LG launched a separate laptop in its Gram lineup called the LG Gram SuperSlim, which borrows heavily from the adjacent 2023 LG Gram Style model in terms of its looks. However, the latter was a disappointment in terms of performance, despite my loving the extremely thin and light chassis and aesthetically pleasing design.
So color me suspicious about the SuperSlim and whether it could impress me. What I’ve found is a mixed bag, with middling benchmark results and surprisingly solid productivity performance that could rival even the best laptops. However, some drawbacks still hold this laptop back.
At first glance, the SuperSlim is in a less impressive black color than its counterpart, but it makes up for that by its 15.6-inch weight and measurements beating out the 16-inch sizes of the Style and matching the 14-inch version. The result is an absolutely dreamy lightweight and razor-thin chassis and, unlike the Style, it doesn’t have that cheap plastic feel to it.
There’s still a slight wobble to the hinge but all around it feels far more stable and solid, with a superior build quality. I also enjoy the material of the chassis, which has a more textured feel to it.
Ventilation has much improved, with the laptop staying cool even during heavy workloads, which is another improvement over the Slim, which suffered from overheating issues. LG seems to have addressed many build issues between these two laptops.
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
The keyboard still features snappy and responsive keys, which are nice and wide and perfect for a variety of finger sizes to type on with little chance for typos. Thankfully the touchpad has been restored to a much more standard one, and it’s perfectly responsive, unlike the haptic feedback nightmare on the Style.
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
The display’s resolution did take a hit compared to the Style’s 2.8 or 3K, as the SuperSlim is now FHD. It still thankfully retains the OLED screen and supports HDR, giving the display that sharp and bright look.
The webcam is pretty standard, which is to say not particularly great but is fine for conference calls. The sound quality is quite solid, able to differentiate between various instruments as well as reproduce a deep bass. Its volume is also a noticeable improvement from the Style, as it can get pretty loud without losing too much in quality.
LG Gram SuperSlim: Benchmarks
Here's how the LG Gram SuperSlim performed in our suite of benchmark tests:
3DMark: Night Raid: 16,447; Fire Strike: 4,842; Time Spy: 1,778 Cinebench R23 Multi-core: 8,275 points GeekBench 5: 1,842 (single-core); 9,783 (multi-core) PCMark 10 (Home Test): 5,495 points Battery Life (TechRadar movie test): 14 hours, 55 minutes Civilization VI (1080p, Ultra): 42 fps; (1080p, Low): 25 fps
Though on paper through benchmark tests its performance is about the same as the Gram Style, in practice it functions much better. Productivity-wise, it’s capable of having tons of tabs open for both work and play including video conference meetings, word-processing documents and spreadsheets, video streaming, and more. Unfortunately, that means its CPU benchmarks are still below that of other similar Ultrabooks.
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
The LG Gram SuperSlim is made for office work and casual use through and through with almost no heavy-duty gaming capabilities. It’s all thanks to the bog-standard mobile GPU, which is rather offensive considering the steep price of the machine.
Other laptops for a similar price are equipped with a proper gaming GPU, so why LG refuses to make the upgrade is mind-boggling. Even a laptop like the Dell XPS 17 (2024) has better specs for a similar price point, and the Apple MacBook Air 15-inch (2023) doesn’t have a gaming GPU but the M3 chip is far superior to Intel’s silicon.
By far the biggest improvement over the Style is its extraordinary battery power, though, which gets close to rivaling even the best MacBook and best MacBook Pro models. During our battery tests, it was even able to last around 15 hours and that was under the stress of constant movie playing.
All in all, the LG Gram SuperSlim is something of a mixed bag, with some fantastic performance in terms of productivity and battery life, but don't expect much more from it than that.
LG Gram SuperSlim: Price & availability
How much does it cost? $1,649 / £1,299 (about AU$2,530)
When is it available? Available now
Where can you get it? Available in the US and UK
The LG Gram SuperSlim is an Ultrabook is currently retailing at $1,649 / £1,299 (about AU$2,530), with availability in both the US and the UK. Unfortunately, this particular model has been discontinued in Australia, so buyers out there would have to import it, making it even more expensive.
As for pricing itself, while it’s overall a superior model to the Style with some much-needed changes and enhancements, it’s still a hard sell compared to other similarly priced products like the Dell XPS 17 (2024) and the Apple MacBook Air 15-inch with M3, which both boast more well-rounded usage and better specs.
Unless the price drops down significantly, it would be difficult to make the SuperSlim more appealing to buyers. This is a shame since it does have a great niche as an incredibly portable laptop that works for offices and during commutes and events. If you can buy this laptop with a decent discount, then it's definitely worth considering.
LG Gram SuperSlim: Specs
As of now, the only model available in both the US and UK is this setup: Intel Core i7-1360P CPU, Intel Iris Xe Graphics, 16GB of RAM, and 1TB SSD of storage. There's also no way to customize or upgrade the SuperSlim either.
Should you buy the LG Gram SuperSlim?
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
Buy the LG Gram SuperSlim if...
You want solid productivity performance This laptop can handle plenty of productivity work including video calls, documents, web surfing, and more. It's the ultimate workhorse in a gorgeous chassis.
Don't buy it if...
You’re on a budget
This is an Ultrabook, meaning it has a premium price tag attached to it. Unless you have plenty of spare change, this is not the laptop for budget-minded buyers/
LG Gram SuperSlim: Also consider
If my LG Gram SuperSlim review has you considering other options, here are two more laptops to consider...
How I tested the LG Gram SuperSlim?
I tested the LG Gram SuperSlim for several weeks
I tested it using productivity and creative applications, as well as gaming
I stress-tested the battery using the TechRadar movie test
First, I tested the general weight and portability of the LG Gram SuperSlim by carrying it around in a laptop bag. After I set it up, I ran several benchmarks to thoroughly test out the processor and graphics card. Finally, I used a variety of programs and applications to test out both battery life and general performance during work-like conditions, as well as gaming benchmarks to test the RTX 4050 GPU.
The LG Gram SuperSlim is meant to be a portable laptop with a thin and light chassis. I had to spend a good amount of testing not only on performance issues but also looking for any ventilation issues. I also tested out battery life to see how long it could last off AC power.
I've tested plenty of gaming PCs and laptops, making me more than qualified to understand benchmark test results and how to properly stress test machines to see how well they perform as a work machine.
The Speck Gemtones Play true wireless earbuds are a step out of the comfort zone for Speck, which is better known for its range of phone cases, and it shows. While the sound quality of these earbuds deliver is as you might expect for $49.99 (about £40 / AU$75), the Speck Gemtones Play earbuds don’t offer as much value as the Earfun Air 2 earbuds, which retail for roughly the same price, but have additional features like wireless charging and longer battery life.
I’d be tempted to say that you get what you pay for from the Speck Gemtones Play, but since there are alternatives among the best budget wireless earbuds at the same price with additional features, that wouldn’t be strictly accurate. This is not to say that these earbuds are noticeably bad, because they aren’t. If you’re not an audiophile who focuses on output and dynamic range then you’ll be happy enough with the sound quality that’s on offer here. One noticeable issue, however, is the audible strain around the vocals, which is apparent when listening to both music and podcasts. This can be remedied by switching to the Vocal Range EQ preset, but it’s a shame that the default EQ settings don’t offer better vocal clarity.
While the earbuds are easy to keep track of thanks to the Find your Earbuds function and the inclusion of a push-to-release button on the case, the lack of quality in the materials quickly becomes apparent. The hinged lid of the case feels flimsy, and the matte black finish scratches and shows fingerprints easily; the case of my review sample looked like it had been through an ordeal after just a few days of use.
If you’re looking for a better-quality finish and more features without spending extra, we recommend the 1More PistonBuds Pro Q30 or the Earfun Air 2 earbuds.
(Image credit: Future / Cesci Angell)
Speck Gemtones Play review: Price & release date
Released in January 2024
Priced at $49.99 (about £40 / AU$75)
Only available from Speck within the US, may be available from third-party retailers
The Speck Gemtones Play earbuds were released at the start of 2024. At present, Speck only sells its earbuds within the US, but you may be able to find them at third-party retailers elsewhere.
Better known for its production of phone cases, Speck has taken a leap into audio tech, and at $49.99 (about £40 / AU$75), these earbuds are the cheapest offering in the Gemtones range, coming in below the $69.99 Gemtones Sport (with earhooks for a secure fit) and the $79.99 Gemtones Pro.
