nickel over in the US.

A woman has the remote control for the TP10 purifying fan in her hand.

(Image credit: Future)

Unlike most of the best fans and best air purifiers, the Dyson Purifier Cool Gen1 TP10 Purifying Fan lacks onboard controls and app compatibility, and can only be controlled with the included remote control. While this in itself isn’t an issue, as the remote works well and has a magnetic, curved design that makes it easy to store on the top of the loop amplifier, it does mean that you’d be a bit scuppered if you happened to lose the remote. Not to mention that, at this price point, it’s verging on stingy that Dyson hasn’t given the TP10 the app compatibility that’s included with their more expensive products.

In terms of the fan performance, I got the results I expected when testing the TP10 Purifying Fan; namely that it produced a smooth and cooling flow of air, the strength of which was particularly impressive when running at top speed, as I could still feel the cooling effects 14ft / 4.3m away.

As the Dyson Purifier Cool Gen1 TP10 Purifying Fan’s sensors can only detect particulate matter and not VOCs (volatile organic compounds), it won’t automatically react to all airborne nasties, but it’s still capable of filtering them thanks to the HEPA H13 and activated carbon filter. The LCD screen displays the real-time levels of PM2.5 and PM10 in micrograms per cubic meter, with color coding making it clear how this translates to air quality, ranging from good to very poor. There’s also a 24-hour graph, which offers a basic indication of the changes in air quality over time.

The HEPA 13 and activated carbon filter can be seen inside the outer panels of the purifying fan.

(Image credit: Future)

I was happy with the speedy detection and prompt air clearing I recorded during my time testing the TP10 Purifying Fan, with it detecting and clearing contamination from dry shampoo within a minute of me spraying it, and automatically upping its power when my two fluffy cats paid a visit. It didn’t make a noticeable impact on food odors or the dry shampoo fragrance, however.

The noise levels were also commendable, with the Dyson Purifier Cool Gen1 TP10 Purifying Fan giving whisper-quiet readings as low as 26dB and 33dB in auto mode and on fan speed one, and the highest reading on fan speed ten being just 52dB, which is equivalent to light traffic.

Despite my frustrations around the lack of app support, I’d still recommend the Dyson Purifier Cool Gen1 TP10 Purifying Fan, thanks to the overall good performance from both elements. If you’ve not got your heart set on a Dyson, or don’t want to have a tower fan running in the colder months, I recommend teaming up the Blueair Blue Pure 411i Max with the Shark TurboBlade. Both performed well in our testing, and thanks to regular deals, the two together often work out cheaper than the Dyson Purifier Cool Gen1 TP10 alone.

Dyson Purifier Cool Gen1 TP10 Purifying Fan review: price & availability

  • List price: $429.99 / £449.99 / AU$799
  • Available now in the US, UK, and Australia

Available from Dyson and other retailers, the Dyson Purifier Cool Gen1 TP10 purifying fan has a list price of $429.99 / £449.99 / AU$799. It’s available in white and silver, with an additional option of black and nickel for shoppers in the US. It’s worth keeping a lookout for potential savings, as at the time of writing, there’s a generous $130 saving on the white model at Dyson US, bringing the cost down to $299.99. Meanwhile, in the UK, there’s a 22% discount in effect, lowering the price to £349.99.

According to Dyson, the 360 Combi Glass HEPA + Carbon air purifier filter used in the TP10 could last around 12 months of 12-hour use. Replacement filters have a list price of $79.99 / £75 / AU$99, so it’s worth considering whether you’re happy to commit to paying this out on a fairly regular basis before making a purchase.

I initially considered the Dyson Purifier Cool Gen1 TP10 Purifying Fan a little overpriced, largely due to the lack of app support for the cost, but the TP10 won me over with its strong airflow, prompt particulate detection, and quick reaction times. Could you get a separate tower fan and air purifier that would do the job just as well for less money? Probably, but if you’re a Dyson fan who wants a Dyson fan, plus an air purifier, I’d recommend this combo.

  • Value score: 4 out of 5

Dyson Purifier Cool Gen1 TP10 Purifying Fan review: specs

Type

Purifying tower fan

Fan speeds

10

Oscillation

45, 90, 180, 350 degrees

Timer

Yes

CADR (Clean air delivery rate)

Requested

Filter

HEPA H13 and activated carbon

Particle sizes detected

PM2.5, PM10

Dimensions

8.7 x 8.7 x 41.3 inches / 22 x 22 x 105cm

Weight

10.4 lb / 4.7kg

Control

Onboard power button and remote control

Timer

Only in sleep mode

Additional modes

Sleep mode

Dyson Purifier Cool Gen1 TP10 Purifying Fan review: design and features

  • Offers real-time, color-coded PM2.5 and PM10 readings
  • No smart features or app compatibility
  • HEPA H13 filters are easy to access and replace

Featuring the classic Dyson aesthetic with its bladeless fan and smooth curves, this is a purifying fan I didn’t mind having out on display. That being said, I did find the glossy white plastic was a bit of a dust and lint magnet. The metallic nickel-color plastic was too, but it was barely noticeable compared to the white.

A useful combo for the summer months, the Purifier Cool Gen1 TP10 consists of a bladeless tower fan that sits on a purifying unit. This purifying unit houses a HEPA H13 filter, with H13 being considered to be within the highest tier of HEPA air filtration, and is understood to capture 99.95% of particles as small as 0.2 microns. The filter comes in two halves, with one half clipping into the front of the purifying unit, the other at the back. Both halves are easy to get to thanks to the push-down catches on either side of the unit.

A woman is removing the front panel from the body of the purifying fan.

(Image credit: Future)

There are ten fan speeds to cycle through, as well as an auto mode, which uses the sensors on the TP10 Purifying Fan to detect and react to the presence of particulate matter with a diameter of up to ten micrometers. It can’t detect VOCs (volatile organic compounds), which can be emitted by paint and cleaning chemicals, among other sources, but the carbon element of the 360 Combi Glass HEPA and Carbon air purifier filter means it’s still capable of clearing them from the air.

One thing that frustrates me with some Dyson devices is the lack of smart features and app compatibility. Considering this functionality is available with the more expensive Dyson products, and far cheaper brands offer remote control and air quality data via their apps, it seems a little unfair for Dyson to hold this feature back unless customers are willing to pay an even higher premium.

Aside from the power button, there’s a distinct lack of onboard controls on the TP10. This isn’t an outright issue, as I’d have used the included remote control nine times out of ten anyway, but with no app compatibility, it does mean I’d find myself in a bit of a pickle if I managed to lose the remote. As with all of the Dyson remotes I’ve used, the one for the TP10 is curved and magnetized, meaning it can be kept on the top of the fan.

A woman is placing the remote control on top of the loop amplifier.

(Image credit: Future)

The round LCD screen on the front of the TP10 is bright and large enough to read easily. It was easy to cycle through the multiple different displays using the information button on the remote control. The information I was most interested in was the particle readings, and I was happy to find there were dedicated screens showing the ambient levels of both PM2.5 and PM10. Both readings are independently communicated in numerals and color rating, making them simple to understand. The TP10 has been programmed to classify readings below 35 micrograms per cubic meter as good air quality, with higher readings colored either yellow for fair air quality, orange for poor, or red for very poor.

While the lack of a companion app means it’s not possible to view historical data, or real-time data when away from home, there’s a 24-hour graph on one of the display screens, so I could at least see if there’d been any spikes in contamination throughout the day – though that was as detailed as it got. It’s worth noting that the continuous monitoring needed to support this function isn’t enabled by default, but it’s a simple case of holding the auto button on the remote for five seconds to enable it.

  • Design score: 3.5 out of 5

Dyson Purifier Cool Gen1 TP10 Purifying Fan review: performance

  • Returned air quality to an acceptable level within a minute of air contamination
  • Didn’t reduce or eliminate odors from cooking or fragrances
  • Quickly reacted to the presence of cat fluff and dander

All of the fan functions performed as expected during my time testing the Dyson Purifier Cool Gen1 TP10 Purifying Fan. It was good to have a wide range of oscillation options, with four choices from 45 to 350 degrees, and I appreciated that, unlike the Dyson Cool CF1 desk fan, the TP10 remembered the last oscillation setting I’d used, so I didn’t have to cycle through the options each time. I find it curious that the timer on the TP10 Purifying Fan is only available in sleep mode, which dims the display, so I had to use the remote to wake the display if I wanted to view the current air quality reading whenever I used the timer.

The airflow felt smooth, but seemed to fluctuate a little at times. In terms of fan strength, I found I could feel a noticeable, cool breeze around 4ft / 1.2m away from the TP10 Purifying Fan on setting one, 7ft / 2m on setting five, and 14ft / 4.3m on speed 10, which is admirable considering it doesn’t run very loud.

A woman is about to press the power button on the TP10 air purifier. The LCD screen shows the particle and that the fan is on speed two.

(Image credit: Future)

To test the PM2.5 detection while the fan was on auto mode, I sprayed some dry shampoo around two feet away from the front of the TP10. The sensors picked up the presence of the dry shampoo particles in about 16 seconds, and I saw the levels of PM2.5 per cubic meter rapidly climbing on the LDC screen.

It was interesting to see a numerical representation of the speed at which the Dyson TP10 cleared the air, as not all air purifiers offer this level of data. In this case, the contamination dropped from 89 micrograms per cubic meter to 35 micrograms per cubic meter, which was back within the green range, within a minute of me spraying the dry shampoo. While it made quick work of clearing the particulates in the air, it didn’t have any effect on the odor from the dry shampoo or from the food smells from the minestrone soup I had on my lunch break.

It’s very easy to tell whether the larger-particle sensors on an air purifier are doing their job once I get my two very fluffy cats involved in the testing process, after evicting them from my living room for the initial stages of my testing, so that I can set a baseline. It was clear the particle sensors on the TP10 were sensitive to pet-related particles like fur and dander after both kitties came to investigate, as both the PM2.5 and PM10 readings rose by around eight micrograms, and the fan speed increased slightly to compensate. It stayed at roughly this level, with the occasional ramp-up in speed, for the entire time they were in the room. Once they’d wandered off, it took less than ten minutes for the purifier to bring the reading back down to its usual level.

A view of the back of the TP10 purifying fan, showing the apertures for the particle sensors.

(Image credit: Future)

The Dyson Purifier Cool Gen1 TP10 Purifying Fan operated really quietly, considering its size, with a lower than whisper-quiet reading of just 26dB when idling on auto mode, rising to 33dB on fan speed one, 38dB on speed 5, and just 52dB on speed ten, which is comparable to light traffic or background music. This is particularly positive when compared to the readings I got from the Molekule Air Pro, which gave an output of 38dB at the lowest fan speed, 51dB on speed three, and a pretty shouty 78dB at speed six, though admittedly the TP10 doesn’t have any where near as many bells and whistles.

As an added testament to the quiet functioning of the TP10 Purifying Fan, my very timid female cat spooks at most things, but was comfortable enough to touch her nose on the display even when the purifier was ramping up in response to her presence. It’s also worth mentioning that it was quiet enough to fall asleep next to, and I could happily watch TV with the TP10 running at level five fan speed nearby.

The quick detection, reaction, and purifying times meant I was pleased with the performance of the Dyson Purifier Cool Gen1 TP10 Purifying Fan overall, though I didn’t find it made the air feel quite as fresh as the GoveeLife Smart Air Purifier Lite.

  • Performance score: 4.5 out of 5

Should I buy the Dyson Purifier Cool Gen1 TP10 Purifying Fan?

Section

Notes

Score

Value for money

The TP10’s premium design, pleasant cooling, and powerful purifying performance mean you won’t be disappointed, but you could save money by ditching Dyson and combining a well-performing fan and purifier instead.

4/5

Design & Features

The smooth curves, bladeless design, and nice material finish make the TP10 an attractive purifying solution. It detects and communicates the ambient levels of particulate matter before they’re captured by the HEPA H13 filter. It’s just a shame there’s no smart features.

3.5/5

Performance

I appreciated the satisfyingly strong airflow and prompt purifying performance, with the TP10’s sensors making quick work of detecting and removing particles from the air. Its quiet operation meant it wasn’t disruptive, so much so that it didn’t phase my flighty feline.

4.5/5

Buy it if...

You want something that’ll purify around your pets
The TP10 reacted promptly to my kitties’ presence, yet was still quiet enough that it didn’t unsettle my timid rescue cat.

You want detailed, real-time air quality readings
It’s easy to see the level of contamination with the usefully color-coded PM2.5 and PM10 readings. Plus, once continuous monitoring is enabled, there’s a 24-hour graph to get a view of the changes in air quality over the last day.

You want two functions in one device
If you’ve been tempted by a Dyson tower fan before, and want to make some improvements on your air quality, too, then this purifying fan is a good way to save space.

Don't buy it if...

You want a purifier that’ll detect VOCs
While the carbon element of the 360 combi filter can tackle VOCs (volatile organic compounds), the TP10 doesn’t have the tech to detect and react to raised levels.

You want to use the purifier independently
The 2-in-1 format of the TP10 worked well for me as I tested it in warmer weather, but as the purifier doesn’t work independently from the fan, it’s worth considering whether that’ll prove problematic in the colder months.

You want to keep an eye on your air quality data
As the TP10 isn’t compatible with the MyDyson app, short of registering your purchase and viewing user guides, there’s no way to view the air quality remotely or to keep track of the trends in air quality readings over time.

Dyson Purifier Cool Gen1 TP10 Purifying Fan review: Also consider

Dyson Purifier Cool Gen1 TP10

Blueair Blue Pure 411i Max / Blue Max 3250i

Shark TurboBlade

Type

Purifying tower fan

Air purifier

Multi-directional tower fan

Price

$429.99 / £449.99 / AU$799

$169.99 / £169

$299.99 / £249.99

Fan speeds

10

3

10

Additional modes

Auto, sleep mode

Auto, night mode

Natural Breeze, Sleep Mode, BreezeBoost

Oscillation

Up to 350 degrees

N/A

Up to 180 degrees

Filter

HEPA H13 and activated carbon

HEPASilent and activated carbon

N/A

App support

No

Yes

No

Dimensions

8.7 x 8.7 x 41.3 inches / 220 x 220 x 1,050mm

18.9 x 10.6 x 10.6" / 481 x 269 x 269 mm

11.8 x 31.6 x 44.8" / 300 x 800 x 1,120mm (max)

Weight

10.4 lb / 4.7kg

7.5 lbs / 3.4 kg

15lb / 8.8kg

Blueair Blue Pure 411i Max / Blue Max 3250i
If you’re after a purifier with smart capabilities that won’t cost you an arm and a leg, then this super-lightweight alternative will fit the bill. It’s better suited to smaller rooms, has fewer speed settings, and only detects and reacts to PM2.5, but it can still filter out the same nasties as the TP10. A key detail is the washable fabric prefilter, which helps reduce the amount of dust that reaches the HEPA filter within, and comes in a range of colors. To find out more, have a read of our full Blueair Blue Pure 411i Max / Blue Max 3250i review.

Shark TurboBlade
This tower fan twist offers multi-directional airflow and a range of adjustments to help customize your cooling, and is a fantastic alternative if you happen to like the bladeless aspect of Dyson fans, but not the price. Tower fans don’t typically offer height or vertical angle adjustments, so this clever concept from Shark is a breath of fresh air. If you’d like more information, go ahead and take a look at our full Shark TurboBlade review.

How I tested the Dyson Purifier Cool Gen1 TP10 Purifying Fan

  • I used the TP10 purifying fan in the office and at home
  • I observed its detection and purification skills
  • I evaluated the strength of the airflow and the sound levels

I used the Dyson Purifier Cool Gen1 TP10 Purifying Fan in our photo studio, my home office, and my bedroom for one week. I evaluated how easy it was to operate, along with the build quality and aesthetics, and explored the available functions and features.

I tested the strength of the airflow by determining at what distance I could still feel a cooling breeze. I also observed the TP10 Purifying Fan’s detection and purification skills, both passively and during standardized testing.

I used a decibel meter app on my iPhone to record the noise levels, taking readings from around 2ft / 600mm away, ensuring the fan wasn’t blowing directly into the microphone.

I checked the timer worked as expected, and tested out the sleep mode to see whether the TP10 Purifying Fan was quiet enough for me to be able to sleep well with it running overnight.

The chilling performance of the Dyson Cool CF1 fan didn’t come as a surprise – it was how quiet it was that blew me away
5:52 pm | June 9, 2025

Author: admin | Category: Air Quality Computers Gadgets Home Small Appliances | Tags: , , | Comments: Off

Dyson Cool CF1 desk fan: two-minute review

The Dyson Cool CF1 desk fan is the latest generation of the brand’s original bladeless fan, boasting some upgraded features in a desktop format. As one would expect from the brand, the Dyson Cool CF1 is firmly at the premium end of the desktop fan scale, with a list price of £249.99. We’re still waiting on pricing and launch specifics, and will update as we learn more, but so far we know that the Cool CF1 won’t be available in Australia until later in 2025, or in the US until 2026.

Setting up the Dyson Cool CF1 was simple, as it comes in just two parts – though the rotating base made it a little tricky for me to click the loop amplifier into place. I had mixed feelings about whether it makes a suitable desk fan, as the 14-inch / 360mm loop amplifier could prove a tight squeeze on smaller desks or nightstands. That being said, the height and compact diameter of the fan’s base meant I had no issues incorporating it into my workstation.

The Dyson Cool CF1 is shown tilted downwards while sitting on a tabletop, in front of a leafy green plant.

(Image credit: Future)

The Cool CF1 desk fan has a clean and modern aesthetic, making it instantly recognisable as a Dyson. I liked the combination of the satin silver and gloss white finishes, but found it needed regular dusting, though this can often be the case, even with the best fans.

With 10 fan speeds, sleep mode, oscillation, and a timer, there were plenty of features to play with. The Cool CF1 doesn’t have any smart capabilities, though, so I had to rely on the onboard buttons and the remote control. Both proved simple to use when operating the Cool CF1, but the responsiveness when using the remote was inconsistent, especially if I wasn’t pointing it at the fan head-on.

In terms of the overall performance of the Dyson Cool CF1, it did a great job. The airflow was smooth and proved very efficient as it helped me stay cool as I worked away in a stuffy office. I appreciated how easy it was to adjust the angle of the fan, giving me more control over the direction of the airflow.

A woman's hand is holding the Dyson Cool CF1 remote.

(Image credit: Future)

I was very pleased with how quiet the Cool CF1 was, with sound levels ranging from whisper-quiet at speed one to moderate rainfall on the highest speed setting, which is particularly impressive considering how strong the airflow is. While the Cool CF1 sounds a little unusual while oscillating, I had no problem dropping off when using sleep mode.

If you’re a diehard Dyson fan, you definitely won’t be disappointed with the Cool CF1. It has the classic Dyson aesthetic, plus it quickly and quietly delivers efficient cooling. The remote could be better, and I’d have liked to see a companion app for more convenient control at this price point, but the great performance from the fan itself means it’s still a worthwhile investment.

Dyson Cool CF1 desk fan review: price & availability

  • List price: $TBA / £249.99
  • Launch date: May 2025 (UK)
  • Available now in the UK. US and Australia release dates TBA

Released in the UK in June 2025, the Dyson Cool CF1 desk fan has a list price of £249.99 and is available for purchase at Dyson, John Lewis, and AO. In terms of availability in other regions, all we know so far is that the Cool CF1 won’t be available until later in 2025 in Australia and 2026 in the US. I’ll provide an update as soon as I learn more about the specific release dates and pricing.

This is a pretty premium price tag for a desk fan, though this likely won’t come as a surprise if you’re already familiar with the brand. I must admit I’ve found some Dyson offerings to be somewhat overpriced in the past, and I can’t say I’d want to pay this for a desk fan myself, but the build quality and performance of the Cool CF1 are worth the cost if it’s within your budget.

