Tag:

expensive

The Vision Pro Was An Expensive Misstep. Now Apple Has to Catch Up With Smart Glasses
Gaming Gear

The Vision Pro Was An Expensive Misstep. Now Apple Has to Catch Up With Smart Glasses

by admin


When discussing the development of AR and AR devices back in 2016, he said that most people wouldn’t find it acceptable to be “enclosed in something … because we are sociable people at heart.” He was spot on.

It turns out that what people really want at this moment is to just wear something that looks good and feels like a normal pair of glasses, with use cases that are actually, well, useful. And no, Tim, that’s not to watch Ted Lasso on their ceiling.

Coming to smart glasses in 2027 will feel almost impossibly late for a market that is taking off now, and while Apple is no stranger to starting behind, it will need to ensure its judgment on what its customers want in smart glasses is much more attuned than it was with Apple Vision Pro. At this point, it simply can’t afford another misstep.

But Apple isn’t giving up on Apple Vision Pro either, and reports suggest it may well revisit it once the more pressing issue of smart glasses is dealt with. While Gartenberg remains unconvinced that Apple can get the Vision Pro cheap enough to make it truly accessible for all (“the things that Apple would need to do to get this thing down to a price for humans is extraordinary”), Sag suggests it might not have to.

He points to the boom in gaming consoles as an example. Rather than flatlining the gaming PC market as was predicted, the proliferation of consoles actually helped drive sales of PCs, with more people getting into gaming, so more wanting to level up their equipment in time. He predicts the same trend will happen with smart glasses. People will start with more basic, familiar frames, then migrate into the chunkier, fully featured versions.

“People need to remember that XR is a spectrum and that devices are going to exist along that continuum,” Sag says. “The cheaper, simpler devices are going to reach the most people, but then there’s going to be a lot of people who want more than this base level experience.”

One day, Apple may be able to make that singular, gorgeous XR headset that people actually want to wear. But until then, it has to meet the market where it is headed—and that is in cheaper, lighter, more functional frames.



Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Ananta looks expensive, like a mix of GTA, Spider-Man, and Yakuza, and a bit overwhelming
Game Updates

Ananta looks expensive, like a mix of GTA, Spider-Man, and Yakuza, and a bit overwhelming

by admin


Ananta is a bit of an alarming game to look at. The open world game is so clearly an anime-esque riff on GTA, with some Spider-Man style web swinging thrown in for reasons I’m not entirely sure of. All of that’s been obviously more or less since its announcement. But the game just received its first gameplay trailer at Tokyo Game Show, and it looks scarily… expensive.


Through the roughly seven minutes of gameplay, set to a song I can only describe as “song you let play on the radio while driving just because you want to fill the silence,” more and more Things just kept happening. One minute the main character is driving a motorbike, the next they’re taking a selfie through different scenes, one of which shows a mostly naked man escaping police on a robotic, walking toilet, and then the next they’re fighting goons Yakuza-style in the street.

Watch on YouTube


And more things keep happening after that! There’s the aforementioned Spider-Man swinging, a giant city-destroying robot, and just so many fictitious shops with such well realised branding you could convince me I could actually visit them.


This isn’t even mentioning the fact that Ananta just wholesale rips off GTA 5’s character transition, letting you hop into another, presumably gacha rolled, character’s body, continuing on whatever they’re doing. There’s even quite an interesting use of this where you can do so while you’re being held at gunpoint, with the switch to another character allowing you to snipe enemies from afar.


It really has that GTA ethos of “you can do everything,” an ethos I don’t necessarily feel great about considering the amount of labour likely required to achieve it, which raises questions of how ethical that labour was achieved. There’s a chance it’s teetering on the edge of having too much to do the do, to the point it becomes overwhelming.


Ananta isn’t just alarming because of how much of an “everything” game it presents itself as, but because I have some reservations about its narrative framing. The main character is the new captain of a special task force, essentially what seems to be the police. There’s even a moment about halfway through where, as a different character, you can just handcuff and arrest an NPC.


Of course you can have games where you play as the police, there are good and interesting stories about police too, but I can’t help but feel a bit concerned by such a, potentially small, gameplay feature. There’s no amount of cute half-animal anime women that can make it easy to breeze past such a thing.


Perhaps a game to be curious but cautious about, whenever it comes out.



Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
The Super Mario Galaxy games are coming to Switch consoles in £60 double pack
Game Reviews

Nintendo is facing continued backlash for its pricing, but are the new Mario Galaxy re-releases on Switch really too expensive?

by admin


Hello and welcome to another entry in our “The Big Question” series, in which we present an argument to you, the Eurogamer community, for further interrogation. This week: are the new Mario Galaxy re-releases on Switch really too expensive?

We’ve become accustomed to things becoming cheaper over time, to the extent that it feels like a right. Don’t buy a car brand-new, fresh off the manufacturing line, wait for it to be traded in a year later and then buy it for huge savings. Who hasn’t scoured the sandwich chiller at the supermarket for a ropey wrap massively reduced in price because they are nearing their sell-by date? And I’m not sure there’s ever been a bigger moment in UK gaming than when Gamestation reduced the price of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim to about £20, in December 2011, less than one month after the game was released. Things should get cheaper if you wait, right? Right? I’m not sure. Let’s say it’s complicated.

Watch on YouTube

The examples above aren’t exactly equivalent – a slightly stale onion baji sandwich made three days ago isn’t the same as a car being driven for 8,000 miles (mainly motorway), I know. But I think the point should be somewhat clear. Games start at one price, then get cheaper, and cheaper, until they sell for pennies. Unless you are Nintendo.

Let’s look at Nintendo’s Switch (and Switch 2) re-releases of Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Galaxy 2. £34 to buy each digitally on their own, or £59 as a bundle. This has been met with the expected amount of derision online, with the sentiment among many essentially boiling down to: How dare Nintendo charge this much for games which are 18 and 15 years old, respectively. Games which are not receiving massive overhauls, at that.

These people are wrong. Sorry. Taken at face value, games becoming cheaper is wonderful, and if a publisher wants to market towards a different audience through budget lines (RIP, PlayStation Platinum range), I think that’s great and an avenue that makes sense for certain games. But Nintendo setting the price of two iconic, borderline immaculate video games, and people arguing they aren’t worth that much money, is a very different matter. Small extra point: £34 today is about £22 in 2011.

As much as I would love all Nintendo games to reduce in price over time and save me money (a lot of money, now exacerbated by my son also wanting games), I firmly believe that Nintendo is right to keep its prices relatively high – not just with Mario Galaxy but pretty much all its first-party games. The very best games don’t age. They don’t get worse. They stand as tall today as they did on release.

