Sony has announced its most powerful game console yet, the PlayStation 5 Pro, which is an updated model of the PlayStation 5 that was announced back in 2020.
Like the PS4 Pro before it, the PS5 Pro is aimed entirely at improving the graphical fidelity of its games, with three key new improvements towards that goal.
The first of this is an upgraded GPU. While it's still based on the same architecture, the PS5 Pro GPU now features 67% more compute units and 28% faster memory. Sony claims that these changes provide 45% faster rendering of games compared to the PS5.
The other...
Hands-on iPhone 16 Pro Max review: Two-minute preview
At a glance, the iPhone 16 Pro Max doesn't look or feel much different from what preceded it, and perhaps that's to be expected. The competitive game of smartphones is now one of inches. The question is, can the small or even invisible changes add up to something big?
In the early going with the iPhone 16 Pro Max, I'd say the answer is yes.
Design-wise, it's a doppelganger for the iPhone 15 Pro Max...except it isn't. As soon as I held a sleek Titanium Black one, I was struck by the screen. It's still Super Retina XDR, but somehow, it seems much larger. Where the iPhone 15 Pro Max offered a 6.7-inch display, this one is 6.9 inches. That is Apple's largest iPhone display ever. Thankfully, Apple did not do this by simply making the whole device larger (it is a bit larger but more or less a wash-on weight difference). One way Apple gained so much visible screen real estate was by shrinking the black bezel surrounding it way down. I suspect that someday, that bezel will disappear altogether.
A bigger screen does make everything seem bigger, brighter, and better. But it's not just that.
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(Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
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There is one other truly noticeable physical difference between the old and new iPhones. The iPhone 16 Pro Max (actually the whole line of iPhone 16 phones) has the new Camera Control.
This button is a bigger deal than I imagined, and I'm almost embarrassed to say that I already like it quite a bit.
(Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
Covered in sapphire, the roughly half-inch long button sits on the phone's left side a couple of inches down from the power/sleep/Siri button. It's recessed (which is important, and I'll explain why in a bit) and is both a physical button and a haptic one.
A hard press gives instant access to the iPhone 16 Pro Max camera. That's a nice trick, but, of course, you could program the Action Button to do so, too. However, when I pressed lightly on Camera Control, I felt a little haptic vibration and then could sweep up and down on the button to quickly switch between the phone's cameras. If I lightly pressed twice, I gained access to deeper image controls.
Using the Camera Control, however, was not initially obvious. I was pressing too hard and then not hard enough. It took me about 20 seconds to figure it out.
(Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
I could use Camera Control to switch zoom, depth of field, and image styles. Oh, and you're not blindly guessing which settings the Camera Control enables. Every time I used it, a little black cutout appeared on the screen right next to the button to show me every setting and control.
Yes, if you hold the phone in landscape mode, it begins to feel like you're using a traditional camera...with one caveat. The feature that would let me light press to lock focus and long press to shoot is not yet enabled. I can, though, always full press to complete taking a photo.
I even saw how Snapchat is already using Camera Control to control images simply and send photos to friends with the press of a button.
Camera Control seems like a slight misnomer. The button will also be used to enable Vision Intelligence, which lets you point the phone at an object and press the button to get a description. It's like Circle to Search without the circle or, I guess, Google.
As I noted above, the button is recessed, and I found that it's quite hard to trigger it accidentally. That's a good thing.
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The other big changes are in software and silicon. Inside the iPhone 16 Pro Max is the new A18 Pro. This is the apex Apple silicon mobile chip, a 3nm CPU that has more power for the Pro phones. It should also provide enough power to game to your heart's content. The iPhone 15 Pro Max was a pretty decent little gaming console, so I would expect no less from this bigger and better-equipped beast. I'll know more when I finally test the phone.
You won't need to play a game to experience this power, though. Like the A18 found in the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus, the A18 Pro has all the juice you need for the Apple Intelligence.
In my brief experience with the iPhone 16 Pro Max, this is not full-boat Apple Intelligence. When the iPhone ships next week, it won't have any Apple intelligence, but an iOS update should roll out next month and then Apple will slowly seed the rest of Apple Intelligence into these iOS 18-running iPhone 16 handsets over the coming months.
(Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
Here's what I did quickly try the demo iPhone 16 Pro Max phones running a later version of iOS 18:
I brought up some photos and navigated to the new Clean Up tool. I found photos that Apple had taken and some that others in the demo room added to the phone. In one, I used my finger to paint over offending objects and watched as they disappeared. I didn't make it easy for the phone, and sometimes there was only a partial deletion. When I used a canned photo with a distinct person in the background, Apple Intelligence Clean Up automatically found and highlighted them. I tapped the screen, and they disappeared. It was as if they were never there.
I tried the Writing tools, which I still think are sort of hidden, in Notes. There were many offers to change the text to be more professional, more concise, or a total rewrite. This is not a feature I am likely to use, but I suspect some will think it a godsend.
Siri has an all-new look, and she now makes the iPhone 16 Pro Max screen glow when you summon her. The effect is beautiful on the big-screen phone. It was a loud room, so Siri only caught part of my request. I think I asked for her to show me a photo of where I am, but she only heard "where I am" and quickly brought up my location.
(Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
While I took a few pictures, I can't offer anything definitive about the cameras. What I will say is that there is good news in this updated camera array. Now we have two 48MP cameras, one on the main Fusion camera and another on the new ultrawide. There's also still the 12MP 5x tetraprism lens. The main camera is reportedly faster than ever, with virtually no shutter lag. Between that and the updated image pipeline, I expect photography on this big phone to be better than ever.
I have not tried out the new Cinematic Slow Motion, which looks insanely cool, nor did I get a chance to try the studio-grade mics. I did see the latter in action and was impressed by how the In-frame setting could cut away any sound not coming from whatever was in the frame. I also thought the studio quality, which left in the background noises but emphasized the main subjects' sounds, was quite good.
The new 4k 120fps-capable camera looks like it will transform how people take dramatic videos. I like that there's a new speed control that will allow for easier stepping up and down of playback speed (half or quarter speed).
(Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
My takeaway from all these new photo and video tools is that this may be the ultimate pro videographer phone option. Apple, by the way, shot its entire Glowtime video presentation on an iPhone, and it's no wonder. The iPhone 16 Pro Max is a powerful device with some serious skills.
Apple is promising better battery life on all the iPhone 16 models, but the gains may be especially great on the iPhone 16 Pro Max. Its much larger battery, coupled with the efficient A18 Pro and more battery management, might add hours to the battery life, but I won't know for sure until I test it.
Finally, there's the look of this phone. As I mentioned above, I got to touch the Titanium Black. It is a gorgeous device, and I really can't understand why you would want any other color. But if you're so inclined, it's available in White, Natural, and new Desert Titanium (think sand but shinier).
Is this the best iPhone Apple has ever made? Possibly, It'll certainly claim a spot near the top of our best iPhone list and maybe even best smartphones. I'll offer my definitive take when I finish my full review.
Hands-on iPhone 16 Pro Max review: Price and availability
(Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
Starts at $1,199 / £1,199 / AU$2,149
Pre-orders open on September 13, shipping from September 20
The iPhone 16 Pro Max was announced at Apple's 'It's Glowtime' event on Monday, September 9. iPhone 16 preorders will begin on Friday, September 9, and the new phone will hit store shelves on Friday, September 20.