There are far cheaper options out there that can still help you chill out at your desk, like the bladed MeacoFan Sefte 8in Portable Air Circulator, for those in the UK, though the cheaper price comes with compromises; namely that it’s heavier, only offers 90-degree oscillation, and it’s nowhere near as attractive.

  • Value for money score: 4 out of 5

Dyson Cool CF1 desk fan review: specs

Type

Bladeless desk fan

Speeds

10

Oscillation

15, 40, 70 degrees

Timer

Yes

Dimensions

5.9 x 14.2 x 217 inches / 150 x 360 x 550mm

Weight

4lb / 1.8kg

Control

Onboard buttons and remote control

Timer

Yes

Additional modes

Sleep mode

Dyson Cool CF1 desk fan review: design and features

  • Sleek and modern aesthetic
  • Collects dust and fibers
  • Basic but easy-to-use controls

The Dyson Cool CF1 comes in just two parts, so it was pretty straightforward to set up. Assembling the fan was simple in theory, as all I needed to do was push the bottom of the circular loop amplifier onto the base unit and twist anti-clockwise until I heard a click. It proved a little trickier in practice, however, due to the rotating base and the glossy outer finish, but I got there eventually.

Apart from the inside of the ring, which is a satin-finished silver color, the Cool CF1 has a glossy white exterior. I tend to appreciate a gloss surface, as this finish tends to be easy to clean, which was fortunate in the case of the CF1, as it appeared to be statically charged and attracted any dust or fibers that happened to be in the vicinity. As easy as it was to clean, my efforts felt a little futile as it would gather more dust very quickly.

A woman is about to press the power button on the control panel at the front of the fan.

(Image credit: Future)

I’m on the fence about whether the 14-inch / 360mm diameter loop amplifier makes the CF1 a little impractical for a desk fan. I found it to be a bit of a space invader, but as it sits eight inches / 200mm off the tabletop on a base of just 5.9 inches / 150mm in diameter, I was able to fit it on my workstation and my nightstand. It is at least easier to accommodate than the old-school bladed fans I’ve owned over the years, and as it weighs 4lb / 1.8kg, it proved easier to move around, too.

In terms of onboard controls, there are two push buttons and a dial/button combo under the little LCD screen on the front of the fan's base. The two push buttons control sleep mode and oscillation, and the dial can be turned to cycle through the ten fan speeds or pushed to power the fan on or off.

A woman is placing the Dyson Cool CF1 remote on top of the loop amplifier.

(Image credit: Future)

A remote control is also included, so it was fairly easy to switch up the settings even when the fan wasn’t within reach. It offers the same functions as the onboard buttons, along with a button to cycle through the timer durations, which range from half an hour to eight hours.

The concept of the curved and magnetized Cool CF1 remote control is to stick it to the top of the fan. While this makes it easily accessible, it looks out of place and disrupts the sleek aesthetic, especially as each end of the remote is clear, showing the circuitry within. That being said, I still managed to forget where it was, so it clearly isn’t that much of an eyesore. Speaking of losing the remote, it’s a shame the Cool CF1 isn’t compatible with the MyDyson app, as it’d make life much easier for those times I’ve gotten comfy and realised the remote’s still sitting on top of the fan.

  • Design score: 4 out of 5

Dyson Cool CF1 desk fan review: performance

  • Satisfyingly strong airflow
  • Patchy remote performance
  • Quiet enough to fall asleep with

It didn’t take long to feel the cooling effects from the Dyson Cool CF1 on the lowest setting when I had it about 2 ft / 600mm away from me on my desk in our stuffy reviews office. As I’m only 5 ft 2 inches tall, I found that the stream of cold air hit me in the face, even if I adjusted the angle. While this was great for keeping my makeup from melting off my face, it proved a bit of a sensory nightmare for me, so I made good use of the oscillation.

The airflow felt smooth, and it was satisfyingly strong, to the point where I’m pretty sure it gave me brain freeze when I tried it on the highest setting. I tested how far away I could still feel a cool breeze on the lowest, highest, and middle fan speed settings, and found that it was still noticeable when I was 2ft / 600mm away from the CF1 on setting one, 7ft / 2m on setting five, and 11ft / 3.3m on setting ten.

The three oscillation choices were convenient for a desk fan, as I could choose the 15-degree option to keep the cool breeze around me, 70 degrees to circulate the air a little more, or 40 degrees for something in between. I did wish the CF1 could remember my last-used setting, though, as I had to cycle through each time.

A woman is adjusting the angle of the airflow by sliding and tilting the fan unit on the base.

(Image credit: Future)

It was really easy to tilt the fan upwards or downwards, even when it was oscillating. This simple angle adjustment proved a real asset, especially when using it next to my bed on warmer nights, as it allowed me to fine-tune the fan’s position for the maximum cooling effect.

The simple onboard controls and remote made it simple to control the Cool CF1. The dial mechanism felt pretty satisfying; there was clear feedback each time I bumped the fan up or down a speed, so I didn’t even need to look at the screen.

The magnetic hold on the remote control felt just right, as the remote would stick to the top of the fan even if I was a bit absent-minded when placing it down, but was still really easy to pick up again. I’ve got to say I wasn’t thrilled with the remote’s operation, however. I found that the fan didn’t respond at times, even at pretty close range, and this worsened if the fan was rotated away.

The timer function worked as expected, and I liked that I could easily view the time remaining at any point by pressing the timer button on the remote. It was easy to cancel the timer by double-clicking the button.

A woman is pointing the remote at the Dyson Cool F1 while changing the fan speed.

(Image credit: Future)

Noise level is an important consideration, especially at nighttime, which is why I always do a sleep test whenever I’m testing fans or a potential best air purifier. If I happened to be using a higher fan speed setting before toggling sleep mode, the Cool CF1 would drop to speed setting four. I was happy to find that I could still increase the fan speed when in sleep mode, and the display would still turn itself off, which bodes well if I need it on a particularly toasty night.

For context, I have a British king-size bed, roughly the size of a queen, for those in the US, and I placed the CF1 on the nightstand on the opposite side to where I was sleeping. As speed four was the default for sleep mode, I kept the fan at that setting and set the oscillation to forty degrees. I’m quite sensitive to sound, especially repetitive ones, so I picked up on the whirring from the oscillation, which sounded a bit like I was settling down inside a document scanner, but it wasn’t overly loud. In fact, this bedtime setup had a reading of just 35dB, which is the equivalent of a whisper, so I was able to drop off and sleep undisturbed.

I was very impressed with the sound levels in general, with the CF1 giving an impressively quiet reading of 27dB on the lowest setting. Even on its highest setting, which kicks out a lot of air, it was only emitting 45dB of sound, comparable to the sound of moderate rainfall, and just a meagre 5dB louder than the bladed MeacoFan 260c on its lowest fan speed.

  • Performance score: 4.5 out of 5

Should I buy the Dyson Cool CF1 desk fan?

Section

Notes

Score

Value for money

This isn’t a desk fan for the budget-conscious, and there are certainly cheaper alternatives out there, but if you’re willing to pay the Dyson price tag, you’ll be more than happy with the overall quality and cooling performance.

4/5

Design & Features

Typically on-brand for Dyson, this fan looks well made, with a pleasingly sleek and modern aesthetic. It offers useful features to help fine-tune the airflow, but it loses a point for the lack of app connectivity and the slightly questionable design of the remote.

4/5

Performance

Aside from the hit-and-miss remote performance, I was really happy with the CF1. It produced a strong and consistent flow of air, which did a great job of cooling me down without making a racket.

4.5/5

Buy it if...

You want fine-tuned airflow
With 10 fan speeds, three oscillation settings, and adjustable vertical angles, it’s delightfully easy to get customized cooling.

You want a quiet night
The CF1 was whisper-quiet when I had it in sleep mode, and measured just 45dB when running full blast, making it a good choice for summer nights.

You love the Dyson aesthetic
With smooth lines and metallic elements, this fan is undeniably Dyson, so you can get a taste of the premium label without shelling out on one of the higher tech models.

Don't buy it if...

You’ve got limited surface space
This fan can’t be considered compact due to the wide loop amplifier. If your desktop and nightstand real estate is taken up by monitors or large lamps, I’d suggest looking at a floor-standing format like the Dreo Smart Tower Fan 519S instead.

You’re on a tight budget
While it’s currently the cheapest model in their air treatment range, this fan's price tag still comes with the Dyson premium. If you’re looking to save some pennies, I’d check out brands like Govee or Meaco, whose offerings won’t make such a dent in your wallet.

You like your products smart
At this price point, I can’t help but find it a little stingy that Dyson didn’t design the CF1 to be compatible with the MyDyson app, especially considering the disappointing remote performance.

Dyson Cool CF1 desk fan review: Also consider

Dyson Cool CF1

Shark FlexBreeze HydroGo

Shark TurboBlade

Price

$TBA / £249.99

$149.99 / £129.99

$299.99 / £249.99

Speed settings

10

5

10

Oscillation

Up to 70 degrees

No

Up to 180 degrees

Timer

Up to 8 hours

No

Up to 12 hours

Controls

Onboard push buttons and dial, remote control

Onboard buttons

Onboard button, remote control

Companion app

No

No

No

Additional modes

Sleep mode

Cordless up to 12 hours, Misting

Natural Breeze, Sleep Mode, BreezeBoost

Dimensions

5.9 x 14.2 x 217 inches / 150 x 360 x 550mm

8.7 x 8.4 x 11.5" / 22 x 21 x 29cm

11.8 x 31.6 x 44.8" / 300 x 800 x 1,120mm (max)

Weight

4lb / 1.8kg

4lb / 1.8kg

15lb / 8.8kg

Shark FlexBreeze HydroGo
Not only is this fan and mister combo compact enough to use as a desk fan, its cordless capabilities mean it can be used on the go, too. The pairing of the built-in battery, which offers up to 12 hours of use, and the misting function makes it a great choice for summer weather. If you’d like to learn more, why not take a look at our full Shark FlexBreeze HydroGo review?

Shark TurboBlade
If you want to save on desk space and would like a bladeless format without the price tag of a Dyson tower fan, then I suggest taking a look at the TurboBlade. It’s height adjustable, offers multi-directional airflow, and can oscillate up to 180 degrees, so you can really customize your cooling. Check out our full Shark TurboBlade review for more information.

How I tested the Dyson Cool CF1 desk fan

  • I used the Dyson Cool CF1 in multiple locations
  • I judged the setup process and how easy the fan was to use
  • I evaluated the strength of the airflow and the sound levels

I used the Dyson Cool CF1 in our reviews office, my home office, and my bedroom for one week. I evaluated the assembly process and build quality closely before using it passively and in specific tests that allowed me to assess the available features.

I assessed the airflow by checking the distance I could still feel a good breeze on different settings. I used a decibel meter on my phone to check the noise levels, taking the readings from around 2ft / 600mm away, ensuring the fan wasn’t blowing directly into the microphone.

I checked the timer worked as expected, and tested out the sleep mode to see whether the Dyson Cool CF1 was quiet enough for me to be able to sleep well with it running overnight.

This powerful, smart and versatile upright vacuum was more than a match for my parents’ neglected carpets
11:22 am | June 5, 2025

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Home Small Appliances Vacuums | Tags: , , , | Comments: Off

Shark PowerDetect Upright Vacuum: two-minute review

Product info

This model has slightly different names and product codes in different territories:

US: Shark POWERDETECT Upright Vacuum with TruePet Upgrade AZ407UPG1

Shark POWERDETECT Upright Bagless Vacuum With Ultimate Cleaning Tools AZ407KT1

UK: Shark PowerDetect Powered Lift-Away Upright Pet Vacuum Cleaner AZ3900UKT

AU: Shark PowerDetect Corded Upright AZ3900

For this review, I tested the AZ407UPG1 version. There may be minor differences between different countries' models.

The Shark PowerDetect Upright Vacuum is one of the most versatile upright vacuums on the market. Like other Shark vacuums, it's outfitted with a Detect mode that adjusts the suction based on the floor type and how clean it is. You don't have to worry about unseen dirt because the vacuum can sense debris, dust, and dirt, and increases the suction as required to clean it up.

While you could use the three manual modes (hard floor, carpet/low pile, and thick carpet/area rug), with the Detect mode, the vacuum informs you when the floor is clean with lights on the vacuum head that turn from purple (i.e. dirty) to white (i.e. clean).

During testing, the Shark PowerDetect Upright Vacuum performed wonderfully on various floor types, especially when it came to picking up fine materials like tea and hair. Though it missed a couple of large oat clusters on a single pass, it's still a top-tier vacuum, with suction capability that's well above average. It's one of the very best upright vacuums I've tested, as well as one of the best vacuums for carpet.

Sure, the vacuum head is a bit bulky, and the cord may get in the way, but Shark made this upright vacuum as versatile as possible. You can remove the pod (which holds the dust bin) from the wand, allowing you to use it as a stick vacuum to reach under couches and beds or in conjunction with one of the three accessories to clean tight spaces. If you need something less bulky, there's a stick vac in the same range – read about it in my Shark PowerDetect Cordless review, or head to TechRadar's best Shark vacuums guide to see other options, some of which have similar features.

All in all, the Shark PowerDetect Upright Vacuum is a great choice for those who have homes with carpet and/or lots of rugs as it does a stand-up job with deep cleaning.

Shark PowerDetect Upright Vacuum review: price & availability

  • List price: from $549.99 / £399.99 / $699.99
  • Launched: Announced September 2024
  • Available: Worldwide, including US, UK and Australia

In the US, there are a couple of different PowerDetect Upright options – the one I reviewed is the Shark PowerDetect Upright Vacuum with TruePet Upgrade, and it's priced at $549.99. There's also the Shark PowerDetect Upright Bagless Vacuum With Ultimate Cleaning Tools, which costs $449.99. The base model is the same, but the different bundles come with different cleaning tools. In the UK and Australia, there's just one Shark PowerDetect Upright, with a list price of £399.99 / AU$699.99.

At full price, that puts this vacuum in the upper-mid or premium price bracket. However, at time of writing, there are significant discounts available in all territories, taking this vacuum down more firmly into the mid-range market.

I think it's good value for what you're getting here. There are cheaper upright vacuums on the market, but this one has a flexible design and several advanced features that help set it apart from the competition. As you might have gathered from the above, this brand isn't averse to a discount either, and I expect more price drops to appear as time goes on.

  • Value for money score: 4 out of 5

Shark PowerDetect Upright Vacuum specs

Weight:

17.6 lbs / 8 kg

Bin size:

2 qts / 1.3 L

Cord length:

30 ft / 9 m

Cleaning path:

12 in / 30.5 cm

Flexible hose length:

1.9 ft / 0.6 m

Shark PowerDetect Upright Vacuum review: design

  • Corded vacuum with LED lights and a 12in cleaning path
  • Detachable dust cup lets you use the wand with the three specialty tools
  • Four cleaning modes including an automatic mode

The Shark PowerDetect Upright is a corded upright vacuum that can be used in various configurations for different cleaning tasks.

Although typically I prefer the freedom of a cordless stick vacuum, I do understand the appeal of a corded upright – in a battle of upright vs cordless vacuums, the former tends to last longer, will never run out of juice, and almost always deliver more powerful suction too.

Shark PowerDetect Upright vacuum broken apart into all of its component parts

(Image credit: Future)

The cable here is fairly generous at 30 feet / 9m long – that's not the longest on the market, but it should still enable you to clean a decent-sized space before having to unplug and replug.

Similarly, at 17.6 lbs / 8kg, it's not the lightest vacuum but it's not overly heavy either. The vacuum head is a bit bulky, but comes with useful design features like a self-cleaning brushroll which means the vacuum can pick up pet and human hair easily without it tangling on the brush, and LED headlights to make it easier to see in dark corners. In fact, you'll notice a lot more lights and indicators on this vacuum than most, plus an odor neutralizer capsule designed to prevent bad smells and keep your floors smelling fresh.

Close up of buttons on Shark PowerDetect Upright vacuum

(Image credit: Future)

The handle has five buttons: a power button and four cleaning mode buttons (Detect mode, Hard floor, Carpet/Low pile, and Thick Carpet/Area rug. When using the Detect mode, this upright vacuum senses the floor type and adjusts the speed of the brushroll and the suction power to clean. Upon sensing dirt, the LED indicator light on the vacuum head turns purple. When the light is white, users know that section of the floor is free of dust and dirt.

Close up of floorhead on Shark PowerDetect Upright vacuum

(Image credit: Future)

The vacuum is outfitted with two other Detect modes. With Edge Detect, arrows on the top sides of the vacuum light up when the vacuum moves close to an edge of a room, and the suction increases on the relevant side of the floorhead to clear any dust that might have gathered there. There's also Direction detect, which is designed so that the vacuum cleans just as well on the reverse stroke as it does when it's pushed forwards.

The dust cup on this PowerDetect vac has a capacity of 2 quarts / 1.3L, which is on the smaller side for an upright vacuum, but is still far bigger than the bin you'd find on a cordless stick vacuum.

For greater flexibility, this dustbin section can also be removed and held in the hand. A flexible hose connects the wand to the dustbin, and from there you can reattach the motorized vacuum head to the wand, to allow you to reach under furniture without the dustbin getting in the way.

Shark PowerDetect Upright vacuum with dust cup removed and held in the tester's hand

(Image credit: Future)

You can also attach one of the detail tools, to tackle awkward or hard-to reach areas. Exactly what tools are included depends on which bundle you opt for. The review model I tested here came with a Duster crevice tool, Pet multi-tool, and HairPro Self-cleaning pet power brush.

As far as sound goes, the vacuum has a dB rating between 77-83, which is dependent on the mode being used or the increase in suction by the vacuum when it senses dirty floors.

  • Design score: 4.5 out of 5

Shark PowerDetect Upright Vacuum review: performance

  • Excellent edge and reverse cleaning
  • Accessories make it easy to clean furniture, ceiling, and tight spaces
  • Great at detecting dirt and adjusting suction on various floor types

The Shark PowerDetect Upright Vacuum took only a couple of minutes to assemble. When I first tried to use it, the machine wouldn't turn on despite pressing the power button and having it properly plugged in. Eventually, I realized I didn't have the hose connected all the way. I love that the vacuum 'protects' the user from accidentally turning the vacuum on and sending dust and debris they've just vacuumed back into the room.

On test, the Shark PowerDetect Upright Vacuum did not disappoint. I have historic hardwood floors, laminate floors, and low pile rugs in my house. On my first go, I cleaned my entire house with the vacuum, jumping between the Detect mode and manual surface modes (hard floor, carpet/low pile, and thick carpet/area rug) to get a feel on how each one worked.

Shark PowerDetect Upright vacuum being used by reviewer in her home

(Image credit: Future)

I've tested a number of Shark vacuums, and I'm a huge fan of the Detect mode, which detects unseen dirt on the ground. I love when the lights turn from purple to white, indicating the surface is dust-free. So many vacuums lack this feature and it's truly a shame, because it's difficult otherwise to know if my floors are actually clean.

No matter the mode, I felt like the vacuum picked up dirt, dust, and debris on all my different floor types wonderfully. The only drawback I observed was that the vacuum head wasn't able to fit into tight spaces. Not to mention, I was unable to reach under my couch or bed because the dustbin got in the way. (There is a workaround this; keep reading.)

Shark PowerDetect Upright vacuum cleaning deep pile carpet

(Image credit: Future)

During my testing period, I had the opportunity to take the Shark PowerDetect Upright Vacuum to my parents' home and test it on the carpet in their bedrooms. I was stunned by how much dust and dirt it picked up from the carpet. When using the Detect mode on their carpets, I found myself vacuuming over one strip of floor about six times before the light turned from purple to white indicating it was clean. (According to my dad, they hadn't deep cleaned their carpets in a while…) Anyone who has carpet in their home would do well to have this vacuum on hand.

