OPPO Watch S - Lite on Features but Also Wonderfully Light

I've been a smartwatch guy for many years.

I've worn a lot of them. Many shapes and sizes. Different brands. Various operating systems.

Some were basic activity trackers. Some have so many features it's more like wearing a flagship phone on your wrist.

So yes, I'm a fan.

And yet there are still many people out there who aren't into smartwatches at all.

These people have deprived themselves of all the fabulous features today's smartwatches have to offer; activity tracking, health monitoring, notifications on hand...and why?

Perhaps because most smartwatches are huge and nerdy-looking?

Maybe because so many smartwatches can't even get through a full day and night without having to be charged?

Okay. There are arguments. But OPPO makes some pretty convincing counter-arguments.

From the second I put OPPO Watch S on, I thought, "Yeah, this is a pretty nice watch." Note; I didn't say, "SMARTwatch" - just "Watch."

At just 8.9mm thick and weighing in at only 35grams (minus the strap) it's possibly the most unobtrusive smartwatch I've ever worn. Because it's so light and thin, it's one of those watches that's so comfortable, you forget you're wearing it. Even in bed at night.

This is a plus, because OPPO does a creditable job of sleep-tracking - but there's not much point if the device doing the tracking is keeping you awake because it feels too big and clunky.

There's also not much point if the device doing the tracking is on the charger on your bedside table. Not an issue with the Watch S; its battery life is pretty stellar. I'm getting four or five days on a single charge effortlessly, without resorting to any power-saving measures or opting for a less power-hungry, non-animated watch face.

It also charges very quickly on its proprietary magnetic wireless cradle - so I tend to just plonk it on there for a few minutes every day for a speedy top-up, thereby ensuring I never really get much below 80%.

I happen to think it's a pretty styley-looking bit of wrist-wear too. My review device is the Silver Gleam option, which features a shiny stainless steel casing and an eye-catching yellow/green/blue woven nylon strap. Unlike other fabric bands I've worn in the past, this water-repellant strap dries off very quickly after showering or swimming and I don't end up with a weird wet patch on my sleeve. Nobody likes a wet patch.

The woven strap is also extremely comfortable, adding to the overall pleasurability rating of the Watch S wearable experience.

There's a Phantom Black option too - and while that one has a more conservative black fluororubber strap paired with its black casing, that strap is curved for extra comfort.

Don't be afraid to get it wet, by the way. The Watch S carries a 5 ATM / IP68 water resistance rating, so you're all good there.

In the meantime, there a few limitations to this watch that stop it competing head-to-head with some of the other premium flagship watches, including OPPO's own Watch X2.

Firstly, the operating system. It runs ColorOS Watch 7.1 - which looks and feels very familiar to anyone who's used a WearOS device before but unlike WearOS, there's no ability to use Google apps here; so no Google Maps or Google Wallet.

This is a bit of a dealbreaker for me personally, because one of my favourite flexes in life is to pay for things using my watch to tap and go. Oddly, the Watch S does have NFC capability - you can add non-confidential access cards, for example. This is pretty fun - although it's hard to know which systems it'll be compatible with and which it won't. I can unlock my front door with it but it doesn't work on the card-readers at work. I guess those ones are too confidential?

However, there are some things the Watch S can do that even smartwatches five times the price can't.

For example, the large 1.46-inch AMOLED display gets incredibly bright - up to 3,000nits in fact. That means you can read it easily, even on the sunniest days, even wearing shades.

I've already mentioned the crazy-good battery life but how about the fact you can pair it to two different phones simultaneously? Why would you want to do that? - unless you're a gadget-addicted tech reviewer like me, obviously - Anyone who has a work phone as well as a personal one can answer that question right away. Get notifications from both handsets on a single watch.

As you would expect, the Watch S does an admirable job when it comes to exercise tracking, thanks in no small part to its dual-band GPS. I've found this to be very accurate and what's more, it locks on within seconds of starting your workout.