The iPhone 16 Pro Max starts at $1,199 / £1,199 / AU$2,149 for the model with 256GB of storage, with that price rising to $1,599 / £1,599 / AU$2,849 for the model with 1TB of storage. For context, those are the same starting and maximum prices as the iPhone 15 Pro Max.
Full iPhone 16 Pro Max pricing is as follows:
Hands-on iPhone 16 Pro Max review: Specs
(Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
Below, you'll find a roundup of the iPhone 16 Pro Max's key specs.
Tecno has AI now, because of course it does - it's 2024 and if you don't have it, you lose. Or something like that. At IFA in Berlin, Tecno has introduced its "AI Vision", which isn't a pair of glasses or contact lenses, but its very own AI feature suite that will "enhance productivity, provide more practical value, and offer easier creative fun". The features will be rolled out on "Tecno's outstanding smart device ecosystem" soon.
At the core of the brand's AI Vision is the revamped Ella AI Assistant, which is "connected to Gemini", whatever that means. Ella has "smart Q&A conversational...
Tecno has AI now, because of course it does - it's 2024 and if you don't have it, you lose. Or something like that. At IFA in Berlin, Tecno has introduced its "AI Vision", which isn't a pair of glasses or contact lenses, but its very own AI feature suite that will "enhance productivity, provide more practical value, and offer easier creative fun". The features will be rolled out on "Tecno's outstanding smart device ecosystem" soon.
At the core of the brand's AI Vision is the revamped Ella AI Assistant, which is "connected to Gemini", whatever that means. Ella has "smart Q&A conversational...
This year's IFA in Berlin is quite busy for Honor, bringing a slew of new devices to global markets, including the MagicBook Art 14 included. But in addition to the Intel-powered version, the company also announced a the MagicBook Art 14 Snapdragon PC.
This model is now making its official debut, not being released in China first, and by the looks of it retains much of the same hardware but with the Snapdragon X Elite inside. This will potentially enable better energy efficiency, longer battery life and more on-board AI features.
The device still uses a 14.6-inch OLED touchscreen...
If you’ve heard of the HoverAir X1, you’ll already have some idea of what the DJI’s latest drone, DJI Neo is capable of. But in true DJI fashion, the Neo isn’t simply capable of incredibly easy-to-operate autonomous flight to capture photos and videos, it can also be flown like a camera drone and even used as an FPV drone when paired with DJI’s FPV controllers and goggles.
It’s often said that one size rarely fits all, but the Neo does an impressive job of catering to a wide range of drone pilots from absolute beginners looking for pure simplicity to advanced FPV pilots and everyone in between. It’s an interesting and exciting concept that moves the Neo away from simply being a clone of the HoverAir X1.
(Image credit: James Abbott)
It’s still an extremely simple drone, electronics and algorithms aside, with only downward visual positioning and a single-axis gimbal. Stabilization is provided in-camera unless switched off with Rocksteady or HorizonBalancing modes available. Stabilization is achieved thanks to the 1/2-inch sensor providing plenty of pixels to cover up to 45 degrees of horizontal tilt when capturing video.
Photo and video capture is pretty basic with 4K 30fps being the only UHD option, while FHD can be shot at 30, 50 and 60fps. 12MP photos can only be captured in JPEG format and can be set to 4:3 or 16:9 aspect ratios. This comes as little surprise given the competitive price of the Neo, but with multiple controller and flight options available, a little more functionality in the photo and video department is always welcome.
DJI Neo: release date and price
Released September 5 2024
The base kit costs just $199 / £169 / AU$299
Fly More Bundle costs £299 / AU$539 but not available in the US
The DJI Neo was announced and is available for sale in the DJI Store and other retailers on September 5 2024. Despite the multiple ways the Neo can be controlled, there are two main kits available with the base kit including the drone, battery and accessories costing $199 / £169 / AU$299.
This kit allows for controller-free and app-controlled flight, while the Fly More Bundle includes the drone, a DJI RC-N3 Controller, three Smart Batteries and a Battery Charging Hub. This kit costs $289 (DJI Neo Combo in US which doesn't include the controller) / £299 / AU$539.
The Fly More Bundle allows for controller-free, app control and to fly the Neo like a camera drone using the RC-N3 Controller. The Neo can also be paired with the DJI FPV Remote Controller 3 and DJI Goggles 3 for manual FPV flight, or the goggles and the DJI RC Motion 3 for intuitive FPV control.
If you don’t already own these devices, they will drive up the cost of the Neo substantially to the point where the DJI Avata 2 could be the better option if FPV is your thing.
(Image credit: James Abbott)
DJI Neo: design and handling
Micro whoop design
Enclosed propellers
Single axis gimbal
To cut a corner or two, the easiest way to describe the Neo is to say it’s a little like a mini DJI Avata 2; it has propeller guards, but with top and bottom guards to protect people during autonomous flight, and the camera sits at the front and moves and stabilizes mechanically on a single axis. Horizontal stabilization is applied electronically in-camera.
DJI Neo key specs
Camera: 12MP 1/2-inch sensor Video resolution: Up to 4K Frame rates: 4K 30fps / FHD up to 60fps Video transmission range: 6.2 miles (FCC), 3.7 miles (CE/SRRC/MIC) Flight modes: Sport, Normal, Cine (Manual with the FPV Controller 3) Battery: 1435mAh / up to 18 minutes flight time Charger type: USB-C / Battery Charging Hub Weight: 4.76oz / 135g Dimensions: 5.12x6.18x1.90in / 130×157×48.5mm
In DJI’s signature light grey that’s used for the Mini series of drones, the Neo is incredibly small and lightweight. It’s essentially slightly larger than the palm of your hand, which is ideal for palm take-off and landing, and weighs in at a mere 4.76oz / 135g. This makes it regulator-friendly in most regions since it’s below the all-important 250g threshold, but remember to check local rules if it’s your first drone.
Despite the low weight, the Neo is built to a high quality and feels robust in the hand. The top-mounted propeller guards are removable to allow the propellers to be changed when necessary, but the main propeller guards are part of the airframe. This suggests that home repairs won’t be possible if damage occurs in a crash so if you plan on using the Neo for FPV, taking out DJI Care Refresh would be a good choice.
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I’ve already listed all of the controller options so I won’t go into detail again, but will instead focus on the DJI Fly app and the RC-N3 Controller, which are part of the standard kits and are likely to be the most commonly used control methods.
The Neo can be flown without an app, using just the mode button on the top to initiate autonomous flight, using the DJI Fly app as a ground station for autonomous flight or using the on-screen controls.
The Fly More bundle include the DJI RC-N3 Controller, which extends the transmission distance from 50m when using the app with the Neo’s WiFi to standard camera drone distances.
These are, of course, governed by the aviation authority where you live. The RC-N3 Controller also makes the Neo behave like a camera drone, with standard controls and features such as Return to Home.
DJI Neo: features and performance
Unremarkable flight speeds
Intelligent flight modes
AI subject tracking
The Neo is pretty pedestrian in terms of flight speed at just 1.11mph in Cine mode, 13.42mph in Normal mode and 17.89mph in Sport mode when flying autonomously or using the RC-N3 Controller. It feels slow but is certainly fast enough to track most subjects, including cyclists, with that top speed.
Flight speed is doubled to 35.79mph when using the DJI FPV Remote Controller 3 in Manual mode, so it does have some grunt tucked up its sleeve if you have the right controller and DJI Goggles 3. Not to mention, the skills and ability to fly in this mode alongside the cash available to purchase the controller and goggles if you don’t already own a set.