Shark PowerDetect Upright vacuum with wand and detail tool attached to flexible hose

(Image credit: Future)

Perhaps the most impressive aspect of this upright vacuum is the ability to break it down and use the detail tools provided. The main pod (which holds the dust bin) can be removed from the wand, and the wand can be removed from the vacuum head. This allowed me to attach the duster crevice tool to the end of the wand and clean the corners or my ceiling.

Granted, I had to hold the pod in one hand and the wand in the other, but there aren't too many upright vacuums that offer this feature, and it's very useful. I was also able to use the wand and the vacuum head to clean under my couch and bed without the pod getting in the way.

The only drawback to breaking down the vacuum is that it's not easy to move the unit around the house in that mode. I'd have to pick up the pod in one hand and hold the wand in the other and walk to a new spot. Sometimes, I'd have to go back and grab accessories or the vacuum head or make sure not to get the hose tangled in the cord.

Close up of detail tools housed on back of Shark PowerDetect Upright vacuum

(Image credit: Future)

I don't have pets so I used the Pet Multi Tool and HairPro Self-Cleaning Pet Power Brush to remove my own hair from my couch. Compared to other vacuums that offer similar accessories, I thought they performed slightly better – although that might be more to do with the fact that the Shark PowerDetect Upright Vacuum has a more powerful suction. Nevertheless, it's worth putting this model in the mix if you're looking for the best vacuum for pet hair.

Maintenance isn't too much of a hassle. When I was done cleaning, I removed the dust bin and placed it over a trash can before opening the latch, allowing the dust and debris to fall in. Because the dust cup is much larger than you'd find on most cordless vacuums, you shouldn't have to do this too regularly. The only other required maintenance is cleaning the pre-motor filters every month, the HEPA filter every year, and hand washing the soft roller as needed. Sensors must also be occasionally cleaned, and blockages must be checked for in the hose, wand, and nozzle. The squeegee bristle strip has to be cleaned or replaced occasionally too.

Suction tests

I went on to run a few standardized tests so I can get an even better look into the suction power of the vacuum and how it compares to other models. To do that, I placed loose leaf tea and oats on one of my rugs and on the laminate floor in my kitchen. From there, I used both the Detect mode and the manual modes of Hard Floor and Thick Carpet/Area Rug to see how well the vacuum sucked up the debris.

One update on this Shark range is 'Direction direction' tech, where the vacuum is designed to vacuum just as well when pushed forwards as when it's pulled backwards (some previous Shark vacuums tend to pool debris behind the floorhead when reversing). I also kept an eye on this aspect in my tests.

Shark PowerDetect Upright vacuum performing suction tests on hard floor

(Image credit: Future)

When it came to the loose-leaf tea, the vacuum performed perfectly on my laminate floor and area rug. No matter if I vacuumed forward or in reverse, or what mode I used, it sucked up every single piece of the fine material in a single pass.

Shark PowerDetect Upright vacuum performing suction tests on hard floor

(Image credit: Future)

Now for the oats test… When it came to vacuuming oats on my laminate floor, the vacuum did a pretty good job. It looked like the vacuum had picked up all the oats in a single pass. However, I later found that the vacuum missed five clusters. Compared to other models I've tested, this is still impressive. Most vacuums push the oats forward or I find that the oats get trapped behind the wheels. The Shark PowerDetect Upright Vacuum didn't do that. Sure, it missed a couple of oats, but they were quite large clusters and only needed one more pass to remove them from my floors.

Shark PowerDetect Upright vacuum being used by reviewer in her home

(Image credit: Future)

For the carpet/rug test, the results were slightly different. No matter the mode, the vacuum suctioned oats perfectly when vacuuming in reverse. Oddly, it missed a few of the larger clusters of oats when vacuuming forward. It took me two to three swipes of the vacuum to remove all the oats from the rug. Again, this is not as big of a drawback as it seems. Most vacuums struggle with picking up x-large clusters of oats, no matter the floor type.

Shark PowerDetect Upright vacuum performing suction tests on hard floor

(Image credit: Future)

With its Edge detect feature, the Shark PowerDetect Upright Vacuum senses when it's near the edge of a room, where dust can collect, and boosts suction on the relevant side of the floorhead to clear it. To test this feature, I sprinkled loose leaf tea along a wall. The vacuum head picked up every bit of the fine material in a single pass. I give the edge cleaning a perfect rating.

  • Performance score: 4 out of 5

Should you buy the Shark PowerDetect Upright Vacuum?

Attribute

Notes

Rating

Value

Sits in the upper-mid / premium price bracket, and while it's not the cheapest upright option, the flexibility and features justify the cost.

4.5 / 5

Design

An upright corded vacuum with four cleaning modes and sensors that detect edges, vacuuming direction, surfaces, and dirt. Versatile design that can be broken down into different configurations.

4.5 / 5

Performance

In addition to superb edge and reverse cleaning, it excels in cleaning all floor types, especially carpet. It may miss extra-large debris on a single pass but still outperforms most battery-powered vacuums.

4 / 5

Buy it if...

You have carpet or lots of rugs

Carpet and rugs hide a lot of dust and debris, but this exceptionally powerful upright vacuum can grab even the finest materials like tea.

You're a pet owner

The suction on this vacuum is excellent, and that combined with useful detail tools and a large dust cup make it well suited to those who need something that can cope with lots of pet hair.

You want more assurance that your floors are clean

The vacuum is outfitted with a Detect mode, which informs you when your floors are clean or dirty with lighting cues.

Don't buy it if...

You don't like to be limited by cords

While corded vacuums are not limited by battery life, they do limit how far you can go from an outlet. Not to mention, a cord can get in your way or get tangled.View Deal

You don't want to mess around with different configurations

The bulky vacuum head doesn't fit in tight spaces and the dust bin can prevent you from reaching under furniture. Although you can break down the vacuum to clean hard-to-reach areas, it will take you some time to do so and can be a bit of a hassle to move everything from one spot to the next. For ultimate freedom, try one of the best cordless vacuums instead.

You only have hard floors
Those with hard floors don't really need the power of an upright vacuum. Something lighter like the Shark PowerDetect Cordless Stick Vacuum will perform just as well.

How I tested the Shark PowerDetect Upright Vacuum

I tested the Shark PowerDetect Upright Vacuum with TruePet Upgrade over the course of two weeks. Not only did I use the numerous cleaning modes on my hard floors and low pile carpets, but I also took the vacuum to my parents' house and tested the vacuum on the high pile carpets in their bedrooms. As part of my review, I ran two vacuum tests with fine and thick materials on two different floor types to see how well the vacuum picked up the items on the lowest suction setting.

Read more about how we test vacuum cleaners

  • First reviewed May 2025
The Philips 1000 Series Dual Basket Air Fryer made the most delicious green beans I’ve had from an air fryer, and it’s big enough to feed a whole family
7:03 pm | May 28, 2025

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Philips 1000 Series Dual Basket Air Fryer: one-minute review

Since Philips introduced the world to the first air fryer back in 2010, the market for this health-conscious kitchen appliance has boomed. Manufacturers like Ninja dominate best air fryers lists, but British Philips continues to improve upon its patented Rapid Air Technology, and its most recent offerings, like the Philips 5000 Series Dual Basket Steam Air Fryer, are increasingly impressive.

The Philips 1000 Series Dual Basket Air Fryer NA150X isn't quite on par with the 5000 and suffers from some of the same issues around ease of use, but it's also considerably cheaper at £133.99. For that price tag, you get a well-performing air fryer with plenty of room and a handful of useful features, such as a shaking reminder and sync cooking, without bombarding you with a bunch of extras.

When the 1000 Series works well, it's excellent: chicken is succulent with just enough crispiness on the skin, muffins are soft inside without being dry, and chips (homemade and frozen) are golden and fluffy inside. I found the presets are mostly accurate and provide top-notch – though you do need to keep an eye on cooking at times – and the recipes provided in the accompanying Home ID app (though limited) are delicious.

Philips 1000 Series Dual Basket Air Fryer control panel

(Image credit: Vic Hood)

Frustratingly, you have to rely on that Home ID app a lot, especially at the start. Like the Steam Air Fryer, this appliance comes with a limited physical user manual. You need to download the Home ID app to access the full digital manual that gives clear instructions on each button's functionality and the food tables listing recommended weights and food types. While these tables are helpful, they aren't as thorough as others we've seen and don't cover some commonly air-fried foods. For example, I need to know what weight and settings to use for individual vegetables, like carrots and broccoli, more than I likely need to know the weight to cook meatballs with baked gnocchi.

However, once you get to grips with how the air fryer works, the digital interface is straightforward to use. You have the option to cook in one 7.1L XXL basket or to add the provided divider to create two individually programmable baskets – these can also be set to sync and finish cooking at the same time or to have matching settings. This air fryer is surprisingly compact (compared to its competitors) given its capacity, and the deep baskets are deceptively spacious, with a handy Max line indicating how much you can fill each.

Philips 1000 Series Dual Basket Air Fryer basket

(Image credit: Vic Hood)

The XXL basket and crisping plates are dishwasher friendly (though we always advise against this), and their non-stick coating makes them straightforward to clean – in theory. The XXL basket is cumbersome to clean, especially in a sink, and even if you just use one side, the entire basket needs to be removed and washed. Similarly, if you are cooking two foods at once and need to shake one side, you inadvertently remove and shake the other at the same time.

Ultimately, this is a great air fryer with an affordable price tag, even if the user experience isn't ideal. You may just need some patience (like with many air fryers) to find the optimal settings and weights for foods not listed in the table.

Philips 1000 Series Dual Basket Air Fryer: price and availability

  • £133.99 at Philips (roughly $181.45 / AU$281.43)
  • Available in the UK, but not in the US or Australia currently
  • Available at third party retailers like Amazon, but cheaper from Philips directly

The Philips 1000 Series Dual Basket Air Fryer is a budget to mid-range appliance at £133.99 (roughly $181.45 / AU$281.43). At that price, it's worth considering if you don't want to shell out £200+ on a premium air fryer like the Ninja Double Oven and Dreo ChefMaker. While it does come with fewer bells and whistles than more premium options, including the excellent Philips 5000 Series Dual Basket Steam Air Fryer, it gets the job done. While the results aren't always as consistent, this is a solid air fryer for this price tag.

At the time of writing, the Philips 1000 Series Dual Basket Air Fryer NA15X is only available in the UK as the NA150/09 (the Australian model has seemingly been discontinued). In the US, the closest model to the one we tested appears to be the Philips 3000 Series Dual Basket Air Fryer, which costs $199.99.

You can pick up the model we reviewed from third-party retailers like Currys or Amazon for £159.99, though you'll save some cash purchasing from Philips directly (£133.99).

  • Value score: 4.5/5

Philips 1000 Series Dual Basket Air Fryer: specifications

Review model

NA15X

Number of baskets

2 (with divider), or one XXL basket

Number of cooking functions

6 presets, plus three extra functions

Cooking functions and modes

Presets: Frozen Fries, Steak, Chicken Drumsticks, Mixed Vegetables, Cake/Muffin, Reheat

Extra functions: Copy (apply same settings to both baskets), Time (syncs cooking times), Shaking reminder

Smart control

No

Rated power

2,450W

Capacity

7.1 liters

Temperature range

40C-200C / 104F-392F

Time range

Up to 60 minutes

Dimensions (including handles)

17.23 in (L) x 11.87 in (W) x 11.61 in (H) / 437.69mm (L) x 301.43mm (W) x 294.91mm (H)

Dishwasher safe

Yes

Weight

12.79lbs / 5.8kg

Philips 1000 Series Dual Basket Air Fryer: design

  • Black modern design
  • Fairly compact for an XXL air fryer
  • Spacious 7.1L capacity
  • Clear digital LED interface
  • Cumbersome to hand wash
  • Full user manual is digital only

The Philips 1000 Series Dual Basket Air Fryer has a matte black body with a black digital LED interface on the top, a glossy black plastic strip around the middle, and two large handles. The XXL basket is pulled out using the handles, like a drawer, and has two crisping plates inside, with each drawer also showing two maximum fill lines, one indicating the max capacity for frozen potato snacks and the other for other food types. A plastic divider is provided, which slides into slots between the two plates, creating two individually programmable, smaller baskets rather than the one XXL basket.

Max fill line in Philips 1000 Series Dual Basket Air Fryer

(Image credit: Vic Hood)

Given its 7.1 liter capacity, this air fryer is much more compact than others we've tested of similar size, measuring 17.23 in (L) x 11.87 in (W) x 11.61 in (H) and weighing 5.8kg. So, while it will take up some room in your kitchen, it's nowhere near as chunky as the likes of the Russell Hobbs Satisfry 9L Dual Basket Air Fryer. If you've kids at home, you'll be pleased to hear it's cool to the touch when on, with the airflow temperature out the back (on XXL cooking) averaging around 43C, and it's not too intrusive volume-wise either, averaging around 60 decibels (again on XXL cooking),

The digital LED interface is clear and easy to use, with minimal clutter on the screen. However, to understand how to use its various presets and functions, you need to download the companion Home ID app using the QR code on the front of the appliance. The physical user manual provided mostly consists of confusing illustrations that try to explain how to use the air fryer, but the digital user manual accessible through the app is much more thorough.

t's extremely frustrating that you can only read the 918-page user manual on your phone as a sort of PDF, though, and if you don't have a smartphone to download the app, you're snookered. This is a recurring issue with Philips air fryers we've found, but at least the QR code on this one works, and the app's recommended recipes are actually pretty tasty.

Philips 1000 Series Dual Basket Air Fryer mobile app with recipes

(Image credit: Vic Hood)

The digital user manual provides clearer instructions on the air fryer's presets and features, and how to use them, alongside food tables which recommend the weights and settings to use for certain food types. While these tables cover common food types like fries, chicken breast, and muffins, they could be more detailed – and some of the times listed in the tables are slightly different than the presets on the appliance. Instead of recommendations for cooking turkey roulade and veggies, a clear table on the settings for individual vegetables would be much more useful or what type of vegetables to use for the Mixed Vegetable preset would be much more helpful.

Another annoying issue I found with this appliance was cleaning it. While the Philips 1000 Series Dual Basket Air Fryer's basket and crisping plates can be put in the dishwasher, and I successfully did, we typically advise not to use a dishwasher to clean anything with a non-stick coating (as this has) to ensure it doesn't wear away over time.

You may have difficulty dishwashing the basket on this one anyway because it's pretty cumbersome and will take up a lot of room in your dishwasher. The entire XXL basket comes out as one and therefore the whole thing must be cleaned, even if you only use one of the baskets within it. While it cleans easily with dish soap and water, it can be a bit tricky to get it in the sink and give it a thorough clean.

While it's a shame Philips has dropped the ball again when it comes to a clear, physical user manual (which would benefit older, less savvy users), once you do get to grips with this air fryer, it's straightforward and convenient to use.

  • Design score: 4/5

Philips 1000 Series Dual Basket Air Fryer: performance

  • What it cooks well, it does brilliantly
  • Six presets, mixed accuracy
  • Time function to sync cooking
  • Copy function to match basket settings
  • Quality of life features, like shaking reminder

The Philips 1000 Series Dual Basket Air Fryer comes with six cooking presets (Frozen Fries, Steak, Chicken Drumsticks, Mixed Vegetables, Cake/Muffin, Reheat) and three extra functions (Time, Copy, and a Shaking reminder).

When the Philips 1000 Series Dual Basket Air Fryer works well, the results are impressive. I started my testing with frozen chips, adding 400g of frozen steak cut fries to one of the smaller baskets and selecting the Frozen Fries/Potato Snacks preset. This automatically adds the Shaking reminder (which can also be selected manually), which sees the appliance chirping about halfway through cooking to indicate when to shake or turn your food.

Frustratingly, this does mean you need to shake the whole basket, whether you want the other half shaken or not. The results were excellent, with the chips cooked pretty evenly (though some were a tad more done than others) and crispy outside but fluffy inside. I had similar results when cooking homemade fries, following the food table instructions, though I had to pull the chips out a few minutes earlier than the recommended time to prevent them from becoming overdone.

The results for chicken wings and muffins were perhaps the best I've had from an air fryer yet. Into the XXL pan, I added six full-size wings coated in a Louisiana dry rub and selected the Chicken Drumstick preset (the food tables have no chicken wing recommendation).

Apart from turning the wings when prompted, I made no changes, and the resulting wings were perfectly crispy outside and juicy inside without being too much of either. Likewise, using a Ninja (sorry, Philips) blueberry and lemon muffin recipe with the Muffin preset in the XXL basket resulted in perfect muffins: soft and fluffy inside but not too dry.

While the recipes in the Home ID app are somewhat limited, at least for my specific appliance, they have stellar results. When you sign up for the app, you choose your appliance and are offered recipes that are suited to your specific air fryer. To start, I tried a green bean recipe that was simple but resulted in the most delicious green beans I've ever had from an air fryer: not too soggy, just perfectly cooked.

The spicy drumstick recipe was even more impressive and produced eight piping-hot drumsticks from the XXL basket that tasted and smelled amazing. Again, they weren't "grab a napkin, quick!" juicy and had just the right amount of crisp on the skin.

But not every food test worked out this well, and I found a lot of my issues boiled down to the food tables not being detailed enough. I'm always intrigued by an air fryer steak preset and have yet to find one that produces pan quality. The Philips 1000 Series has a Steak preset, but the food table only gives a rough weight for the steak and doesn't recommend the type of steak to cook or if the recommended weight (150g-200g) is per steak or total. I opted for two medallion steaks weighing 340g total and added them to one basket.

The food table recommends one basket can fit four steaks, but I seriously doubt it, as I would have struggled to add more than two. How you like your steak is a personal preference, and with no notes on timings for specific doneness, I left the steaks in the full preset time and was left with two leather-like chunks of meat. They were like chewing on old shoes. One side of each was nicely seared, and the other wasn't, and they were drier than the Sahara. This is something you could probably experiment with to get the right level of doneness, but my advice is this: just don't cook steak in an air fryer.

I also had disappointing results with mixed veg. Again, the food table wasn't clear on what type of mixed veg it recommends or whether to add oil, but it does state timings may vary due to preference and to cut the veg roughly. I added the recommended weight in broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower to each basket and selected the Mixed Vegetable preset – making use of the Copy function to match the settings for both baskets. When I shook the veg halfway through the 20-minute cooking time, I saw my cauliflower and broccoli had browned on top, but, on tasting, my carrots weren't cooked properly.

Vegetables cooked with Philips 1000 Series Dual Basket Air Fryer

(Image credit: Vic Hood)

This could, like the steak, likely be rectified with some experimentation, but without clear instructions on what individual vegetable cooking times are recommended or what to include in your mixed vegetables, it's difficult to know off the bat what the best approach is.

Overall, this Philips air fryer is a solid appliance, and it provides great results more often than poor ones. If you've never owned an air fryer before or don't have the patience to get the most out of some of its peskier presets, you may struggle with it. But if you're a seasoned air fryer user or don't mind a few failed attempts before getting optimal results, it's worth the time, money, and potential effort.

  • Performance score: 4/5

Should you buy the Philips 1000 Series Dual Basket Air Fryer

Philips 1000 Series Dual Basket Air Fryer: score card

Attribute

Notes

Score

Value

Great value for a solid air fryer, but don't expect the consistency and high quality of more premium appliances.

4.5/5

Design

A sleek and fairly compact air fryer given its spacious capacity. The XXL basket can be divided into two separate programmable baskets, which are easy (but cumbersome) to hand wash. But Philips has dropped the ball with its user manual and instructions, so you'll need to use the Home ID app for thorough instructions.

4/5

Performance

What this air fryer does well, it does brilliantly. It has produced some of the best air-fried food I've had in all my testing. However, the user manual food tables could have more detail on optimal preparation and the settings to use for more common foods, as the results with some of the presets were thoroughly disappointing.

4/5

Buy it if

You want a spacious air fryer that isn't massive

This air fryer offers good capacity but isn't huge and bulky. It will still take up some counter space, but it's relatively small given its size.

You want an air fryer for under £150

This air fryer may have some pesky issues, but it's great value at £133.99 and offers a much higher quality than others we've seen in this price range.