While these are relatively cheap and cheerful earbuds, they have stiff competition from the likes of the 1More Piston Bud Pro Q30s, which have the added benefits of Spatial Audio, Low Latency mode, and ANC, which the Gemtones Play unfortunately lack.
Speck Gemtones Play review: Specs
Speck Gemtones Play review: Features
28 hours max playtime
Four EQ profiles
Find your Earbuds function
The Speck Gemstones Play lack some of the features you might expect at this price point in 2024, but the easy-to-use app and a couple of novel features help bump up their score.
The Speck Gemtones app is basic, but its lack of complexity and ease of use will appeal to some. When I launched the app it spotted my earbuds straight away, and once I’d paired them via Bluetooth in my phone's settings, it only took a tap of the icon in the app to sync them.
The app provides a range of useful features, including four different equalizer presets: Default, Balanced, Dynamic Bass, and Vocal Range. It doesn’t offer the ability to create custom EQ settings, though, which is a shame, but it does have a feature that could prove particularly useful for the forgetful among us – a Find your Earbuds feature, which you can use to get either the left or right earbuds to emit a loud beeping to help you hunt them down. This only works when they’re not in the case, however – and obviously you need to be close enough to be connected to them.
A Volume Limit feature can also be found in the app, which is still not too common in headphones apps. As someone with sensitive ears, I was reassured to know that it wouldn’t be possible to accidentally hit the volume keys on my phone and raise the volume too high – and it’s also great for making sure kids don’t harm their hearing by cranking up the sound. In practice, however, this feature doesn’t work as I’d anticipated. Instead of stopping the volume from going any higher than 85dB at full volume, it reduces the sound at all levels, so 50% volume is no longer 50%. This concerns me, because once you turn the limiter off – albeit this can’t be done accidentally, as you need to enter a code – the volume shoots back up to whichever volume you’re set to. It’s also worth mentioning that even with the volume locked, the volume at which the buds announce that they’re connected is quite loud.
The app also shows you how much charge is left in the earbuds. I found that the battery life performed a little better than advertised, lasting around eight hours and 20 minutes while playing music continuously at 50% volume. I listened to music and chatted on work calls while working from home without needing to charge them, and between the charge in the buds themselves and in the case, I could do the same in the office, plus listen to music on my commute home, without running out of battery.
The Speck Gemtones Play's dual microphones didn’t impress me when compared, again, to the similarly-priced 1More PistonBuds Pro Q30 earbuds. When I listen back to a recording of myself,I sound distant and unnatural. They’d be adequate for making phone calls indoors, but the low volume and lack of clarity may prove problematic when making calls out and about, or with a rocky connection.
It’s a shame that these earbuds offer no active noise cancellation. This may seem understandable considering the price point, but as mentioned, there are alternative options on the market in this price range that offer this feature – the 1More that I've mentioned just above, or the Earfun Air Pro 3, which often fall to this kind of price.
A further small but frustrating niggle is that you can’t start listening on another device without disconnecting the buds from the current device first – i.e., there’s no multipoint pairing – which can be a pain if you often switch between listening on phones, tablets, laptops, etc. Again, the 1More and Earfun offer this.
Features score: 3/5
(Image credit: Future / Cesci Angell)
Speck Gemtones Play review: Sound quality
Acceptable sound quality for the cost
Good tonal range, but lacks clarity
Capable of delivering clear vocals, but with sacrifices
As expected for the price, the Speck Gemtones Play don’t deliver the most dynamic sound. They’re pleasant to listen to, but if you have an ear that can appreciate rich bass through to sparkling and natural treble, they may fall a little flat. On the other hand, these earbuds could pick up delicate touches, such as background synths in sections of Black Eye by Allie X, so they score points for their general clarity.
While they can be forgiven for not being as dynamic as the likes of the Marshall Motif II A.N.C earbuds, which are priced at $199.99 / £179.99 / AU$349, they also lag a little behind the sound quality of the similarly priced 1More PistonBuds Pro Q30 – and this is hard to ignore considering that the 1More earbuds also offer extra features including ANC, spatial audio, and Low Latency mode.
I found myself regularly changing the EQ presets to get the most out of different songs. While I can hear that the sound quality is improved after choosing the appropriate setting, I do wish the default preset performed a little better to make for a more effective listening experience when out and about. When left on default, music can sound flat, with an edge of strain on the speakers from vocals. Although cycling between EQ settings can improve the listening quality, it sometimes feels like you’re having to sacrifice an element such as vocal clarity or bass quality, and I found it hard to achieve a good balance. That’s especially true when the Vocal Range preset isn’t selected, as it can sound like the vocals are being dampened, as if I’m listening through a curtain.
When listening to I Want You by Moloko with the Vocal Range equalizer preset selected, the raw vocals come through beautifully. You do, however, lose the impact of the percussion hitting. The Dynamic Bass equalizer preset was a good middle ground on this occasion, softening the vocals without sacrificing that depth.
The Default equalizer preset made Justin Hawkin’s vocals in The Darkness’ I Believe in a Thing Called Love lack impact, making the listening experience fall flat. Selecting the Balanced EQ preset once again sounded muffled, as if I wasn’t in the same room as the band. I’d go as far as to say that you’ll feel like you’re listening from outside the venue when it comes to this song. The most satisfying preset for this particular track was Vocal Range, which delivered the drama lost with the other presets.
When listening to podcasts on the Default settings, voices had a tinny edge to them, but they came through with more clarity when the Vocal Range equalizer preset was selected. The same was true when listening to content on YouTube.
Sound quality score: 3/5
(Image credit: Future / Cesci Angell)
Speck Gemtones Play review: Design
Useful press-to-release button
Comfortable fit for smaller ears
Light-but-cheap materials
The Gemtones Play case feels lightweight at just under 1oz / 29g. It appears more cheaply made than some other earbuds in this price bracket, with a thin, transparent black frosted flip lid and matt black body that marks easily from fingerprints. It scratches easily, too – I have long gel nails, and it was instantly clear where they’ve made contact with the case.
The case would probably be useful for you if you plan to keep it in your pocket or hanging from its fabric loop on the outside of your bag, as it won’t open unless you push the release button, which is a feature that I appreciate. The hinge feels sturdy, but the plastic is very thin and looks like it could be easily broken. I have questions about the longevity of this case, although aside from the aesthetic issues it hasn’t let me down just yet.
The design of the earbuds themselves isn’t anything to get excited about. Similarly to the case, they’re made from cheap-looking matte black plastic, with the left-hand bud having the Speck logo printed on it. There’s a small indicator light on each bud, and another in the space between them on the case which indicates when the earbuds are prepared for Bluetooth pairing, whether the earbuds or case are charging, or whether either are fully charged. These lights are a little on the subtle side, as the LEDs are deep-set, so it’s not clear what the lights are showing unless you’re looking down the barrel at them.
The buds feel comfortable in my ears, and I wore them for long periods with no issues. I was able to wear them straight out of the case, without needing to switch to another pair of silicone tips, which Speck includes in sizes from extra small to extra large, and this was a new experience for me, as I have smaller ears and often need to switch to smaller tip sizes. Helping them to feel comfortable is the fact that the earbuds are light at just over 0.15oz / 4g each.
While the touch features are basic, they are simple to use. A single tap on either bud will play or pause the track, and triple tapping will trigger your device's voice assistant. I quite liked that skipping past or going back to songs is triggered by a double tap on the right or left bud respectively, although if you’re in a situation where you need to settle for just one bud it’s a little annoying that you’re limited to either skipping or returning. The same issue is present with volume control too, as pressing and holding the left earbud turns the volume down, and pressing and holding the right earbud turns it up. It shouldn’t be a big deal most of the time, though.
The touch controls aren’t always responsive, and there were a few instances where the music would play or pause, or the voice assistant would be triggered, when I was trying to double tap, but this was only a small niggle. If you’d rather assign different functions than the default offering, you can customize what each touch control triggers within the app.
The earbuds I’ve been testing were in the Back in Black finish, but they’re also available in other colors, including Pop Purple, Bop Blue, and White Album.