For beginners though, these speeds won’t cause any issues and the ability to fly the Neo with or without any other device, through voice control or manually like a camera drone using the DJI Fly app controls or the RC-N3 Controller is ideal. For drone-only use of the Neo, it can take off and land in the palm of your hand once the selected intelligent flight mode has completed, except for Follow mode.
(Image credit: James Abbott)
Intelligent flight modes include Follow, Dronie, Circle, Rocket, Spotlight and Custom (Omni, Helix, and Boomerang). AI subject tracking also aims to keep the subject in the centre of the frame during photo and video capture, so if you’re taking a group photo with the Neo, for example, you’d have to make sure you’re standing centre front.
The overall design of the Neo has safety in mind, and when used with the RC-N3 Controller you can enjoy GPS, an on-screen map and Return to Home. There’s no collision avoidance, but there are downward vision positioning sensors with a precision range of 0.5-10m. Plus, the Neo offers up to level 4 wind resistance, which is 18mph.
When used with the DJI RC Motion 3 Controller, as well as enjoying intuitive motion controls for FPV flight, you can also take advantage of Easy ACRO where you can Flip, Roll and 180° Drift the Neo. It’s an easy way to enjoy acro flight without advanced manual flight skills and is inherited from the Avata 2 when paired with the Motion 3. This is by far the easiest way to fly FPV flight.
DJI Neo: image and video quality
1/2-inch sensor
Up to 4K 30fps video
12MP JPEG photos
The Neo features a 12MP 1/2-inch sensor which allows for 45 degrees of horizontal tilt when using Image Stabilization with either Rocksteady or HorizonBalancing modes. The camera provides a 117.6-degree field of view, with a full-frame equivalent focal length of 13mm, so nice and wide for close-to-subject tracking.
Keeping things simple, the aperture is fixed at f/2.8 with fixed focus providing focus from 60cm to infinity. The ISO range extends from ISO 100 to 6400 in both Manual and Auto shooting modes, with the shutter speed ranging from 1/8000 to 1/10 sec for photos and 1/8000 to 1/30 sec for video.
(Image credit: James Abbott)
Photo and video functionality is pretty basic, but you get everything you need at a consumer level with 4K video locked at 30fps with a bitrate of 75Mbps, so it’s reasonably compressed but not too much.
The color profile is Standard for straight-out-of-camera footage, with no flat profile available for color grading within a professional workflow. Looking at the design of the Neo and the camera, it doesn’t look like it would support ND filters to control shutter speed, but I could be wrong.
Photos can only be captured in JPEG format, which is a shame but no big deal since DJI’s JPEG processing is respectable. Photos can be captured in 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratios, with Single and Timed Shot available, so once again basic but adequate for a beginner drone.
There’s no microSD card slot on the Neo, but you do get 22GB of on-board storage which DJI says equates to 40 minutes of 4K 30fps video or 55 minutes of 1080p 60fps video. This can be transferred to the the DJI Fly App when connected to the Neo’s WiFi using Quick Transfer, or downloaded to your computer when the Neo is connected via the included USB-C PD cable.
How I tested the DJI Neo
Limited access to features due to pre-release issues
Flown with the DJI RC-N3 Controller
DJI Fly app options checked
I was flying a pre-release version of the DJI Neo and faced several issues between my phone and the pre-release version of the DJI Fly app, which meant that the camera feed wasn’t showing in the app.
This made simple autonomous flight impossible because the drone needs to see a face before it will take off. It was, however, possible to fly the Neo with my phone connected to the DJI RC-N3 Controller.
There was still no camera feed and capturing photos and video was impossible, but with GPS available and standard flight controls, I was able to test the flight performance. Plus, with the propeller guards.
I was able to confidently fly close to and through tight gaps; it wasn’t FPV, but it was still a clear advantage of the Neo’s design that provided enjoyable flights.
Honor will begin the global rollout of the Magic V3 on September 5 during IFA 2024 in Berlin. Today, we learned it will come with three cloud AI features that will be powered by Google Cloud.
Honor Magic V3's global version will bring several on-device AI features like Magic Portal on Foldable, allowing two different floating apps to work simultaneously, enabling better multitasking.
Google will then add the following features – AI Eraser, Face to Face Translation, and Notes Live Translation. They will need online connectivity for the processing and language packages, but...
Need to work with PDFs online, and be able to edit and convert documents to other formats? Then HiPDF from Wondershare is about as accessible as they come.
We’ve reviewed the best PDF editors and even the best free PDF editors, but very few offer AI capabilities. So, how does Wondershare HiPDF execute its artificial intelligence feature-set, and is it any good? We put the software to the test.
Wondershare HiPDF: Pricing & plans
A simple subscription plan, and an option to try out most features for free, gives you a relatively good balance of options
Although you can access HiPDF for free, arguably its most useful tool is hidden behind a paywall. The free option lets you work with files that are at most 20MB in size, and comprise up to 100 pages. AI tools are also present but to be frank what you can do with them for free essentially amounts to a taster for what’s on offer.
There are three subscription plans available: a monthly option, currently set to around $6 per month, or a yearly one which would be the equivalent of $3.33 per month. Subscribing grants you access to Optical Character Recognition (OCR) tools, faster file processing, and more AI tokens. Oh and the icing on the cake is no more ads. The third plan is to vastly expand your AI token amount: just under $10 a month for 2,000,000 (the other plans grant you 50,000, while a free account only has 5,000).
Wondershare also offers a 30-day money back guarantee. You can check out HiPDF by clicking here.
Pricing & plans: 4/5
Wondershare HiPDF: Tools
With this service, OCR means preserving selectable text from a PDF to another format, and you can only have that if you pay (Image credit: Wondershare )
All the tools you'd expect, though some feel limited or show a cumbersome workflow
Whether you elect to go for a subscription or a free trial, you’ll need to create a free Wondershare account before proceeding further.
Everything is done online. You’ll find a menu bar which lets you access all available tools, with a few of the most popular ones highlighted to that menu’s right.
If you’ve used such online PDF tools before, you’ll feel right at home with HiPDF. There are however some serious limitations, especially if you elect to work with HiPDF’s free version. For instance, all tools that allow you to convert PDFs to another format, whether it’s a Microsoft Office document (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), or HTML, will turn your file into non-editable, and non-selectable text. Yes the formatting is preserved, but there’s not much you can do with it once it’s in its new format.
To sidestep that limitation, you’ll need to opt for the ‘OCR’ option, which is a premium tool, and hence only available once you pay. As with many of the best OCR software solutions we’ve tried, you might’ve expected ‘OCR’ to be connected to scanning, but here it means recognising text which is already selectable, and preserving it in the new format.
Converting other formats to PDF was a better affair, and not only did the process work fine (a little slow, but that was to be expected for a free account), it automatically downloaded once complete, giving us a perfectly preserved version with selectable text to boot.
The various tools designed to organize your PDFs work flawlessly. With them, you can merge files, split them, and rearrange pages. It’s a shame though there isn’t an ability to do all of this in one go. We can easily imagine a scenario where you need to extract pages from a file, which will download two documents, with the pages you want in one and those you don’t in another. You’ll then need to reload the correct pages with other PDFs you wish to merge them with, which will download the merged version, and finally you need to re-upload that merged file to rearrange the pages within it. It’s a very convoluted, inefficient, and slow process. But it works.