I gave Mario Galaxy (the Switch version included in the Super Mario 3D All-Stars collection from 2020) a whirl last night, just to make sure I wasn’t being a victim of nostalgia goggles, and I was right – this is still 100 percent an incredible game, with an art style that belies its age and a joyousness in design that I think only its sequel has bettered. Frankly, £34 is a bargain that only ceases to be as such when your view on the industry is one you’ve lived through from generation to generation to generation. Present someone new to video games with Mario Galaxy and a bunch of other recent 3D platformers, and I’d be astonished if 95 percent of those surveyed didn’t pick Nintendo’s micro-planet-hopping adventure as the best and most-deserving of its price tag.

If we compare all this to how re-releases are handled in the film industry, well, you might not want to read on if you find Nintendo’s pricing policy to be too cash-grabby. As someone who has owned movies from VHS through to Ultra HD Blu-ray, on digital, and everything in-between, I’ve bought some films six times. VHS, DVD, higher-bit-rate DVD, Blu-ray, Apple TV, and Ultra HD Blu-ray. These films, mostly released back in the 80s, aren’t getting cheaper each time they release – they aren’t even getting improved that much, at least not these days when we aren’t seeing anything like the eyebrow-raising leap from VHS to DVD.

Should a game be cheap just because it’s old? | Image credit: Nintendo

You do have options, of course. You aren’t required to buy re-releases and, unless you go back a very long way or are trying to get hold of rare games, you can fairly easily pick-up classics for way less than the marginally improved versions releasing on new hardware. The Galaxy games are not hard to buy for under £15 each. I can buy The Matrix on DVD for about the same price as a small bottle of Pepsi Max, but on Ultra HD it’ll set me back over £20. If we say the Wii is DVD, Switch is Blu-ray, and Switch 2 is UHD, and the improvements from one the next is largely in image clarity, I think the comparison stands.

My point, really, is that quality should come at a price and Nintendo has no reason to devalue its most celebrated works of art. You can argue that Nintendo has become more money-grabby of late, both in terms of pricing its Switch 2 games higher than on the Switch, and in squeezing money out of players on DLC – both its recent Donkey Kong Bananza and Switch 2 Edition upgrades to the likes of Mario Party 8 have been criticized. While increasing game prices is arguably simply adapting to market conditions, there’s a good case for the DK Island & Emerald Rush DLC feeling like it should have been in the initial game’s release.

And yet, none of this makes me think the Super Mario Galaxy releases on Switch and Switch 2 are too expensive. Great art is expensive and ultimately the argument comes down to what consumers are willing to pay to get it. Given that these two games rank among the very best ever made, and Nintendo knows this, I don’t think they are going to have any problem convincing people to part with their money.

The big question, then: are the new Mario Galaxy re-releases on Switch too expensive?



Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
DAAPrivacyRightIcon
Product Reviews

Microsoft is making Xbox consoles even more expensive in the US

by admin


Starting on October 3, Microsoft says Xbox consoles will be getting yet another price bump, this time ranging anywhere from a $20 increase on the company’s entry-level model to $70 for a special edition model with 2TB of storage. If all of this sounds familiar, there’s a good reason, the last time xbox prices were raised was only a few months ago in May.

The price increases breakdown as follows:

  • Xbox Series S (512GB): $400, up $20 from $380

  • Xbox Series S (1TB): $450 up $20 from $430

  • Xbox Series X Digital: $600, up $50 from $550

  • Xbox Series X: $650, up $50 from $600

  • Xbox Series X 2TB Galaxy Special Edition: $800, up $70 from $730

Those are fairly significant increases, especially when you start comparing Microsoft’s higher-end Xbox Series X consoles to the competition. For example, the Series X Digital (which doesn’t have a disc drive) now costs $50 more than a PS5 Digital Edition. For the $800 Xbox Series X 2TB Galaxy Special Edition, price comparisons are even worse. It’s now more expensive than the $750 PS5 Pro, and at least Sony’s console gets you better performance for its high price.

Engadget has reached out to Microsoft for more information on the price changes. We’ll update this article if we hear back.

As of right now, Microsoft credits the need to raise prices on “changes in the macroeconomic environment,” which likely has to do with the impact tariffs implemented by the Trump administration are having on importing electronics into the US. It’s worth noting, however, that the company has also been shifting its focus away from home consoles in favor of bringing the “Xbox experience” to other platforms.

Sometimes, that’s just by publishing formerly Xbox exclusive games on the PS5 and Switch, but it also includes creating the first Xbox handheld with ASUS and emphasizing Xbox game streaming wherever it makes sense. Given the frequent sales on the Xbox Series S, there’s a world where Microsoft’s entry-level console might still be worth considering. For anything else, though, streaming or waiting for games to come to other platforms increasingly seems like it makes the most financial sense.



Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
DAAPrivacyRightIcon
Gaming Gear

Samsung’s very expensive Family Hub fridges will now treat you to ads on their displays

by admin


If you’ve just shelled out thousands of dollars on one of Samsung’s smart fridges, you’d be forgiven for expecting it to leave you alone, rather than encouraging you to spend even more money. But that is no longer the case — following a recent update, you’ll start seeing ads on the fridge’s display.

According to Android Authority, the new software update is being rolled out to Samsung’s Family Hub refrigerators in the US, and will now display ads and promotions while the display is idle. In a statement to the outlet, Samsung confirmed that it’s conducting a pilot program as part of its commitment to (brace yourselves for this one) “enhancing every day value for our home appliance customers.”

The Cover Screen on which ads show up appears when a refrigerator is not displaying something else, such as Samsung’s Art Mode or a photo album. Samsung told Android Authority that advertising won’t appear when one of these modes is active, adding that specific ads can also be dismissed and won’t appear again while the campaign is running.

What the statement doesn’t make clear is whether advertising can be turned off altogether, which again, seems like a reasonable option given that you can expect to pay anything between $1,800 and $3,500 for a Family Hub-equipped fridge. But it doesn’t appear to be possible while the pilot period is live. It also isn’t clear if any specific models are omitted from the testing.

Back in April, Samsung’s head of R&D for digital appliances, Jeong Seung Moon, told The Verge that at that time the company had no plans to bring ads to its smart home displays, but in the case of its refrigerators it appears to have changed its mind pretty quickly.



Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is Naughty Dog's most expansive - and expensive - game, says Neil Druckmann
Game Updates

Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is Naughty Dog’s most expansive – and expensive – game, says Neil Druckmann

by admin


Naughty Dog’s forthcoming sci-fi game Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is the company’s “most ambitious game we’ve ever made”.

That’s according to creator Neil Druckmann, who spoke to Variety ahead of the Emmys this week – for which The Last of Us won an award.

