HOTSTUFF
Papaya and higher
ONEPLUS 7T PRO McLAREN EDITION
Good God, Formula 1 is boring, isn’t it? Still, we’ll tell you what isn’t boring:
the latest McLaren Edition from OnePlus. We loved the 6T tie-in with
the F1 team because, as well as some awesome styling, it debuted
Warp Charge 30 tech offering a day’s power in 20 minutes. The new
7T Pro McLaren Edition doesn’t get first dibs this time – it shares Warp
Charge 30T with the standard 7T Pro and to all intents and purposes it’s
the same phone. But wait, there’s a chunky 12GB of RAM here for extra
speed. Then there’s the car-seat Alcantara case, some customised
McLaren software, plus the subtle papaya orange glow that illuminates
the curved edges when you get a notification. Brrrm-brrrm indeed.
£799 / oneplus.com
Hope I die before they get old
MARSHALL MAJOR III VOICE
How many Marshall amps do you think Pete Townshend smashed up
in his rebellious prime? Sixty might be pushing it, but that’s how many
hours of battery life the legendary brand is promising you’ll get from its
new Major III Voice headphones. For context, that’s double what you’ll
get from Sony’s class-leading WH-1000XM3s – if the claims hold up,
that is. You get the same 40mm dynamic drivers as the standard Major
IIIs, but the new cans – if you hadn’t already guessed – add voice
control via Google Assistant. With a press and hold of the voice button
you can tell it to play your favourite playlist, read your text messages
or give you directions to the nearest amp repair shop.
£150 / marshall.comThey look like... normal glasses?
They certainly do, but in a feat comparable
to the genie’s miraculous occupation of
a lamp, Alexa has managed to squeeze
herself into these unassuming spectacles.
They’re part of Amazon’s ongoing mission
to put its voice assistant into every
existing physical object – and when
you think about it, it’s a bit of a surprise
that the Frames were actually beaten to
it by the Alexa toilet.You’re worryingly infatuated with the
Alexa toilet. So what do these things
do, then?
Put simply, the Echo Frames are
prescription-ready glasses that offer
hands-free access to Alexa. There’s no
camera or AR features – both of which
tend to make wearables look like Star Trek
props – to speak of here. Using them is
much like using any Echo device you might
have in your house: you can use voice
commands to check your calendar,
make phone calls and control compatible
smart home devices, with the Frames
wirelessly funnelling your requests
through the Alexa app on your phone
(Android-only at launch). If you get a
notification or alert, you swipe the panel
on the right temple to play the message.But won’t everyone be able to hear
my wife giving me a bollocking for
forgetting to pick up milk?
Apparently not. Amazon says the Frames’
open-ear audio tech make use of four
micro speakers that direct sound straight
into your ears, rather than those of nosy
passers-by. There are volume controls
on board for when you’re in a noisy place.
Meanwhile, a pair of beam-forming mics
are designed to pick up your voice without
requiring you to raise it. They can be turned
off with the double tap of a button.When can I get them?
The Echo Frames are currently US-only,
but we’ll be surprised if it stays that way
for long.WTF
ARE ECHO
FRAMES?