Replacing text is a cumbersome affair (Image credit: Wondershare )
Other tools include the ability to work with images, such as extracting them from a PDF, cropping and resizing them, and converting them to another format. Not really PDF related per se, but it’s good to know they’re available nonetheless, should you need them.
Finally, you’ll find some tools designed to protect your PDF by embedding a password into it, or removing said password (as long as you know what it is of course). The redact tool created a rectangular block over your chosen text. You even get to choose the colour. As for the signature tool, you do get to add your own - be it text based, drawn, or from an imported image - but you won’t be able to fill in other blank fields. For that, you need to head over to the Edit tools.
‘Edit PDF’ lets you add text fields, highlight existing text, add shapes and images, and sign a document (a better alternative than the sole signature tool mentioned above, if you ask us, as you can do so much more besides). For dedicated tools for this task, we've reviewed the best eSignature software solutions. The ‘Replace Text’ is very primitive. It works as a search and replace tool. With it you can look for a word or a text combination, and replace it with another. But you can do it only once: this will download the new PDF. Should you wish to make further alterations, you’ll have to upload that new file and change it again. Very time consuming. On the plus side though, all of these tools can be used for free.
Tools: 3.5/5
You can use HiPDF to sign and fill in a document (Image credit: Wondershare )
Wondershare HiPDF: AI
The various AI tools are interesting, like being able to translate a PDF (Image credit: Wondershare )
An interesting assortment of AI-based tools to help you interact with any PDF. They all work well - shame the tokens run out so fast
HiPDF offers a certain number of AI-based tools, some of which are very similar to what Google already offers for free, such as translation. But others are more interesting: who wouldn’t want to ‘Chat with PDF’ or even get AI to ‘Explain PDF’, right?
All available services work as advertised and as expected. You’ll find the original document on the left, and any interaction you have with it will appear on the right, be it a translation, a summary, or a question and answers session with the AI about the content of said document.
Only problem is, this service works with tokens and even though you start with 5,000 of them, you’ll find they get gobbled up in a flash. In our experiment, we were able to ask one question, get one translation done, or request one summary. We ran out after that each time.
AI: 4/5
You can even ask AI a question about the content of a PDF (Image credit: Wondershare )
Should I buy Wondershare HiPDF?
HiPDF has loads of tools, including an easy to use redaction feature (Image credit: Wondershare )
Buy it if...
If you’re in the market for some simple tools to edit your PDF documents, or convert files to and from PDF, and enjoy toying with AI features
Don't buy it if...
You don’t fancy conversion tools that only work properly (ie allow you to select converted text) if you subscribe, and are no fan of AI.
The Sony Xperia 1 VI is Sony’s top Android phone, and it will seem pretty familiar to existing Sony fans. Even with a significant change to the screen aspect ratio versus the Sony Xperia 1 V, using the Xperia 1 VI feels like meeting an old friend.
A lot of the typical Sony strengths and weaknesses are here too. The Sony Xperia 1 VI’s key charm is in the way it rejects several contemporary smartphone trends. It has a headphone jack. It has expandable memory. It doesn’t have a camera cutout in the screen, and Sony hasn’t cut down battery capacity just to make the Xperia 1 VI marginally thinner.
These will all seem smart moves to a good chunk of the phone-buying audience out for something a little different. And you still get high-end camera hardware, a top-tier chip, good speakers, and an eye-catching screen — just about all the usual elements expected of a pricey Android phone.
(Image credit: Future / Andrew Williams)
The Sony Xperia 1 VI does cost a packet, though, and arguably isn’t hugely competitive considering some of the slightly less advanced parts.
These include slower-than-ideal fast charging, camera processing that still lags a little behind the best for dynamic range optimization and night-time image processing. I also found the rear disappointingly prone to visible scratches, despite the use of high-end toughened glass.
A big part of the appeal here is the handful of features that Sony’s Xperia 1 VI shares with much lower-end phones. There’s still a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a microSD slot built into the SIM tray. These are not expensive features to implement, but are vanishingly rare in phones of this level.
The Sony Xperia 1 VI is a lovely phone, but you had better buy into its specific style for the outlay to be worthwhile.
Sony Xperia 1 VI review: price and availability
Costs £1,299 / AU$1,899
No US availability
512GB storage version available in some territories
The Sony Xperia 1 VI is priced just like its predecessor. But unlike the Sony Xperia 1 V, this phone is not slated for release in the US.
In the UK you’ll pay £1,299, and AU$1,899 in Australia. That gets you a 12GB RAM and 256GB storage configuration. There’s also a 512GB storage version available in some territories. But with a microSD slot onboard, seeking one of these out or paying more for the additional storage may not be all that appealing.
The phone was announced in mid-May 2024, with general availability in June 2024.
Sony Xperia 1 VI review: specs
Here's the Sony Xperia 1 VI spec sheet in full:
Sony Xperia 1 VI review: design
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Classic boxy Sony design
Excellent water resistance rating
Scratch-prone rear panel
Samey or confident? The Sony Xperia 1 VI has a design much like the phone before it. This look — a no-nonsense block — has been Sony’s house style since 2012.
Changes therefore come in some of the finer points. The Sony Xperia 1 VI has an embossed, textured glass back, and it comes in red, silver and black, as well as the subdued green seen here. It's more of an ordinary shape too, as Sony’s ultra-long 21:9 screen has been traded for a more standard 19.5:9 aspect ratio.
As usual, Sony makes use of high-grade materials on the Xperia 1 VI. The front and rear glass is Gorilla Glass Victus (Vitus 2 for the front). Unfortunately, the treatment on the rear panel doesn’t seem to be nearly as resilient as the glass itself.
On the first day of use, I managed to put a series of scratches on the back. These stand out because, it would appear, they make the matt finish more shiny. And since then more have appeared.
I didn’t go to the beach or throw the phone around. The Sony Xperia 1 VI just seems unusually susceptible to damage, at least in this particular finish. And I’ve not had many complaints to level at matt glass phones before, even ones whose ruggedization sounds a lot worse on paper.
Other ruggedisation cred here is good, though. The Xperia 1 VI is rated at the IP68 and IP65 standards, meaning it can be submerged in water at a depth of up to 1.5 meters, and can withstand low-pressure water jets; you just need to make sure the SIM tray and its rubber gasket are properly in place.
This is a mid-size phone, but it feels a little larger than its screen size might suggest thanks to its blocky shape, and the way the lack of a camera punch-hole extends the upper-screen border a bit. There’s a combi fingerprint reader/power button on the side rather than an in-screen one and, just like the last generation, it’s not the fastest around to unlock the Xperia 1 VI, being a touch more leisurely than some.
Design score: 3 / 5
Sony Xperia 1 VI review: display
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(Image credit: Future / Andrew Williams)
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(Image credit: Future / Andrew Williams)
High maximum brightness
Lower resolution than the last generation
More ordinary shape than before
We tech reviewers like it when a product gets you more, for less money. But less for more money? You might be in trouble.
Sony once became famous for putting 4K screens in its high-end phones. The Sony Xperia 1 VI takes the opposite road. It has an elongated 1080p screen, one with a much lower pixel density than its predecessor.