You want an air fryer for simple, day-to-day meals

While mixed veg was a mixed bag, I found it easy to cook common air fryer foods in this appliance, like chicken, chips, and muffins. If you want a convenient air fryer that will cover the basics well (with some adjustment), this is a good option.

Don't buy it if

You have a small sink or dishwasher

While this air fryer's components can be cleaned easily thanks to their non-stick coat, the act of cleaning it can be a pain. The XXL basket is chunky and a struggle to clean, even in our fairly large Belfast sink. That's mainly because it's cumbersome and you need to clean the whole basket even if you just use one side of it. It's dishwasher safe if you have the room, but I advise against it to ensure the longevity of your components.

You want clear, physical instructions

The physical user manual provided with this air fryer is pretty useless and doesn't cover what its functions and features are or how to work them. You can access a digital user manual via the Home ID app, but if you haven't got a smartphone or struggle reading smaller digital print, this may not be the air fryer for you.

You want a heap of extra features

This air fryer doesn't come with a bunch of extra features, functions, or smart control – it sticks to the basics. So, if you do want extra functions like steaming, dehydrating, or grilling, this isn't the appliance for you.

Philips 1000 Series Dual Basket Air Fryer: also consider

Ninja Double Stack

If you don't have space for a full-width two-drawer air fryer, the Double Stack is the appliance for you. It's deeper and taller, but much narrower than the Russell Hobbs Satisfry or the Ninja Foodi Max Dual Zone, and in our tests it produced evenly browned, crispy fries every time.

Read our full Ninja Double Stack review

Ninja Foodi Max Dual Zone

If you live outside the UK where the Philips 1000 Series Dual Basket Air Fryer isn't available, this is two-drawer air fryer is a great alternative. It looks smart, and produces consistently good results (though we'd appreciate a reminder to shake to food for even cooking).

Read our full Ninja Foodi Max Dual Zone review

How I tested the Philips 1000 Series Dual Basket Air Fryer

I used the Philips 1000 Series Dual Basket Air Fryer for a week, cooking a wide variety of foods including fries, chicken drumsticks, steak, fresh vegetables, and muffins. I tested all the air fryer's various modes and cleaned the air fryer in line with the instructions provided in the manual. For more details, see how we test.

First reviewed May 2025.

I spent a week testing the Honor 400 Pro, and it’s a powerful almost-flagship with some fancy AI tricks
6:00 pm | May 22, 2025

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Honor Phones Phones | Tags: , , , | Comments: Off

Honor 400 Pro: Two-minute review

‘Flagship killer’ would perhaps be too strident a term to apply to the Honor 400 Pro. Rather, it seeks to subtly undermine the premium crowd with competitive specifications and a slightly lower asking price.

This is a well-built phone made of flagship-grade materials, with the kind of IP68/IP69 dust and water resistance rating that puts many a full-priced handset to shame. Its 6.67-inch OLED display, too, is about as bright, sharp, and accurate as you could reasonably expect.

While you won’t be getting the absolute best performance the smartphone market has to offer, you simply won’t notice that Honor has opted for last year’s top processor unless you take a glance at the spec sheet. The 400 Pro performs very smoothly indeed.

The headline feature here is an all-new 200MP main camera, which captures good photos in a range of lighting conditions. You also get a decent dedicated 3x telephoto camera, which can be further boosted through the use of AI.

Product shots of the Honor 400 Pro

(Image credit: Future)

Another impressive AI camera trick is Image to video, though its ability to turn stills into brief videos is a party trick that probably won’t see much practical use beyond showcasing the latest artificial intelligence gimmick.

No matter – the Honor 400 Pro is a thoughtfully balanced phone built on solid specifications, which includes a larger-than-average 5,300mAh battery and speedy 100W wired charging support. You also get 50W wireless charging, though both speeds are reliant on you having the necessary charger to hand.

Honor’s Magic OS 9.0 continues the brand's slightly tiresome obsession with iOS, and it remains a somewhat busy UI. However, it’s also fast and flexible, and Honor’s new six-year update promise is one of the best in the business.

All in all, the Honor 400 Pro is part of a compelling group of in-betweener smartphones, offering less compromise than even the best mid-range smartphones while still costing much less money than your average flagship.

It’s not unique, nor is it without its flaws, but it’s a very accomplished option for those willing to leave the usual suspects behind in pursuit of a bargain.

Honor 400 Pro review: price and availability

Product shots of the Honor 400 Pro

(Image credit: Future)
  • Costs £699.99 in the UK
  • Released May 2025
  • No availability in the US or Australia

The Honor 400 Pro was launched globally, alongside its brother, the Honor 400, on May 22, 2025. It won’t be receiving a launch in the US, as is customary from the brand, and there are no plans for Australia at the time of writing.

Pricing for the sole Honor 400 Pro model stands at £699.99 (around $930 / AU$1,450), which isn’t a figure we see all that often. This pitches it well above the Google Pixel 9a and the Samsung Galaxy A56 (both £499), and just short of the Google Pixel 9 and Samsung Galaxy S25 (both £799).

This isn’t quite a full-on flagship phone, then, but it’s also far too expensive to be classed as a mid-ranger. It’s one of those ‘affordable flagship’ phones like the OnePlus 13R, the Samsung Galaxy S24 FE, or the Nubia Z70 Ultra.

Incidentally, an even cheaper version of the Honor 400, the Honor 400 Lite, launched on April 22 at a cost of £249.99.

  • Value score: 4 / 5

Honor 400 Pro review: specs

Honor 400 Pro specs

Dimensions:

160.8mm x 76.1mm x 8.1mm

Weight:

205g

Display:

6.7-inch 1.5K (2800 x 1280) up to 120Hz AMOLED

Chipset:

Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3

RAM:

12GB

Storage:

512GB

OS:

Android 15 with MagicOS 9.0

Primary camera:

200MP (f/1.9)

Ultra-wide camera:

12MP (f/2.2)

Telephoto camera:

50MP with 3x zoom (f/2.4)

Front camera:

16MP

Battery:

5,300mAh

Charging:

100W wired, 50W wireless

Colors:

Lunar Grey, Midnight Black

Honor 400 Pro review: design

  • Silky matte glass back
  • Unusual curved-trapeze camera module
  • IP68 & IP69 dust and water resistance

With the Honor 400 Pro, Honor has dropped the distinctive Casa Milá-inspired camera module of the Honor 200 Pro in favor of a kind of rounded trapezium shape (a trapercle?). It’s a little wonky-looking, though I quite like the unorthodox camera configuration.

Otherwise, Honor has retained the basic look of its affordable flagship range – unlike the regular Honor 400, which has contracted a serious case of the iPhones.

This means that the Honor 400 Pro retains its gently rounded look, with 2.5D glass to the front and back – the latter in a pleasingly silky-to-the-touch finish. The aluminum frame, too, curves around gently, resulting in a phone that sits comfortably in the hand.

These curves also serve to disguise the fact that the Honor 400 is a fairly big phone, with a thickness of 8.1mm (the Honor 400 is 7.3mm) and a relatively heavy weight of 205g (vs 184g).

This time around, Honor has fitted its almost-flagship with both IP68 and IP69 certification. That’s quite an advance on the Honor 200 Pro, which only managed an IP65 rating.

The Honor 400 Pro is available in just two colors: Lunar Grey and Midnight Black. Not the most inspiring selection, it has to be said, but they do look nice and professional, which is kind of the name of the game here.

  • Design score: 4 / 5

Honor 400 Pro review: display

  • 6.7-inch quad-curved 120Hz OLED display
  • 3,840Hz PWM dimming
  • 5,000 nits peak brightness

Honor has really knocked it out of the park with the displays in the Honor 400 range this year. In the Honor 400, you’re getting a 6.7-inch OLED with a just-so 2800 x 1280 resolution and a 120Hz peak refresh rate.

That’s fractionally smaller than last year’s 6.78-inch screen, but I defy anyone to portray this as meaningful. Not when the peak brightness has been boosted from an already-excellent 4,000 nits in the Honor 200 Pro to 5,000 nits here.

This top-end figure applies to limited HDR scenarios, of course. With autobrightness switched off, I recorded a maximum brightness of around 600 nits. That’s decent enough, though it’s about half what the Pixel 9 can manage.

Color accuracy is superb, at least when you drop the slightly over-the-top Vivid color mode and select Normal instead.

The Honor 400 Pro display also supports an elevated PWM dimming rate of 3840Hz, just like the Honor 200 Pro before it. This helps reduce eye strain by lowering flicker at lower brightness levels. That's something Samsung and Google continue to overlook.

The main differences between this screen and the Honor 400’s relate to small aesthetic choices. The Pro Display curves away at the edges, though this didn’t interfere with content in any way, nor did it lead to any unintended presses.

Slightly more bothersome is the longer display notch, which crams in depth-sensing capabilities at the expense of a little real estate. If you like to take your video content full screen, you’re more likely to be bothered by this, but it didn’t trouble me too much.

  • Display score: 4 / 5

Honor 400 Pro review: cameras

Product shots of the Honor 400 Pro

(Image credit: Future)
  • 200MP main (f/1.9)
  • 50MP 3x telephoto (f/2.4)
  • 12MP ultra-wide macro (f/2.2)

Honor has really ramped up its camera offering with the Honor 400 series this year. The headline event for the Honor 400 Pro is a new 200MP AI Main Camera, which packs a large 1/1.4-inch sensor, an f/1.9 aperture, and OIS.

We’ll get into the ‘AI’ part of that main camera soon enough, but at a basic level this camera takes sharp, contrasty shots in most situations. You can choose from three basic looks depending on whether you want your shots to look natural, punched up for social media, or to take on a certain artful film camera aesthetic.

Shots from this main sensor are slightly less impressive here on a £700 phone than they are on the £400 Honor 400, which shares the same component. There’s simply a lot more competition at this level. With that said, they’re still more than serviceable.

Unlike the Honor 400, this main sensor isn’t pulling double duty to provide all of your zoomed shots. There's major assistance on that front from a dedicated 50MP telephoto camera, utilizing a Sony IMX856 sensor and aided by OIS, which grabs nice, sharp shots at its natural 3x zoom length and usable shots at 6x or even 10x.

Beyond that, you’ll find too much noise for this to be a viable option, though Honor’s AI image enhancement technology is one of the most impressive around. Stray beyond 30x, and the phone should offer you the chance to activate AI assistance. Head back into the picture after shooting and, after a minute or so of processing time, you’ll be given a much clearer shot.

The results here can vary wildly in effectiveness, and it certainly does no favors to the human face, while it can really miss the target with some fine details, particularly at the 50x maximum range. However, there’s no denying that this can turn out much improved hybrid zoom shots given the right subject and shooting conditions.

What I will say is that this 3x telephoto camera does change the tone of the shots from the main sensor. Moving from 2x (which crops in on the main sensor) to 3x sees a slightly jarring shift from a more natural look to a more vivid, dare I say exaggerated one. It's not ruinous, but you don't get the seamless transition of the truly top-level flagship phone cameras here.

Product shots of the Honor 400 Pro

(Image credit: Future)

The 12MP ultra-wide is the weakest camera of the three, bringing with it a marked drop-off in detail and contrast. Still, it remains a viable camera.

Going back to the matter of AI, perhaps the most attention-grabbing – if not exactly useful – feature of the Honor 400 Pro’s camera is Image to video. The Honor 400 series is the first to utilize this Google AI-driven feature, which essentially turns any normal still photo (it doesn’t even need to have been taken on the phone) into a five-second mini-video.

As with so many AI-driven features these days, the results aren’t universally brilliant, but some prove to be alarmingly convincing.

Using one shot that was sent to me of a chicken and a cat facing off under a table, this AI tool caused the chicken to strut forward while the cat casually twitched its ears. Another chicken scuttled in from off camera, while a second cat was revealed to be lying down behind that original chicken. Neither of those last two creatures even existed in the original shot.

It’s undeniably impressive, and even a little scary. But I have to ask myself when I’d use this feature beyond showing off the power of AI to my friends and family. So far, I’ve got nothing.

The 50MP front camera takes decent selfie shots, aided by an additional depth sensor for better portraits with nicely blurred, clearly delineated backgrounds.

Video capture extends to 4K and 60fps, which is another way in which the Pro stands out from the Honor 400 (which only hits 4K/30fps).

  • Camera score: 4 / 5

Honor 400 Pro review: camera samples

Honor 400 Pro review: performance

Product shots of the Honor 400 Pro

(Image credit: Future)
  • Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset
  • 12GB RAM and 512GB storage

Performance has ostensibly taken an incremental bump over last year’s Honor 200 Pro. Out goes the stripped-back Snapdragon 8s Gen 3, in comes Qualcomm’s full-fat Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.

However, that Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 chip turned out to be much less capable than its name initially suggested, dropping behind Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 in graphical terms.

What we have here, then, is a phone that performs as well as the 2024 flagship crowd. That works out to be a pretty good level for a £700 phone, and indeed, this is the same component that runs the excellent OnePlus 13R. It also means that the Honor 400 Pro comfortably outperforms the entire Pixel 9 range.

Benchmark results are precisely what we’ve come to expect from this well-established chip, as is gaming performance. Genshin Impact will run fluidly on high settings, while demanding console racer GRID Legends speeds by at an appreciable lick.

The existence of the Nubia Z70 Ultra and the Poco F7 Ultra means that the Honor 400 Pro isn’t top of its weight class. Both of those rivals run on the superior Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, and only charge £649 for the privilege. However, Honor's phone remains a very capable runner, backed by 12GB of RAM and a generous 512GB of internal storage.

  • Performance score: 4 / 5

Honor 400 Pro review: software

Product shots of the Honor 400 Pro

(Image credit: Future)
  • Magic OS 9.0, based on Android 15
  • Six years of OS updates and security patches

The Honor 400 Pro runs Magic OS 9.0, which is the company’s bespoke Android 15 skin. It’s the same basic software provision as that of the Honor Magic 7 Pro.

I think I can speak for the extended TechRadar family when I say that Honor’s UI isn’t our favorite. Bloatware continues to blight it, with unwanted preinstallations of Booking.com, Temu, ReelShort, and much more besides. Honor itself gives you duplicate App Store and email apps, and a stack of its own tool apps.

While this is a take on Google’s Android, Honor seems to be far more inclined towards Apple’s iOS. Everything from the split notification pane to the Settings menu and the lack of a dedicated app tray (by default) speaks to a fondness for Apple’s mobile operating system. Even the icons and the Settings menu are designed in a way that will be familiar to anyone who’s used an iPhone recently.

Product shots of the Honor 400 Pro

(Image credit: Future)

You even get a version of Apple’s Dynamic Island, here called Magic Capsule, which offers little widget-like bubbles of information around the extended selfie notch. With that said, it’s an undeniably useful way of surfacing media controls, timers, and the like, and Honor is far from the only Android manufacturer to follow Apple’s lead in this way.

Indeed, Magic OS, for all its clutter and bloat, remains a very functional and extremely snappy UI. Magic Portal is a power user’s dream, providing an easy way to drag text and images between apps. The knuckle gesture shortcut for circling text in this way isn’t 100% reliable, but you can get used to it.

Topping off Honor's somewhat mixed software provision is a commendably strong commitment to six years of OS updates and security patches. Only Google and Samsung do this better with their respective seven-year promises.

What's more, Honor has committed to providing an Android 16 update before the end of 2025, which isn't something you see too often.

  • Software score: 3.5 / 5

Honor 400 Pro review: battery life

Product shots of the Honor 400 Pro

(Image credit: Future)
  • 5,300mAh silicon-carbon battery
  • 100W wired charging
  • 50W wireless charging

Honor seems intent on pushing battery and charging technology in its phones. The Honor 400 Pro gets a meaty 5,300mAh battery, which falls comfortably north of the 5,000mAh average – if not quite as far north as the OnePlus 13R and the Nubia Z70 Ultra, both of which hit the giddy heights of 6,000mAh.

It’s sufficient to get the Honor through a full day of heavy use with remaining charge to spare. Indeed, a moderate day with around four hours of screen-on time left me with more than 60% left in the tank. Average use in a fairly consistent network environment will get you two days on a single charge, no problem.

Talking of charging, Honor goes harder than it probably needs to here. There’s 100W wired charging support that’s seemingly able to get you from empty to 51% in just 15 minutes.

I say ‘seemingly’ because Honor, like most modern manufacturers, no longer bundles in a charger. Without one of Honor’s SuperCharge chargers to hand, I was unable to put those claims to the test.

Ditto for the claim of 50W wireless charging support. It’s good to see, but you’ll need one of the brand’s own SuperCharge wireless chargers to hit that maximum speed.

  • Battery score: 4 / 5

Should I buy the Honor 400 Pro?

Honor 400 Lite score card

Attributes

Notes

Rating

Design

The Honor 400 Pro isn’t the prettiest phone on the market, but it’s more distinctive than the rest of the range and it’s very well built.

4 / 5

Display

Honor’s display is sharp, bright, and color-accurate, with an appreciable focus on eye health.

4.5 / 5

Performance

It’s not quite a top performer, but the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 continues to do a good job.

4 / 5

Camera

The 200MP main camera takes good shots in all conditions, while the dedicated 3x telephoto is a competent performer. Honor’s AI features are a little hit and miss, but can be very impressive.

4 / 5

Battery

With a large(ish) 5,300mAh battery supplying two days of use, and rapid 100W wired/50 wireless charging support, the Honor 400 is very well equipped.

4 / 5

Software

Honor’s Magic OS remains cluttered and a little too beholden to iOS, but it’s fast and functional, and Honor’s new six-year update promise is very competitive.

3.5 / 5

Value

You're getting a solid phone with some unique features at a low price.

4 / 5

Buy it if...

You want a more affordable flagship
The Honor 400 Pro offers a strong approximation of what the Honor Magic 7 Pro can do, but for hundreds of pounds less.

You’re all onboard with AI working to enhance your photos
With the ability to enhance your extreme zoomed shots and even generate brief videos from stills, the Honor 400 Pro’s camera goes further than most with AI.

You like Apple’s way of doing things
Honor clearly likes Apple’s style even more than Google’s, with Magic OS 9.0 emulating iOS in a number of ways.

Don't buy it if...

You like Android to be Android
With Honor’s iOS obsession, and its insistence on filling its phones out with bloatware, the Honor 400 Pro strays far from stock Android.

You demand the best performance possible for you money
The Honor 400 Pro is a fast phone, but you can get faster for the money in the Poco F7 Ultra and the Nubia Z70 Ultra.

Honor 400 Pro review: also consider

The Honor 400 Pro isn't the only affordable flagship phone on the market. Here are some of the better alternatives to consider.

OnePlus 13R
The OnePlus 13R is another almost-flagship running on Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 power, but it packs a larger battery and cleaner software.

Read our full OnePlus 13R review

Nubia Z70 Ultra
Nubia’s phone is even cheaper than the Honor 400 Pro, but it features superior performance and an even larger battery. It also features a deep 3.3x telephoto camera and a main camera with a novel variable aperture. We haven't tested it for ourselves yet, mind.

Poco F7 Ultra
The Poco F7 Ultra outguns the Honor with its Snapdragon 8 Elite chip for £649, though it’s not as refined or well-rounded.

Read our full Poco F7 Ultra review

How I tested the Honor 400 Pro

  • Review test period = 1 week
  • Testing included = Everyday usage, including web browsing, social media, photography, gaming, streaming video, music playback
  • Tools used = Geekbench 6, GFXBench, 3DMark, native Android stats, Samsung 65W power adapter

First reviewed: May 2025

The Ecovacs Deebot X5 Pro Omni is an impressive premium robot vacuum with a versatile self-cleaning dock, let down by a slightly clunky app
3:08 am | May 12, 2025

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Home Robot Vacuums Smart Home | Tags: , , | Comments: Off

Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni: two-minute review

Not all robot vacuums live up to the promise of effortless cleaning – but the Ecovacs Deebot X5 Pro Omni gets pretty close.