The Watch S can be set to auto-detect workouts like running, cycling, swimming and walking but perhaps more importantly, it can also auto-pause during a workout - like when you're waiting at the traffic lights, for example - then resuming once you're on your way again.

My only criticism here is the lack of customisation on the workout display - when doing an Outdoor Walk I'd prefer to have a live reading of my current pace and perhaps my cadence. Instead, I get my step total and calories burnt - along with duration, distance and heart-rate of course. Unfortunately, you can't play around with these metrics like you can on some other devices. Yet your pace IS shown when you do an Outdoor Run. Odd.

On the bright-side, you can pair the Watch S with other Bluetooth-capable exercise machines like treadmills and stationary bikes, so they'll display metrics like heart-rate and workout zones.

What's more, once your workout syncs back with the O-Health app on your phone, you can then dig into all the metrics you could possibly desire, and then some.

This is exactly what the Watch S does itself when you get it to run its 60s Wellness Overview - this holistic health check requires you to touch your finger to the electrode sensor on the side of the casing while ten different readings are collated, including an ECG, sleep tracking, blood oxygen levels and more.

If you're overtired and stressed out, you might be told to slow down and recharge.

On the other hand, if you managed to delete all those unimportant emails and fit in an afternoon app, you'll probably get some words of encouragement and a smiley face instead.

While you can't add an eSIM to use the Watch S independently of your phone, you can take Bluetooth calls on it and you'll receive notifications from any app you've got installed on your paired device. In saying that, this is a one-way stream - you can't respond to those notifications, even if they're texts, emails or direct messages - you can only read them.

So yes, there are a few limitations - but not many. Meanwhile, what the Watch S does, it does expertly. the screen is bright and responsive, the battery life is nuts and being able to pair with two phones at once will be a godsend for a lot of you. Oh, and did I mention it works with both iOS and Android handsets? What a great little watch. And I do mean little.

    

Click here for more information and pricing on the OPPO Watch S.

ESR iPad Cases - An Option for Everyone

Amazing how quickly you can go from not knowing anything about a brand to becoming one of its biggest groupies.

There are a lot of iPad accessories out there and it goes without saying, there's a wide variety when it comes to quality and price.

Founded in 2009, ESR has quickly become a trusted fan favourite in the world of accessories like cases and chargers. In fact, ESR has led the world in many categories - like when it introduced the first MagSafe wireless car mount charger in 2020.

So in a year when Apple is rumoured to be releasing more new devices than ever before, it might be a good idea to keep an eye on the ESR website to see how you can best protect those devices.

There are an awful lot of ESR products I could feature today, but let’s keep things simple and focus on iPad cases. After all, with everyone back at school and university now, it’s a great time to consider how to protect those devices we’ve become so dependent on.

The great thing about the ESR options I’ve tried so far is the way they take what Apple already has to offer and expands on it to make it even better. The Shift Magnetic Case is a perfect example.

I’m sure we’ve all seen various examples of the “basic” folio-style case; your iPad clips in to one side and the other half is a flap that protects the screen. Most of the designs like this also allow you to prop your iPad up for a better viewing angle. Not sure if they offer the choice of nine different angles like this ESR version does.

The two small lugs at the base of the fold-out kickstand are - as the name suggests - magnetic, so they’ll hold your iPad at your desired angle come what may. Perhaps that’s a more upright angle for watching video, or a flatter profile when creating with a stylus. Speaking of which, there’s a stretchy pouch on the back to keep your stylus in - not all iPads or variations of the Apple Pencil (or other compatible drawing tools) are magnetic, so this is the ideal way to make sure it’s always handy.

But there’s a lot more to the Shift Magnetic Case than that. What may not be immediately apparent is this is actually a two-piece accessory; the stylish, leather-feel cover/stand makes up half the equation while the iPad itself fits snugly into its own back cover, which protects the edges and corners of your iPad as well, while still giving easy access to volume controls and speaker grilles. Due to the sturdy thickness of its rubber, shock-absorbing edges, I did find I had to be quite deliberate when using the fingerprint sensor to unlock the iPad but I soon got used to having to press just that little bit harder.