“I can tell you we’re in the thick of it,” said Druckmann on the game’s development status. “We’re making it, we’re playing it. We’re firing on all cylinders. I’ve said this before, but I really mean it, I’m really feeling it right now: It’s the most ambitious game we’ve ever made. It’s the most expansive game we’ve ever made, maybe the most expensive, by the time we finish it.”

Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet – Announcement Trailer | PS5 GamesWatch on YouTube

Druckmann added he’s “antsy to show it and talk about it because the trailer that we showed doesn’t even scratch the surface of what this game actually is”, but don’t expect anything just yet.

While he wouldn’t go into detail on gameplay, Druckmann explained it continues the studio’s trajectory from Uncharted to The Last of Us, creating a realistic action game with emotional storytelling and then adding RPG elements and “wide linear layouts” – but now with sci-fi and even more ambition.

What’s more, Intergalactic may also receive some form of adaptation in the future like The Last of Us. Naughty Dog has already been approached by studios based solely on the initial trailer, but Druckmann doesn’t want to “put the cart in front of the horse”.

“This needs to be a fantastic video game first, and then if that happens and we have the right partnership, those opportunities would be great,” he said.

“But that’s not why we do what we do. So there’s a lot of ideas of what we could do with Intergalactic, and in some ways it’s easier to expand that because it’s just how that story is structured in that universe. So there’s some interesting conversations happening about potential projects that could come down in the future, but our priority right now is to make Intergalactic the next big, fantastic Naughty Dog game.”

Could a sequel to Intergalactic also be on the cards straight after its development?

“I’m sure if Intergalactic is successful, you will see it again,” he said. “Whether that will be our next game right after that, I can’t say, and I leave that door open.”

Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet was first revealed at The Game Awards last year (trailer above), with Tati Gabrielle in the lead role.

Earlier this year, Druckmann confirmed the studio has a second game in development too.

This is a news-in-brief story. This is part of our vision to bring you all the big news as part of a daily live report.

Love Eurogamer? Make us a Preferred Source on Google and catch more of our coverage in your feeds.



Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
A woman with a laser sword looks over her shoulder.
Game Reviews

Heretic Prophet Will Be The Studio’s Most Expensive Game Yet

by admin


It’s been almost a year since Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet was teased at The Game Awards 2024. Naughty Dog’s upcoming sci-fi adventure doesn’t have a release window yet, much less a trailer showing what players will spend most of the blockbuster doing. But director Neil Druckmann did confirm it will probably be the studio’s most expensive game to date and reflect its growing ambition when it comes to delivering more expansive gameplay. Maybe that’s why had to ditch working on The Last of Us season 3 for HBO alongside his duties at PlayStation.

“What can I say and not say?” the veteran developer said, tip-toeing around spoilers and PR guidelines in a new interview with Variety. “I can tell you we’re in the thick of it. We’re making it, we’re playing it. We’re firing on all cylinders.” Set in a far-flung, alternate future, Heretic Prophet follows bounty hunter Jordan A. Mun (Tati Gabrielle) who begins unraveling the secrets of a remote planet after becoming stranded there during a mission.

“I’ve said this before, but I really mean it, I’m really feeling it right now: It’s the most ambitious game we’ve ever made. It’s the most expansive game we’ve ever made, maybe the most expensive, by the time we finish it. Troy [Baker] is in the game, and it’s been five years since I’ve worked with Troy, and I’ve got to do it again, and it was a lot of fun to be on the stage with him again.”

While he hedged on the upcoming PS5 exclusive’s budget, it doesn’t seem like a shocker that it will end up costing more than the last new game Naughty Dog shipped, 2019’s The Last of Us Part II. In addition to the rising costs of development on current-gen platforms, a new IP like Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet will come with a hefty marketing price-tag as Sony tries to sell fans on the next big thing from the studio behind Crash Bandicoot, Jak and Daxter, and Uncharted.

Druckmann did give a slight tease in the interview of what we can expect from Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet in terms of scope. “With The Last of Us, we added some RPG elements, we started playing with wide linear layouts,” he said. “Continue that trajectory forward, add sci-fi and you start to get the sense of what we’re doing, and then we’ve gotten even more ambitious than that. So really looking forward to see how it all comes together. I think you’re all going to be pleasantly surprised by it.”

While pressing up against the ceiling of vagueness, the comment seems to reaffirm that Heretic Prophet will showcase even more player freedom and agency within its world. Druckmann also confirmed actor Tony Dalton, who appears in the Last of Us TV show (he played Joel’s dad in a season two flashback), will appear in the game too, potentially alongside others from the HBO series (the show is up for three Emmys at this year’s awards ceremony on Sunday).

As for what comes after Heretic Prophet, Druckmann is still being cryptic about Naughty Dog’s future and what other projects it has in the works. There was talk of doing The Last of Us Part III after the last game but the team wanted to try something sci-fi instead. “I’m sure if Intergalactic is successful, you will see it again,” he told Variety. “Whether that will be our next game right after that, I can’t say, and I leave that door open. Not to be coy for this particular question, we want to see how we feel once we’re done with it and look at the options in front of us, because we have some other ideas that we’d like to explore as well.”



Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
A Razer Blade 14 (2025) on a desk with its lid facing the viewer
Product Reviews

Razer Blade 14 (2025) review: Still expensive, still amazing

by admin



Why you can trust TechRadar


We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.

Razer Blade 14 (2025): Two-minute review

The new Razer Blade 14 (2025) really wants to be the ultimate portable gaming laptop, and after spending two weeks with it, I can say it mostly succeeds.

Packed into a lightweight 14-inch aluminum chassis, the Blade 14 houses the latest specs you can get for a 14-inch form factor, including AMD’s new Ryzen AI 9 365 processor and up to an Nvidia RTX 5070 GPU.

Those updated specs come at a price though, as the model I tested cost $2,699.99 / £2,299.99 / AU$4,144.95 (equipped with an RTX 5070, 32GB LPDDR5X RAM, and a 1TB SSD). Entry-level models start around $2,299.99 / £1,999.99 / AU$3,599.95, while top-end configs climb as high as $2,999.99 / £2,699.99 / AU$4,899.95.

  • Razer Blade 14 (2025) (OLED) at Razer for $2,699.99

What impressed me most wasn’t just raw gaming power—it was how well this machine stayed cool and quiet under load.

Running Cyberpunk 2077 with ray tracing at 1800p, I averaged around 50 FPS with DLSS and frame generation enabled, though to be honest, you’ll likely want to tone down the RT if you’re gaming at max resolution for best results, regardless of title. For most of the titles tested, you can comfortably get over 60 FPS at 1800p resolution without ray tracing, or about 60 FPS with ray tracing if you use DLSS upscaling.