The key question: does it matter? At this size, pixelation isn’t obvious even in small fonts. And thanks to what appears to be careful anti-aliasing, you notice it more as a slight softness when looking close up. I’ll level with you: I didn’t notice until a week into testing when I started looking at this phone’s vital statistics.
However, it’s one reason to drop the Sony Xperia 1 VI down a tier if you’re considering a bunch of these super-expensive phones.
It's otherwise strong, though. The Sony Xperia 1 VI is super-bright, and seems to reach its high brightness mode when outdoors more swiftly than some.
With launch software, it reached 720 nits in ordinary conditions, which increased to around 800 nits after an update. The screen can go brighter when it’s particularly light outside. I could only get my tester tool to register 920 nits (full field white), but others have measured as high as 1,300 nits. Either way, clarity outdoors is great.
This is also a screen made to save power. It’s a 120Hz refresh display, but in its default mode, it drops right down to 15Hz when displaying static content. Sony says it can actually go down to 1Hz, but I’ve only seen it cycle between 15Hz and 120Hz. You can also set it to cycle between 60Hz and 15Hz instead. But after switching, the loss of motion clarity is quite striking.
Display score: 4 / 5
Sony Xperia 1 VI review: cameras
(Image credit: Future / Andrew Williams)
Excels at shooting subjects very near and very far
Excellent shot-to-shot shooting speed
Night image quality and dynamic range optimization could be improved
The Sony Xperia 1 VI has three rear cameras, with an array not dissimilar to that of the last generation. There’s a standard camera, a dedicated zoom and an ultra-wide.
It’s not all business as usual, though. Previous iterations had multiple camera apps. It was intended to provide both a standard phone experience and one closer to the feeling of using Sony’s Alpha-series mirrorless cameras.
This approach had as much a cluttering effect as anything else. There’s now one key camera app, and it has a Pro mode inside that provides the manual control of the older models. But the one useful “pro” videographer app is apparently making a return at some point in the Xperia 1 VI, according to Sony. To accompany that style, the phone also has a physical shutter button that, just like a “real” camera’s, can be depressed halfway to focus without capturing an image.
The range of the optical zoom camera has changed too, from 3.5x-5.2x to 3.5x-7.1x. This camera even has “telephoto macro” shooting, which simply means the zoom camera’s lens is capable of focusing incredibly close-up for a camera of this type.
It is unnervingly effective, capable of “seeing” the subpixels on a MacBook Air’s display — the red, white and blue components of an LCD’s pixel that make white when shining out concurrently. Those are some serious macro photography chops.
This zoom camera is a blast to use all-round. It’s great for gigs, particularly if there’s a good amount of light or you’re shooting at a festival during the day. There’s a real pro feel to the way the Xperia 1 VI just lets you shoot away at full speed, because it lets the images sit in a queue for processing when there's a spare moment rather than slowing shooting down.
You can tell there’s a drop in lens sharpness at the max zoom. And low-light shooting isn’t amazing. But the sheer shooting flexibility it puts at your fingers is creatively freeing. The Sony Xperia 1 VI is some of the most fun I’ve had with a camera all year. That the zoom also works so well super-close too, only adds to the charm of this little lens and sensor combo.
The main camera’s primary strengths are its charming color reproduction and general decent-looking processing of detail up close. While there’s some evidence of a sharpening technique at work, the overall impression is of a camera happy to appear a little softer and more natural than over-processed and painterly.
The ultra-wide camera isn’t quite as strong. But like all the best ultra-wides in expensive phones, you can switch to it and expect roughly the same character and comparable image quality you’d see from the primary camera. Aside from at night, where the drop in native sensitivity is more obvious.
There are some weaker elements, though. The Sony Xperia 1 VI is more susceptible to overexposure than rivals from Samsung, Xiaomi, and Huawei, for example. This won’t usually be giant parts of the image, just smaller areas a more advanced HDR engine could pick up on.
The Sony Xperia 1 VI is also far from the best in low light. It’s probably the worst contender at the price for simple auto-mode shooting. Sure, the processing brightens images up dramatically and there’s a respectable level of detail. But photos don’t have the level of detail in shadows as seen elsewhere.
Video quality is good but, again, you lose some of the spotlight-pulling features of rivals. You can’t shoot at 8K, which isn’t hugely useful for most folks anyway.
You can, however, shoot at up to 4K, 120 frames per second with all three rear cameras. The telephoto macro mode supports video too, again at up to 4K at 120 frames per second.
The front camera has a 12MP sensor too, and it can produce detailed-looking selfies in reasonable lighting. This selfie camera is nothing revolutionary, but it’s solid.
Camera score: 4 / 5
Sony Xperia 1 VI camera samples
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A zoom camera is ideal for taking photos of cats and dogs, without needing to get too close (Image credit: Future / Andrew Williams)
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While the depth of field is very shallow, making shooting tricky, the telephoto macro mode can produce great results (Image credit: Future / Andrew Williams)
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The flattening of perspective you can get at the longer zoom ranges can be quite useful for some scenes (Image credit: Future / Andrew Williams)
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Here’s a view of London using the ultra-wide camera… (Image credit: Future / Andrew Williams)
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… and a photo taken from the same spot at 7.5x zoom to show the range you have to work with (Image credit: Future / Andrew Williams)
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The Sony Xperia 1 VI’s primary camera is a dab hand at capturing landscapes (Image credit: Future / Andrew Williams)
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The Sony Xperia 1 VI’s primary camera is a dab hand at capturing landscapes (Image credit: Future / Andrew Williams)
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Sony is good at avoiding the temptation of amping up nature’s green tones too much, which is quite a common issue (Image credit: Future / Andrew Williams)
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The 7.5x zoom mode is super-handy for gigs (Image credit: Future / Andrew Williams)
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The 7.5x zoom mode is super-handy for gigs (Image credit: Future / Andrew Williams)
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The ultra-wide camera struggles at night, and ends up capturing soft-looking images (Image credit: Future / Andrew Williams)
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Fast shot-to-shot capture is highly welcome when you end up with a fast-moving subject (Image credit: Future / Andrew Williams)
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The phone doesn’t always deal well with strong contrasts in light levels: rivals would make these lit road signs appear less blown-out (Image credit: Future / Andrew Williams)
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Strong light sources at night can cause some not-unappealing lens flare (Image credit: Future / Andrew Williams)
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While night images have a pleasantly enhanced appearance, the Xperia does not bring out as much shadow detail as some (Image credit: Future / Andrew Williams)
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Here’s another example of the Sony Xperia 1 VI’s HDR mode failing to avoid overexposing significant parts of the picture (Image credit: Future / Andrew Williams)
Sony Xperia 1 VI: software
Avoids the current AI obsession
Potentially useful creativity apps
Fairly normal interface
The Sony Xperia 1 VI runs Android 14 and has a largely inoffensive, not too invasive, custom interface layer grafted on top.
My first reaction to the phone was its app menu wasn't that good-looking; I thought the text looked a little too bolded and inelegant. The Sony Xperia 1 VI provides a decent amount of customization as to how these elements appear, though. You can alter object scaling and font size independently, and some may prefer the Dark mode, which uses lighter text upon a dark background.
Sony’s approach to apps hasn’t changed much this generation either. At a time when Google and Samsung are obsessed with AI, Sony’s angle is still to reference the other parts of Sony as a whole.
Music Pro is a nod to Sony Music. This is a multi-track recorder app, a tiny DAW (digital audio workstation) where other phones might just have the equivalent of a dictaphone.