This seperate back panel magnetises firmly onto the cover, to ensure your iPad is fully enclosed when stashed into your bag. And because that part of the case is seperate, it can also be attached at a much higher position - a bit like how you might use a laptop stand to raise your screen up closer to eye-level. This applies to both landscape and portrait orientations and certainly makes for a much better camera angle when it comes to online meetings or streaming.

ESR even suggests you can use this cunning magnetic rear casing to stick your iPad to the fridge door, effectively upgrading your fridge to one of those smart hubs that cost thousands.

The Shift is a very versatile case, expertly manufactured and is available in a wide range of colours.

And it’s also available in a whole other model; the Shift Keyboard Case.

While this version of the Shift shares many of the features I’ve just described, it adds an excellent bluetooth keyboard to the equation, which instantly makes the iPad feel more like a laptop than a tablet.

That’s not to say you can’t still use your iPad in portrait mode if you prefer; while the keyboard also uses powerful magnets to attach itself to the back half of the case, once paired and charged, there’s no need to keep it connected and the fold out kickstand on the back has an angled edge so you can prop your iPad up longways.

Conversely, both Shift cases also have a smaller, upper flap that folds out to raise your iPad to the slimmest of “studio” angles - again, best-suited for graphic work or note-taking with a stylus.

But back to the keyboard. It has so many features you simply won’t find on other similar products. It has a physical on/off switch at the side and three status LEDs at the bottom right-hand corner to indicate power, caps-lock and battery level.

I was amazed to discover the keyboard is backlit when powered on, it has a full row of function keys at the top for things like media controls, screenshots and brightness and the keys themselves have a remarkable clicky-ness and travel to them that belies how slim this part of the case is.

Then there’s the enormous trackpad - 4.4 x 2.8-inches and fully clickable, much more like a trackpad you’d find on a laptop than on a keyboard case. Because it’s bigger, you can be more accurate, scroll and zoom more smoothly and click more confidently.

And the battery life is impressive. If you choose to leave the backlighting off, it’ll run for around 130 days before your next 2hr charge.

Or there’s another option. It seems with ESR, there’s always another option.

The Flex Keyboard Case has a similar keyboard with the same feel and the same XL trackpad but doesn’t have backlighting or a physical on/off switch at the side.

Like the Shift version, the magnetic keyboard can detach for remote use but this time there’s no real way to rotate your iPad into portrait mode.

Instead, using the Flex really does feel much more like operating a laptop - down to the little rubber feet under the keyboard. In fact, it’s what I’m using to type this very review with.

There’s no stretchy pouch for a stylus either. Instead, there’s a click-in cavity at the top of the screen for your Apple Pencil or similar device. This means there’s quite a gap between that edge and the volume controls on your iPad but not to worry, ESR has found a way to transfer those controls across.

The way the Flex stands up is its true genius; a double thickness magnetic strut snaps into place when you open out the rear kickstand, as if by magic, providing an ultra-stable viewing angle of 65°. For writing or drawing, simply rotate your iPad around and it will now be angled at the much more shallow 20° position.

All three of these ESR cases are fine examples of meticulous design and build quality, yet typical of ESR’s “keep it simple” approach.

For added protection, there’s even the option of a military-grade, UltraFit Amorite screen protector, which can be applied to a professional, bubble-free standard using ESR’s all-in-the-box, 2-step process.

Take it from a parent who’s had to get his kid’s broken iPad fixed in the middle of a school term before, any device defence you can get will save a lot of tears and strife along the way. ESR offers an excellent standard of protection. I’d check them out if I were you.

Click here for more information and pricing on the ESR Shift Magnetic Case.

Click here for more information and pricing on the ESR Shift Keyboard Case.

Click here for more information and pricing on the ESR Flex Keyboard Case.