Equally impressive is the OLED 2.8K 120Hz display. Colors popped, response times were lightning fast, and the DCI-P3 coverage made both games and creative work shine. Add in six surprisingly loud, clear speakers, and I found myself reaching for headphones less often.

The battery life on the Blade 14 isn’t great, lasting about five to six hours in my day-to-day work mix—emails, writing, streaming, light Photoshop—before I needed a charger. While this is pretty decent for a gaming laptop,it’s still not great for day-to-day productivity.

Design-wise, there’s not much to knock here other than the somewhat shallow keyboard and a chassis that picks up fingerprints pretty much instantly. Performance-wise, you’re almost certainly going to get a better value out of Razer’s various rivals, who often offer more raw power for less money. But as a total package, the Razer Blade 14 (2025) easily contends as the best gaming laptop released this year, even if it isn’t spotless.

Razer Blade 14 (2025): Price & availability

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

  • How much does it cost? Starting at $2,299.99 / £1,999.99 / AU$3,599.95
  • When is it available? It’s available now
  • Where can you get it? You can buy it in the US, UK, and Australia through Razer’s website and other retailers.

The Razer Blade 14 (2025) is available now, starting at $2,299.99 / £1,999.99 / AU$3,599.95, coming in with an entry-level RTX 5060 GPU, 16GB RAM, and a 1TB SSD.

My review unit, which comes with an RTX 5070 GPU, 32GB RAM, and 1TB SSD, comes in at $2,699.99 / £2,399.99 / AU$4,144.95. The top-spec config bumps up the storage to 2TB and the memory up to 64GB for $2,999.99 / £2,699.99 / AU$4,899.95.

It’s available in the US, UK, and Australia directly from Razer’s website, as well as major regional retailers like Best Buy and Currys.

Understandably, the Blade 14 isn’t going to be making any best cheap gaming laptop lists anytime soon, given the laptop’s premium pedigree, but it’s still very expensive for what you’re getting. A laptop like the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14, which starts off about $200 cheaper at $2,099.99 in the US (though it is tougher to find in the UK at the moment, and what models are available in Australia end up being more expensive). The US starting configuration for the Zephyrus G14 does get you a better RTX 5070 GPU compared to the Blade 14’s RTX 5060 starting GPU. You can also get up to an RTX 5080 on the Zephyrus G14, for some serious portable gaming power that simply isn’t available on the Blade 14.

You’re ultimately paying the Razer tax here if you opt for the Blade 14, but if you want a Razer Blade laptop, this is pretty much par for the course, and there’s no denying the laptop’s other premium qualities that it brings to the table. Just be prepared to pay the higher bill at the end.

Also, in the US and UK, you have the option to select the Mercury colorway rather than the classic Razer Black, though it is only available on the RTX 5070/1TB SSD/32GB RAM configuration.

Today’s best Razer Blade 14 (2025) deals

Razer Blade 14 (2025): Specs

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

  • Up to RTX 5070 GPU, 2TB SSD, and 64GB RAM
  • AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 processor
  • Not upgradeable and not a whole lot of configuration options

The starting configuration of the Razer Blade 14 (2025) gives you the essentials for modern portable gaming: an AMD Ryzen AI 9 365, Nvidia RTX 5060 GPU, 16GB LPDDR5-8000MT/s RAM, and a 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD. That’s more than enough for strong performance in esports and AAA titles at 1080p, high settings, and medium raytracing enabled when using upscaling, but storage will feel tight if you’re planning on installing a lot of big games.

Swipe to scroll horizontallyRazer Blade 14 (2025) base configurationHeader Cell – Column 0

US

UK

Australia

Price

$2,299.99 at Razer

£1,999.99 at Razer

AU$3,599.95 at Razer

CPU

AMD Ryzen AI 9 365

AMD Ryzen AI 9 365

AMD Ryzen AI 9 365

GPU

Nvidia RTX 5060

Nvidia RTX 5060

Nvidia RTX 5060

Memory

16GB LPDDR5-8000MT/s

16GB LPDDR5-8000MT/s

16GB LPDDR5-8000MT/s

Storage

1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD

1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD

1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD

Display

14-inch QHD+ 120Hz OLED

14-inch QHD+ 120Hz OLED

14-inch QHD+ 120Hz OLED

Ports

2 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 2 x USB4 Type-C (Power, DP2.1 , Data), 1 x HDMI 2.1, 1 x MicroSD Card Reader, 1 x 3.5mm Combo Jack

2 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 2 x USB4 Type-C (Power, DP2.1 , Data), 1 x HDMI 2.1, 1 x MicroSD Card Reader, 1 x 3.5mm Combo Jack

2 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 2 x USB4 Type-C (Power, DP2.1 , Data), 1 x HDMI 2.1, 1 x MicroSD Card Reader, 1 x 3.5mm Combo Jack

Battery

72WHr

72WHr

72WHr

Wireless

Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4

Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4

Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4

Camera

1080p IR w/ Windows Hello

1080p IR w/ Windows Hello

1080p IR w/ Windows Hello

Weight

3.59 lbs | 1.63 kg

3.59 lbs | 1.63 kg

3.59 lbs | 1.63 kg

Dimensions

12.23 x 8.83 x 0.64 ins | 310.7 x 224.3 x 16.2mm

12.23 x 8.83 x 0.64 ins | 310.7 x 224.3 x 16.2mm

12.23 x 8.83 x 0.64 ins | 310.7 x 224.3 x 16.2mm

The top configuration quadruples the available memory and doubles the storage over the base spec while bumping the GPU up to an RTX 5070 GPU. That makes it a very solid mobile workstation for creatives in addition to being a fantastic 1440p gaming platform in an impressively thin 14-inch form factor.

The one knock I do have on the max spec is that other thin and light gaming laptops, like the Zephyrus G14, do manage to give you options for the RTX 5070 Ti and RTX 5080, so those who want even more power do have alternatives to the Blade 14.