External Monitor lets the Sony Xperia 1 VI act as a monitor for one of Sony’s Alpha-series mirrorless cameras.
Video Creator is a mini editing suite that lets you edit and put together clips into a larger video project.
All of these are neat ideas, a cut above the low-effort bloat some phones are criticized for including. But they aren’t quite ingenious or developed enough to be considered serious reasons to buy an Xperia 1 VI over a competitor. You’ll find better, more complete-feeling alternatives on Google Play.
Software score: 3 / 5
Sony Xperia 1 VI review: performance
(Image credit: Future / Andrew Williams)
Significant throttling, which kicks in fast
Great peak performance
Loud and chunky-sounding speakers
The Sony Xperia 1 VI has one of the most powerful chipsets around in 2024, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. It beats Apple’s A17 Pro, used in the iPhone 15 Pro, in a lot of tests, and has notably excellent graphics performance.
As you’d expect, then, the Sony Xperia 1 VI feels excellent in use. It’s responsive and fast, and games run great. Titles like Fortnite sing on the phone, as it only can with a true high-end chip.
The Sony Xperia 1 VI also avoids the overheating issues earlier models in this family were subject to. However, a little stress test reveals why.
This phone throttles its performance almost immediately when under strain. 3DMark’s test bench shows a drop in benchmark scores from the first run (which takes a minute), where other rivals will often wait for significant heat to build up before dropping power, if they do so at all.
The Sony Xperia 1 VI settles at 58% of its peak performance, which isn’t great. It’s not as bad as some of the sub-50% results I saw in some of the earliest Snapdragon 8-series phones, mind.
It’s good for gaming, then, but for a phone that’s been partially labeled as a “gaming phone”, you’d hope for high performance that can be sustained for longer.
The Sony Xperia 1 VI’s speakers are an unmitigated hit. They are a stereo pair that get loud and have real meat to their mid-range. I listen to podcasts all the time on my phone, and the robustness of speakers’ voices compared to the last phone I used, the Infinix Note 40 Pro, was truly eye-opening.
Performance score: 3 / 5
Sony Xperia 1 VI review: battery life
(Image credit: Future / Andrew Williams)
Good battery life, but only light users will see “two-day” use
Slow “fast” charging
Supports relatively slow wireless charging
The Sony Xperia 1 VI has a 5,000mAh battery. It’s an ordinary size for bigger phones in general, but larger than that of plenty of thinness-obsessed flagships.
There’s bad news too, though. As usual for Sony, the Xperia 1 VI does not include a charger. Its charging rate is also pretty poor for 2024, at just 30W. According to my power meter, tested with several different high-power adapters, it only reaches a power draw of 27.5W too.
Even Samsung, which has been slow to adopt higher-power fast charging, offers a 45W standard. As such, Sony only claims the Xperia 1 VI meets the old fast-charging standard of 50% in 30 minutes. And it meets that, sort of, reaching 49% at the 30-minute mark.
It takes 86 minutes to reach 100% and continues receiving power at a lower rate for a while after that. 50% in 30 minutes doesn’t feel like rapid charging anymore — not for this money, anyway.
Real-world stamina is good, and getting a full day of use is no issue. I don’t find this a two-day phone, though; not unless you barely use your Android. A phone with a screen this bright, with a powerful chip, is just capable of too much not to be able to hammer the battery at times. I find the Sony Xperia 10 phones last longer in real use, even if they are markedly worse phones otherwise.
Some will find the Xperia 1 VI lasts longer, though, and real-world stamina is clearly a highlight next to some of the direct competition.
The Sony Xperia 1 VI also supports wireless charging, but again the charging speed isn’t great, coming in at 15W.
Battery score: 3 / 5
Sony Xperia 1 VI review: value
Sony pitches the Xperia 1 VI at the same price as its predecessor, £1,299. It’s among the most expensive phones out there, and its slight deficiencies stand out markedly at the price.
The merely acceptable low-light performance, slow charging and moderate screen resolution are not the most comfortable match for a phone selling at this high a price.
Meanwhile, features like a 3.5mm headphone jack and microSD slot, which are somewhat defunct from many flagship phones, help claw back some value for the Xperia 1 VI but can’t make up for the high price.
Value score: 3 / 5
Should you buy the Sony Xperia 1 VI?
Buy it if...
You want expandable memory Sony goes against the grain by keeping expandable memory as an option even in its flagship phones. That’s always welcome, particularly if you want to avoid relying on Google’s cloud backup to keep your photos safe.
You want a headphone jack Like its predecessors, the Sony Xperia 1 VI has a physical headphone jack, which has been a rarity in higher-end Android phones for almost half a decade at this point.
You want a long-lasting flagship phone Some clever efficiency savings and a respectable-size battery deliver good battery life among flagships. The two-day use Sony claims will be a stretch for most, but it's not out of the realms of possibility for some.
Don't buy it if...
You want the best value flagship The Xperia 1 VI costs a lot, and arguably doesn’t push the envelope in quite enough areas to be considered an entirely sound deal. You have to loosen your grip on the concept of value a little when spending this much regardless, but Sony asks for more faith than most.
You care about fast charging While this phone gets to around 50% charge in 30 minutes as Sony claims, its charging rate feels interminably slow next to that of the flagships from Xiaomi, OnePlus, Honor and so on. Sub-30W charging at this price is not ideal.
You are particular about a hard-wearing finish In theory, the Xperia 1 VI should be one of the toughest mainstream phones around. In practice, its finish is a little too easy to scratch causing irritating surface-level imperfections.
How I tested the Sony Xperia 1 VI
Review test period = 3 weeks
Testing included = Everyday usage, including web browsing, social media, photography, video calling, gaming, streaming video, music playback
I used the Sony Xperia 1 VI as my day-to-day phone for several weeks. During the review period, I took it to a couple of music day festivals, on a hike across the UK’s north downs, and out and about in London.
This real-world normal usage testing was accompanied by more technical benchmark testing, which included seeing how bright the screen could go in multiple environments, testing how powerful the chip is, and how its performance was affected by heat build-up.
The LG B4 is the company’s entry-level OLED TV series and follows in a long line of B-series models that provide a high-value option to fans of the best OLED TVs. At $1,699 / £2,099 / AU$2,999 for the 65-inch model I reviewed, the B4 is a sensible TV option for those who don’t want to spend big bucks on flagship models like the LG G4 and Samsung S95D, and also don’t want to deal with the shortcomings of mid-range mini-LED TVs – poor off-axis picture quality and limited gaming features to name just two.
A huge gaming upgrade the LG B4 gets over last year’s LG B3 is four sets of HDMI 2.1 ports compared to the B3’s two HDMI 2.1 connections. Otherwise, it uses a similar W-OLED display panel that doesn’t provide a picture brightness upgrade. That’s not to say the B4 doesn’t have an impressive picture – a new Alpha 8 AI processor with Dynamic Tone Mapping Pro and AI Super Upscaling features helps bring out the best in 4K and lower-resolution movies and TV shows, and it also provides sound quality benefits such as 9.1.2 virtual surround processing.
Sound quality isn’t a B4 strong point, so if you’re a movie fan or just like to crank the volume up loud, you’ll benefit from pairing it with one of the best soundbars. It also has a basic design, with support feet instead of the premium aluminum pedestal stand found on the step-up LG C4, and HDMI inputs split between side and back panel sections – an arrangement that makes a flush wall-mount installation more challenging. It does come with LG’s Magic Remote control, however, and it’s one of the best in the business for navigating smart TV menus.