Avast Deepfake Guard - The Real Deal

The battle against scammers rages on more furiously than ever.

It seems like every legitimate advance in AI technology opens another door for nefarious actors to crash through and upend your digital life - either at home or on the job.

According to the boffins at Gen Threat Labs, they detected more than 150,000 deepfake scams in Q4, 2025 alone. New Zealanders are no exception - reporting a significant rise in scams like fake how-to videos. Imagine the cruel irony of looking up a guide on how to speed up your PC, only to fall victim to a piece of malware you've been tricked into installing by an AI-generated "computer expert."

Luckily, as the baddies hungrily embrace new technology, renowned cyber security brands like Avast have been just as quick to join the fray.

Deepfake Guard is a new feature that has just been added to Windows PC installs of Avast Premium Security; a comprehensive collection of the latest cyber safety tools in one convenient package.

Listed under the Scam Guardian Pro section of the app, once enabled, Deepfake Guard can be left running in the background, or you can choose to scan any video or audio content manually, as you play it.

As far as I can tell, Deepfake Guard works kind of like a Shazam for scams - watching and listening out for any AI-generated content and alerting you if you're watching or listening to something that's likely to be fake.

This way, you'll know to avoid clicking any links in the description or comments sections, or downloading any apps or tools the bot on screen may recommend.

All the major video platforms can be scanned automatically, including YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, X and DailyMotion - but you can run Deepfake Guard manually over any video you watch.

Unfortunately, it's a Windows PC-only feature at this stage which is a shame for Mac users like me - and kind of surprising given how many people consume most of their video content on their phones. I'm sure Avast will roll it out to other platforms as soon as possible; meanwhile, I guess some protection is better than none at all.

What surprised me even more was some of the icky stuff I found within the Premium Security app itself.

Starting with a generous helping of straight-out spam.

When you visit a website to download an app, it's fair enough to expect a certain amount of promotion of that company's other products. Avast has quite a selection - and in my experience they all perform well, doing what they say they do on the box.

What I don't want, is to be advertised to within an app I've already paid for.

At just NZ$54.99 for the first year, you can protect one Windows PC and one mobile device with Avast Premium Security, or up to 10 devices for just $15 more. Pretty decent value. But in much the same way people got annoyed when out of the blue, Prime Video suddenly started bombarding their subscribers with ads unless they upgraded to a pricier subscription, I became increasingly frustrated the more I used Avast Premium Security.

As you'll see me demonstrate in the video below, the first thing the app prompts you to do is scan your device. It does a thorough job of this, checking not only for viruses and malware, but OS errors and other performance issues as well. Wonderful. Even on the Windows laptop I'd completely reset and erased for the purposes of writing this review, the Premium Security scan still turned up a host of junk files, broken shortcuts and out-of-date drivers.

Unfortunately, when I pressed the helpful green "RESOLVE" button, a popup window appeared inviting me to subscribe to Avast Cleanup Premium in order to do so. When I closed that window another splash screen appeared telling me my "Issue level is critical" and I could start a 60 day free trial. Even when I quit the scan results window to get back to the main menu, I was encouraged to sign up to Cleanup Premium for a third time.

This infuriating experience was replicated in various sections of the app. Scan result showed out of date drivers? No worries. Avast can sort that automatically... Once you've signed up for an Avast Driver Updater subscription.

Want to take your online privacy to the next level? Avast has a VPN for that... for a fee.

Look, I don't begrudge Avast offering different steps of cyber protection at different price points. I don't even mind they have a whole app store button on the main menu of the Premium Security app itself.

Just don't tell me I have a problem then tell me the only way I can fix it is buy paying for and installing a whole other app. That's just not helpful.

Then we come to the most paradoxical thing of all; Avast Secure Browser.

As part of Premium Security's Privacy settings, you can opt to monitor Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox to protect yourself from browser-based attacks like password theft and site spoofing. Not super helpful for someone like me who prefers the lesser-known Arc browser but a great way to keep most users from accidentally clicking onto dodgy sites they shouldn't be anywhere near.