As a premium all-in-one device that vacuums, mops and even cleans itself, the X5 Pro Omni is designed to keep your home clean day to day without any help. Unlike standalone robot vacuums that need more frequent attention, the X5 Pro Omni's base station handles (almost) everything – from emptying the dustbin to scrubbing and drying the mop pads. You will have to, of course, refill the clean water as necessary and clean out the dirty-water tank.

For this review, I tested the X5 Pro Omni in a 3-bedroom home for an extended period of six months, and it did a great job overall, despite dealing with two messy adults and an even messier Great Dane.

Setting up the X5 Pro Omni is quick and easy, and mapping is fast and pretty accurate, though I had to make minor room division adjustments after the first scan. The robovac navigates well around larger objects, but does sometimes suck up objects like cables or shoelaces, or other small items the sensors miss, meaning it’s best used in spaces that are relatively clear.

Performance is excellent across all floor types, including hard floors, carpets, and rugs. Higher suction modes work best to get dirt out of carpets or pick up heavier debris, while standard mode is fine for everyday cleaning on hard floors. Battery life is impressive and the bot has no trouble doing a full clean without needing to return to the dock and charge.

Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni in base station

(Image credit: Future)

The X5 Pro Omni base station is one of its biggest strengths, and unlike competitors like the Dreame X40 Ultra, it reliably clears the robot’s dustbin completely, even with pet hair and heavier debris.

The mop washing system is equally effective, using 70°C hot water and scrubbing to keep the pads fresh, followed by hot-air drying to prevent odors. I also found that the 4L clean- and dirty-water tanks were large enough to only need emptying and refilling once a month.

The Ecovacs app offers fairly deep customization, and tracks details like where the robot has traveled, the amount of area cleaned and the total number of sessions, but doesn’t log obstacles detected like the Roborock app is capable of doing.

Unfortunately the app can be clunky to use at times, like having to navigate into advanced robot settings just to set a scheduled clean or different cleaning modes being triggered than what is selected.

The app prompts you to handle any long-term maintenance issues, replacement parts are easy to find, and consumables last more than a reasonable length of time. In my use, the dust bag typically lasted around 60 days (in my case, mostly being filled with dog fur) and the robovac filter needed cleaning at the same time.

The main brush, side brush and mop pads show the expected wear, and have plenty of life left in them after six months of constant use. Replacement-part costs are in line with other premium robot vacuums, but I found significant price variation across different markets.

While not perfect, the X5 Pro Omni is an excellent choice for those who want a robovac that takes care of itself, with great vacuuming and mopping performance, infrequent maintenance, and a powerful auto-emptying base station.

However, if your home has lots of cables or small clutter, or if you want a robovac with smarter object detection or a nicer app, you might need to look elsewhere.

Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni from front, close up n base station

(Image credit: Future)

Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni review: Price and availability

  • How much does it cost? Starting from $1,299 / £1,399 / AU$2,399
  • When is it available? Available to buy now
  • Where can you get it? You can get it in the US, UK, and Australia

Launched in late 2024, the Ecovacs Deebot X5 Pro Omni is available in most major markets, including the US, UK, and Australia. You can purchase it directly from the official Ecovacs website, Amazon and leading retailers.

At full price, the X5 Pro Omni costs $1,299 / £1,399 / AU$2,399. However, Ecovacs frequently offers discounts of around 20%, bringing the price down to a much more appealing amount. And, if you happen to shop on Amazon, you could potentially find even bigger price drops during major sales.

Of course, actually using the X5 Pro Omni will incur ongoing costs, particularly for consumables like dust bags, filters, mop pads and brushes. Based on replacing consumables as per the recommendations from Ecovacs, I estimate my annual maintenance costs at around $466 / £424 / AU$606.

Some parts, like the Anti-Tangle Main Brush, are significantly more expensive in the UK and Australia than in the US. Third-party alternatives are available but, as expected, Ecovacs recommends using official parts for optimal performance. That said, the most common cost will the dust bag.

Want to know more about consumable pricing, and how parts like the brushes hold up long term? Read through the rest of the review below, or jump to Consumables and Maintenance.

Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni consumables, including main brush, side brushes, filters, mop pads and dust bags

The Ecovacs Deebot X5 Pro Omni consumables kit (available to purchase separately) helps reduce running costs (Image credit: Future)

Premium robovacs from competing brands tend to be priced a bit higher than the X5 Pro Omni. For example, the Dreame X40 Ultra, which features detachable mop pads and 12,000Pa suction, is listed at $1,899 / £1,299 / AU$2,799. The less fully featured Dreame L40 Ultra costs $1,499.99 / £999 but isn’t available in Australia.

Similarly, the Eufy Omni S1 Pro, which has a slimmer design but a lower 8,000Pa suction, is priced at $1,499 / £1,499 / AU$2,699, while the Roborock Qrevo Edge comes in at $1,600 / AU$2,799 (currently unavailable in the UK).

Ecovacs also has the more affordable but still premium Deebot T30 Omni, which launched at £799 / AU$1,749 (but isn’t available in the US) and is often discounted to £699 / AU$1,199.

There are cheaper robot vacuums available, but the X5 Pro Omni balances premium features, powerful suction and fairly advanced automation at a price that makes it an appealing robot vacuum, especially when on sale.

  • Value score: 4 / 5

Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni: Specifications

Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni review: Design and features

  • Squared-off front, no LiDAR turret
  • Base station with auto-empty, mop washing and hot-air drying
  • Side-extendable mop pad

Where most robot vacuums are round, the Ecovacs Deebot X5 Pro Omni features a squared-off front (D-shaped) that's a little reminiscent of the Deebot X2 Omni. Ecovacs says this design helps the bot get the side brush into corners and improve edge cleaning. The shape also means it doesn’t use an extendable side brush.

Unlike many competing models, it doesn’t have a top-mounted LiDAR turret, making it shorter and better suited to cleaning under furniture.

The bot has a floating main brush that adjusts to different floor types, and a spinning side brush helps with cleaning along edges. It also features a 15mm (0.6in) mop lift, allowing it to vacuum carpets without transferring any dampness from the mop pads, and the right mop pad extends by 4cm (1.6 inch), improving coverage along walls and corners.

For navigation, the X5 Pro Omni uses dToF (Direct Time-of-Flight) laser mapping, combined with AIVI 3D 2.0 object recognition, an RGB camera, TrueDetect 3D sensors and anti-drop sensors. In other words, it uses fancy robot vision for navigation and obstacle avoidance, and has extra cliff sensors to avoid accidentally driving down the stairs. It can also use some of these sensors to spot stains that need another mopping pass to be fully cleaned up.

Image 1 of 8

Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni robovac from front

(Image credit: Future)
Image 2 of 8

Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni from the top front, with cover removed

(Image credit: Future)
Image 3 of 8

Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni robovac from the rear, with top cover removed

(Image credit: Future)
Image 4 of 8

Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni with cover removed, showing cleaning brush

(Image credit: Future)
Image 5 of 8

Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni mop pads, show one pad removed

(Image credit: Future)
Image 6 of 8

Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni base station showing front cover open and dust bag visible

(Image credit: Future)
Image 7 of 8

Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni clean and dirty water contains installed in base station

(Image credit: Future)
Image 8 of 8

Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni clean and dirty water containers removed from base station

(Image credit: Future)

The bot includes Ecovacs' Yiko 2.0 AI voice assistant, which lets you control a range of functionality, like adjusting cleaning tasks without pulling out the app.

The X5 Pro Omni can climb obstacles up to 22mm (0.87 inch), which means it can handle some thresholds and small lips in areas with slightly different floor heights. It also offers ZeroTangle tech, where the main roller brush features comb teeth for hair removal to avoid tangles.

The physical size and weight of the X5 Pro Omni are fairly typical, and the robot itself measures 31.3 x 34.6 x 9.5cm (12.3 x 13.6 x 3.7 inch) and weighs 4.3kg (9.5lbs), while the base station (or dock) is 39.4 x 44.3 x 52.75cm (15.5 x 17.4 x 20.8 inch), with a total weight of 11kg (24.3lbs). The dock needs 50cm (19.7 inches) of clearance on both sides and 150cm (59 inches) in front for proper operation.

The dock handles dustbin emptying, mop washing with hot water, and drying with hot air. It stores dust in a 3L (101oz) bag, which is accessed through a front-opening panel for easy replacement. The clean- and dirty-water tanks each hold 4L (135oz) and are located under a top lid, making them simple to refill and empty. The mop washing tray is removable and any buildup is easily cleaned, although the Roborock Qrevo Edge one-ups the X5 Pro Omni by also featuring a self-cleaning cycle for the tray as well.

  • Design and features score: 4 / 5

Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni review: Performance

  • Handles all floor types well
  • Struggles to get deep into corners
  • Mop pads lift high enough for carpets but not thick rugs

Overall, the Ecovacs Deebot X5 Pro Omni kept my floors clean just as well as I can with a stick vacuum and mop, and rarely required any help or intervention beyond normal maintenance. Once I had cleaning schedules set up, it handled most vacuuming and mopping automatically, and I only needed to step in for occasional spot cleaning or to pick up debris that was too large or in a corner it could not reach.

The bot works at a similar pace to other robot vacuums, taking around 1.5 minutes per square meter to vacuum and 2 minutes per square meter to mop, but since it can do both tasks at the same time, a full clean doesn’t take as long as it might seem.

According to Ecovacs, the 6,400 mAh battery provides up to 224 minutes of runtime, which is enough to clean up to 400m² (4,305ft²) per charge in optimal conditions. Ecovacs doesn’t break down battery life by suction level, but runtime will vary depending on settings and home layout.

  • Overall performance score: 4 / 5

Mapping and obstacle avoidance

The Ecovacs Deebot X5 Pro Omni created a detailed and mostly accurate map on its first run. It didn’t require any manual adjustments to the map itself, but I did need to tweak the room divisions in the app. Mapping is fast and easy to run a second time, which I had to do after the robot got lost and mistakenly added extra rooms that didn’t exist.

Obstacle avoidance is decent but not flawless. The X5 Pro Omni generally avoids larger objects, but isn’t great at recognizing cables, shoelaces or small items like pieces of paper towel. It will avoid some small obstacles, but anything lying flat on the floor is at risk of being sucked up or dragged along. It also tends to catch and tangle cables, so keeping the floor clear makes a big difference in how well it completes a cleaning run.

While it doesn’t have dedicated pet recognition, it does a good job of avoiding spills and larger debris. The app lets you set up no-go zones, though these aren’t pet-specific. Unlike the competition like the Dreame X40 Ultra, the X5 Pro Omni does not capture images of obstacles, so there’s no way to review what it avoided after a clean.

Ecovacs Deebot X5 Pro Omni front sensors close up

The Ecovacs Deebot X5 Pro Omni uses a wide range of sensors for mapping and navigation. Note how they get dusty over time – following the sensor cleaning reminders from the app is important. (Image credit: Future)

During testing, it rarely got stuck as long as the floor was relatively clear. When it did, it was usually due to cables, a thick rug or getting wedged behind a laundry basket or on a dog toy. It detects when it’s stuck and stops safely, rather than pushing forward and causing damage. If that happens, it has to be manually picked up and placed back on the dock, as pressing the power button doesn’t wake it. If told to return home via the app, it sometimes gets lost along the way and needs to be rescued by hand. On the plus side, these issues came up relatively rarely during use.

To test its ability to handle small steps, I made a simulated step between rooms using a section of plywood at the maximum 22mm height, and while it sometimes took two or three attempts, the bot made it across every clean.

The app includes a remote control mode that streams video from the onboard camera, and allows manual steering of the bot, which I found useful to check on my dog when not home. The video feature didn’t work the first time I tried, but functioned fine every other time I used it. Steering the bot feels slightly laggy but still usable, making it more suited for basic navigation adjustments rather than precision movement. The built-in two-way communication feature works for real-time voice interaction, though there’s no dedicated pet-tracking mode.

Despite the quirks covered above, overall the X5 Pro Omni handles navigation fairly well and happily adapts to changing environments. It moves effectively around furniture, shoes and baskets that shift between cleaning sessions, making it a solid choice for homes where the position of larger items may change frequently.

  • Mapping and obstacle avoidance score: 3.5 / 5

Vacuuming

I tested the Ecovacs Deebot X5 Pro Omni on wooden floors, tiles and rugs to see how well it handled different surfaces. Along with daily cleaning, I ran a series of controlled tests using flour, sand, rice, oats, dry dog food and dry leaves, scattering them in a corner on hard floors and then on a short-pile rug.

Performance across different surfaces was excellent overall. For most debris, the X5 Pro Omni was able to pick up nearly everything in a single pass, but two passes were best for thorough cleaning. Larger or heavier debris required additional cleaning cycles, and the side brush sometimes flicked smaller particles away before the main brush could capture them. The one downside was the robot vacuum consistently failed to get all the way into corners, or fully clean along edges.

The vacuum’s suction power can be set to Max, Strong, Standard or Quiet modes. Standard mode worked well for daily cleaning of pet fur, dust and light debris, but heavier dirt and sand needed Max suction to be fully removed. Carpets and rugs benefited from higher suction levels as Standard mode sometimes left behind some debris.

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Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni robovac before vacuum test

Vacuuming test with oats (Image credit: Future)
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Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni robovac mid vacuum pass

(Image credit: Future)
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Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni debris left after a vacuum pass

Some oats left after a single pass (Image credit: Future)
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Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni robovac internal dustbin before cleaning

The robovac dustbin needs manual cleaning once a month or so (Image credit: Future)
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Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni robovac filter before cleaning

The robovac dustbin filter can be replaced or cleaned when clogged (Image credit: Future)
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Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni filter after cleaning

The filter responds well to vacuuming with a stick vac (Image credit: Future)
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Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni dustbin removed

(Image credit: Future)
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Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni hair wrapped around side brush

After an extended test with no cleaning, hair builds up on the side brush, but it does not reduce performance (Image credit: Future)
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Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni robovac main brush showing tangled hair

Hair builds up on the main brush over time, but vacuuming performnce remains decent (Image credit: Future)
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Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni with trapped hair removed

Removing the trapped hair is very easy and takes less than one minute (Image credit: Future)

My home has two people who shed a lot of long hair and, in my testing, hair buildup was manageable, but it still accumulated in the side brush and main brush over time, despite the anti-tangle feature. Both the side and main brush collected a noticeable amount of hair after just a week of use, but it doesn’t end up embedded and removal is easy. The wheels and mop pads remained tangle-free, making overall upkeep straightforward, and even leaving it a month between cleaning caused no problems.

I measured the noise levels of the X5 Pro Omni with a decibel meter at a range of 1m, with multiple passes and the results averaged. Using Quiet mode, it produces 41dB, which is low enough to be unobtrusive, and the wheel-drive system is actually slightly louder than the vacuum motor.

Standard mode is only slightly louder at 42dB, making it suitable for cleaning while watching TV or having a conversation. Strong mode increases the noise level to 44dB, which is still reasonable but more intrusive. At Max suction, it reaches 52dB, which is significantly louder and comparable to a stick vacuum at moderate power.

While vacuuming, noise levels remain fairly steady, but auto-emptying at the base station is much louder, peaking at 63dB. Mopping is quieter at 40dB, and general driving noise sits at 41dB, meaning the robot isn’t exactly stealthy when moving between cleaning zones. Mop washing reaches 37dB, so while not silent, it’s quiet enough not to be disruptive.

If wanting to run the vacuum at night while sleeping, Quiet mode is an option, provided you have a closed door between you and the robovac and aren’t a light sleeper. The dock should be placed away from sleeping areas, as the auto-emptying noise is quite loud and could be disruptive if triggered at night. To avoid this you can set Do Not Disturb times, where the dock will not activate the auto-empty functionality, but this does limit vacuuming performance for larger homes as the small onboard dustbin in the bot fills up.

  • Vacuuming score: 4 / 5

Mopping

For mopping, the X5 Pro Omni uses water with the Ecovacs cleaning solution optionally added to the clean-water tank. I tested with plain water and adding a cleaning solution, but didn’t find the latter made a noticeable difference unless having the bot do a deeper scrub.

During my testing, I scheduled mopping once a week but found that adding extra runs during wet weather helped keep the front and back door areas free of muddy footprints.

The X5 Pro Omni does a good job on open spaces, but it doesn’t reach under furniture edges as well as a handheld mop. The right-side mop pad does extend slightly, helping it clean closer to edges, but some tight spots remain out of reach.

For tougher messes, I tested the X5 Pro Omni by spilling sauce, 'stepping' in it and letting it dry a little on my wooden floors. In most cases, one pass was enough to fully clean up the mess, but two passes were needed for the dried stains. Turning up the water-flow setting was helpful in making sure the mop pads were wet enough to tackle stubborn spots. The automatic re-mop feature worked reasonably well on tiles, but the bot struggled to tell the difference between a speck of dried sauce and darker patches of wood.

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Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni mop tests

A slightly dried sauce stain (Image credit: Future)
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Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni mop tests

The robovac moves in... (Image credit: Future)
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Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni mop tests

Mop pads deploy... (Image credit: Future)
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Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni mop tests

It swings back for a second pass (Image credit: Future)
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Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni mop tests

The sauce is entirely cleaned up (Image credit: Future)

The mop pads are washed and dried by the base station after each cleaning run, with drying time adjustable between 2, 3 or 4 hours. You can also set it to wash the mops after each room, or at 10, 15 or 20-minute intervals. The base station washes the mop pads with hot water, scrubbing them against a textured cleaning tray to remove dirt and debris. While I found that this process was very effective, the mop pads still benefit from being machine-washed periodically to give a deeper refresh. It’s also recommended to inspect the pads regularly for wear and replace them as needed.

The X5 Pro Omni isn’t designed to handle large liquid spills, as its mop pads are meant for scrubbing rather than sponging up a lot of moisture. I found that if the robot is picked up after or during mopping (for example, to extract a cable or shoelace), it may dribble water, so don’t do that over anything you need to keep dry.

One somewhat frustrating quirk is that vacuum-and-mop mode is the default setting, and it can’t be changed to vacuum-only by default. Worse, if a mop and vacuum cycle is accidentally triggered, even if canceled immediately, the robovac will still run a mop wash cycle that can’t be stopped.

  • Mopping score: 4 / 5

Battery life

The X5 Pro Omni has a 92Wh battery, which is the same as competing models like the Roborock Saros 10 and Dreame X40 Ultra, and larger than the 75Wh capacity battery in more affordable models like the Ecovacs Deebot T30 Omni and Dreame L40 Ultra.

Battery capacity alone isn’t the only metric though. For example, in my testing the X5 Pro Omni can do a full double-pass vacuum of a three-bedroom house (around 50 square meters of actual floor cleaning) and only drop to 73% battery capacity.

Doing a full vacuum and mop at the same time drops it to 65%, and doing a vacuum then mop takes it to 60%. This means you can expect up to around 140 square meters of vacuuming at maximum suction, and over 100 square meters of vacuuming and mopping. With the suction power set to Standard, the total amount of floor area that can be vacuumed almost doubles.

My results here also support the claim from Ecovacs that the X5 Pro Omni can handle up to 244 minutes of cleaning on a charge.

As a comparison, the Roborock Saros 10 needs to stop and charge after three rooms when set to the maximum suction. Part of the difference is that the Saros 10 has a higher maximum suction power of 22,000Pa, vs 12,800Pa for the X5 Pro Omni, and higher suction does mean higher battery consumption.

One annoyance is that the X5 Pro Omni does not give the exact battery percentage when cleaning, as the Ecovacs app just displays 100 in the battery indicator. It’s not until the vacuum returns to the dock and you start another clean immediately that it updates the remaining capacity. Other times, the indicator works as expected.

The X5 Pro Omni will return to the dock to top up the battery as needed when cleaning. While a full charge can take over 4 hours, getting back to 50% only takes about 30 minutes.