Design score: 3/5
(Image credit: Future / Cesci Angell)
Speck Gemtones Play review: Value
Reliable battery life, delivering the promised 8 hours of playtime
More features available for the same price from competitors
Useful app, but cheap-feeling hardware
As previously mentioned, the sound quality of the Gemtones Play isn’t bad for the price. It would be unfair to expect a premium listening experience from these earbuds; however, the presence of the similarly priced Earfun Air 2, which offer more features, and the incredibly cheap but good-quality JLab Go Air Pop earbuds, which offer a better user experience and wear-detection, does lead me to question whether these are truly worth the $49.99 (about £40 / AU$75) price tag given the current competition.
Ignoring the competition, though, the app works well, and offers useful features that increase the appeal of these earbuds. In addition, the press-to-release button on the case certainly comes in handy, but the quality of the materials does let these buds down.
Value score: 3/5
Should I buy the Speck Gemtones Play?
Buy them if...
Don't buy them if...
Speck Gemtones Play review: Also consider
How I tested the Speck Gemtones Play
(Image credit: Future / Cesci Angell)
I tested the earbuds for 7 days
I tested at home, in the office, on walks, and commuting
I listened to music, podcasts, and YouTube content
I subjected the Speck Gemtones Play earbuds to a week of testing. I tested the wearability, sound quality, and features by listening to music for hours at home, in the office, on walks, and while commuting. In addition to listening to music, I watched YouTube videos and listened to my usual podcasts.
I also followed TechRadar’s standardized testing process for earbuds, including listening to a particular set of tracks to make it easy to compare different buds, and real-world measurement of the battery life. Read more about how we test earbuds at TechRadar.
Flight sim peripherals are expensive. Thrustmaster’s Warthog HOTAS is the gold standard at north of $400 and Logitech’s cheaper X56 is still more than $200. Turtle Beach wants to undercut them both with this HOTAS-flightstick hybrid and, like a veteran Tom Cruise attempting some bit of cinematic aerial derring-do, it pulls it off in style.
There are 27 programmable buttons nestled around the joystick, laid out sensibly in an ambidextrous design that makes it easy to dial in useful mappings whichever hand you operate it with. The feel of those buttons isn’t uniformly ‘premium’, with some noticeably wobblier or flimsier than others, but something had to give if Turtle Beach was going to deliver all this for $120.
It’s not a traditional HOTAS, and purists might not get on with using the throttles and flightstick all on the device. For beginner virtual pilots and space-conscious aviators who don’t want to jam up all their USB slots with flight peripherals though, the VelocityOne absolutely sticks the landing and is a top PC controller or Xbox controller for flight enthusiasts
Price and availability
(Image credit: Future/Phil Iwaniuk)
$122.99 / £119.99 / AU$250
Significantly cheaper than Thrustmaster and Logitech HOTAS
Available in the US and UK
The Turtle Beach VelocityOne flightstick represents great value for money and that all begins with the design foundation Turtle Beach put in place to combine HOTAS inputs with a regular flightstick. Somebody in the headset-strewn corridors of Turtle Beach HQ can pat themselves on the back for that one.
Slapping all the combined inputs of both peripherals onto one unit obviously makes it easier to hit a lower price point than the big players in flight sim controllers.
There aren’t outright cut corners when it comes to build quality, but you can feel where some cost-saving switches and button caps have been drafted in to keep things affordable. That does mean that those after a no-compromise, truly premium control experience will find more to like in Thrustmaster’s incredibly weighty and well-constructed Warthog HOTAS. For everyone else, it’s a steal at this price point.
Turtle Beach VelocityOne flightstick: Specs
Turtle Beach VelocityOne flightstick: Design & features
(Image credit: Future/Phil Iwaniuk)
There’s a striking but sensible design to this unit, which works like a hybrid of a HOTAS and a flightstick. It’s laid out symmetrically, with banks of input buttons in two neat rows on either side of the stick.
But there are inputs hidden all over this thing. You just keep finding them. The textured metal ring around the base of the flightstick? That’s a dial. You twist it to register an input. On the stick itself? Not only two hat switches, a trigger, buttons, and a scroller, but also an OLED display. Honestly, it’s like a 2000s rapper and a reality show production team got their hands on this thing. It’s just missing the aquarium.
At either side are the throttles, which give you a pleasing little click at 0% and 100% to give you some haptic feedback that you’re at either extreme. There’s even a trackpad, which defaults to a highlight cursor in Microsoft Flight Simulator so you can look around and select different cockpit controls that you don’t have mapped to an input - unlikely, given the plethora available here.
(Image credit: Future/Phil Iwaniuk)
The joystick itself feels beautifully smooth across its axes, and it’s designed with a lot of stiffness. That’s great in some, but not all, scenarios. When you’re making big inputs – think dogfighting in a space combat sim – it’s great to have that resistance to keep your movements precise. But if you’re trying to get a commercial jet full of holidaygoers down onto the runway without evacuating their extortionately-priced egg and cress sandwiches all over the gangway, you don’t want to feel too much centering spring around the zero point as it tends to ‘snap’ you back to that center position.
This isn’t necessarily a flaw of the joystick, but a nuance that takes a bit of getting used to. You can counteract it with an increased deadzone.
The OLED display can be programmed to show you a selection of useful readouts, and although I tended to forget to look at it while I was in-game, I was captivated by it when I first plugged the unit in and saw it light up.
Speaking of lights, there’s backlighting under each of the two banks of buttons on the base, a ring at the base of the joystick, and some subtle backlighting around the thumb buttons on the top of the joystick. These are split down the middle into a turquoise and orange colour scheme which gives the VelocityOne a distinct look. A look that I’m onboard with, if you’ll excuse the fantastic aviation pun.
Turtle Beach VelocityOne flightstick: Performance
(Image credit: Future/Phil Iwaniuk)
The make-or-break moment for a control device with this many inputs is what happens when you load up your game and head over to the controls menu, praying to every known deity that there’s a control scheme already established for it.
Thankfully to all those deities, Microsoft Flight Simulator on both PC and Xbox knows the VelocityOne well and has a sensible layout for it that maps most of the controls you’d want, where you’d want them.
I did a little bit of tweaking to the defaults, which is to be expected given the breadth of planes within that title. Everyone has slightly different needs depending on whether they specialize in haring about in prop planes or doing super-serious Airbus routes as realistically as possible. What matters is that there’s a decent starting point for everyone.
(Image credit: Future/Phil Iwaniuk)
This is such a time saver. However, that’s (nearly) where the control profiles end. XPlane 11 and 12 recognize it right off the bat and offer a ready-made profile, but otherwise, it’s up to you to map your own inputs in games like Elite: Dangerous and War Thunder.
Not a huge deal, but it would be nice to see some more profiles added in the future.
PC and Xbox compatibility is handled pretty seamlessly, too. That flashy OLED display lets you know when you’re in compatibility mode for either platform, and I had precisely zero turbulence when plugging it into either device. It was recognized and functional without any hassle.
Should you buy the Turtle Beach VelocityOne flightstick?
Buy it if…
Don’t buy it if…
How I tested the Turtle Beach VelocityOne flightstick
Tested for several months
Tested with Microsoft Flight Simulator, Ace Combat 7, Elite: Dangerous
Compared with Thrustmaster and Logitech HOTAS
Thankfully the air miles involved in testing this one were virtual, otherwise I’d have a hell of a carbon footprint to offset. Microsoft’s serious Flight Sim drank up the testing hours, along with more fantastical experiences where fighting and loop-de-loops are a bit more commonplace.
The US government approved the landmark national security package which was signed into law by President Joe Biden yesterday. The new regulation effectively gives TikTok parent company ByteDance an ultimatum to sell TikTok’s US business to a local company in the next nine months or face an effective ban on the platform.
Reuters is now reporting that ByteDance is not willing to sell off TikTok to a US company and would rather have its platform shut down. TikTok’s algorithms are deemed core to ByteDance’s operation making a potential sale of the platform non-viable. ByteDabce will appeal...
T3 Featherweight StyleMax hair dryer: two-minute review
The T3 Featherweight StyleMax is a, tech-packed hair dryer from the innovative LA-based haircare brand. It comes with four nozzles included, and offers custom heat and speed automation. It's powered by T3's Digital IonAir technology, which combines an ion generator, smart chip and custom fan to deliver fast drying times and reduce frizz. This is meant to result in efficient and hair-friendly drying, with less heat damage. I tested one out to see how it compares to the rest of today's best hair dryers. Does it live up to the brand's promises?