Avast takes this a step further by offering its own, stand-alone Secure Browser, with all these privacy and safety features already built in.

Sounded great to me, until I installed it, opened it and was met with a bookmark bar with Amazon, eBay, AliExpress and Booking.com already pre-installed, shortcuts to Booking.com, Amazon, YouTube and Facebook right under the default search bar and most alarming of all, a seemingly endless scroll-board of "news" thumbnails featuring totally essential breaking stories such as, "Memory Loss Often Starts with One Simple Habit" and "Dermatologists: The 1 Vitamin You Need if You Have..."

It also told me the temperature was 74°F - not that helpful in metric New Zealand. Maybe you can delete and deactivate all this eye pollution in the settings, but needless to say, I shut that thing down faster than a "Neuropathy Sock" could "Go Viral in New Zealand."

I'm not saying Avast Secure Browser isn't secure. I'm just saying a cyber security company needs to take a good hard look at itself if it's prepared to bombard a paying customer with that level of spam within its own branded software. I have elected NOT to use it as my new default browser.

Ironically, I did sign up for Avast Driver Updater and it fixed my dysfunctional fingerprint scanner in seconds. Like I said, these products definitely work. I just don't like HOW some of them work.

The important thing to know is, the all-new Deepfake Guard doesn't cost any extra. It's now a built-in feature of the Scam Guardian Pro section of Avast Premium Security - for Windows users anyway. Perhaps something to think about before you watch that next "How To" video and follow the link for more detailed instructions.

    

Click here for more information and pricing on Avast Premium Security, featuring Deepfake Guard.

GHD SPEED - Faster, Not Hotter

Although I have no hair, as husband to a woman for thirty years and a parent of two girls (now also women) for more than two decades, I've learnt a few things about hair dryers.

Many of these lessons were learnt on the rare occasions when I had the day off but Domestic Manager didn't. On those days, I would get to have a lie-in.

I say, "lie-in" because sleeping in was never an option once Domestic Manager fired up her hair dryer.

Loud. So, so loud. And long. How could it take so long?

Other things I learned via muttered complaints; like arms getting tired from having to hold the hair dryer up all that time and how hot the whole thing was making her - especially after just coming out of the shower.

Now, as a sensitive male, I'm well aware it's not my job to swoop in and try and solve all her problems. Instead, I'm supposed to be an active listener and empathise as hard as I can.

But what if I actually CAN solve a lot of those problems?...

Well, I personally can't solve them - but it seems the GHD SPEED can.

Believe it or not, I have actually reviewed a few other hair-care tools before and I have to say, I was somewhat underwhelmed when I first removed the lid from the box containing GHD's latest hair-drying innovation, only to discover something that looked like... well... like a hair dryer. No crazy, out-there shape or radical materials or colours - just a fairly conventional barrel on top of a handle, available in black, white or titanium/black.

On closer inspection, there has actually been some slight streamlining. The handle is more uniformly narrow all the way up, making it more comfortable to hold than other similar designs where the handle gets thicker as it reaches the top. In the case of the SPEED, there's also a very narrow connection between the handle and the barrel which presumably makes the whole device a little bit lighter and it certainly seems nicely balanced when you pick it up.

The 360° double air filter is easily twisted off for cleaning - which is appealing to me as for some reason, I've often been the designated cleaner of gunged-up hair dryers, even though I'm not the one using them or gunging them up.

But the most important thing about the SPEED, is its speed.

What's the key to drying hair faster? Over the years, many manufacturers have decided it's all about heat - and while it's true a hot airflow not only dries but is essential for styling, there's only so hot you can go before hair becomes damaged and brittle. And that's not even taking into account how uncomfortable it is to blast scalding air directly onto your scalp for prolonged periods, not to mention having to hold something up above your head that quickly becomes too hot to touch.