  • Battery life score: 4.5 / 5

Dock performance

The Ecovacs Deebot X5 Pro Omni comes with a 3L (101 oz) dust bag, rated for up to 60 days of use. How long it actually lasts depends on your home’s size and how much debris is collected, but in my case, the manufacturer’s estimate was fairly accurate. The robovac’s 250ml (8.45 oz) dustbin is emptied automatically when full, or you can set it to Extra mode for more frequent emptying – useful for homes with pets or a lot of dust buildup.

Unlike the underwhelming auto-empty suction from the Dreame X40 Ultra's dock, the X5 Pro Omni’s base station has a well-thought out airflow design and reliably empties the dustbin. During testing, I didn’t experience any clogging issues within the dock itself, but blockages inside the robot's dustbin occasionally prevented proper emptying which, in turn, affect vacuuming up more dirt until manually cleared.

The robovac is supposed to detect when the dock fails to empty the bin, but I found these warnings to be inconsistent. There were times when the bin was clogged but the app never alerted me, so I had to manually check the dustbin after cleaning to ensure everything was working properly.

Increasing the emptying frequency can help avoid any potential issues, but in my use, clogging wasn’t a frequent issue unless I had accidentally left larger debris that the bit could suck up.

In testing, the mop washing and drying system worked well to keep the pads clean and stop any odors forming between uses. The dock heats water to 70°C (158°F) and pumps it through a wash system to rinse the mop pads, scrubbing them against a textured cleaning surface to remove dirt and grime. After washing, the dirty water is stored in a container in the top of the base station, and it dries the mop pads with hot air, with drying times adjustable to two, three or four hours. The scrubbing system is highly effective, and the mop pads always came out looking fresh after cleaning cycles and there was never an issue with smell.

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Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni base station without robovac

(Image credit: Future)
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Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni dust bag installed in base station

The dust bag is easy to replace via the front of the base station (Image credit: Future)
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Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni fresh and dirty water containers in base station

The clean and dirty water tanks live under the top lid (Image credit: Future)
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Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni base station with water containers removed

(Image credit: Future)

Emptying the dirty mop water is as simple as opening the top of the dock, lifting the container out by the handle and emptying it in a sink. I only did this once a month and the dirty water did tend to smell when being tipped out, but the container was easy to rinse out and didn’t retain any odor. The clean-water container uses the same design and can be topped up at a sink, then put back into the dock.

The dock's noise levels vary depending on the task. Measured from 1 meter away (3.3 feet) mop washing is noticeable at 37dB but not disruptive, though the pumps are briefly quite noisy (46 dB) when running. The drying fan produces a low hum for a few hours but isn’t intrusive. Auto-emptying is the loudest part of the process at 63dB and although it only lasts 10 seconds, it’s still very disruptive if the station is located in a main living area or if done at night.

For households with pets or heavy dirt buildup, the dock performs well and reliably empties debris, though owners should occasionally check for clogs in the bot’s dustbin since warnings aren’t always accurate. Smaller objects left on the floor can cause issues, but aside from that, the X5 Pro Omni’s base station is a very reliable and hands-free system.

  • Dock performance score: 4.5 / 5

Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni review: App control

  • Reliable scheduled cleaning
  • Quick access to cleaning reports and history
  • Certain settings are hidden in sub-menus

The Ecovacs Deebot X5 Pro Omni can be controlled using the physical buttons on top of the robot, but the app is critical for unlocking its full potential. It provides access to the home map, lets you adjust cleaning settings and offers deep customization of scheduled cleans.

The app includes a cleaning history and reporting section, which provides a visual map of where the bot traveled during each clean. It also records the time of each session, the area cleaned and the total duration. Over time, this builds into a comprehensive cleaning log, showing the total square footage cleaned across all sessions, the number of cleans completed and total runtime. However, one notable omission is that the app does not log obstacles detected during a cleaning session, which means there's no easy way to see what might have blocked the robot mid-clean.

Most frequently used settings are easy to access, but some features are buried in sub-menus. For example, scheduling cleans is hidden under Advanced settings, and certain options are locked while the robot is in operation – like when manually triggering a dustbin empty, other settings can’t be adjusted until the process is finished.

Scheduled cleaning is very reliable, and in my testing, the X5 Pro Omni only failed to start once without explanation. If a scheduled clean is missed, the robovac resumes correctly at the next scheduled time. However, one frustrating issue is that if you set a clean for later in the day, the app doesn’t indicate that it’s actually scheduling it for the next day – only showing this after the schedule has been set.

Perhaps my least favorite bug is when doing spot cleans. If I sent the bot to vacuum up a mess, then later wanted to do another one-off clean, the app would show the previous vacuum-only mode was still selected – but when hitting start, it would actually trigger a vacuum and mop, not vacuum-only. Even if you canceled it immediately, it would spend a few minutes running a mop wash cycle before you could get it to do the actual vacuum.

The app also sometimes didn't properly register where the bot was or what it was doing. This was frustrating, because if you tried to trigger a clean, it would say the bot needed to return to the dock first – even though it showed the bot already in the dock on the app. Force quitting and restarting the app would fix the issue, but it was an annoying extra step.

To rule out an issue with my phone (a Pixel 9 Pro XL), I also tried the app on other mobiles and saw similar problems. Apple users may have a different experience – my colleague didn’t run into the same issues when using the app on an iPhone during her Ecovacs T30 Omni review, for example.

Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni app screenshots

The app looks good, but can be frustrating at times (Image credit: Future)

Another small but unnecessary annoyance is that even when Do Not Disturb times are set (muting the robovac), it mostly works, but still loudly makes some announcements. For example, if the bot gets stuck during the day, and you arrive home late and need to manually place it back in the base station during the Do Not Disturb time, it loudly proclaims “start charging”. Another issue is that after turning down the voice volume to a quiet level, the "task stopped" announcement is still made at the loudest setting.

During testing I found the Wi-Fi connectivity to be stable, but it’s worth noting the robovac only supports 2.4GHz networks. I had some quirks when using it with a mesh network, but the issues were hard to pin down to a specific cause. That said, setting up a dedicated 2.4GHz-only network for the robovac helped make it more reliable.

During testing, I went on holiday, leaving a family member to house and dog sit. The robovac initially worked fine, but eventually stopped performing scheduled cleans. Despite easy remote access via the app, I couldn’t identify the problem and had to manually trigger cleans each day remotely.

After returning, I discovered the Do Not Disturb times had mysteriously reversed from 8pm–8am to 8am–8pm, preventing morning cleans. The app does give error notifications (but does not save them to the log), but I was unaware due to a daylight-saving bug that meant the scheduled clean was being triggered an hour earlier than I expected.

In terms of usability, the app provides a similar level of control to other brands, though some robovacs with more features offer slightly more customization. However, occasional lag and loading issues make the experience feel less polished than it should be. The voice and volume inconsistencies are also quite jarring, and take a little of the premium shine off the experience.

I also wish it had an easy delayed start option – like a quick way to select a one-time clean at a set time later in the day – especially because setting same-day scheduled cleans is not possible.

Still, despite these frustrations, the app is mostly reliable and offers a good balance of customization and control, and hopefully Ecovacs will continue to work on improving the experience over time.

  • App control score: 2.5 / 5

Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni review: Consumables and maintenance

The Ecovacs Deebot X5 Pro Omni comes with one dust bag, two side brushes, and a set of washable mop pads in the box – but no cleaning fluid is included. While this is enough to get started, you’ll need to order replacement dust bags within 60 days, and other consumables including filters, mop pads and side brushes will need replacing on a set schedule.

Under normal use, the dust bag should be replaced every 60 days, side brushes and filters every few months and mop pads periodically based on wear.

Consumables can be purchased through the Ecovacs website and third-party retailers like Amazon, though availability varies slightly between regions. For example, the quarterly maintenance kit is not available in the US, while six-pack dust bag sets are only sold in the US and not in the UK or Australia.

The app tracks the lifespan of consumables by usage percentages and notifies users when replacements are recommended. These estimates tend to be on the conservative side and, in my testing, parts like the main brush and mop pads lasted longer than suggested, though this will of course depend on your usage.

Routine maintenance is straightforward, with the main brush and robovac dustbin checked weekly, side brushes and sensors every two weeks, and filters and mop pads cleaned or replaced monthly. Hair buildup occurs over time, but manual removal is simple, and no issues were noted with hard-to-reach areas during testing.

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Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni main brush removed showing hair

Despite the anti-tangle features, hair builds up on the main brush over time (Image credit: Future)
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Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni side brush removed showing hair

The side brush collects hair, but is easily removed and cleaned (Image credit: Future)
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Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni robovac front wheel

The front wheel is well designed and does not trap hair (Image credit: Future)
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Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni robovac drive wheel

The main drive wheels do a great job of avoiding any tangles (Image credit: Future)
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Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni main and side brush cleaned of hair

Removing hair from the main brush is easy – just cut along one side and it slides free (Image credit: Future)
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Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni base station mop washing tray

The mop wash station is self cleaning, but does build up debris over time (Image credit: Future)
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Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni base station mop washing tray removed

The mop wash parts can be removed for a deeper clean in the sink every few months (Image credit: Future)
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Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni full dust bag

The dust bag seals when removed, which avoids any mess (Image credit: Future)

Based on my usage in a small 3-bedroom home, I estimate consumables will cost up to $465.79 / £423.85 / AU$606.30 per year. For larger homes, costs will scale accordingly. Some notable price differences exist between regions – for example, the anti-tangle main brush is 88.9% more expensive in the UK and 54.9% more expensive in Australia compared to the US. However, Australia tends to have lower prices overall for consumables, while the UK has some of the highest accessory costs.

Third-party consumables are available, though Ecovacs advises using official parts for optimal performance. I did not test any non-official replacements.

With regular maintenance and timely consumable replacements, I found the X5 Pro Omni quite easy to keep in top condition and ongoing costs are similar to other premium robovacs. Be aware, though, there can be significant regional price variations.

  • Consumables and maintenance score: 3.5 / 5

Should I Buy the Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni?

Buy it if…

You want a powerful auto-emptying system

The X5 Pro Omni’s self-cleaning dock has strong suction and reliably empties the robot’s dustbin, and never clogged during testing.

You want a hands-free mopping system

With built-in water tanks, automatic mop washing and hot air drying, the X5 Pro Omni keeps its mop pads clean with minimal effort on your part.

You want the latest features in a robot vacuum

The X5 Pro Omni offers powerful suction, smart mapping and an advanced all-in-one dock, making it one of the more feature-packed robot vacuums in its class.

Don’t buy it if…

You have a lot of small objects on the floor

While the X5 Pro Omni can avoid most large obstacles, it struggles with cables, shoelaces or flat items like paper towels, and may get stuck if the floor isn’t kept clear.

You only have carpet

The X5 Pro Omni has a strong vacuuming system and mop lift, but if your home is fully carpeted, a vacuum-only robovac will save you money without sacrificing cleaning performance.

You want a polished app experience

While the level of customization and control is decent, the app feels clunky and unpolished at times, and I ran into many small but frustrating issues during my testing.

Also consider

Not sold on the Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni? Below are a few alternatives that are worth considering.

Dreame L10s Ultra
This slightly older model doesn’t have quite as many features as the X5 Pro Omni and isn’t as powerful, but it’s still a great option and can often be found for less than half the price.
Read our full Dreame L10s Ultra review

Eufy Omni S1 Pro
One of the few robovacs that can compete directly with the X5 Pro Omni, the Eufy Omni S1 Pro is a feature-packed alternative with an innovative rolling cylinder mopping system.
Read our full Eufy Omni S1 Pro review

Ecovacs Deebot T30S Combo
While not quite as good at dodging cables as the Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni, the Deebot T30S Combo stands out with a stick vacuum that slots into the side of the its dock, keeping it ready to go for any extra cleanup.
Read our full Ecovacs Deebot T30S Combo review

How I tested the Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni

  • I used the X5 Pro Omni as my main vacuum cleaner for six months
  • My testing space included hard floors and carpet
  • I performed specific grain-size and wet-spill tests

I used the Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni daily for six months in a home with a dog and two adults, and with polished wooden floors, tiles, carpet and medium-pile rugs. The weather during the test period included both wet and dry conditions. I started with an initial deep clean, followed by ongoing daily vacuuming, with mopping once or twice a week – plus extra spot cleans as needed. I tested both the automatic mode and manually customized cleans using schedules and shortcuts.

I documented cleaning performance over the testing period and conducted a range of specific tests with different debris sizes to further gauge vacuuming ability. I also tested dry and wet spills to evaluate the mopping prowess. Additionally, I strategically placed debris – including fur, leaves and hair – in problem areas like corners to assess the robovac’s effectiveness in daily use.

During my testing period, I changed the base station vacuum bag 4 times, manually cleaned the mop cleaning system in the base station, and performed the full range of maintenance checks as prompted by the app.

Read more about how we test vacuums

[First reviewed May 2025]

The Honor 400 Lite gives you iPhone 16 Pro Max features on the cheap, without the Apple performance
11:52 am | April 25, 2025

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Honor Phones Phones | Tags: , , , | Comments: Off

Honor 400 Lite: Two-minute review

Squint, and you could mistake the Honor 400 Lite for an iPhone 16 Pro Max. Honor is clearly enamored with Apple's whole approach to smartphones, or more likely the enduring popularity of the very best iPhones, and it's evidently not afraid to wear that admiration on its sleeve.

The prospect of a £250 phone with a Dynamic Island (or 'Magic Capsule') and Camera Control (or 'AI Camera Button') is an undeniably enticing one. Honor has executed those two elements well, delivering a budget Android phone that feels slightly different from its rivals. That's hard to achieve in a staid smartphone market.

However, in the process of seeking to offer an iPhone-style experience on the cheap, Honor appears to have taken its eye off the ball in some fundamental areas. The Honor 400 Lite doesn't perform as well as many of its peers, while its camera system feels undercooked.

Meanwhile, Honor's MagicOS feels as cluttered and unappealing as ever, emulating the basic look of iOS without achieving the same level of refinement. It's good to see a six-year update promise, though, which is among the very best in its class.

Review images of the Honor 400 Lite

(Image credit: Future)

Solid battery life and a good 6.7-inch OLED display also help the Honor 400 Lite's cause, though its 35W charging speeds are nothing to write home about, and that sizeable notch probably won't appeal to those who watch a lot of movies and TV shows on the go.

Ultimately, the Honor 400 Lite is a budget phone designed to appeal to those who equate 'iPhone' with 'smartphone', but who lack either the resources or inclination to spend upwards of £600 on their next handset.

It'll serve such people reasonably well, but those same people should know that they won't be getting the most from their money. There are faster, more robust, and just plain better phones in the sub-£300 bracket.

Honor 400 Lite review: price and availability

Review images of the Honor 400 Lite

(Image credit: Future)
  • Released on April 22, 2024
  • On sale in the UK and Europe for £249.99 / €269
  • Only one variant (8GB RAM / 256GB storage)
  • No US or Australia availability

The Honor 400 Lite was announced in April 2025 and is due to go on sale in the UK and Europe on May 22. Honor smartphones aren't sold in the US, while an Australian launch for the Honor 400 Lite is also off the cards at the time of writing.

It'll be available in just one variant in these territories: 8GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage. This sole model will cost £249.99 / €269 (about $330 / AU$520).

At this price, the Honor 400 Lite is competing with a whole host of affordable phones, including the Samsung Galaxy A26, the Poco X7, and the Motorola Moto G75 5G. All of these rivals have superior water resistance, while the Moto G75 5G also has MIL-STD-810H durability.

Samsung's phone has wider availability and that familiar One UI software, while the Poco X7 has a clear performance edge.

  • Value score: 4 / 5

Honor 400 Lite review: specs

Honor 400 Lite review: design

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Review images of the Honor 400 Lite

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  • Clearly iPhone-influenced design
  • Magic Capsule notch supplies widgets and selfie light
  • Skinny, lightweight all-plastic build
  • Dedicated camera shutter button

Honor wouldn't be the first company to take a page out of Apple design playbook, but the Honor 400 Lite takes it to the next level. It looks more like an iPhone (specifically the iPhone 16 Pro Max) than pretty much any other phone I've seen.

Yes, you have the flat-edged look with the curved corners, just like the Google Pixel 9a and Samsung Galaxy S25. But the similarity runs to the smaller details, too. The camera module looks extremely similar to that of the iPhone 16 Pro, with only a triangular motif marking it out.

Flip the Honor 400 Lite onto its front, and there's an extended floating notch that looks a lot like Apple's Dynamic Island. Honor calls it the 'Magic Capsule', but it serves a similar function.

Honor's psychedelic-sounding notch facilitates tiny heads-up widgets when doing things like playing music or running a timer. Tap one of those widgets, and it'll expand slightly to a larger, width-spanning version.

Review images of the Honor 400 Lite

(Image credit: Future)

One thing the Honor 400 Lite's Magic Capsule doesn't copy from Apple is a truly secure Face ID system, with no 3D Time-of-Flight (ToF) sensor to capture the required depth information. That's doubtless a cost issue, as the flagship Honor Magic 7 Pro does include such a feature.

Instead, the Honor 400 Lite's extended notch gives you a dedicated selfie light, though it has fairly limited utility. It'll technically allow you to record videos and take video calls in very low lighting, provided you really want to convey that mid-noughties webcam vibe.

A more consequential addition is the AI Camera Button, situated a little way below the volume and power buttons on the right-hand edge. It's another direct lift from Apple, with a similar look and somewhat unsatisfactory positioning to the iPhone 16's Camera Control.

It too serves as a dedicated camera shutter button, complete with two-stage operation for locking focus and a swipe-to-zoom facility that might actually be better than Apple's. It also serves as a two-tap camera shortcut, while a long press will bring up Google Lens, much as it brings up Visual Intelligence on an iPhone.

Hold the Honor 400 Lite in your hand, and all the iPhone comparisons flake away. This is an all-plastic affair, despite the metal-effect frame. It's well-built, with no creaks and a subtle pearlescent finish to the rear.

It's also very light, given its large 161 x 74.6mm footprint, at just 171g, while it's only 7.3mm thick.

You'll also notice the uneven bezel, which gets thicker at the corners and across the chin. That's a sure sign that we're shopping in the £250 category here, though a 93.7% screen-to-body ratio is still pretty decent for a budget phone.

  • Design score: 3.5 / 5

Honor 400 Lite review: display

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Review images of the Honor 400 Lite

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  • Solid 6.7-inch FHD+ OLED
  • Gets nice and bright
  • Only a mono speaker

Honor has equipped the 400 Lite with an accomplished 6.7-inch OLED display, with an FHD+ (1080 x 2412) resolution and a maximum refresh rate of 120Hz.

These are all specifications that we've come to expect in the £250 category, and they see the Honor 400 Lite matching the likes of the Poco X7 and the Samsung Galaxy A26.

Not many budget phones can boast a 3500-nit peak brightness, however. PWM dimming of 3840Hz, meanwhile, cuts perceptible flickering and potential eye strain.

In general use, I found this to be a really pleasant display to use, at least once I'd switched away from the ramped-up 'Vivid' color mode to the more muted and natural 'Normal'. It's big, sharp, color-accurate, and responsive, while its brightness scales evenly from very dark (great for low-light viewing) to quite bright.

It's a shame the Always On Display function doesn't meet the description, however, requiring a screen tap to activate.

Also a shame is Honor's enduring insistence on packing its affordable phone with a single downward-firing speaker. It doesn't feel like too much to ask for a solid set of stereo speakers, even at this price.

  • Display score: 4 / 5

Honor 400 Lite review: cameras

Review images of the Honor 400 Lite

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  • 108MP main camera struggles with HDR and night shots
  • Poor 5MP ultra-wide
  • Only 1080p/30fps video

Honor has simplified the camera setup from last year's Honor 200 Lite, with the pointless 2MP macro camera dropping out altogether.