Unfortunately, not quite. It dries hair relatively quickly, depending on the Style Mode and attachment, but these drying times aren't exceptional. The Styling Concentrator attachment delivered the best results on my fine hair, giving me a sleek and bouncy style without compromising too much on drying speed.
The Diffuser also performed well, enhancing my natural curls with volume and body. However, the Smoothing Comb didn't work as well as I'd expected and hoped, and I often burned my scalp while using it. A problem I experienced much more with the T3 Featherweight StyleMax that I have with any other dryer I've used in the past. Similarly, the attachments have a tendency to become excessively hot during use, making it difficult to change mid-style, or even rotate the best angle. Elsewhere, the Volume Boost made very little difference. More's the pity. And while the Style Modes are useful and versatile, they can be difficult to master and a little confusing.
Despite these issues, the T3 Featherweight StyleMax has several things going for it. The Cool Shot button is great for locking styles in place and you don't have to press and hold it like you do on so many of its rivals. The hair dryer's overall performance also led to softer, healthier-looking hair over time.
Overall, the T3 Featherweight StyleMax is a mixed bag. It offers a range of advanced features and attachments that make it versatile and appealing for various hair styling needs. Yet, its performance and design quirks put me off from using this as my everyday hair dryer. Instead, I'll likely reserve it for special occasions when I have extra time to complete my style.
T3 Featherweight StyleMax hair dryer review: price & availability
List price: $199 / £170 for Featherweight StyleMax + 4 attachments
Available in the US and UK
Price-wise, the Featherweight StyleMax is at the top end of T3's hair dyer range, sitting alongside the T3 Aireluxe with a list price of $199.99 / £170. That puts it in TechRadar's upper-mid price bracket.
There’s an impressive amount of tech built into the Featherweight and this, coupled with its wide range of features and attachments (it comes with four) goes some way towards justifying its cost. The performance falls a little short of what I’d expect for that amount of money, but you can’t really put a price on healthy hair so if you can afford it, it’s not a bad investment. In TechRadar's T3 AireLuxe review, that model gained 4.5*, and at the same price it's hard not to recommend that as a better place to put your money... although it's true that model doesn't come with so many functions and settings.
You can buy the Featherweight StyleMax in the US and UK directly from the T3 website. It's also available via Amazon and Ulta in the US, and Amazon and Beauty Bay in the UK.
Value for money score: 3.5 out of 5
T3 Featherweight StyleMax hair dryer review: design
Five heat modes + Cool shot
Volume Boost button
Customizable presets for different hair types
The design of the T3 Featherweight StyleMax is a cross between the traditional, long-barrel hair dryers of old with the shorter, more compact shape of modern stylers, like the Dyson Supersonic and Zuvi Halo. It measures 7.6 x 2.9 x 11.2 in / 193 mm x 740 mm x 284 mm (W x D x H) and weighs 1.04lbs / 471g without any nozzles attached, and not including the chunky, 2.7m / 9ft cord.
If you're looking for something to travel with, this probably isn't it – it's a bit bulky for slinging into a suitcase. The brand does have a travel-sized option that might be better for frequent flyers – head to TechRadar's T3 Afar review for more on that one.
Included with the Featherweight are four attachments: a Drying Concentrator, for rough drying your hair; a Styling Concentrator that smoothes as it styles; the SoftTouch 3 Diffuser for adding volume and definition to curls and waves; and a Smoothing Comb designed to lift roots, or stretch and detangle curls and coils.
(Image credit: Future)
The design of the Featherweight StyleMax is a blend of traditional and modern, and looks like an elongated version of the T3 Fit hair dryer – the brand's compact option. There's a choice of three colors – white, graphite, and satin blush. I reviewed the white model, which has rose gold accents around both the grill at the front of the barrel, and the filter on the rear. The dryer is largely made from plastic with metal on the grill, and rubber at the bottom of the handle where it joins the cord. I'm not a fan of the bubble-like curved barrel. It doesn't look bad, but it does feel a bit cartoon-like, which is a bit at odds with the higher asking price.
Technology-wise, the Featherweight StyleMax uses the brand's Digital T3 IonAir Technology. This comprises an ion generator that 'saturates' a super-wide airstream, powered by a custom-designed fan. A smart chip then keeps the heat consistent. This ionic technology uses negative ions to break the water molecules on your hair into smaller particles that evaporate faster, and this is what helps to dry the hair quickly.
The majority of control buttons are then found on the rear of the handle, below the filter. These controls, in order from top to bottom, are as follows:
Hair input indicator icon
Hair Input and Style Mode selection button
Heat settings
Speed settings
Power button
Volume Booster
(Image credit: Future)
Starting at the top, the hair input indicator icon consists of three wavy lines of increasing thickness. These each represent a different hair type ranging from fine on the left, to medium in the middle, and coarse on the right. You input your hair type using the Hair Input button and the corresponding wavy line will be illuminated.
This Hair Input button then doubles up as the Style Mode selection button. Around the button are four icons which correspond to the four Style Modes. Moving clockwise from top left, these icons are:
Rough Dry: for use with the Drying Concentrator.
Smooth: for use with either the Styling Concentrator and a paddle brush, or the Smoothing comb.
Volume: for use with the Styling Concentrator and round brush.
Diffuse: for use with the diffuser.
The Drying Concentrator delivers a wide airflow to quickly, and roughly, dry your hair. The Styling Concentrator nozzle has a thinner outlet, compared to the Drying Concentrator, and this helps direct airflow onto individual sections. You can use this with a paddle brush to create smooth and sleek styles, or pair it with a round brush to create volume, body and bounce.
The SoftTouch 3 Diffuser diffuses air to add volume and definition to curls, waves, and layered styles, while the Smoothing Comb directs the airflow through vented teeth to lift roots, smooth strands, and stretch and detangle curls and coils. These attachments all twist and lock easily into place on the grill.
When you select a Style Mode, the Featherweight will automatically select the most appropriate heat and speed settings to suit both the attachment, as well as your hair type and styling needs. At any point you can up the heat or drop the speed etc. manually using the standalone heat and speed buttons.
(Image credit: Future)
These heat and speed buttons are each surrounded by indicator lights that correspond with the relevant settings. There are five thin light strips around the heat button, which correspond with the dryer's five heat settings. The speed button is encircled by three light strips which represent the Featherweight's low, medium and high speeds.
The last button on the rear of the handle is the Volume Boost button. Pressing this boosts the speed and strength of the air flow to help you add volume into the hair and at the roots.
And finally, the Cool Shot button is found under the grill on the front of the handle. The majority of the best hair dryers I've tested over the years require you to press and hold the Cool Shot button but once you've pressed the one on the T3 Featherweight it stays on until you turn it off. This is a small but hugely welcome addition.
Design score: 4.5 out of 5
T3 Featherweight StyleMax hair dryer review: performance
Switching modes can be confusing
Mixed styling results
Often burned my scalp or hand
To test the T3 Featherweight StyleMax, I trialled each mode and attachment in turn multiple times over the course of a month. I timed how long it took the hair dryer to dry my fine, long, naturally curly hair, and how well it created each of the promised styles. I also experimented with manually adjusting the settings to see how differences in temperature and speed impacted the results.
To get started with the dryer you need to input your hair type. Start by pressing the Power button. Then press and hold the Hair Input button and cycle through the three options until the correct hair type line is illuminated. Next, select your preferred Style Mode by pressing the selection button again until the corresponding icon is illuminated. It helps to have the relevant attachment connected before making this selection, but it's not necessary.
(Image credit: Future)
Two seconds later the dryer will start. There is always a two-second delay when switching settings, so don't be alarmed if the dryer seemingly turns itself off and doesn't come back on straight away. The lights surrounding the heat and temperature buttons show which settings have been automatically selected. If you don't feel like the heat or speed is adequate you can manually change the settings, but this will disable whichever Style Mode you've chosen.
It took an average of 4 minutes 58 seconds to dry my hair using the T3 Featherweight StyleMax without any nozzles connected. Despite being a rough dry, my hair was surprisingly soft and relatively frizz-free, compared to how it looks and feels when I rough-dry it with other hair dryers.
Next up, it took 6 minutes 12 seconds to dry my hair using the Drying Concentrator with the Rough drying mode selected. My hair was soft with a small amount of frizz but I got frustrated with how long it took to reach this result. Especially as there was little difference compared to drying my hair without an attachment. For me, the Drying Concentrator adds very little to the dryer and I regularly found the speed too low for my needs.