Swipe to scroll horizontallyRazer Blade 14 (2025) top configurationHeader Cell – Column 0

US

UK

Australia

Price

$2,999.99 at Razer

£2,699.99 at Razer

AU$4,899.95 at Razer

CPU

AMD Ryzen AI 9 365

AMD Ryzen AI 9 365

AMD Ryzen AI 9 365

GPU

Nvidia RTX 5070

Nvidia RTX 5070

Nvidia RTX 5070

Memory

64GB LPDDR5x – 8400MT/s

64GB LPDDR5x – 8400MT/s

64GB LPDDR5x – 8400MT/s

Storage

2TB M.2 PCIe NVMe

2TB M.2 PCIe NVMe

2TB M.2 PCIe NVMe

Display

14-inch QHD+ 120Hz OLED

14-inch QHD+ 120Hz OLED

14-inch QHD+ 120Hz OLED

Ports

2 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 2 x USB4 Type-C (Power, DP2.1 , Data), 1 x HDMI 2.1, 1 x MicroSD Card Reader, 1 x 3.5mm Combo Jack

2 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 2 x USB4 Type-C (Power, DP2.1 , Data), 1 x HDMI 2.1, 1 x MicroSD Card Reader, 1 x 3.5mm Combo Jack

2 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 2 x USB4 Type-C (Power, DP2.1 , Data), 1 x HDMI 2.1, 1 x MicroSD Card Reader, 1 x 3.5mm Combo Jack

Battery

72WHr

72WHr

72WHr

Wireless

Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4

Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4

Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4

Camera

1080p IR w/ Windows Hello

1080p IR w/ Windows Hello

1080p IR w/ Windows Hello

Weight

3.59 lbs | 1.63 kg

3.59 lbs | 1.63 kg

3.59 lbs | 1.63 kg

Dimensions

12.23 x 8.83 x 0.64 ins | 310.7 x 224.3 x 16.2mm

12.23 x 8.83 x 0.64 ins | 310.7 x 224.3 x 16.2mm

12.23 x 8.83 x 0.64 ins | 310.7 x 224.3 x 16.2mm

My review unit fell somewhere in between, with 32GB RAM and a 1TB SSD. Of the available configuration options, it offers what I think is the best balance between cost and performance.

With this setup, I never worried about performance bottlenecks in games or creative workloads, and the 1TB drive gave me enough space for my go-to Steam titles, currently Helldivers 2, Satisfactory, and a heavily modded Baulder’s Gate 3. But unless you’re loading up on small indie titles, you can expect to have to do some storage juggling for this configuration.

It’s also worth noting that this laptop is not easily upgradable, and the RAM here is soldered. There are also a limited number of configuration options to choose from, so it’s not a very customizable laptop, opting for the MacBook route rather than a more DIY approach.

Swipe to scroll horizontallyRazer Blade 14 (2025) review configurationHeader Cell – Column 0

US

UK

Australia

Price

$2,699.99 at Razer

£2,399.99 at Razer

AU$4,299.95 at Razer

CPU

AMD Ryzen AI 9 365

AMD Ryzen AI 9 365

AMD Ryzen AI 9 365

GPU

Nvidia RTX 5070

Nvidia RTX 5070

Nvidia RTX 5070

Memory

32GB LPDDR5x – 8400MT/s

32GB LPDDR5x – 8400MT/s

32GB LPDDR5x – 8400MT/s

Storage

1TB M.2 PCIe NVMe

1TB M.2 PCIe NVMe

1TB M.2 PCIe NVMe

Display

14-inch QHD+ 120Hz OLED

14-inch QHD+ 120Hz OLED

14-inch QHD+ 120Hz OLED

Ports

2 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 2 x USB4 Type-C (Power, DP2.1 , Data), 1 x HDMI 2.1, 1 x MicroSD Card Reader, 1 x 3.5mm Combo Jack

2 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 2 x USB4 Type-C (Power, DP2.1 , Data), 1 x HDMI 2.1, 1 x MicroSD Card Reader, 1 x 3.5mm Combo Jack

2 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 2 x USB4 Type-C (Power, DP2.1 , Data), 1 x HDMI 2.1, 1 x MicroSD Card Reader, 1 x 3.5mm Combo Jack

Battery

72WHr

72WHr

72WHr

Wireless

Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4

Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4

Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4

Camera

1080p IR w/ Windows Hello

1080p IR w/ Windows Hello

1080p IR w/ Windows Hello

Weight

3.59 lbs | 1.63 kg

3.59 lbs | 1.63 kg

3.59 lbs | 1.63 kg

Dimensions

12.23 x 8.83 x 0.64 ins | 310.7 x 224.3 x 16.2mm

12.23 x 8.83 x 0.64 ins | 310.7 x 224.3 x 16.2mm

12.23 x 8.83 x 0.64 ins | 310.7 x 224.3 x 16.2mm

Razer Blade 14 (2025): Design

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

  • Thinner and lighter than Blade 14 2024
  • OLED Display
  • Black finish is a fingerprint magnet

The Blade 14 (2025) doesn’t take any real risks with the design of the iconic laptop model, being more of a modest refinement of Razer’s aesthetic.

The biggest move here is the display, which is a gorgeous-looking OLED panel rather than the more standard IPS of the Razer Blade 14 (2024). It also comes in thinner and lighter than last year’s model, managing to shave off nearly half a pound of weight (about 0.2kg) and shrink its height by just over half an inch (nearly 2mm).

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

The CNC-machined aluminum chassis feels solid in the hands, with zero flex in the lid or keyboard deck. It carries that understated “MacBook for gamers” vibe that a number of the best thin and light gaming laptops hope to hit but often fall short of reaching.

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

The matte black colorway on my review model looks sleek, but it attracts fingerprints almost instantly. I didn’t particularly care all that much, but if you do, expect to be wiping this laptop down almost constantly if you’re sticking with the Razer Black finish.

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

Port selection is generous for such a compact laptop: two USB4 (with PD, DP2.1, and data), a pair of USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 ports, an HDMI 2.1 output ports, and a microSD card reader, something creatives will appreciate.

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

The keyboard offers per-key RGB customization through Razer Synapse, so you have lots of options for customizing the lighting design to your liking. While twinkly, the shallow 1mm key travel left typing feeling somewhat flat compared to a competing MacBook Pro or Lenovo Legion laptop, though the keyboard does feel more comfortable than that of the Dell 14 Premium.

The touchpad, by contrast, is excellent—large, smooth, and every bit as responsive as you’d find on the best MacBook.

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

The six-speaker setup also deserves mention. I’ve been on a The Sword kick lately, and their entire catalog sounded fantastic, filling the room with surprising depth. Meanwhile, the chaos of Helldiver 2‘s recent updates never sounded better, making it one of the few gaming laptops where I felt I didn’t need to bother with an external speaker or headphones.

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

The 1080p IR webcam is great, but the lack of a physical privacy shutter isn’t, though you do get the enhanced security of Windows Hello.

Like Razer Blade 14s of the past though, the design of this laptop doesn’t lend itself to much upgradability, so if you’re hoping to spec-up in the future, you’ll need to plan for that at checkout before you buy and configure it for the long-haul.