This leaves you with what appears to be the same pair of cameras, specifically a 108MP 1/1.67" f/1.8 main sensor and a 5MP f/2.2 ultra-wide.

The main camera is a competent shooter under ideal conditions, capturing plenty of detail. It's even good enough to produce fairly convincing 2x and 3x crops in the absence of a dedicated telephoto.

There are issues with this main camera, however. It seems to struggle with HDR scenarios, either failing to lift very dark shady areas or otherwise blowing out background highlights.

I also noticed some odd processing effects, including a strange halo effect around distant birds in front of a blue sky.

Review images of the Honor 400 Lite

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Night shots, too, aren't very good, with poor detail and bags of noise. The lack of OIS here is quite evident.

The ultra-wide, meanwhile, is of a pretty substandard quality, lacking in detail and failing to match the tone of the main sensor.

The selfie camera has also changed since the Honor 200 Lite, dropping from a 50MP f/2.1 unit to a 16MP f/2.5. It captures adequate shots with reasonably rich colors, but again struggles with blown-out highlights.

The provision of an LED light is an interesting one. It definitely improved the clarity of my low-light selfie shots and videos when I activated it manually, but is it strictly necessary when most phones simply use a white screen for the job? I'm not so sure.

Talking of video, the main camera maxes out at a weedy 1080p at 30fps. That's a pretty poor effort when rivals such as the Galaxy A26, Moto G75 5G, and Poco X7 can all record at 4K.

  • Camera score: 3 / 5

Honor 400 Lite review: camera samples

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Honor 400 Lite review: performance

Review images of the Honor 400 Lite

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  • MediaTek Dimensity 7025 Ultra is merely adequate
  • Solid 8GB of RAM
  • 256GB of storage

The Honor 400 Lite is equipped with a MediaTek Dimensity 7025 Ultra chipset, which isn't a very strong performer even within the budget phone category.

I've used a phone with this chip before in the Redmi Note 14 5G (which didn't ship in the UK), and I was left pretty unimpressed. Suffice it to say, the Honor 400 Lite did nothing to change my mind on this component.

Across CPU and GPU benchmark tests, it's outgunned by the Moto G75 5G, the Samsung Galaxy A26, and the Poco X7.

I'd like to say that this doesn't matter in practical terms, but that's not the case. There's a generally wallowy feel to everything from unlocking the phone to app startup and even basic animations.

It would be unfair to call this performance halting or stuttery, but everything seems to take a beat longer than it should. I'd be tempted to let it off the hook given the price, but the Poco X7 (to use one example) feels nice and snappy by comparison.

Indeed, while the Poco X7 is capable of running Genshin Impact quite well on Medium settings, the Honor 400 Lite needs to run it at Low or even Lowest if you're to maintain a decent frame rate.

The solitary model available in the UK gives you a solid 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, which is most welcome.

  • Performance score: 3 / 5

Honor 400 Lite review: software

Review images of the Honor 400 Lite

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  • Android 15 with MagicOS 9
  • Six years of OS updates and security patches

With the Honor 400 Lite, you're getting Android 15 fresh out of the box, coated in Honor's latest MagicOS 9 UI. It's not my favorite Android skin by any stretch of the imagination.

Honor evidently doesn't think much of the flowing, vibrant UI design that Google baked into the latest version of Android, preferring instead the square icons and split notification menu of Apple's iOS.

The two UIs really look uncannily alike in places, right down to the look of the Settings menu and the lock screen. The aforementioned Magic Capsule drives this familiar sensation home with its Dynamic Island-style mini-widgets.

Sadly, such an admiration for Apple's work doesn't extend to the company's no-nonsense approach to bloatware. You'll find Facebook, Booking.com, TikTok, Amazon Shopping, ReelShort, LinkedIn, and the Temu shopping app all sitting on the second home screen straight from first boot-up.

There's also a Top Apps folder with four more third-party apps. It's a little excessive, if far from unusual, on Android.

Elsewhere, there's a whopping great themed 'Essentials' folder on the main home screen containing nine of the company's own apps, and another large folder filled with AI-suggested apps that I never found remotely useful.

Review images of the Honor 400 Lite

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Honor also provides its own App Market, which feels completely pointless with the Google Play Store present and accounted for (Honor is no longer part of Huawei, so it isn't hampered by the same sanctions).

There's a smattering of AI features here, including some Google-affiliated ones such as Smart Vision (essentially Google Lens), Google Gemini, and Circle to Search.

Honor has implemented a feature called Magic Portal that somewhat overlaps the latter Google provision, permitting you to draw around text and images before opening up a shortcut menu for sharing the resulting snippets to other apps. It's nowhere near as smart as Circle to Search, but it can actually be quite useful in this more localized on-device application. Or it would be, if the knuckle-based input system wasn't so flaky.

Favourite Space is a folder to quickly stash these hastily scrawled-out snippets. However, given the large number of superfluous preinstalled apps, I'm not sure why there isn't a standard Favourite Space app. I encountered numerous references to it and saved several snippets before it offered to create a shortcut (in the shape of an app icon) on the home screen.

When it comes to image editing, Honor offers a reasonably effective AI Eraser for deleting unwanted objects and people. AI Outpainting is a bizarre but technically impressive feature that essentially turns your regular shots into ultra-wides, using AI to infer what might be just out of frame. It kind of works in terms of creating convincing (though not accurate) images, but I'm not sure why you'd ever want to make use of such fakery beyond a tech demo.

Perhaps the most positive aspect of Honor's software provision on the 400 Lite is the promise of six years of OS and security updates. That's right up there with the Samsung Galaxy A26 in this budget class.

  • Software score: 3 / 5

Honor 400 Lite review: battery life

Review images of the Honor 400 Lite

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  • 5,230mAh battery
  • 35W wired charging
  • No charger in the box

Honor has supplied a larger-than-average 5,230mAh battery with the 400 Lite, which is significantly larger than the 4,500mAh battery of the Honor 200 Lite.

It results in predictably strong stamina. I found that I was able to go through a day of moderate to heavy usage, with 4 hours 40 minutes of screen on time, and be left with 58%.

You could conceivably go through a full two days here, though more intensive applications and mixed network use will, of course, drain that battery much faster.

In an increasingly common move, there's no charger supplied in the box. Honor claims that if you buy the dedicated 35W Honor Wired SuperCharge charger, the phone can power up to 100% in 75 minutes.

In my experience, you don't necessarily need to go out of your way to secure the official brick. While a Xiaomi 120W Hypercharge brick trickled along at a glacial pace, a Samsung 65W Super Fast charger got the job done in just 72 minutes.

As charging rates go, that's not especially quick. The Poco X7, with its 45W charging support, can get its similarly sized battery up to 100% in 50 minutes. The Moto G75 5G only supports 30W charging, but that budget rival also includes wireless charging, which the Honor 400 Lite does not.

  • Battery score: 4 / 5

Should I buy the Honor 400 Lite?

Buy it if...

You'd really like a super cheap iPhone
Honor's design and software decisions reflect an admiration for Apple's iPhone and iOS, but the package on offer here is a fraction of the price.

You want manual camera control
The Honor 400 Lite's AI Camera Button offers a handy two-stage camera shutter button, as well as a camera shortcut.

You want a big phone, but not a heavy one
The Honor 400 Lite gives you a big 6.7-inch display, but the phone itself only weighs 171g.

Don't buy it if...

You want to play lots of games
The Honor 400 Lite runs on a MediaTek Dimensity 7025 Ultra processor, which is far from the fastest in this class.

You want a crisp UI
Honor's MagicOS is pretty cluttered and charmless, and a world away from stock Android.

You take a lot of night shots
In the absence of OIS, the Honor 400 Lite is far from the best low-light shooter.

Honor 400 Lite review: also consider

The Honor 400 Lite isn't the only classy affordable phone on the market. Here are some of the better alternatives to consider.

Motorola Moto G75 5G
Motorola's tough little phone is unusually robust, performs better, and has wireless charging, though its LCD screen is inferior.

Read our full Motorola Moto G75 5G review

Poco X7
The Poco X7 leaves the Honor 400 Lite in the dust on performance, has a better camera setup, and gives you stereo sound. We haven't yet reviewed it fully, mind.

How I tested the Honor 400 Lite

  • Review test period = 1 week
  • Testing included = Everyday usage, including web browsing, social media, photography, gaming, streaming video, music playback
  • Tools used = Geekbench 6, GFXBench, 3DMark, native Android stats, Samsung 65W power adapter

First reviewed: April 2025

The Honor 400 Lite gives you iPhone 16 Pro Max features on the cheap, without the Apple performance
11:52 am |

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Honor Phones Phones | Tags: , , , | Comments: Off

Honor 400 Lite: Two-minute review

Squint, and you could mistake the Honor 400 Lite for an iPhone 16 Pro Max. Honor is clearly enamored with Apple's whole approach to smartphones, or more likely the enduring popularity of the very best iPhones, and it's evidently not afraid to wear that admiration on its sleeve.

The prospect of a £250 phone with a Dynamic Island (or 'Magic Capsule') and Camera Control (or 'AI Camera Button') is an undeniably enticing one. Honor has executed those two elements well, delivering a budget Android phone that feels slightly different from its rivals. That's hard to achieve in a staid smartphone market.

However, in the process of seeking to offer an iPhone-style experience on the cheap, Honor appears to have taken its eye off the ball in some fundamental areas. The Honor 400 Lite doesn't perform as well as many of its peers, while its camera system feels undercooked.

Meanwhile, Honor's MagicOS feels as cluttered and unappealing as ever, emulating the basic look of iOS without achieving the same level of refinement. It's good to see a six-year update promise, though, which is among the very best in its class.

Review images of the Honor 400 Lite

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Solid battery life and a good 6.7-inch OLED display also help the Honor 400 Lite's cause, though its 35W charging speeds are nothing to write home about, and that sizeable notch probably won't appeal to those who watch a lot of movies and TV shows on the go.

Ultimately, the Honor 400 Lite is a budget phone designed to appeal to those who equate 'iPhone' with 'smartphone', but who lack either the resources or inclination to spend upwards of £600 on their next handset.

It'll serve such people reasonably well, but those same people should know that they won't be getting the most from their money. There are faster, more robust, and just plain better phones in the sub-£300 bracket.

Honor 400 Lite review: price and availability

Review images of the Honor 400 Lite

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  • Released on April 22, 2024
  • On sale in the UK and Europe for £249.99 / €269
  • Only one variant (8GB RAM / 256GB storage)
  • No US or Australia availability

The Honor 400 Lite was announced in April 2025 and is due to go on sale in the UK and Europe on May 22. Honor smartphones aren't sold in the US, while an Australian launch for the Honor 400 Lite is also off the cards at the time of writing.

It'll be available in just one variant in these territories: 8GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage. This sole model will cost £249.99 / €269 (about $330 / AU$520).

At this price, the Honor 400 Lite is competing with a whole host of affordable phones, including the Samsung Galaxy A26, the Poco X7, and the Motorola Moto G75 5G. All of these rivals have superior water resistance, while the Moto G75 5G also has MIL-STD-810H durability.

Samsung's phone has wider availability and that familiar One UI software, while the Poco X7 has a clear performance edge.

  • Value score: 4 / 5

Honor 400 Lite review: specs

Honor 400 Lite review: design

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  • Clearly iPhone-influenced design
  • Magic Capsule notch supplies widgets and selfie light
  • Skinny, lightweight all-plastic build
  • Dedicated camera shutter button

Honor wouldn't be the first company to take a page out of Apple design playbook, but the Honor 400 Lite takes it to the next level. It looks more like an iPhone (specifically the iPhone 16 Pro Max) than pretty much any other phone I've seen.

Yes, you have the flat-edged look with the curved corners, just like the Google Pixel 9a and Samsung Galaxy S25. But the similarity runs to the smaller details, too. The camera module looks extremely similar to that of the iPhone 16 Pro, with only a triangular motif marking it out.

Flip the Honor 400 Lite onto its front, and there's an extended floating notch that looks a lot like Apple's Dynamic Island. Honor calls it the 'Magic Capsule', but it serves a similar function.

Honor's psychedelic-sounding notch facilitates tiny heads-up widgets when doing things like playing music or running a timer. Tap one of those widgets, and it'll expand slightly to a larger, width-spanning version.

Review images of the Honor 400 Lite

(Image credit: Future)

One thing the Honor 400 Lite's Magic Capsule doesn't copy from Apple is a truly secure Face ID system, with no 3D Time-of-Flight (ToF) sensor to capture the required depth information. That's doubtless a cost issue, as the flagship Honor Magic 7 Pro does include such a feature.

Instead, the Honor 400 Lite's extended notch gives you a dedicated selfie light, though it has fairly limited utility. It'll technically allow you to record videos and take video calls in very low lighting, provided you really want to convey that mid-noughties webcam vibe.

A more consequential addition is the AI Camera Button, situated a little way below the volume and power buttons on the right-hand edge. It's another direct lift from Apple, with a similar look and somewhat unsatisfactory positioning to the iPhone 16's Camera Control.

It too serves as a dedicated camera shutter button, complete with two-stage operation for locking focus and a swipe-to-zoom facility that might actually be better than Apple's. It also serves as a two-tap camera shortcut, while a long press will bring up Google Lens, much as it brings up Visual Intelligence on an iPhone.

Hold the Honor 400 Lite in your hand, and all the iPhone comparisons flake away. This is an all-plastic affair, despite the metal-effect frame. It's well-built, with no creaks and a subtle pearlescent finish to the rear.

It's also very light, given its large 161 x 74.6mm footprint, at just 171g, while it's only 7.3mm thick.

You'll also notice the uneven bezel, which gets thicker at the corners and across the chin. That's a sure sign that we're shopping in the £250 category here, though a 93.7% screen-to-body ratio is still pretty decent for a budget phone.

  • Design score: 3.5 / 5

Honor 400 Lite review: display

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  • Solid 6.7-inch FHD+ OLED
  • Gets nice and bright
  • Only a mono speaker

Honor has equipped the 400 Lite with an accomplished 6.7-inch OLED display, with an FHD+ (1080 x 2412) resolution and a maximum refresh rate of 120Hz.

These are all specifications that we've come to expect in the £250 category, and they see the Honor 400 Lite matching the likes of the Poco X7 and the Samsung Galaxy A26.

Not many budget phones can boast a 3500-nit peak brightness, however. PWM dimming of 3840Hz, meanwhile, cuts perceptible flickering and potential eye strain.

In general use, I found this to be a really pleasant display to use, at least once I'd switched away from the ramped-up 'Vivid' color mode to the more muted and natural 'Normal'. It's big, sharp, color-accurate, and responsive, while its brightness scales evenly from very dark (great for low-light viewing) to quite bright.

It's a shame the Always On Display function doesn't meet the description, however, requiring a screen tap to activate.

Also a shame is Honor's enduring insistence on packing its affordable phone with a single downward-firing speaker. It doesn't feel like too much to ask for a solid set of stereo speakers, even at this price.

  • Display score: 4 / 5

Honor 400 Lite review: cameras

Review images of the Honor 400 Lite

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  • 108MP main camera struggles with HDR and night shots
  • Poor 5MP ultra-wide
  • Only 1080p/30fps video

Honor has simplified the camera setup from last year's Honor 200 Lite, with the pointless 2MP macro camera dropping out altogether.

This leaves you with what appears to be the same pair of cameras, specifically a 108MP 1/1.67" f/1.8 main sensor and a 5MP f/2.2 ultra-wide.

The main camera is a competent shooter under ideal conditions, capturing plenty of detail. It's even good enough to produce fairly convincing 2x and 3x crops in the absence of a dedicated telephoto.

There are issues with this main camera, however. It seems to struggle with HDR scenarios, either failing to lift very dark shady areas or otherwise blowing out background highlights.

I also noticed some odd processing effects, including a strange halo effect around distant birds in front of a blue sky.

Review images of the Honor 400 Lite

(Image credit: Future)

Night shots, too, aren't very good, with poor detail and bags of noise. The lack of OIS here is quite evident.

The ultra-wide, meanwhile, is of a pretty substandard quality, lacking in detail and failing to match the tone of the main sensor.

The selfie camera has also changed since the Honor 200 Lite, dropping from a 50MP f/2.1 unit to a 16MP f/2.5. It captures adequate shots with reasonably rich colors, but again struggles with blown-out highlights.

The provision of an LED light is an interesting one. It definitely improved the clarity of my low-light selfie shots and videos when I activated it manually, but is it strictly necessary when most phones simply use a white screen for the job? I'm not so sure.

Talking of video, the main camera maxes out at a weedy 1080p at 30fps. That's a pretty poor effort when rivals such as the Galaxy A26, Moto G75 5G, and Poco X7 can all record at 4K.

  • Camera score: 3 / 5

Honor 400 Lite review: camera samples

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Honor 400 Lite review: performance

Review images of the Honor 400 Lite

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  • MediaTek Dimensity 7025 Ultra is merely adequate
  • Solid 8GB of RAM
  • 256GB of storage

The Honor 400 Lite is equipped with a MediaTek Dimensity 7025 Ultra chipset, which isn't a very strong performer even within the budget phone category.

I've used a phone with this chip before in the Redmi Note 14 5G (which didn't ship in the UK), and I was left pretty unimpressed. Suffice it to say, the Honor 400 Lite did nothing to change my mind on this component.

Across CPU and GPU benchmark tests, it's outgunned by the Moto G75 5G, the Samsung Galaxy A26, and the Poco X7.

I'd like to say that this doesn't matter in practical terms, but that's not the case. There's a generally wallowy feel to everything from unlocking the phone to app startup and even basic animations.

It would be unfair to call this performance halting or stuttery, but everything seems to take a beat longer than it should. I'd be tempted to let it off the hook given the price, but the Poco X7 (to use one example) feels nice and snappy by comparison.

Indeed, while the Poco X7 is capable of running Genshin Impact quite well on Medium settings, the Honor 400 Lite needs to run it at Low or even Lowest if you're to maintain a decent frame rate.

The solitary model available in the UK gives you a solid 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, which is most welcome.

  • Performance score: 3 / 5

Honor 400 Lite review: software

Review images of the Honor 400 Lite

(Image credit: Future)
  • Android 15 with MagicOS 9
  • Six years of OS updates and security patches

With the Honor 400 Lite, you're getting Android 15 fresh out of the box, coated in Honor's latest MagicOS 9 UI. It's not my favorite Android skin by any stretch of the imagination.

Honor evidently doesn't think much of the flowing, vibrant UI design that Google baked into the latest version of Android, preferring instead the square icons and split notification menu of Apple's iOS.

The two UIs really look uncannily alike in places, right down to the look of the Settings menu and the lock screen. The aforementioned Magic Capsule drives this familiar sensation home with its Dynamic Island-style mini-widgets.

Sadly, such an admiration for Apple's work doesn't extend to the company's no-nonsense approach to bloatware. You'll find Facebook, Booking.com, TikTok, Amazon Shopping, ReelShort, LinkedIn, and the Temu shopping app all sitting on the second home screen straight from first boot-up.

There's also a Top Apps folder with four more third-party apps. It's a little excessive, if far from unusual, on Android.

Elsewhere, there's a whopping great themed 'Essentials' folder on the main home screen containing nine of the company's own apps, and another large folder filled with AI-suggested apps that I never found remotely useful.

Review images of the Honor 400 Lite

(Image credit: Future)

Honor also provides its own App Market, which feels completely pointless with the Google Play Store present and accounted for (Honor is no longer part of Huawei, so it isn't hampered by the same sanctions).

There's a smattering of AI features here, including some Google-affiliated ones such as Smart Vision (essentially Google Lens), Google Gemini, and Circle to Search.

Honor has implemented a feature called Magic Portal that somewhat overlaps the latter Google provision, permitting you to draw around text and images before opening up a shortcut menu for sharing the resulting snippets to other apps. It's nowhere near as smart as Circle to Search, but it can actually be quite useful in this more localized on-device application. Or it would be, if the knuckle-based input system wasn't so flaky.