That's where GHD's Halo dual airflow technology comes in. Essentially what they've done is wrapped a core stream of hot air up in a surrounding ring (or halo) of cool air. This bit of genius design has several flow-on (pun intended) effects.

Firstly; the airflow is focussed and controlled at all times, making the process more efficient and styling more precise.

Secondly; while the SPEED has four heat settings and a dedicated "Cool Shot" button to set the shape once you're happy with the style, so do many other hair dryers. The difference here is, thanks to the Halo dual airflow, this cooling effect - which also locks in shine and smoothness - is essentially happening the whole time. So; healthier, shinier hair, with a longer-lasting style, faster.

Thirdly; because the "Halo" of cool air is surrounding the hot central column, the SPEED itself remains cool to the touch - even if you end up holding it by the barrel, which you're likely to when drying and styling the top of your head. So no more burnt fingertips first thing in the morning.

And fourthly; it's just cooler. As much as 20 degrees cooler, so you won't end up hot, flustered and frustrated, just from doing your hair.

But Halo dual-airflow is only half the SPEED's story.

The other half is the digital motor. Although an amazing 91% smaller than the motor in the preceding GHD Helios, it spins at up to 118,000rpm, capable of generating high-pressure air-flow up to 176km/h.

Who needs excess heat when you've got that much power? Power focussed exactly where it needs to be via the magnetic Halo Styling Concentrator attachment included in the box, or any of the other GHD nozzles, combs and diffusers which are sold separately.

As you can tell, my first impression of "Just another hair dryer" has now been blown away.

GHD worked with over 4,000 consumers to tweak this design in all the right areas, pretty much eliminating all of the common pain points - especially the burny pain points.

Even little things, like how annoying it is to accidentally bump the controls when you had them set just right, meaning you have to fluff around with temperature and speed all over again. Not only has GHD solved this by including a Lock button to keep your preferences in place, the SPEED also remembers what settings you were using last time between styling sessions.

Domestic Manager particularly likes that bit.

If you thought heat was the answer to a faster hairstyle, think again. My loyal test subjects have confirmed it - the dual combination of hot and cool airflow, combined with the new digital motor's extreme power, result in much faster drying, a healthier shine and a style that lasts all day.

Problems solved. That is, if you want them to be. No pressure.

Click here for more information and pricing on the GHD SPEED.

Amazon Echo Studio (2025) and Amazon Echo Dot Max - Essentially Amazon's Best Yet

If there's one feature I've really appreciated about the Amazon Echo range of smart speakers over the years, it's the way they play so well together.

The ability to group several different Echoes, or assign them to the same room meant suddenly you didn't have to run cables all through the house to achieve a decent multi-room sound system.

Frustratingly, this is also the part of dealing with Alexa and its associated speakers that I've found to be the most glitchy. Nothing worse than going to the trouble of naming your speakers, linking them to whichever room they're in, creating groups etcetera, only for some of them not to respond when they're supposed to.

But in recent times, Amazon has obviously done a lot of work in this area and lately, my groups and rooms have been much more reliable.

Now, with the introduction of several new speakers with new chips in them late last year, Amazon has taken this interoperability to another level again.

First, the speakers. I reviewed the Echo Show 11 recently and was very impressed - both with its fabulous screen and overall sound quality. As part of the same launch, Amazon released a smaller, 8-inch version of the Show and two other new speakers, the Echo Dot Max and the Echo Studio.

The Dot Max isn't just a little bigger than the 5 generations of Dot that came before it, it now has a forward-facing control panel and includes a totally redesigned internal speaker architecture, including a high-excursion woofer capable of producing bass frequencies so warm, powerful and distortion-free, you'd think this speaker was four times the size.

If you're wondering if a single speaker, not much larger than a grapefruit, can full a room with rich, full-spectrum sound, the answer is, yes, most definitely. And as we've already established, you also have to option of teaming up with other Echoes or pairing with another Dot Max to create a stereo pair.