The Styling Concentrator produced the best results, without having to sacrifice too much on drying speed. It took 5 minutes 9 seconds to create a sleek style with my paddle brush, and 5 minutes 45 seconds to finish a bouncy blow dry with a large, round brush.
(Image credit: Future)
The diffuser works very well and my curls were soft and full of body and bounce, while the Smoothing Comb helped to add a small amount of volume when blow drying my hair straight, or when separating my curls. My biggest complaint about the Smoothing Comb is that I often burned my scalp while using it.
In fact, I burned my scalp more while using the T3 Featherweight than I ever have during all of my years writing hair dryer reviews. Just as I regularly had to turn up the speed to achieve the power I wanted, I often had to turn down the heat, or be much more careful about how close the hairdryer got to my head during styling.
Similarly, the attachments become too hot to touch during styling so you have to wait until they've cooled down to remove them. This makes it difficult to switch attachments mid-style. For example, if I want to create a blow dry with the Styling Concentrator and then add volume at the roots with the Smoothing Comb, I have to wrap a towel around my hand to remove the first nozzle before attaching the second. This isn't a major problem, but it is an inconvenience.
Speaking of volume, this button doesn't seem to make a huge difference. It increases the speed of the airflow to give your hair and roots extra lift but I noticed very little difference between when it was enabled and when it wasn't. And considering my fine hair needs all the volume it can get, this was disappointing.
Overall, none of the Style Modes or settings produced a ready-to-go finish. I still had to run straighteners over my hair to remove any of the remaining frizz. However my hair felt much softer than it does normally and by the end of the review period, it looked and felt healthier.
Performance score: 3.5 out of 5
Should I buy the T3 Featherweight StyleMax hair dryer?
If there’s one phone brand with whom you never know what you’re getting, it’s Oppo, but with its latest mid-range mobile it’s managed to make a phone that’ll (mostly) wow you, especially if you’re looking for a great device without spending too much.
The Oppo Reno 10 is the latest of Oppo’s mid-tier mobiles to launch globally, after the Oppo Reno 8 in 2022 – the brand tends to alternate between global releases and China-only ones. And for the first time in many generations, this is a Reno phone that’s really worth checking out.
At its core, the Oppo Reno 10 is a premium phone with a price tag that’s a lot lower than one would expect. It's easily one of the best cheap phones on the market, embarrassing rival handsets from the likes of Samsung, Apple and Google by just how far ahead it is. It feels better in the hand, performs faster, offers a better display, lasts longer and looks more appealing, though it does have two major weaknesses that keep it away from a higher score.
The design is a large draw of this phone. Oppo has brought the curved-edge display design back to low-cost phones, yet has managed to avoid many of the issues common to this feature, like accidental side presses.
(Image credit: Future)
The Reno 10 may not have a top-end chipset but it works wonderfully for gaming, and streaming videos is just as much of a treat thanks to its top-spec screen. Its battery lasts a long time, and it charges quickly. What’s not to like?
Well, some things aren’t to like; one of them is the camera. Oppo has aped top-end mobiles by introducing a telephoto camera for zoom photography – this is such a rarity that I wish I could be singing from the rooftops about the Reno 10’s camera prowess, but it joins an utterly underwhelming camera line-up. Photos taken on the Reno 10 are dull, grainy and lifeless.
In its software, Oppo decided to copy not premium phones, but the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. ColorOS is absolutely littered with pre-installed bloatware apps – I counted 30 on my phone when I first booted it up! At its core, the software is great, with easy navigation and handy customization features, but it’s hard to sail through without getting yourself caught on all its trash.
If you scarcely use your phone camera, and don’t mind spending a good chunk of your phone set-up time wearing out your thumbs by deleting countless random games and shopping apps, then the Oppo Reno 10 will be an absolutely fantastic pick for you. Even those two major pitfalls are easy enough to forgive when you consider the phone’s competitive low price.
But don’t say I didn’t warn you!
Oppo Reno 10 review: price and availability
Released in August 2023
Costs £399 / AU$749 (around $500)
On sale in UK and Australia, not US
(Image credit: Future)
The Oppo Reno 10 was unveiled in August 2023, and like many of the brand’s phones, it’s available in the UK and Australia but not the US.
You can pick up the phone in its sole configuration for £399 / AU$749 (around $500), which is a small but welcome discount from the Oppo Reno 8’s £419 / AU$999 – that was the last Reno mobile that launched globally, as Oppo generally reserves odd-numbered entries for Chinese markets.
At that price, the Reno sits at the cheaper end of the vaguely defined ‘mid-range’ mobile market. In the UK it undercuts some big-name rivals like the Google Pixel 7a (starts at $499 / £449 / AU$749) or the most recent iPhone SE (starts at $429 / £419 / AU$719), though as you can see its Australian price is on par with its peers.
Value score: 4 / 5
Oppo Reno 10 review: specs
A budget phone with premium specs, here's how the Oppo Reno 10 looks on paper:
Oppo Reno 10 review: design
Curved-edge display adds premium feel
A touch on the big side
Camera bump protrudes quite far
(Image credit: Future)
Oppo is one of a small number of mobile phone companies offering curved-edge smartphones at low prices – that’s right, the Reno 10 has a display that tapers at the edge. This makes it more comfortable to hold in your hand than many other rival devices, and gives it a premium sheen – plus, in the Reno, it’s not so curvy that you’re at risk of accidentally pressing the sides. Not once in my testing period did I incur the ‘accidental side press’ that can plague so many curved-edge mobiles.
If anything, your issue here is going to be hand strain, because the Reno 10 is a pretty big device. It measures 162.4 x 74.2 x 8mm, and weighs 185g, so while it’s relatively thin and lightweight for a phone of its size, people with smaller hands may struggle to use its extensive display size.
Talking of big, the Reno 10’s rear camera bump is pretty huge. It’s a large lozenge-shaped protrusion that houses all three of the lenses and a flash, and it sticks out a fair way from the phone too. You won’t be putting this mobile down flat on a surface, unless it’s in a case.
Glass houses the back and front of the phone, making this mobile feel pretty premium compared to most same-price rivals. But it’ll be a little more fragile than a plastic device, so a case is advised. In the UK, it only comes in a pretty plain gray color too, imaginatively titled Silvery Gray, so a case will give it some life too – more vibrant alternatives are available in some countries though.
The volume rocker and power button are both housed on the right edge of the mobile – I could reach both at a stretch, though to unlock the phone you need to use the in-screen fingerprint scanner that felt too low-down on the display to use naturally.
The Oppo has a USB-C port on its button edge for charging and data transfer but no 3.5mm headphone jack in sight. You’ll have to use an adaptor if you want to use wired headphones or speakers.
Design score: 4 / 5
Oppo Reno 10 review: display
Chunky 6.7-inch screen
FHD+ resolution and 120Hz refresh rate
Max brightness could be a little higher
(Image credit: Future)
The Oppo Reno 10’s size is partly because of its large display: at 6.7 inches diagonally, this is a big display, and you won’t find bigger on phones at this price.
It’s a good-looking screen, with a FHD+ resolution (1080 x 2412 pixels) making your games or videos look clear, and the 120Hz refresh rate makes motion appear smooth.
The HDR10+ certification is just a cherry on top – whether you’re binging a TV show, playing a game, checking out pictures you took or just scrolling through social media, this big and bold display is one of the best you’ll find on a phone at this price point.
If I have a gripe, it’s that the maximum brightness is a little low. At 950 nits, it’s fine for if you’re inside or out and about on an overcast day, but even in this latter circumstance I had to turn the brightness to max to see the screen easily. On a sunny day, you may find it a little hard to see.
Display score: 3.5 / 5
Oppo Reno 10 review: software
Horrendous bloatware issue
Quick to navigate and handily laid out
Lots of customization options
Three screenshots showing the user interface of the Oppo Reno 10 as soon as it was set up for the first time. Note how some of those icons are actually folders, hiding even more pre-installed apps. (Image credit: Future / Oppo)
The Oppo Reno 10 comes with the newest Android 13 software pre-loaded, with Oppo’s own ColorOS plastered over the top. This Android fork has a similar layout to stock Android, but with a distinctive design to give the software a more playful and energetic tone. Oh, and it has a few choice changes over the base Google-designed software.