Favourite Space is a folder to quickly stash these hastily scrawled-out snippets. However, given the large number of superfluous preinstalled apps, I'm not sure why there isn't a standard Favourite Space app. I encountered numerous references to it and saved several snippets before it offered to create a shortcut (in the shape of an app icon) on the home screen.

When it comes to image editing, Honor offers a reasonably effective AI Eraser for deleting unwanted objects and people. AI Outpainting is a bizarre but technically impressive feature that essentially turns your regular shots into ultra-wides, using AI to infer what might be just out of frame. It kind of works in terms of creating convincing (though not accurate) images, but I'm not sure why you'd ever want to make use of such fakery beyond a tech demo.

Perhaps the most positive aspect of Honor's software provision on the 400 Lite is the promise of six years of OS and security updates. That's right up there with the Samsung Galaxy A26 in this budget class.

  • Software score: 3 / 5

Honor 400 Lite review: battery life

Review images of the Honor 400 Lite

(Image credit: Future)
  • 5,230mAh battery
  • 35W wired charging
  • No charger in the box

Honor has supplied a larger-than-average 5,230mAh battery with the 400 Lite, which is significantly larger than the 4,500mAh battery of the Honor 200 Lite.

It results in predictably strong stamina. I found that I was able to go through a day of moderate to heavy usage, with 4 hours 40 minutes of screen on time, and be left with 58%.

You could conceivably go through a full two days here, though more intensive applications and mixed network use will, of course, drain that battery much faster.

In an increasingly common move, there's no charger supplied in the box. Honor claims that if you buy the dedicated 35W Honor Wired SuperCharge charger, the phone can power up to 100% in 75 minutes.

In my experience, you don't necessarily need to go out of your way to secure the official brick. While a Xiaomi 120W Hypercharge brick trickled along at a glacial pace, a Samsung 65W Super Fast charger got the job done in just 72 minutes.

As charging rates go, that's not especially quick. The Poco X7, with its 45W charging support, can get its similarly sized battery up to 100% in 50 minutes. The Moto G75 5G only supports 30W charging, but that budget rival also includes wireless charging, which the Honor 400 Lite does not.

  • Battery score: 4 / 5

Should I buy the Honor 400 Lite?

Buy it if...

You'd really like a super cheap iPhone
Honor's design and software decisions reflect an admiration for Apple's iPhone and iOS, but the package on offer here is a fraction of the price.

You want manual camera control
The Honor 400 Lite's AI Camera Button offers a handy two-stage camera shutter button, as well as a camera shortcut.

You want a big phone, but not a heavy one
The Honor 400 Lite gives you a big 6.7-inch display, but the phone itself only weighs 171g.

Don't buy it if...

You want to play lots of games
The Honor 400 Lite runs on a MediaTek Dimensity 7025 Ultra processor, which is far from the fastest in this class.

You want a crisp UI
Honor's MagicOS is pretty cluttered and charmless, and a world away from stock Android.

You take a lot of night shots
In the absence of OIS, the Honor 400 Lite is far from the best low-light shooter.

Honor 400 Lite review: also consider

The Honor 400 Lite isn't the only classy affordable phone on the market. Here are some of the better alternatives to consider.

Motorola Moto G75 5G
Motorola's tough little phone is unusually robust, performs better, and has wireless charging, though its LCD screen is inferior.

Read our full Motorola Moto G75 5G review

Poco X7
The Poco X7 leaves the Honor 400 Lite in the dust on performance, has a better camera setup, and gives you stereo sound. We haven't yet reviewed it fully, mind.

How I tested the Honor 400 Lite

  • Review test period = 1 week
  • Testing included = Everyday usage, including web browsing, social media, photography, gaming, streaming video, music playback
  • Tools used = Geekbench 6, GFXBench, 3DMark, native Android stats, Samsung 65W power adapter

First reviewed: April 2025

I spent a week testing the Nubia Red Magic 10 Air, and it’s a winning blend of power and portability
3:26 pm | April 24, 2025

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Phones | Tags: , , | Comments: Off

Red Magic 10 Air: Two-minute review

With the Red Magic 10 Air, Nubia has essentially taken last year's Red Magic 9 Pro, squeezed it into a much slimmer and less obnoxious design, and charged a lower price for the privilege of owning this newer model.

As repurposing jobs go, it's a very canny one. The Red Magic 10 Air is a highly capable gaming phone that costs less than $600 / £450, and you won't find better performance for the money.

While it runs on a chip that's no longer top of its class, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 remains an excellent runner. It'll handle the latest games extremely fluidly, which is really what matters here.

Nubia's new slimmed-down design is the best it's ever come up with, certainly within the gaming phone space, and it hasn't even had to compromise on battery life to achieve this trimmer body. With a 6,000mAh cell, the Red Magic 10 Air will last two days of normal usage quite easily.

The Nubia Red Magic 10 Air being held in a hand

(Image credit: Future)

While the Game Space gaming UI is still there to let you manage and customize your games, Red Magic OS remains one of the busiest and cheapest-feeling UIs on the market. It's better than it's ever been, but that's really not saying much.

Another continued weak point is the phone's photographic provision. This twin 50MP camera setup will get you adequate pictures in most scenarios, but you can do better even for this sort of money.

Meanwhile, the phone's in-display selfie camera may be good for media content, but it makes for truly terrible selfies.

Ultimately, if you're shopping for a gaming-capable phone for less than £500, the Red Magic 10 Air is one of your best bets – especially if you want a phone that doesn't stretch the lining of your pockets.

We'd still like to see further refinement to the hardware and particularly the software, but the Red Magic 10 Air successfully carves out a new niche, even if we're not 100% sure there's a market for it. Until the day that Asus decides to create a mid-range ROG phone (if that day ever comes), this is the most unassuming gaming phone on the market.

Red Magic 10 Air review: price and availability

Review images for the Nubia Red Magic 10 Air

(Image credit: Future)
  • From £439 / $579
  • Launched on April 23, 2025
  • Flare model expected in June 2025
  • Not available in Australia

The Red Magic 10 Air is on sale now, having commenced open sales on April 23, 2025. The Flare model, with its fetching orange finish, is expected to go on sale a little later, in June 2025.

Pricing starts at $579 / £439 for the Twilight and Hailstone models with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage. You can bump that spec up to 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage (as reviewed here) in all three finishes for $699 / £559.

As always with Red Magic devices, this is a hugely competitive price for the level of performance being supplied. The Air might not be as capable as the Red Magic 10 Pro, but it's also $70 / £140 cheaper than that phone's launch price.

At $579 / £439, it undercuts the Poco F7 Pro – another mid-range performance-focused phone with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip – by £60.

The Red Magic 10 Air is not available in Australia at the time of writing.

  • Value score: 4.5 / 5

Red Magic 10 Air review: specs

Red Magic 10 Air review: design

Review images for the Nubia Red Magic 10 Air

(Image credit: Future)
  • Much slimmer, lighter, and more subtle than Pro
  • 520Hz capacitive shoulder trigger buttons
  • Only IP54 rated
  • Customizable Magic Key

The Red Magic 10 Air is by far the best-looking gaming phone Nubia has ever made, as well as the easiest to live with.

Nubia has significantly stripped back the garish gamer aesthetic, providing a mostly clean etched glass back with only subtle Red Magic branding. Even the RGB lighting has been stripped right back, with just a small ring light positioned above the two rear cameras in its own housing.

My test model is in the Hailstone shade, which is a pleasingly shimmery white. You can also specify it in Twilight (black), while a Flare variant is coming in June for those with a yearning for something more eye-catching. The latter offers a bold orange finish with a black frame, together with a transparent-effect strip running the length of the rear panel.

That 'Air' name needs to be taken in context. A thickness of 7.85mm and a weight of 205g both sound pretty normal for a regular phone, but they work out to be extremely compact for a gaming phone.

Review images for the Nubia Red Magic 10 Air

(Image credit: Future)

Nubia has still managed to equip its latest phone with a large battery, a meaty vapor chamber cooling system, and a handful of extra controls positioned around its aluminum frame – all requirements of the gaming phone format.

Those controls include a pair of 520Hz capacitive shoulder buttons, which can be mapped to gaming controls. This makes competitive shooters such as Warzone Mobile and the new Delta Force, in particular, much more intuitive to play.

The most interesting design tweak, aside from that slimmer body, is the move from a physical hardware switch for entering Nubia's Gamespace UI to a more generic button. Yes, it lacks the tactile clunk of the original, but it gains versatility by being remappable.

While it defaults to the Gamespace UI for launching and managing games, it can be reassigned to a camera shortcut, a mute/silent button, or for turning on the torch.

Like the Red Magic 10 Pro, the Air is only rated to an IP54 level of dust and water resistance. This is well short of the Poco X7 Pro and its flagship-level IP68 rating.

One other signature Red Magic feature is the lack of a visible notch, which means that video and gaming content is completely unobstructed.

  • Design score: 4 / 5

Red Magic 10 Air review: display

Review images for the Nubia Red Magic 10 Air

(Image credit: Future)
  • 6.8-inch AMOLED
  • 2,480 x 1,116 resolution, 120Hz refresh rate
  • 1600-nit peak brightness

Glancing at the specifications of the Red Magic 10 Air's display, it instantly becomes clear what Nubia has done here. It's essentially using the screen from last year's Red Magic 9 Pro.

While that means it's not quite as big, sharp, bright, or responsive as the Red Magic 10 Pro, it still makes for an excellent media canvas.

This is a 6.8-inch 120Hz AMOLED with a 2,480 x 1,116 resolution (aka 1.5K). No, you don't get the Red Magic 10 Pro's 144Hz refresh rate, but you could count on one hand the number of consequential games that really make use of this spec. The new Delta Force shooter is the most recent and notable example, but it's a rarity.

It's more of a shame to lose the 10 Pro's bolstered brightness, though a 1,600-nit peak still proves plenty bright enough in all but the sunniest of conditions.

Colors look vibrant yet natural, at least once you switch away from the default 'Colorful' setting to the better-balanced 'Standard' one. It's a thoroughly pleasant display to use day-to-day, as well as for gaming.

On the audio front, two stereo speakers provide nice spacious sound with a reasonable level of depth – for a mid-range phone, at least – and DTS-X Ultra certification.

  • Display score: 4 / 5

Red Magic 10 Air review: cameras

Review images for the Nubia Red Magic 10 Air

(Image credit: Future)
  • 50MP main with OIS
  • 50MP ultra-wide
  • Improved 16MP selfie camera
  • Up to 8K/30fps video

On the Red Magic 10 Air, Red Magic has stuck with broadly the same camera system as the Red Magic 10 Pro, with one very minor tweak.

The main camera here is a 50MP 1/1.5" OmniVision OV50E with OIS and a 7P lens. The other camera is a 50MP 1/2.88" OmniVision OV50D ultra-wide. There's no dedicated macro camera this time, which is of absolutely no consequence.

These cameras have been present in the past few Pro generations, and they've never impressed. They fall at the lower end of the mid-range camera quality scale, with occasional blown-out highlights in scenarios that call for HDR mode, and unnaturally vibrant colors in general.

Fed with the right amount of light, you can capture solid shots with decent detail. Those punched-up colors ensure that none of your shots will look boring or washed out, and human subjects look quite nice and defined. Portrait mode, too, is reasonably effective at accentuating the subject even without proper depth mapping.

Zoomed shots crop in on the main sensor, and remain serviceable at 2x, but turn to an increasingly noisy mess at 5x and 10x. Night shots, however, look quite crisp and clear, courtesy of a decent-sized sensor and OIS.

The ultra-wide shows a drop-off in detail and depth, as you'd expect from a significantly smaller sensor, but it's not terrible. The tone is broadly consistent with that main camera, which is always welcome.

You also get the same 16MP front camera this time, with the same ruinous in-display configuration. This makes for some of the worst selfie shots you're likely to see in a 2025 phone of any price.

The video recording provision is pretty decent for a mid-range phone, utilizing the Red Magic 10 Air's flagship chip to support 8K/30fps or 4K/60fps.

  • Camera score: 3.5 / 5

Red Magic 10 Air review: camera samples

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Nubia Red Magic 10 Air camera samples

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Nubia Red Magic 10 Air camera samples

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Nubia Red Magic 10 Air camera samples

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Nubia Red Magic 10 Air camera samples

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Nubia Red Magic 10 Air camera samples

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Nubia Red Magic 10 Air camera samples

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Nubia Red Magic 10 Air camera samples

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Nubia Red Magic 10 Air camera samples

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Nubia Red Magic 10 Air camera samples

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Nubia Red Magic 10 Air camera samples

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Nubia Red Magic 10 Air camera samples

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Nubia Red Magic 10 Air camera samples

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Nubia Red Magic 10 Air camera samples

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Nubia Red Magic 10 Air camera samples

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Nubia Red Magic 10 Air camera samples

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Red Magic 10 Air review: performance

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Review images for the Nubia Red Magic 10 Air

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Review images for the Nubia Red Magic 10 Air

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  • Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip is an oldie but a goodie
  • 6,100mm² vapor chamber cooling
  • 12GB or 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM
  • 256GB or 512GB UFS 4.0 storage

The 'Red Magic 9 Pro on a diet' vibes continue with the Red Magic Air 10's Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor. This was the chip of choice for the 2024 Android flagship crowd.

It's since been superseded by the brilliant Snapdragon 8 Elite, as seen in the Red Magic 10 Pro, but that doesn't mean this older chip is obsolete. It remains a very strong runner, and one that continues to be competitive in 2025, especially with either 12 or 16GB of RAM to help it out, as there is here.

In CPU benchmark terms, the Red Magic 10 Air comfortably beats the Pixel 9 Pro XL with its Tensor G4, which is one of the top flagship phones at the moment. I encountered the usual GFX Bench quirk that Nubia phones exhibit, where the GPU frame rate results seem less impressive than they are, but rest assured that this thing flies on practical graphical tasks.

Crucially, it's capable of running the most advanced games on high settings and fluid frame rates. It's a known fact that mobile game development hasn't kept pace with mobile chip technology, which means that the likes of GRID Legends, Genshin Impact, and Warzone Mobile run beautifully on last year's top chip.

It also runs relatively cool. While the Red Magic 10 Air loses the active fan cooling of the Pro series, a 6,100 mm² vapor chamber keeps things from getting too toasty.

A stability score of 89.8% in the demanding 3DMark Solar Bay Stress Test brings the Red Magic 10 Air out ahead of most 2025 flagship phones, if well short of the Red Magic 10 Pro and Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro. This tells you that the phone will broadly maintain its performance over slightly longer gaming sessions.

  • Performance score: 4.5 / 5

Red Magic 10 Air review: software

Review images for the Nubia Red Magic 10 Air

(Image credit: Future)
  • Red Magic OS 10 on Android 15
  • Busy but fluid and customizable UI
  • Dedicated Game Space gaming UI

Nubia has stuck with the same software as on the Red Magic 10 Pro, which means you get Red Magic OS 10 sat atop Android 15.

It's never been an especially appealing interface, with little artistry or subtlety to the icons, menus, and wallpapers. However, Nubia has cleaned up its act significantly over the past few years, and the Red Magic 10 Air offers Red Magic OS at its least obnoxious.

There are no longer any ugly widgets on the home screen when you first boot the phone up. I didn't spot too many typos or glitches, either.

Most of the apps you'll see first are from Google, with the exception of Nubia's own pointless web browser. The second home screen is where all the bloatware lives, including uninvited downloads of TikTok, Facebook, MoboReels (third-rate video clips), MoboReader (a third-rate ebook reader), Booking.com, WPS Office, and Goper (where you can manage all your Nubia devices).

If MoboReader and MoboReels feel somewhat low-rent, wait until you've seen what lives to the left of the home screen in place of Google Feed. Nubia has supplied a bunch of dubious 'Recommended apps', some even worse recommended games, and a bunch of assorted news stories. It all feels very cheap.

Review images for the Nubia Red Magic 10 Air

(Image credit: Future)

With all that said, Red Magic OS 10 is customizable and functional, and it scrolls along at a fair old lick.

Nubia's Game Space game management UI has always been a highlight, insomuch as it caters well to the target demographic. Press that red button, and you'll be taken into a landscape UI that lets you launch games, tweak the phone's performance output, play with screen sensitivity, and manage in-game plug-ins. Think enhanced zoom and sound equalizers in shooters.

AI implementation is pretty minimal compared to many other contemporary phones, despite that meaty AI-ready chip. You get real-time voice translation, Google's usual Magic Editor, Gemini preinstalled, and that's about it. Suffice to say, this isn't the phone to go with if you're excited by the cutting edge of mobile AI.

The Red Magic 10 Air is set to receive three years of Android version updates and three years of security updates. That's an advance on the flagship Red Magic 10 Pro's one Android version and three years of security updates, though it's still not among the best on the market, even at this price.

  • Software score: 3 / 5

Red Magic 10 Air review: battery life

Review images for the Nubia Red Magic 10 Air

(Image credit: Future)
  • 6,000mAh battery
  • Two days of regular usage
  • 100W wired charging (international version)

Given that Nubia has slimmed the Red Magic 10 Air down significantly compared to the Pro line, you'd expect something to give on the battery capacity front.

Something has indeed given, but only relatively speaking. Out goes the mammoth 7,050mAh battery of the Red Magic 10 Pro; in comes a still-huge 6,000mAh cell.

In general use, I found that this sizeable battery was quite comfortably capable of lasting through two days of moderate usage. A day with 3 hours and 15 minutes of screen-on time left me with 62%.

The international version of the Red Magic 10 Air comes with a 100W charger, but the model I was sent only had the 80W charger that comes with the Chinese model. I say 'only', but it was still able to get from empty to 100% in a creditable 51 minutes.

As with the rest of the Red Magic range, there's no wireless charging provision here. That's even more forgivable at this lower price, though.

It's a shame there's no second USB-C port, as with the Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro. I found gaming while charging quite tricky, as reaching the right-hand shoulder button proved particularly awkward.

  • Battery score: 4.5 / 5

Should I buy the Red Magic 10 Air?

Buy it if...

You like to game, but don't want to fill your pocket
The Red Magic 10 Air isn't exactly a small phone, but it isn't as obnoxiously big as other gaming phones.

You don't have more than $600 / £450 to spend on your gaming phone
Red Magic phones are always great value, but the Air comes in at less than $600 / £450. It's a gaming phone bargain.

You hate notches
Nubia uses an in-display notch for its phones, which means it doesn't get in the way of video and gaming content.

Don't buy it if...

You take a lot of selfies
Selfies on the 10 Air are bad – really, really bad – thanks to that in-display notch.

You appreciate a clean UI
Red Magic OS is busy and ugly, and a world away from Google's stock Android.

You're a hardcore mobile gamer
The 10 Air is undeniably a gaming phone, but if you're someone who spends hours playing mobile games every day, the Red Magic 10 Pro or the Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro will serve you better.

Red Magic 10 Air review: also consider

The Red Magic 10 Air isn't the only gaming-ready mid-range smartphone on the market. Here are some of the alternatives to consider.

Xiaomi Poco F7 Pro
Perhaps the closest competitor to the Red Magic 10 Air, Xiaomi's budget performance champ runs the same Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, the same-sized 6,000mAh battery, and costs only a little more money. It also packs an even better screen and a way better selfie cam.

Read our full Xiaomi Poco X7 Pro review

Nubia Red Magic 9 Pro
Shop around and you'll still be able to find the Red Magic 9 Pro or the Red Magic 9S Pro selling brand new, probably for a decent price. These phones have the same screen and processor as the Red Magic 10 Air, but a slightly larger battery and superior cooling.

Read our full Nubia Red Magic 9 Pro review

How I tested the Red Magic 10 Air

  • Review test period = 1 week
  • Testing included = Everyday usage, including web browsing, social media, photography, gaming, streaming video, music playback
  • Tools used = Geekbench 6, GFXBench, 3DMark, native Android stats, Red Magic 80W power adapter

First reviewed: April 2025

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