Meanwhile, the Echo Studio, although it looks pretty much identical - except bigger - is a whole other proposition. Confusingly, there's already been an Echo Studio back in 2019. The original was a fairly large, heavy cylinder with a slot at the bottom for the woofer to do its thing.

And do its thing it certainly did - while other Echoes at the time may have come up a little short in the lower frequency ranges, the Studio more than made up for that shortfall, working as a kind of powerhouse speaker and legitimate subwoofer all in one. Since then, I've usually ended up grouping any new Echo with the Studio to add a bit more oomph to my listening sessions.

So, despite not even adding a "2" to the name, the 2025 version of the Echo Studio falls roughly into the same category. In terms of sheer wattage, it may not quite match the technical output of the original but there's still a lot going on in there, including a new chip, three full-range drivers and a high-excursion woofer, all packed into a much more subtle and compact form factor.

The new Studio is about a lot more than brute force bass and volume to spare though. A bit like the performance of the Dot Max - and indeed the Echo Show 11 from last week's review - this is a true evolution in sound reproduction for the Echo range. Everything is somehow more precise - yet richer and warmer too.

Obviously both these speakers are adept at carrying out any spoken commands you have for Alexa and just as with the Echo Show 11, lights turn on pretty much instantly, weather forecasts are delivered right away and there's a wide choice of voices and wake words to choose from.

But by far, the new feature I was most excited about was Alexa Home Theatre; being able to pair these new speakers with a late model Fire TV device to create a genuine, immersive cinematic experience. I didn't know much about how this worked, other than I'd read you could now add up to five of the new speakers to your Fire TV, eliminating the need for a soundbar or similar setup.

I started with two Echo Studios for front left and right. To set up, all you have to do is bring up the audio settings on your Fire TV (in my case, a Fire TV Stick 4K Max) and Alexa Home Theatre is the first setting on the menu. Select it, and the TV automatically scans for any compatible Echoes on the same home network. Then it's simply a matter of checking which ones you want to add to the system. 

What I didn't know then is there are only certain viable configurations.

Once I selected my new Echo Studios, I wasn't surprised to see all my other, older Echoes greyed out. However, I wasn't expecting not to be able to add any Echo Dot Max speakers either. I thought they'd make the perfect rear surround option but for some reason, your fandangled new system has to consist entirely of identical speakers, which seems bizarre.

Even weirder still, the one exception is the Amazon Echo Sub - which actually dates right back to 2018. Inexplicably, you can add one of these to your multi-Studio setup, but not the new Dot Max.

Maybe this is something that will change in a future firmware update. I sure hope so. In the meantime, as I only had a couple of new Studios, I forged on, resigned to a slightly less 3D array.

Once you've added your speakers the next step is a short, automated calibration. Alexa plays a bunch of weird noises out of each speaker (including from your TV), using the available mics to get a feeling for your room and where the speakers are in it. It was at this point the whole process just stopped. Not freezing, exactly - but not continuing either.

I spent quite some time repeating the exercise - including all the weird noises - until eventually I tried teaming the two Studios up in a stereo pair before adding them to the Alexa Home Theatre. This, mysteriously, finally worked and sure enough, I now had control of the speakers with my Fire TV remote and they turned on and off in sync with my TV.

The result was... well... quite stunning actually. So good, in fact, I'm sure glad I didn't rush out and buy two (or even three) more Studios to complete my initial quadraphonic plan. Now it was finally up and running, the sound from these two small orbs compared extremely favourably with other wireless surround systems I've tried, usually made up of a soundbar, separate subwoofer and a pair of rear speakers.

Gunfights were loud and punchy, explosions and dancey soundtracks were big and bassy and dialouge managed to cut through it all. If you have some form of Fire TV, this is the audio upgrade you may have been waiting for.

Just make sure you don't try to mix up your speakers.

    

Click here for more information and pricing on the Amazon Echo Dot Max.

Click here for more information and pricing on the Amazon Echo Studio (2025).

