Computer Act!ve - UK (2022-01-19)

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DOIREALLYNEED...

Arouterwith

movingantennas?

What is it?

Theymaylooklike

somethingfroman

alienspaceship,butthe

motorisedantennas

ontheTP-LinkArcherAXE 20 0Omni

router(pictured)won’tblastyouwith

lasers.Insteadtheysimplyadjusttheir

positionautomaticallytoprovidethe

bestWi-Fisignal.

Howdoesitwork?

Tapthe‘Enhance’buttonintherouter’s

softwareandtheantennasunfoldand

rotatetoseekconnecteddevices(as

shownatwww.snipca.com/4 0561 ).

Theycanpointinanydirection,including

upwardstohelpboostWi-Fisignals

betweenfloors.

What’sthe catch?

Pointingtheantennastowardsone

devicemightmeanthesignaltoothers

aroundyourhomeisweakened.

Socan Idowithout it?

Yes,ifyouprefertoshareyourWi-Fi

evenlyaroundyourhouse.It’sgreatfor

thoselivingalone,however,oranyone

whoneedsWi-Fitargetedataspecific

locationatparticulartimesoftheday.

VERDICTAn affordablesmartphone

that takeshigh-qualityphotos, but it ’s

slower than rivals at a

similarprice

★★★★★

ALTERNATIVEXiaomi

Poco F3£314Only

slightly more expensi ve,

but much faster –it

remainsour favourite

Android phone

SPECIFICATIONS
Eigh t-core MediaTek MT6853Dimensity800U5G

• •8GBRAM••128GBstorage••6.44in 2400x1080-
  pixel90HzAMOLEDscreen••64-megapixel main
  rear camera••8-megapixelultrawide camera


• •44-megapixelfront camera••Android 11••
  7.3x1 60x74mm(HxDxW)••176g••One-yearwarranty
  http://www.snipca.com/40552

OnSale Weds2Feb

Kobo Libra2

Better than

Amazon’s

Kindleforless

money

PHONE❘£299fromAmazonwww.snipca.com/ 40552

VivoV21 5G

Selfie-improvement

Thebatteryisa4,0 00 mAhunit,

whichhaslesscapacitythanmostrival

smartphones.However,whiletestingwe

wereroutinelyabletogetthrougha

fulldayofusewithplentyofpowerto

spare.Whenwerana 90 -minute 720 p

videoonaloopwiththescreenatfull

brightnesslevels,theVivousedonly

eightpercentofitscharge. ThePocoF3

performedonlyslightlybetterinthistest,

usingsevenpercent.

However,we’dstillrecommendthe

PocoF3(£3 14 fromwww.snipca.

com/40078). Thisworks andresponds

faste rthankstoapowerfulprocessor

andhas abrilliantscree nwithrefresh

ratesofupto120Hz.

ThissmartphonefromChinese
manufacturerVivoisanaffordable
modelthat’ssurprisinglyslim,lightand
stylish.Ithasahigh-quality6.44in
AMOLEDscreenwitharesolutionof
240 0x1 080 pixelsandamaximum
refreshrateof9 0 Hz,whichwasbright
anddisplayedcoloursaccuratelyin
ourtests.
Whereitlagsbehindsimilarlypriced
rivalsisinitsoverallperformanceand
speed.ThephonehasaMediaTek
MT 6853 Dimensity 800 Uprocessor,
whichisareasonableoptionatthis
price,butitdoesn’tkeeppacewiththe
QualcommSnapdragon 87 0chipyou’ll
findintheXiaomiPocoF3(stillour
favouriteAndroidphone–seepage 3 0).
IntheGeekbench 5 test,theV 21
producedascoreof1,8 23 ,muchlower
thanthePocoF3’s 3 ,3 69.

Thatgapwidensevenfurtherintheir
respectivegraphicscapabilities.Inthe
3DMark Wild Li febenchmarktest, which
evaluateshow good adeviceisatmobile
gaming,the Vivoscored 1,607 agains tthe
Poco F3’s 4,090.
Ourdisappointmentati ts relati vely
poorperformance wastemperedbythe
qualityofits cameras,whichcapture
excellentshots.Itsstandoutfeatureist he
44-megapixel frontcamera, whichyou’d
usetomakevideocalls andtakeselfie s.
Thisproduce squite st unning results.

It’slightweight,

looksgoodandtakes

greatphotos,butit

performspoorly

Issue623•19 January–1February2022

Acer AspireVero

Anew laptop that’s

easy to upgrade and

repair