Razer Blade 14 (2025): Performance

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

  • Phenomenal gaming performance
  • Outstanding creative performance
  • Not always an improvement over previous-gen models

Day to day, the Blade 14 felt like a solid desktop PC stuffed into a svelte, lightweight 14-inch frame, making it easy to carry around with me and get things done on the go.

Over the course of about three weeks (including one week of dedicated benchmark testing), I used it for writing, photo editing, and heavy multitasking and didn’t experience any real hiccups. Even with my downright abusive Chrome-tab-habits, adding Spotify streaming to the mix and some Photoshop and Lightroom exporting sent to the background, the Blade 14 (2025) stayed fluid and never stuttered.

In my CPU benchmarks, the new Blade 14 generally outclassed its predecessors, and while it doesn’t really compete with the performance of the Apple M4 chip for professional workloads, it does generally come in second against Apple’s best mobile workstation.

Naturally, the upgraded Nvidia RTX 5070 GPU in the new Blade 14 beats the last two Blade 14 models, both of which we reviewed with an RTX 4070 GPU. There aren’t a lot of tests where we can use for an apples-to-razers comparison of the GPU in the MacBook Pro 14 and Blade 14, unfortunately, but at least in the cross-platform 3DMark Steel Nomad, it’s not even a contest, as the Blade 14’s RTX 5070 GPU scores about 3.6x better in this synthetic GPU test.

In terms of creative performance, the Blade 14 2025 more than holds its own against its predecessors and its main rival amongst the best Windows laptops for creatives, the Dell 14 Premium, falling behind only the MacBook Pro 14 in my Crossmark Creativity testing, and even then, not by much.

When it came to gaming, though, the Blade 14 really impressed me. At its native 2880×1800 resolution, Games like F1 2024 and Helldivers 2 ran well into the high double and even triple digits on ultra settings with balanced DLSS (not counting Frame Generation), while games like Satisfactory (my personal go-to) stayed above 100 FPS constantly.

Cyberpunk 2077 with ray tracing at 1080p pushed the GPU hard, averaging around 50 FPS, but enabling DLSS 4’s Transformer model made it silky smooth at 1080p and very playable at 1440p, hovering between 50-80 FPS depending on the DLSS setting used.

Since the base frame rates are north of 50 FPS when using DLSS, you can turn on Frame Generation as well to push that FPS higher to max out the display’s 120Hz refresh without having to worry about input latency, which wasn’t noticeable in my time gaming on the laptop when I used the feature.

The key standout for me though wasn’t just raw average framerates—it was stability on the low-end. Minimum frame rates on just about every game I tested with balanced upscaling were well north of 50 FPS unless I did something like trying to run Cyberpunk 2077 on its max settings with Ray Tracing Overdrive at native resolution.

This means that for pretty much any title, you’re going to get exceptionally smooth gameplay on the go, which is what a laptop like this is really all about.

Razer Blade 14 (2025): Battery Life

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

  • How long does it last on a single charge? It lasted about five hours on my standard ‘performance’ test settings
  • Proprietary charger required to charge it quickly, but you can use USB4 for slower charging

The battery life on the Blade 14 2025 isn’t fantastic, but it’s pretty solid for a gaming laptop, especially with some power-saving tweaks.

In my normal test settings, with max resolution and frame rate with the laptop set to Windows 11 Performance mode, the Blade 14 2025 fell behind a lot of other competing 14-inch laptops on the market, as well as its two immediate predecessors, with an average battery life of just five hours and one minute in our Web Surfing test.

It manages to do a little bit better on the gaming battery test, though it still lags behind its immediate predecessors. One thing to consider though is that of all the 14-inch laptops I tested here, only the Dell 14 Premium has an OLED panel to match what the Blade 14 is sporting, while the earlier Blade 14s and the MacBook Pro aren’t bogged down by the OLED display’s higher power consumption.

It is worth noting though that slowing down the refresh rate to 60Hz rather than 120Hz and you turn off the RGB lighting on the keydeck, you can stretch this battery life out to over eight hours.

Also, the Blade 14 2025 comes with a proprietary charging brick and port for the fastest charging and best plugged-in performance while gaming, but the USB4 ports do allow for USB-C charging, just at a slower rate.

Should you buy the Razer Blade 14 (2025)?

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)Swipe to scroll horizontallyRazer Blade 14 (2025) Scorecard

Category

Notes

Rating

Value

You are absolutely paying the Razer tax here, and you can get the same performance from other laptops for cheaper.

3.5 / 5

Specs

The specs are fairly solid for this laptop, but the lack of upgradability and high-end specs allow rivals to swoop in and offer more for enthusiast gamers.

4 / 5

Design

The Blade 14 2025 doesn’t disappoint with its design, slimming down over the previous year and keeping true to its iconic style.

4.5 / 5

Performance

Fantastic performance all around makes this one of the best gaming laptops for on-the-go PC gamers who don’t want to fuss with a PC gaming handheld.

5 / 5

Battery Life

The OLED panel on this laptop absolutely tanks its battery life, and anyone needing a work laptop for longevity are better off with a Snapdragon X Elite-powered system or a MacBook Pro 14.

3.5 / 5

Final Score

Overall, between iconic style and fantastic performance, the Blade 14 is a phenomenal slim and light gaming laptop, though it’d be great if it was just a bit cheaper considering its rivals can offer similar or better performance for less.

4.5 / 5

Buy the Razer Blade 14 (2025) if…

Don’t buy it if…

Also consider

How I tested the Razer Blade 14 (2025)

  • I spent about three weeks with the Razer Blade 14 (2025)
  • I used it for everyday gaming, work, and creative tasks
  • I ran it through our standard suite of benchmark tests

I had the chance to test out the Razer Blade 14 2025 for about three weeks, which is about 50% longer than I usually have to devote to a single laptop review, so I really got to know this laptop.

I used it for day-to-day writing tasks (including drafting this review), as well as general productivity and creative work, including Adobe Photoshop for editing the photos shown above.

For gaming, I used it extensively as my primary gaming device, focusing on more demanding titles like Helldivers 2, Satisfactory, as well as more requirement-friendly titles like Hollow Knight: Silksong.

I’ve reviewed dozens of gaming laptops for TechRadar over the course of half a decade, ranging from the very best desktop replacements to the best budget gaming laptops, so I know what the market has to offer. I leverage that insight and expertise to help readers by offering the best advice I can on what gaming laptops offer the best value, and which are worth the splurge.

  • First reviewed September 2025

Razer Blade 14 (2025): Price Comparison



Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Lego Reveals Its Most Expensive Set Ever: A $1,000 Death Star
Game Reviews

Lego Reveals Its Most Expensive Set Ever: A $1,000 Death Star

by admin


After rumors and leaks, Lego has officially released all the information on its upcoming Death Star diorama set. And yes, the rumors are true, Lego’s next big Star Wars set will cost an eye-watering $1,000, making it the most expensive set in the company’s history when it goes on sale in October.