I’m talking about bloatware – the Reno has loads. For those that don’t know, bloatware refers to pre-installed apps on the phone beyond the basics that you need for functionality (like a camera app, photo library, Play Store etc). Some companies choose to pack their phones with their own apps, or third-party licensed ones, and in this phone Oppo seems intent on taking that to the logical extreme.
When I first booted up the phone, it was already jam-packed with random games, shopping apps, entertainment platforms, and more – I counted over 30. Some of these are ones I’d choose to install, and it was useful not having to manually download Netflix, but the time I saved in having the streaming service pre-installed was more than made up for in all the unknown apps I had to delete.
Once you’ve worn out your thumbs deleting ‘June’s Journey’ and ‘Portal Parkour’, ColorOS is actually a pretty great operating system. Its buttons, both on the swipe-down quick settings and notifications panels, as well as on the home page, are bold and easy to understand at a scan. Navigation is easy thanks to a handily-accessible app drawer plus well-placed search options. And there’s lots of customization with bespoke widgets, plenty of built-in wallpaper options and ‘style’ options that let you change the always-on display, font, icon and fingerprint animations.
Thanks to the 120Hz display and powerful internals, navigating the phone’s software is a breeze. ColorOS is great to use for people who find stock Android a bit plain – it’s just a shame about the bloatware.
Software score: 2.5 / 5
Oppo Reno 10 review: cameras
64MP main, 32MP zoom and 8MP ultra-wide cameras
Pictures are unimpressive: lack color, detail, are blown out
32MP snapper on front which suffers from same traits
(Image credit: Future)
The Oppo Reno 10 makes a staggering leap in the area of budget camera phones: it’s the first low-cost mobile in roughly five years that comes with a telephoto lens, for optical zoom photography (usually when you zoom in on a phone camera it just zooms digitally, via cropping, which quickly loses detail).
This is a 32MP f/2.0 snapper with a lens for 2x optical zoom, and it joins the main 64MP f/1.7 and 8MP f/2.2 ultra-wide cameras to round out the trio. It’s understandable to get excited about this lens tripartite – it’s the same combo that premium mobiles from Samsung and Apple use – but it sadly doesn’t save the Oppo from camera mundanity.
There’s nothing offensively bad with photos taken on the Reno 10, but they’re noticeably lacking. The colors look washed out, darker areas lack detail, and images could look surprisingly grainy – this is all with HDR turned on. You also have to hold the phone still for longer to capture a picture than you’d think, as my camera reel was full of blurry misfires.
Talking of misfires, there’s Night mode, which somehow makes night-time pictures look a lot worse. You’ll see two pictures taken at night below; the first is using the normal camera without tweaking settings. As you can see the water is sharp, the light reflecting in it is distinct and fades out, and the contrast between the darker and brighter areas brings your attention to the center. Then there’s the night mode image which turns it into an oil pastel painting.
Image 1 of 2
The River Thames at night captured on the Oppo Reno 10's standard photo mode. (Image credit: Future)
Image 2 of 2
The River Thames at night captured on the Oppo Reno 10's Night photo mode. (Image credit: Future)
To give Oppo props for anything, it’s that there’s parity between lenses: you can zoom in to 2x and all the same issues from the main camera are present. Still, it’s nice to have this option for versatile photography. That’s not so true for the ultrawide lens which, with its 8MP sensor, loses too much information to be worth using.
The front of the phone wields a 32MP f/2.4 wide camera, and photos on this bore better fruit than on its rear siblings, but only slightly. Snaps are sharp and, in Portrait mode the digital bokeh is accurate to the body. However, brighter backgrounds in selfies were often blown out, and again colors weren’t rich enough. You’ll see two selfies in the camera gallery below – the shirt I’m wearing is meant to be forest green.
The Oppo Reno 10 records video at 4K/30fps or 1080p/60fps, and it also packs all the standard phone camera options: slow-mo (1080p/480fps or 720p/960fps), panoramic photography, time lapse and Pro mode. It also has an Extra HD mode so you can take pictures at 64MP instead of its default pixel-binned option.
Camera score: 2.5 / 5
Oppo Reno 10 camera samples
Image 1 of 8
A standard picture taken on the Oppo Reno 10, kicking off the camera samples with an acceptable one. (Image credit: Future)
Image 2 of 8
Here's another 1x picture, taken to contrast the next two. (Image credit: Future)
Image 3 of 8
An ultra-wide shot of the same scene. (Image credit: Future)
Image 4 of 8
A 2x zoom shot of the same scene. (Image credit: Future)
Image 5 of 8
A close-up image. The phone focuses quickly on close-up subjects. (Image credit: Future)
Image 6 of 8
A selfie. Note the shirt color, as mentioned earlier, and also the subject's positioning. (Image credit: Future)
Image 7 of 8
A Portrait selfie. Notice how some of the fringe has been blurred, though overall it's not catastrophic. (Image credit: Future)
Image 8 of 8
No, the sun's not setting in the background - this snap was taken at midday, and it misses all the vibrancy of the actual scene. (Image credit: Future)
Oppo Reno 10 review: performance and audio
Handy Dimensity 7050 chipset plus 8GB RAM
Handles games and other tasks well
Bluetooth 5.3, adequate speakers but no headphone jack
The Oppo Reno 10 performs just about as well as you could hope a low-cost smartphone to – unless you spend more time playing mobile games than you do outdoors, you’ll find this phone absolutely fit for purpose.
The phone packs a mid-range Dimensity 7050 chipset, paired with 8GB RAM and 256GB storage. You can boost the RAM by an extra 8GB by using a RAM boost feature that temporarily converts your storage into extra mobile power, which will give you some extra oomph until you fill up your phone’s data.
In the Geekbench 6 benchmark test, the phone returned a middling multi-core score of 2,360, but in actual use, it worked perfectly well. In popular games like Call of Duty: Mobile and PUBG Mobile, the device performed admirably, never overheating, lagging or stuttering. If you’re a mobile gamer, you won’t feel let down here.
Oppo has a games mode that lets you boost processing power, monitor your phone’s vital signs and block notifications, but even without enabling this, the device felt great to play games on.
As previously stated there’s no 3.5mm headphone jack. Instead for audio, you can use the handset’s Bluetooth 5.3 connection for phones or speakers, or rely on its in-built speakers. These latter are nothing to write home about but they’re fit for purpose for games, calls, voice notes or other tasks like that.
Performance score: 3.5 / 5
Oppo Reno 10 review: battery life
Big 5,000mAh battery
Up to two days of use
67W charging is lovely and fast
(Image credit: Future)
Like the vast majority of budget phones, the Oppo Reno 10 packs a 5,000mAh battery, which is about as big as you’ll get on a mainstream phone.
This is more than enough power to last the device through the day under normal use, and even heavy game-playing sessions won’t jeopardise its lasting power (well, to an extent). If you’re frugal, you’ll be able to see the phone through two days of use before a charge is required, but most people won’t last that long.
Thankfully, powering up the phone is swift, thanks to one of the fastest charging speeds you’ll see in a budget phone. That’s 67W, and your phone will power from empty to full in just over half an hour with it. An additional promise Oppo is throwing your way is that the phone should keep its battery capacity high for longer, which is often an issue with fast-charging phones; according to the company, the capacity will still be above 80% of its maximum after 1,600 charges and discharges, or about four years of use.
Battery score: 4 / 5
Should you buy the Oppo Reno 10?
Buy it if...
You wish you weren't on a budget
We all have a certain limit we'd spend on a phone, but if you wish yours was a lot higher, the Reno will let you pretend that it is.
You like streaming games and movies
Between its good-looking screen, powerful chipset, plentiful storage and big battery, the Reno 10 is great for streaming TV, movies, games and music.
You like easy software ColorOS has a smart layout, easily-understood buttons and handy navigation tricks... once you've got rid of all the bloatware.
Don't buy it if...
You're a mobile photography fan We've gone into lots of detail as to the Oppo Reno 10's camera issues. While the telephoto lens may be a big draw, it's not worth it!
You're not adept with user interface tweaks Due to its bloatware, we'd only recommend the Reno 10 to people who are comfortable enough with phone software to quickly delete a huge number of apps.
You have smaller hands Due to its size, you might have trouble operating the Oppo Reno 10 if you have smaller hands, as it'll be a stretch to reach the volume rocker or upper half of the display.
Oppo Reno 10 review: also consider
Considering other mobiles beyond the Oppo Reno 10? Here are some others you could look into, that all cost the same as, or a tiny amount more than, the Reno.