Speaking of that, LG’s webOS 24 has a more streamlined layout than last year’s webOS 23 and features the same Quick Cards for conveniently browsing apps by category among other functions. A big portion of the home screen is devoted to ads, however, which seems to be the norm for smart TV homescreen layouts these days.
The B4’s four HDMI 2.1 ports support 120Hz pass-through, VRR (with Nvidia G-Sync and AMD FreeSync), and 4K Dolby Vision gaming. Combine that with the TV’s extensive cloud gaming options, which include GeForce Now, Amazon Luna, Utomik, Blacknut, and Boosteroid, and low 9.1ms input lag, the B4 comes off as a relatively budget powerhouse among the best gaming TVs.
Which brings us to the topic of value. If you’re looking for a great gaming TV at a reasonable price, the LG B4 easily qualifies. Otherwise, its value is undercut somewhat by the LG C4, which might be a clear step up in price, but is available in a wider range of sizes, provides even more gaming features, and has a significantly brighter picture.
LG B4 review: Price and release date
The LG B4 OLED TV showing artwork in standby mode. (Image credit: Future)
Release date: March 2024
48-inch: $800 / NA / NA
55-inch: $1,399 / £1,399 / AU$2,199
65-inch: $1,699 / £2,099 / AU$2,999
77-inch: $2,699 / £3,099 / NA
The LG B4 series is the company’s entry-level OLED line, slotting just beneath the mid-range LG C4 series. B4 series OLED TVs were released in March 2024 in 48, 55, 65, and 77-inch screen sizes, though the availability of the 48-inch model appears to be limited to the US and a single retailer (Best Buy) at the time of writing. The 77-inch model also doesn’t appear to be available in Australia.
There’s a notable gap between LG’s entry-level and mid-range OLED TVs, with the 65-inch B4 I tested priced at $1,599 / £2,099 / AU$2,999 and the 65-inch C4 selling for $1,999 / £2,099 / AU$3,499.
Strangely, prices for both models in a 65-inch size were equivalent in the UK, though will probably change over time since TVs are discount so quickly these days. The current prices LG has listed are discounted from the original suggested prices, and you can expect to see them drop further as we near the end of 2024.
LG B4 review: Specs
LG B4 review: Benchmark results
LG B4 review: Features
The LG C4's four HDMI 2.1 ports are split between side and back panel sections. (Image credit: Future)
Standard W-OLED panel and Alpha 8 AI processor
New Dolby Vision Filmmaker mode
Four HDMI 2.1 inputs with 4K 120Hz support
The LG B4 uses a standard W-OLED panel and has the new Alpha 8 AI processor also found in the company’s top-tier mini-LED TVs for 2024. This features Dynamic Tone Mapping Pro and AI Super Upscaling with face detection for pictures, and AI Sound Pro for 9.1.2-channel virtual surround processing over the TV’s 2.0-channel speakers. B4 series TVs also have an anti-reflection screen that effectively reduces glare from bright room lights.
HDR support for the B4 series includes Dolby Vision (with Dolby Vision IQ), HDR10, and HLG formats. A new Dolby Vision Filmmaker Mode makes its debut on 2024 LG OLED TVs, and this helps by disabling the motion smoothing that’s typically applied by default in Dolby Vision modes on other TVs.
A new and welcome addition to LG’s B-series OLED TVs is four HDMI 2.1 inputs, which lets you connect both Xbox Series X and PS5 consoles to the TV along with one of the best soundbars via HDMI eARC. These all support 4K 120Hz, VRR, ALLM, and Quick Media Switching (QMS), a feature that enables seamless frame rate matching when connected to a compatible source such as an Apple TV 4K (2022).
LG’s webOS 24 smart TV platform is used for streaming on the B4 and it includes a wide range of apps including, Netflix, Prime Video, Disney Plus, Max, and more (but sadly not The Criterion Channel in the US). Cloud gaming is also supported, with apps including GeForce Now, Amazon Luna, Utomik, and Blacknut. LG’s Quick Cards, which give you easy access to app categories like Home Office, Games, Music, Home Hub, and Sports, get a refreshed layout in webOS 24 with the cards now cutting horizontally across the home screen’s center. Both AirPlay and Chromecast built-in are onboard for wireless streaming, and there’s your choice of Alexa or Google Assistant for voice commands.
Features Score: 4.5/5
LG B4 review: Picture quality
The B4's picture has rich colors but limited brightness compared to premium OLED TVs. (Image credit: Future)
Average brightness for an OLED TV
Very good overall picture quality
Anti-reflection screen
With a standard W-OLED panel rather than the OLED Evo (with Brightness Booster) one found in the LG C4, I didn’t expect the LG B4 to beat last year’s B3 when it came to brightness, and my measurements confirmed that. With the B4 in Filmmaker mode, peak HDR brightness measured on a white window test pattern covering 10% of the screen area was 656 nits, and a full-screen pattern measured 128 nits. Those are expected results for an entry-level OLED TV, although OLED TVs are generally getting brighter, with the C4 yielding results of 1,065 nits and 202 nits, respectively on the same brightness tests, so there's a massive leap in contrast and fullscreen brightness if you step up to the pricier model.
Otherwise, the B4’s lab performance was excellent. UHDA-P3 color space coverage in Filmmaker mode was 98.9% and BT.2020 coverage was 74%, results that basically match the performance of the C4. The B4’s averaged Delta-E values, which are used to determine grayscale and color accuracy, were 2.9 and 1.6, respectively. Once again, those numbers match our results for the C4 and are within the threshold we look for TVs to hit (we're happy with anything under 3.0)
The LG B4’s anti-reflection screen proved effective when watching with overhead lights on, with little to no glare visible even with TV shows with mostly dark, shadowy images like House of the Dragon on Max. I’ve recently tested several mini-LED TVs with stunningly high brightness such as the Hisense U8N and TCL QM815G. Compared to these, the B4 with its limited peak brightness lacked the same dynamic picture those sets delivered for daytime viewing, though the picture looked crisp and had rich color and great detail even when viewing upconverted non-4K TV shows.
I generally watch with my room lights dimmed and in those conditions, the B4’s picture revealed a high contrast range, along with exceptional shadow detail. This could easily be seen in the interior scenes from House of the Dragon, and it also helped to bring out the dynamic quality of the black-and-white images from Ripley on Netflix. And when I streamed Godzilla Minus One in 4K with Dolby Vision on Netflix, the subtle color range of this kaiju movie set in post-World War II came through perfectly thanks to the TV’s Dolby Vision Filmmaker Mode, which provides an accurate, director-approved presentation without having to muck with picture adjustments.
OLED TVs typically excel at motion handling and the LG B4 is no exception. When I watched a scene from the James Bond film No Time to Die where the camera pans to follow Bond crossing a cemetery on a rocky landscape, the picture looked solid and was impressively judder-free. The same held for a subsequent sequence where Bond is chased through city streets on a motorcycle in an action-packed high-speed chase.