Officially known as (deep breath) the LEGO® Star Wars™ Death Star™ – Ultimate Collector Series (75419), this new Death Star set is nearly 2 feet tall and over a foot wide. The big diorama contains over 9,000 Lego pieces and an astonishing 38 Star Wars minifigs. Yowza, that’s a lot of characters! Lego even tossed in a Stormtrooper wearing swimtrunks as a nod to the Lego Star Wars games and the famous hot tub Easter Egg. Other characters include Darth Vader, Chewbacca, Wulf Yularen, The Emperor, and various versions of Luke Skywalker.

Lego / Lucasfilm

The large set contains multiple rooms that are each based on moments from the movies. It is a bit weird to see the famous trash compactor scene from A New Hope recreated in the same Death Star build that features Luke and Darth Vader fighting in the throne room from Return of the Jedi. I’ll just ignore these discrepancies and enjoy the massive set for what it is: A cool assortment of famous Star Wars moments contained inside a very expensive collection of plastic bricks.

If you want to buy the Lego Death Star set, well first off, you’ll need $1,000. Once you have that, congrats. If you are a Lego Insider member, you’ll be able to order the Death Star set starting on October 1. Everyone else has to wait until October 4. And if you buy the set before October 8, you’ll get a Lego Star Wars TIE Fighter set as an additional gift with purchase. The TIE Fighter can be built and slotted into the Death Star set.

I’m a big Star Wars nerd and Lego sicko, but I won’t be buying the Death Star set because I can’t in good conscience spend that much money on a single Lego set. I have too many other problems and things in my life that I could use that money on instead. Still, I’ll be curious to see how well this Death Star set sells in October. $1,000 is a hefty price tag and this set seems like Lego testing just how much money they can squeeze from collectors and fans using the power of nostalgia and exclusive minifigs. If it succeeds, I expect a few more $1,000 sets in the future.



Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Honor Magic V5 review: thinner, faster, stronger - but expensive
Game Reviews

Honor Magic V5 review: thinner, faster, stronger – but expensive

by admin


Last year Honor’s Magic V3 foldable phone impressed, offering mature software, a thin and robust design and more powerful hardware. This year, thanks to the unlucky reputation of the number four in China, we’ve gone up two to the Magic V5.

The new phone follows industry trends in offering a slimmer design, a bigger battery, improved cameras, a larger internal screen and more powerful internals – including Snapdragon’s 8 Elite processor, 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage.

But do these upgrades offer a meaningful upgrade over the 2024 model, given that the price has climbed to a massive £1699, a big ask even for this ultra-premium category? Or are you better off sticking with something a few generations older at something like half the price?

Manage cookie settings

Design

The Magic V5 is a tad more reserved in its colour selection than its reddish brown or green predecessors. Instead, it’s black, ivory white and the stylish dawn gold – the pick I’d personally go with. Our sample came in black.

Putting it against my Magic V3, the new model’s camera bump protrudes a bit more due to some internal upgrades I’ll discuss later. However, the overall profile of the phone, both unfolded and folded, is even slimmer than its predecessor.

Interestingly, it’s the ivory white version that’s technically the slimmest, at just 4.1mm unfolded and 8.8mm when folded; the black and dawn gold models sit at 4.2mm and 9mm respectively. Nonetheless, that’s still 0.2-0.3mm less than the Magic V3, and virtually identical to the new Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7’s 8.9mm total thickness. The Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold, at 10.8mm, is a positive porker by comparison.

As much as the thickness and weight (of 217g) aren’t massive departures from the V3, it feels good to know that we’ve gotten to the stage where foldable phones aren’t cumbersome to use. The Magic V5 fits into a regular-sized pocket and into adult hands without issues, whether folded or unfolded. As with its predecessor, you’ll have to keep a good grip on it when using it in tablet mode one-handed. Weirdly, this new model doesn’t have the same textured finish on the rear as the Magic V3 did, making it a bit more slippery.

The Magic V5 also runs with the typical modern design that Honor has typified these Magic foldables with, with a slender feel and super-thin bezels around the cover screen and main display to maximise screen real estate. I still think there’s some potential for dust and dirt ingress around the main screen, though I didn’t spot anything too egregious on my review unit.

There is a similar Honor “super steel” hinge involved with this phone, which has seen some upgrades to withstand even more pressure. Honor advertising includes some big claims, including the ability to suspend 30kg of stuff from the hinge – though they obviously don’t recommend it for normal use – and the durability rating sits at 500,000 cycles.

One of the biggest upgrades with the Magic V5 is to its water and dust resistance rating, as the phone now has full-fat IP58/IP59 dust and water resistance. Its predecessor was only IPX8. By comparison, the ZFold 7 has an IP48 water resistance rating, and the Pixel 10 Pro Fold is the first IP68-rated foldable.

Display

Honor has maximised screen real estate and brightness with the Magic V5 in a move that sees the main display get a slight boost to 7.95 inches in size, while the cover display remains at 6.43 inches. Both panels can get up to 5000 nits of peak brightness with HDR in supported content for an eyeball-searing experience; these screens aren’t half short of punch, and are both OLEDs for immense depth and lovely colours.

Owing to it being slightly larger, the main display has also seen a push up to 2352×2172 resolution – about the same number of pixels as a 2560×1440 (“1440p”) display – which makes it a fantastic choice for everything from general productivity to gaming and binging content on Plex, YouTube or Prime Video. The pixel density is virtually unchanged at 403ppi, while a 120Hz refresh rate keeps things responsive.

The smaller cover display impresses too, with the same 2376×1060 resolution as its predecessor, plus a 120Hz refresh rate for added zippiness. When opening the main display feels a little cumbersome, or you just want to quickly check notifications, this is a more than suitable deputy. Both screens support stylus input, though you will need to buy Honor’s stylus separately and there’s no place to store the stylus in the phone.

Certain apps and content will have a letterbox effect, not filling the screen entirely, but you can force apps and games on an individual basis to fill the screen so you can take advantage of the full 7.95 inches of real estate.

Camera

Perhaps the biggest upgrade with the Magic V5 is with what Honor has termed its new ‘AI Falcon’ camera setup, which they say gives a conventional flagship experience in a foldable form factor. It’s typically with their camera setup that foldables have made some compromises, but Honor has attempted to change that.

We’ve got a 50MP main camera, plus a boosted 64MP periscope-lens telephoto with 3x optical zoom and 100x digital zoom, and a 50MP ultrawide sensor.