Google Pixel 7a Google's pint-sized Pixel 7a has the clean stock Android software and a focus on camera chops, so it's basically the opposite of the Reno 10. In the UK it's a bit pricier though.
Samsung Galaxy A54 Samsung has made a handy low-cost jack-of-all-trades device with the Galaxy A54. It falls a little short in the performance department but makes up for it with fun color options.
How I tested the Oppo Reno 10
Review test period = 2 week
Testing included = Everyday usage, including web browsing, social media, photography, video calling, gaming, streaming video, music playback
The testing period for the Oppo Reno 10 was roughly two weeks, which doesn't time before the fortnight for setting up the device and getting it through a few battery cycles, and time spent using the phone while writing the review.
To test the phone, I used it as a normal owner would: I took it on walks to test the camera, watched TV shows using it, played games at home on it. I also put it through some limited benchmark and timing tests, though kept these to a minimum as they don't usually reflect actual use.
I've been writing about phones at TechRadar for over five years now, after joining in early 2019, and have used Oppo's Reno phones since the first-gen Reno 10x Zoom up until the present day, including the last Reno phone to release in the UK, the Reno 8. I've also used phones from every other mainstream company, which helps with comparisons and with understanding all the phones out there right now.
Smartphone activations in the US are seeing the lowest share of iPhones in six years, according to data from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP). The analysts report the numbers each quarter but use a 12-month period to eliminate seasonality (iPhone sales are always the weakest just before the new generation launches and the strongest just after).
For most of 2023, Apple held steady at around 40%. However, it share began to slip at the end of the year and is now down to 33% at the beginning of 2024.
CIRP compares this to six years ago when it wasn’t just an Android-iOS...
Smartphone activations in the US are seeing the lowest share of iPhones in six years, according to data from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP). The analysts report the numbers each quarter but use a 12-month period to eliminate seasonality (iPhone sales are always the weakest just before the new generation launches and the strongest just after).
For most of 2023, Apple held steady at around 40%. However, it share began to slip at the end of the year and is now down to 33% at the beginning of 2024.
CIRP compares this to six years ago when it wasn’t just an Android-iOS...
Motorola has decided to continue its long-held siege on our list of the best cheap phones with its new Moto G34 — this was designed to be one of the most affordable 5G phones out there, and it’s a pleasantly surprising success.
One of the first 2024 entries into Motorola’s low-cost line of Moto G handsets, you quickly come to know what to expect from these handsets. They won’t hurt your bank account but generally deliver unimpressive specs, a poor camera performance and lackluster displays. Given that the G34 is being marketed on its low price, you’d expect it to tick all these boxes, but it manages to punch above its weight in a few departments.
A question I asked myself when I begun testing the phone was: “given that budget mobiles have weak specs to keep the price low, is 5G even useful on a handset of this price?” The answer I came up with is “in some use cases yes”.
The camera is a good example, because it’s actually okay for a super-cheap phone like this. Admittedly ‘okay’ isn’t a glowing recommendation, but it’s one of the kindest words I’ve ever used to describe a Moto phone camera. And with 5G, you can easily post snaps on social media, save them to a cloud or download an editing app to tweak them.
(Image credit: Future)
One small camera feature does damage the experience though: every time you take a snap, the phone spends ages processing it before it’s added to the camera gallery. This means you can’t see the finished product for while, which can be annoying if you want to know whether you’ve got the shot or need to try again.
The chip is, again, ‘okay’, but that’s great for a budget phone – the G34 wasn’t as sluggish, slow or prone to stuttering as many other handsets you could buy for the same price. You’re not going to be demolishing opponents in Call of Duty: Mobile any time soon but it’ll hold its own. I could download games on my bus ride into work thanks to the connection speeds as long as they were low-intensity gentle ones.
Plus the phone boasts nice, clean Android 14 with all of its personalization features, a chunky battery and up to 1TB of expandable storage, which is all appreciated.
It’s not all amazing, though. The Moto G34 has a relatively low-res display, with its LCD tech leaving colors looking a little washed out. If you’re buying a 5G phone to stream Netflix from out and about, you’d do better to just buy a same-price 4G phone with a better screen, or splash out a little more.
Plus, it’s really slow to charge, which admittedly is impossible to tie into the handset’s 5G features so let’s just list it as a standalone ‘con’ for the phone.
So you’re getting what you pay for with the Moto G34 and a little bit more – not a lot more, but enough that the price tag is easy to palate.
Moto G34: price and availability
Released in January 2024
On sale in the UK, possibly AU in future, unlikely in US
Costs £149.99 (roughly $190, AU$290)
(Image credit: Future)
The Moto G34 was unveiled to the world in December 2023, but it went on sale in the UK a month later in the new year.
The handset costs £149.99 for its sole 4GB RAM and 128GB model, though you can choose between black, green and blue versions. In some regions there are variants of the mobile with more RAM or various amounts of storage, but that’s not the case in the UK.
No US or Australian availability has been announced for the handset but the cost converts to around $190 or AU$290 – Moto typically sells different mobiles Stateside so the G34 likely won’t go on sale in America, but given precedent, it could reach the Australian shores.
That price puts the Moto G34 almost without equal in the realms of 5G phones, as most cost at least 25% more (well, until sales come). Instead, the handset is bumping elbows with some 4G competitors from Samsung, Xiaomi and even Motorola itself, with brands offering you slightly better features for the same price if you don’t need 5G.
Value score: 4 / 5
Moto G34 review: specs
The Moto G34 has specs that match its budget: low-end. Here's the skinny:
Moto G34 review: design
Average-sized Android that's not too heavy
Camera bump doesn't stick out much
USB-C port and a 3.5mm headphone jack
(Image credit: Future)
Like many phones from Motorola, the Moto G34 has a pretty utilitarian design: it’s another chocolate-bar phone.
The G34 measure 162.7 x 74.6 x 8mm and weighs 179g so it’s pretty lightweight as far as Android phones go, and not too big either.
On the bottom edge is a USB-C port and 3.5mm headphone jack — remember those?! — and the right edge holds an easily-reachable power button and a slightly-less-reachable volume rocker. As this phone is roughly averaged-sized, it should be usable one-handed for all but the smallest hands.
Like many budget phones, the G34 has a flat edge, but unlike many other mobiles that use this feature (including some Moto offenders) it’s not too angular — this wasn’t an uncomfortable phone to hold. While that’s not exactly a compliment, it’s definitely not an insult either.
On the back of the phone is a slight protrusion that houses the two camera lenses. This doesn’t stick out too far, so you can put the handset face-up on a table without turning it into a seesaw.
As mentioned, there are three color options for the phone, and we used the blue one. The green option uses faux leather which presumably gives it a much more premium feel, though I didn’t test this one so I can’t say for sure.
Design score: 3.5 / 5
Moto G34 review: display
A 6.5-inch display, big but not huge
Fairly low-res 720 x 1600 resolution
LCD leads to colors looking washed-out
(Image credit: Future)
You probably shouldn’t be picking the Moto G34 as your chosen phone if it’s to stream high-quality movies over the web, because the Moto might struggle to show you that ‘quality’ part.
The phone has a 6.5-inch display, so it’s fairly big and will show you lots of WhatsApp messages, big Instagram posts or lots of your video game. However it only has a HD resolution of 720 x 1600, so videos don’t look as crisp as they do on most other mobiles.
Moto has also opted to put an LCD screen on the phone, despite other low-cost mobiles using OLED which has better contrast, colors and brightness. At least the 120Hz refresh rate makes motion look nice and smooth.
Display score: 2 / 5
Moto G34 review: software
Stock Android 14, but only one software update
Lots of customization options
Moto's Quick Actions make navigation easy
(Image credit: Future)
Not only is the Moto G34 one of the cheapest 5G phones, but it’s one of the most affordable ways you can get yourself a handset with stock Google-designed Android.
The Moto comes on Android 14, the newest version of the popular operating system. Moto has only promised one update though, with three years of security updates, which software aficionados might find lacking.
Stock Android is a nice clean operating system, mostly free from bloatware and with an easy-to-access swipe-up app drawer so that your home screen remains nice and clear until you customize it.
Android 14 in particular is great for customization options to help you design your interface, though some usual Moto additions are missing. You can change the font, color scheme, app icon shape and more though, so there’s still a lot you can do.