Picture quality score: 4/5
LG C4 review: Sound quality
The LG B4's Magic Remote control allows for both point-and-click and scrolling navigation. (Image credit: Future)
2-channel speaker system
9.1.2-channel virtual Dolby Atmos
Decent sound but limited bass
The LG B4 has a basic 2.0-channel built-in audio system that uses down-firing speakers. Audio features are limited compared to other LG OLED TVs, but the B4 can output audio wirelessly to a Bluetooth speaker or headphones, and it also supports both Wowcast for lossless wireless Dolby Digital output to LG soundbars and wireless speakers, and WiSA, which does the same for WiSA-enabled speakers.
Otherwise, the B4 has an automatic volume adjustment feature to maintain a constant volume level when switching TV channels. It also has an equalizer adjustment and an AI Sound Pro mode that converts sound to virtual 9.1.2-channel Dolby Atmos.
Sound from the B4’s built-in speakers has decent balance and dialogue comes across as clear. It becomes a bit thin and edgy when you raise the volume, however, and there’s not much of a directional effect with Atmos soundtracks, even in the TV’s Theater sound mode. Selecting the AI Sound Pro mode, which provides virtual 9.1.2-channel upmixing of soundtracks, gave the sound a better sense of spaciousness, but it also thinned out the set’s already challenged bass and made dialogue overly crisp.
Sound quality score: 3.5/5
LG B4 review: Design
The LG B4's aluminum support feet. (Image credit: Future)
Aluminum support feet
Side and back panel input sections
Magic Remote control
The LG B4 uses a set of aluminum feet for support, and although they aren’t height- or width-adjustable, they are a design step up from the plastic pedestal stand used for last year’s B3. The feet provide sturdy support for the TV, which is otherwise a thin display panel with an input section protruding two inches out from the back.
A thin bezel surrounds the B4’s screen, giving it the same “all-picture” look as the C4. Connections on the back are split between two sections: one side-mounted with two HDMI 2.1 ports, a USB type-A port, and an antenna input; and the second back-mounted with with two HDMI 2.1 ports, a USB type-A port, an optical digital output, and RS-232 and Ethernet ports for control.
The Magic Remote that comes with the B4 gives you the choice to either point-and-click on apps and menu sections or traditionally scroll through them using navigation buttons. It has direct access buttons for the Netflix, Prime Video, Disney Plus, Sling, and LG Channels apps, and there’s one to activate Alexa. A centrally located button activates the built-in mic for voice commands when pressed.
Design score: 4/5
LG B4 review: Smart TV and menus
The LG B4's webOS 24 smart interface has a streamlined appearance, with Quick Cards for storing apps by category – but also big banner ads. (Image credit: Future)
Streamlned Quick Card layout
App selection can be customized
Quick Menu for easy setup
LG’s webOS 24 smart interface is one of the best ones going, and it features a few modifications over webOS 23. The main one is a new streamlined look for Quick Cards section, with the categories – Games, Music, Home Hub, Sports, Accessibility, and Home Office – running horizontally across the middle of the screen. These let you easily access related apps or each category, and the Home Hub one lets you set up Matter-compatible devices such as smart lights and cameras for control via the TV.
Other elements of the main webOS screen include a horizontal row of apps running beneath the screen, with most major ones such Netflix, Disney Plus, Prime Video, Apple TV Plus, and Max represented. The selection and arrangement of these can be customized, making it easy to access the ones you want. Unfortunately, there’s a large banner at the top third with a rotating array of ads, but to be fair, most smart TV interfaces feature some degree of promoted content.
I really like LG’s Quick Menu, which appears as a vertical panel with various settings such as picture mode, pixel brightness, sound mode, sound output, and more when you press the gear icon on the remote control. Clicking on another gear icon in the Quick Menu calls up another settings menu, with advanced settings that let you perfectly dial in the TV’s picture. Another new feature in webOS 24 is an onscreen chatbot that covers a wide range of topics related to setup and use of the TV and even speaks to you.
Smart TV & menus score: 4.5/5
LG B4 review: Gaming
The LG B4's pop-up game menu provides quick access to gaming-related settings. (Image credit: Future)
Four HDMI 2.1 ports
Cloud-based gaming apps
Low 9.1ms input lag (Boost mode)
While last year’s LG B3 topped out at two HDMI 2.1 ports, the LG B4 ups that number to four with support for 4K at 120Hz, VRR (with Nvidia G-Sync and AMD FreeSync), and 4K Dolby Vision gaming present on all of them. The inclusion of four HDMI 2.1 ports is a major upgrade when it comes to flexibility and future-proofing, and it makes the B4 an excellent gaming TV for the price.
Cloud-gaming apps located in the Games Quick Card include GeForce Now, Amazon Luna, Utomik, Blacknut, and Boosteroid. Any connected game console will also show up here, where it can be easily selected.
The B4 will automatically switch to Game Optimizer mode when an active console is detected. You can also press the gear icon on the remote to call up the Game Menu, a transparent bar overlay at the bottom of the screen that shows frame rate, VRR status and other information, and provides quick access to game genre picture and sound presets, dark area adjustment and more. With Game Optimizer on, the B4’s input lag measured an excellent 11.9ms, and 9.1ms with Boost mode enabled.
Gaming score: 5/5
LG B4 review: Value
The LG B4's LG Channels free TV grid guide. (Image credit: Future)
Least expensive LG OLED TV series
LG C4 not much more money
Better value for gamers
The 65-inch LG B4 I tested costs $1,699 / £2,099 / AU$2,999. That’s a fair price for an OLED TV with average brightness but overall excellent picture quality and a fantastic suite of gaming features. And the 48-inch version is an even better value at $800 – if you can find one.
The value of the B4 is made a bit problematic by LG’s own C4 series OLED. That model offers significantly higher peak brightness than the B4. It also has a more elegant design with a pedestal stand as opposed to the B4’s support feet and features Nvidia 144Hz certification – an important feature for PC gaming.
Any one of those factors could impact your decision to buy the C4 instead, which for the 65-inch model is priced not all that much higher at $1,999 / £2,099 / AU$3,499 (oddly, 65-inch B4 and C4 prices are equivalent in the UK). Even so, the B4 remains a very good value for what it offers, and most people – gamers especially – will be pleased with its features, picture, and basic sound quality.
Value score: 4/5
Should I buy the LG B4 OLED TV?
(Image credit: Future)
Buy it if...
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LG B4 review: Also consider...
How I tested the LG B4 OLED TV
(Image credit: Future)
Tested over the course of two weeks
Measurements were made using Calman color calibration software
A full calibration was made before proceeding with subjective tests
When I test TVs, I first first spend a few days or even weeks using it for casual viewing to assess the out-of-box picture presets and get familiar with its smart TV menu and picture adjustments. I next select the most accurate preset (usually Filmmaker Mode, Movie or Cinema) and measure grayscale and color accuracy using Portrait Displays’ Calman color calibration software. The resulting measurements provide Delta-E values (the margin of error between the test pattern source and what’s shown on-screen) for each category, and allow for an assessment of the TV’s overall accuracy.
Along with those tests, I make measurements of peak light output (recorded in nits) for both standard high definition and 4K high dynamic range using 10% and 100% white window patterns. Coverage of DCI-P3 and BT.2020 color space is also measured, with the results providing a sense of how faithfully the TV can render the extended color range in ultra high-definition sources.
For the LG B4, I used the Calman ISF workflow, along with the TV’s advanced picture menu settings, to calibrate the image for best accuracy. I also watched a range of reference scenes on 4K Blu-ray discs to assess the TV’s performance, and 4K HDR shows streamed from Max, Netflix, and other services.