General detail and colours are pleasant across the board in my testing on a few walkabouts in London, although I still think the Magic foldable cameras tend to favour over-saturated colours for as much pop as possible; the shot of the back of the Routemaster bus proves this.

Here is a selection of photos from my time with the Honor Magic V5.

Cropping into shots reveals a strong maintenance of detail from the main and ultrawide sensors, while the 3x optical zoom provides some good quality when punching in on a subject a tad. Going into the digital zoom range requires some AI help to maintain a semblance of proper quality, especially at the full 100x you’re likely to only use for a laugh.

As for low-light performance, images are smoothed out a little so they lack some detail, but there isn’t much in the way of noise to make for a generally clean image. As with its predecessor, the fuzziness is virtually gone, and there’s enough light compensation without things getting overblown.

The front cameras remain unchanged to my knowledge, with the same 20-megapixel selfie options that provide neutral colours and decent detail retained. Of course, as this is a foldable phone, it’s worth noting that you can prop the phone up and use the much more competent rear lenses for taking vain photos of yourself.

Performance

Internally, the Magic V5 gets the proper flagship treatment for 2025, as you’d expect for a phone at its high price tag, benefitting from the new Snapdragon 8 Elite processor plus 16GB of RAM and 512GB storage for good measure.

In the GFXBench gaming tests, we’re seeing a bigger boost in the Aztec Ruins High Tier test at 60fps against its predecessor’s 46fps, while Car Chase also sits at 60fps against 57fps from the Magic V3. It’s worth bearing in mind that the higher-res internal screen makes this a slightly sterner test for the V5 than last year’s V3.

The scores in Geekbench 6 aren’t demonstrably stronger than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip inside the Magic V3, although we are seeing healthy boosts in both the 3DMark Wild Life Extreme and PCMark Work 3.0 tests, proving the Magic V5 is better at both intensive gaming loads and general productivity loads.

Benchmark
Honor Magic V5
Honor Magic V3
Honor Magic V2 RSR

Geekbench 6 Single Core
2256
2214
2030

Geekbench 6 Multi Core
5237
5699
4928

3DMark Wild Life Extreme
4929
4471
3748

GFX Aztec Ruins High Tier
60fps
46fps
46fps

GFX Car Chase
60fps
57fps
56fps

PCMark Work 3.0
21201
17419
14089

In use, I found it to be a zippy customer, with no real noticeable slowdowns during daily use, whether I was streaming video content, working in Google Docs or just using the Magic V5 as I normally would.

With the benefit of the huge main display, it helps immersion in games such as COD Mobile and EA FC Mobile, the latter I hadn’t touched in some time. Under load, the phone also doesn’t get too warm, and is comfortable to hold for extended periods.

In addition, Honor seems to have managed the Magic V5’s performance drop-off in extended stress testing better than the previous two generations. Over the 20 runs during the 3DMark Wild Life Extreme test, the phone recorded a 33 percent performance drop-off, where its predecessors had seen drops of over 50 percent.

Honor is promising four years of OS updates and five years of security updates, which is perfectly acceptable if not remarkable for a phone of this class. Out of the box, it’s running MagicOS 9, Honor’s skinned version of Android 15.

I’ve had a bit of a love-hate relationship with MagicOS on Honor handsets, as I’ve never found it to be as slick or as polished as Samsung’s OneUI, for instance. The optimisations with this new variant aren’t necessarily as far-reaching as its predecessor, but there is some genuinely useful stuff pertaining to file transfer over the air and device cloning for those switching from iOS devices, as Honor says has been a common trend for their buyers.

Where this phone certainly excels is with multitasking, not least with how easy it is to create dual or triple-pane windows for when you want to write while refering to reference material or carrying on a chat, for instance. The new Multi-Flex mode allows for that triple pane, which is very handy for immense power use.

There is the usual AI gubbins baked in here too, with Google’s Gemini service acting as the backbone for systems such as Honor Notes that use the note app for summarising, formatting and grammar checking, or the Recorder app for real-time note taking. You also get some interesting AI upscaling and cutout methods in the photo app, which work with varying degrees of success in my testing.

The Game Manager app makes a return, coming with convenient access at the left hand of the screen for basic features such as a rotation lock and screen recorder, as well as more advanced ones for adding filters to change the look of a game, or a touch enhancer for more responsive inputs. There are also options for changing brightness and ‘memory cleanup’ on the fly. A lot of these options are either on or off, as opposed to having any granular control.

Despite the further optimisation that Honor has attempted with MagicOS 9, I still have the same reservations as before regarding its software. For instance, it comes with Honor’s own ‘Essentials’ folder right on the front screen, but you have to be precise on where you put your finger to open the specific app. Tapping the folder doesn’t open it into a larger one where you can see the apps inside. In addition, there is unwanted crud installed by default that you may not want, such as Facebook and Instagram. It’s easily removable, but that isn’t really the point.

Battery Life

For whatever reason, my sample of the Magic V5 didn’t ship with a power brick inside, although there is a high-wattage USB-C cable and leather case so you are at least ready to go out of the box. The phone supports up to 66W charging, the same as the Magic V3, and you can purchase the Honor-specific brick from their website, or use a third-party one.

While the maximum supported wattage might not have changed, Honor has beefed up the battery capacity to 5820mAh, from the Magic V3’s 5150mAh, to make it larger than some typical flagship phone batteries.

The cells inside the Magic V5 are also silicon-carbon, as in the Magic V3 and Magic 6 Pro handsets I’ve looked at. This has a couple of important benefits, such as being able to work in much colder environments and reportedly being better for the planet than standard lithium-ion batteries.

In my testing, I managed to comfortably get a couple of days regular use out of the Magic V5, which is excellent. The PCMark V3.0 benchmark served up a result of 11 hours and 25 minutes at 50 percent brightness, which is reasonable screen-on time for a foldable, and around two hours more than the Magic V3.

Conclusion

In-keeping with the typically incremental upgrade path I’ve come to expect from modern flagship phones, the Honor Magic V5 might not be much of an upgrade in elements against its predecessor, but it is a genuinely excellent foldable handset.

We’ve got potent performance, plus a set of two dazzling OLED screens and stronger performance in terms of camera quality and battery life, meaning Honor has hit the right notes when it comes to its targeted areas for upgrade over the Magic V3. By also being even thinner it makes it even more pocketable overall and retains serious points for a modern and stylish foldable phone. It’s just the MagicOS Android distro that holds it back a tad.

For the £1699.99 asking price, the Honor Magic V5 is an undeniably premium handset that offers some serious competition to both Samsung and Google and continues Honor’s upwards trajectory in providing genuinely compelling phones from a brand you may not have considered before.



Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Close