Moto does bring its stalwart quick actions, which let you bring up certain apps just with gestures: you can do a double karate chop to turn on the torch or a twist to open the camera app, for example. Once you get the knack of these, they become really convenient navigation options.
An addition which is relatively new to Moto phones is the Moto Unplugged app which lets you temporarily pare back your handset when you want to go distraction-free for a while. It was pretty handy for when I wanted to focus on writing this review — until I realized that I needed to use the phone for the review, that is!
Software score: 3.5 / 5
Moto G34 review: cameras
50MP main and 2MP macro cameras
16MP selfie camera for self portraits
Slow photo processing provides photography pain
(Image credit: Future)
As you can see from the images, the Moto G34 boasts two rear cameras, though only one is worth talking about. They’re a 50MP f/1.8 main and a 2MP f/2.4 macro snapper. They’re joined by a 16MP f/2.4 selfie camera on the front.
If your expectations for the camera prowess of a budget phone like this are very low, then you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the G34. That’s not to say it’s good, but it’s fine, and at this price that’s all you can ask for.
In decent lighting conditions, snaps have sufficient detail, though they can look a little washed-out in terms of color. In low-lighting conditions – I don’t mean night-time, and the cookie picture below shows that even household lighting doesn’t cut it – snaps lose a lot of detail and often seem a bit muddy. Plus, the phone didn’t handle contrast well, with darker areas during daylight shooting losing loads of detail.
That may sound overwhelmingly negative, but pictures taken on the Moto G34 did retain more quality, light and color that snaps taken on other similarly priced phones I’ve tested in the past, so I wasn’t disappointed by its performance.
Using digital zoom, you can close the distance up to 8x, but images get very grainy past 2x so I wouldn’t recommend it.
Selfies are a small cut above, and I found that the front camera would cope better if my face wasn’t beautifully lit up. Portrait mode was surprisingly good at working out what it shouldn’t and shouldn’t blur too, and even messy bed hair couldn’t fool it.
Macro mode is… well, pretty dreadful, actually – I found it impossible to take a close-up shot with sufficient lighting and detail to exceed the capabilities of the main camera. Most of the time, my macro shots were blurry out-of-focus messes. Avoid!
The usual crowd of extra modes are here: photographers can use portrait mode, Pro mode, spot color (which turns a photo monochrome except for one color), dual capture, night mode and ‘Photo Booth’ which takes four pictures a few seconds apart, like you’re in an old-school photo booth. Videographers can enjoy some of the same including dual capture and spot color as well as a slow-motion mode.
One annoying aspect of the G34 is that, when you take a photo, the device will spend a while processing it. This sometimes took over a minute and I couldn’t find a way to turn the processing off — this all just meant you can’t see the proper image for a while after taking it. Ironically, the processing barely made a difference to image quality, so this isn’t as big of an issue as it otherwise would be.
Moto G34 camera samples
Image 1 of 6
A creme egg cookie batch photographed on the Moto G34's main camera. (Image credit: Future)
Image 2 of 6
An overcast park scene shot on the Moto G34's main camera. (Image credit: Future)
Image 3 of 6
A latte in a well-lit coffee shop on the Moto G34's main camera. (Image credit: Future)
Image 4 of 6
A catbug model photographed in a lightroom on the Moto G34. (Image credit: Future)
Image 5 of 6
A selfie captured in fairly well-lit conditions on the Moto G34's front camera. (Image credit: Future)
Image 6 of 6
A Portrait Mode selfie captured in fairly well-lit conditions on the Moto G34's front camera. (Image credit: Future)
Camera score: 2.5 / 5
Moto G34: performance and audio
Snapdragon 695 is fit for purpose
128GB storage can be expanded up to 1TB, plus 4GB RAM
3.5mm headphone jack for wired audio
The Moto G34 has a surprising chipset for its price: the Snapdragon 695 it uses often shows up in pricier (though still low-end) mobiles, and Motorola could have got away with sticking a weaker processor in its mobile.
This is paired with 4GB RAM and 128GB storage, though both are expandable. You can increase your storage by 1TB thanks to the microSD card slot, and use RAM expansion to temporarily turn unused storage space into extra power.
(Image credit: Future)
Using the Geekbench 6 benchmark test, the Moto returned a multi-core score of 2,035. That’s roughly around the score of 5-year-old flagships like the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 (2,092) and Huawei Mate 20 (2,134). For recent handsets, some budget mobiles from the last few years have similar scores including OnePlus’ Nord N20 (1,962) and Nord CE 2 Lite (1,952), both of which also have the Snapdragon 695 chipset.
When it comes to gaming, I was pleasantly surprised by how the Moto could hold its own through intensive games of Call of Duty: Mobile and other titles. There were startlingly few stutters or lags during online play; if it weren’t for the display and speaker quality, I could just have well been playing on a mid-ranged gaming phone.
Audio fans will love to see the Moto G34 boasting a 3.5mm headphone jack, so you can use wired headphones, microphones and more using the port. It also has Bluetooth 5.1 for wireless headphones if you prefer.
The G34 also has stereo speakers for audio; they’re nothing to write home about and don’t compare with those on pricier mobiles, but are fine for if you misplaced your headphones.
Performance score: 3 / 5
Moto G34 review: battery life
Big 5,000mAh battery
Phone easily lasts a day of use, and almost two
Slow to charge at 18W
(Image credit: Future)
It wouldn’t be a Moto phone if it didn’t have a battery the size of a small baby, would it? The G34 boasts a 5,000mAh battery, just like the vast majority of other mobiles from the company, which is a big power pack for a phone.
A battery like this would keep even a juice-hungry mobile powered for a long time, but between its HD screen and mid-tier chipset, the Moto G34 really makes the most of this battery. It easily lasts a day on a full charge and, in our testing, often came close to hitting two days of stopping power on a single charge.
It’s good that you don’t have to power up the phone frequently, though, because it’s not fast to charge. At 18W powering, it takes a glacial hour or more to power from empty to full, which will certainly have you sitting by the charger and twiddling your fingers.
As with almost any phone at this price, there’s no wireless charging or reverse wireless powering in sight.
Battery score: 4 / 5
Should you buy the Moto G34?
Buy it if...
You want low-cost 5G If you just need to connect to 5G networks by any means, then the Moto G34 is one of your cheapest options for doing so.
You need lots of storage space It's not everyday that we see a budget phone that can reach up to 1TB expandable storage, so if you want a portable hard drive that can make calls, it's a good option.
You're a super-low-budget gamer If you really can't afford a mid-ranged gaming phone, the Moto G34 is actually decent for playing mobile games, at least compared to its same-priced rivals.
Don't buy it if...
You stream movies and TV shows With its 720p LCD display, the Moto G34 isn't exactly an entertainment fan's powerhouse. If you want to stream on the go, pick a device with a 1080p screen.
You need quick charging Moto phones' big batteries makes charging less important, but if you're a fan of snappy powering, you really won't enjoy the G34.
You want several years of updates With only one guaranteed software update, the G34 won't get new Android features for years to come. At least you're getting three years' security updates.
Moto G34 review: Also consider
If you want to make sure you're getting bang for your buck, here are three other smartphones you might want to consider instead of the Moto G34:
Moto G54 Only a small sum more upgrades your G34 to a G53 with a higher-res display, better speakers and more in-built storage. It's the same in most other ways, except is somehow even slower to charge, and comes on Android 13 instead of 14.
Samsung Galaxy A15 Samsung's ultra-low-price 5G Galaxy phone has a fantastic display, as well as decent cameras and pretty fast charging for the price. Just make sure you buy the 5G variant and not the 4G one.
How I tested the Moto G34
(Image credit: Future)
Review test period = 3 week
Testing included = Everyday usage, including web browsing, social media, photography, video calling, gaming, streaming video, music playback
As you can tell, I tested the blue version of the Moto G34, in its sole 4GB and 128GB variant. I did not use the expandable storage in testing.
To write this review, I used the Moto G34 for roughly three weeks, not including the time I left the phone running prior to testing to normalize its battery. This testing involved lots of photography, a fair amount of gaming and a little bit of streaming movies and music too.
Please note that the product photography was undertaken prior to the testing period, hence why it looks like the phone has barely been used; it hadn't!
I've been reviewing smartphones for TechRadar for over five years now, starting with another budget Moto phone back in 2019. I've used countless handsets from the company and all its major competitors, as well as some of the other gadgets Moto has tried out (anyone remember the Moto 360?).
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