Hands-on troubleshooting guides for Virgin Media, Sky, BT, EE and more, written and tested by Graeme Messina.
iCloud Private Relay and a VPN both hide an iPhone's IP address, so they are easy to mix up, and the Settings app does little to explain the difference. Apple built Private Relay into iCloud+ to prote...
Buying a TV means picking through four panel types, a stack of HDR logos and five smart platforms before screen size even comes up. The makers' own spec sheets settle most of it. This guide takes each...
Apple sells four Apple Pencils, and each works with a different set of iPads. Picking the wrong one is the classic mistake: Apple's UK store still sells the Apple Pencil (2nd generation), yet Apple's ...
A portable monitor is a slim second screen that runs from a laptop's USB-C port, folds into a bag and turns a hotel desk or kitchen table into a two-screen set-up. Laptop screen extenders take the ide...
Outdoor security lights all promise the same thing: light on a path, a door or a drive the moment someone walks up. The real differences sit in the details makers print on their spec sheets, from how ...
A gaming monitor decides how smooth, sharp and responsive every game looks, yet its spec sheet is a wall of numbers that different makers measure in different ways. This guide sets out what the monito...
Freeview is still how millions of UK homes get free live TV, but the box under the telly now does far more than tune channels. A Freeview Play box or recorder adds catch-up apps over broadband, Freely...
Amazon, Roku and Google each sell a stick or small box that turns a TV with an HDMI port into a streaming set, and in the UK they carry most of the same apps. The real differences sit in the detail: w...
A Chromebook is a laptop that runs Google's ChromeOS rather than Windows or macOS, and that one difference decides whether it suits you. The browser does most of the work, some software has no route o...
Ring Automotive's car battery guide calls a battery fault the most common reason for cars to break down in the UK, particularly in winter. A lithium jump starter in the boot means a flat battery no lo...
A first 3D printer is a bigger decision than the price tag suggests. Filament or resin, open frame or enclosure, one colour or four: each choice changes what the printer can make, where it can live an...
Walkie talkies earn their keep on campsites, building sites and ski slopes, and for calling children in from the far end of the garden, yet most boxes on the shelf look alike. The details that matter ...
A USB-C cable looks the same whether it tops up a phone, charges a laptop at 240W or runs a monitor over Thunderbolt, and the plug gives almost nothing away. The differences sit inside: the current it...
A smart bulb screws or pushes into an ordinary light fitting and then takes its orders from an app, a voice assistant or a wireless switch. Choosing one comes down to four things: the fitting it has t...
Rechargeable AA and AAA batteries save buying pack after pack of alkalines for the remote, the game controller and the kids' toys. Choosing them is less simple than it looks. Panasonic, Duracell and E...
A projector can turn a bedroom wall into a cinema, put the football on a 100-inch picture or take a film out into the garden on battery. The spec sheets are where it gets confusing, with lumens that n...
A portable power station is a large rechargeable battery with an inverter and ordinary sockets, and the same box gets sold for camping trips, campervans, garden offices and power cuts. The spec sheet ...
A phone tripod sounds like one product, but the range runs from Manfrotto's 13.5 cm PIXI desk stand to travel tripods that Ulanzi lists at over 1.5 m, with selfie sticks, bendy-legged grips and motori...
A paper shredder cuts old bank statements, bills and letters into pieces too small to put back together, which keeps your name and address out of the recycling bin. Report Fraud, the police service fo...
A head torch keeps both hands free for a dark run, a dog walk down an unlit lane, a job in the loft or a power cut on a winter evening. The numbers on the box need some decoding, though. Lumens, beam ...
An item tracker is a small Bluetooth tag that clips to your keys or slips into a wallet, then shows up on a map when the item goes missing. The catch is that each one leans on a phone maker's finding ...
Microsoft sells two current Xbox consoles in the UK, and the gap between them is bigger than one letter suggests. The Xbox Series X aims at native 4K and comes with or without a disc drive; the Xbox S...
Sonos sells more in the UK than its short product names suggest: the Era speakers, the Five, three portables, four soundbars, two subwoofers and two sets of Ace headphones. Every one of them runs from...
Samsung UK's phone store splits the Galaxy range into three families: the Galaxy A series for everyday budgets, the Galaxy S series of flagships and the folding Galaxy Z series. The names move on ever...
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