Philips Hue Bridge Pro and Philips Play Hue Wall Washers - This Is Why Hue Still Rules

I've used a lot of different smart lighting over the years and the brand I invariably come back to is Philips Hue. Although Hue products carry a premium price tag, there's a reason.

They work.

Generally speaking, Hue is brighter, is better designed and is just... well... smarter.

A big part of the Philips Hue equation is the Bridge - the standalone connection hub you'll need if you want to install any Hue gizmo. Unlike most other smart lights, Hue lights don't all connect to your home Wi-Fi individually, instead, you connect the Bridge to your network and it controls the lights instead.

This means a lot less clutter on your router and a more reliable connection for all things Hue.

Now the Hue Bridge Pro takes that up a notch. Several notches actually. While the original Bridge had to be hardwired to your router via an ethernet cable, the revitalised Bridge Pro can connect wirelessly, meaning more flexibility around where you can set it up.

The Pro can also control up to 150 devices, as opposed to 50, offers expanded compatibility with Samsung SmartThings, Alexa, Apple Home and Google Assistant and has a new chip which means 5x times faster response times.

This all makes for quite the upgrade - but there is a catch. While you can swap all your existing devices and their associated settings over to the Bridge Pro from your old one, it takes a mysteriously long time. It's not complicated - you just sign into the Hue app on your phone and follow the instructions - it's just that it takes forever. Like, go away and do something else in the meantime forever. 

And it's the kind of process that doesn't really give you much of an indication of how far through it is... so you'll be tempted to give up, stop everything and start again. Not a good idea, unless you want to risk losing all your scenes and settings and having to add every device all over again from scratch. Trust me; you'll get there in the end. You just have to wait.

And the wait is worth it. Especially if you're running the Hue Play HDMI Sync Box for TV backlighting like I am - that five-fold increase in response time is noticeable right away.

While we're talking synced backlighting, meet the Hue Play Wall Washer - part of the new generation of better - and brighter - Hue devices.

This solid but compact little unit is Hue's effort to make backlighting even more accessible, in a way combining the finely-tuned, flowing effects of the earlier Light Bar and Gradient Lightstrip with the full glow-power of some of Hue's other feature lights.

Essentially, with just one (but preferably two) Wall Washers, you can come close to achieving the same kind of total-wall coverage offered by the Bar/Lightstrip combo. How effective this is depends a little on the size of the TV you're trying to accent.

As you'll see in the video below, the wall washers do a surprisingly good job of beaming a lot further up the wall than you might think - within reason.

Given I already had quite an effective synced backlighting setup, I soon realised the best use of my new Wall Washers was to widen the effect even further. As they're quite subtle - and certainly very small, I've been able to set them up some distance away from each side of the telly to spread all the colours appearing on-screen even further along each wall.

Let me emphasise again just how engrossing it is to have what you're watching exploded beyond the borders of your screen - especially if things are being blown up, set on fire or suddenly plunged into water. Conversely, I find even sporting action is enhanced mightily when the green of the pitch is carried on up and along the walls. It'll help if you've got a bit of space - these wee power-houses tend to work better when positioned with a reasonable gap between them and the surface they're shining on.

Of course, there are many other ways to use the Hue Play Wall Washers. Domestic Manager has been particularly taken with my attempts to provide accent lighting from underneath some of her more spectacular pot plants. As you can imagine, the changing colours and shadows cast quite the spell.

Like all Hue lighting, the Wall Washers can be set to do certain things at certain times, even activating at sunset and turning off at sunrise - whenever that happens to be at your place.

As yet another feature upgrade on the Bridge Pro, Hue Motion Aware means you can now set your lights to activate when you enter the room - no other external motion sensor required, as long as you're running at least three Hue Lights in any specified space.

That's a lot of exciting new Hue going on - and thanks to the Bridge Pro, none of it is really putting any significant extra strain on my home network. You see? Totally worth it.

Click here for more information and pricing on the Philips Hue Bridge Pro.

Click here for more information and pricing on the Philips Hue Play Wall Washer.