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Reviews
Do you need advice on what you should buy?
Email us at [email protected]WHAT SHOULD I BUY? We solve your buying dilemmas
What’s the best phone for taking photos?
SPECIFICATIONS
28in IPS screen •• 3840x2160-pixel resolution •• 16:9
aspect ratio •• 4ms response time •• 2x HDMI ports •• 1x
DisplayPort •• 617x637x269mm (HxWxD) •• 7.25kg ••
Three-year warranty http://www.snipca.com/42030If your budget doesn’t stretch quite
that far, we’d recommend the Xiaomi
Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G (£299 from http://www.
snipca.com/42036). This also has an
excellent camera that takes great shots
in just about any light conditions.
If that’s still too much to spend,
consider an older Redmi Note 10
(£219 from http://www.snipca.com/42037),
which is almost as good and costs
£80 less.A
The best smartphone
photos we’ve seen
recently have been
taken on a Google Pixel 6 (£580
from http://www.snipca.com/42034,
pictured). This has a superb
camera and Google’s software
makes the whole process even
better. You should opt for the
Pro version (£800 from http://www.
snipca.com/42035) if you’re
tempted by its additional 4x
optical zoom lens.Q
I bought a Moto G4
phone just over five
years ago following
a review in Computeractive,
which said it took the best
photos of the Moto range.
It has certainly lived up to my
expectations. I am now
considering a replacement,
with camera performance as
the most important aspect.
What should I buy?
Vanessa CheekPC MONITOR | £279 from Currys http://www.snipca.com/42030Acer CB282K
Long live the resolution
As a rule, the greater the resolution
of a monitor screen, the more expensive
it will be. It stands to reason that it
costs more to build a panel with the 8
million pixels (3840x2160) required for a
4K screen than it is to make, say, a Full
HD screen with 2 million pixels
(1920x1080). Rules are made to be
broken, however, and Acer has worked its
magic with this 28in monitor – a 4K
model that you can buy on the high street
for less than £300. In fact, it’s only about
£100 more than our current favourite
monitor, the Iiyama ProLite
XU2492HSU-B1, which has only
Full HD resolution.
With corners having to be
cut somewhere, the build
quality isn’t what you’d call
premium, but it still has a
surprisingly classy look for
such an affordable model.
The bezels around the sides
of the screen are reasonably
thin and the speaker bar
underneath is tastefully done.
On-screen menus are
navigated using a joystick and
three buttons around the
back of the monitor, which
are easy enough to use once
you’ve figured them out.8 – 21 June 2022 • Issue 633VERDICT An affordable way to bring a
highly detailed 4K-resolution screen to
your desk★★★★★
ALTERNATIVE Huawei MateView
£499 A 4K monitor
with USB-C and a
squarer 3:2 aspect
ratio, which is
probably better for
Windows workworking. On the other hand, it’s not so
hefty that it will crowd out everything
else on your desk.It’s not short on connection options,
either, with two HDMI ports and one
DisplayPort 1.2 socket. That’s enough
for attaching three devices, though it
would have been nice to see a USB-C
input here as well.
We tested the CB282K for a number
of scenarios, including watching films
and gaming, and found it capable of
displaying well-balanced, sharp
pictures with negligible motion blur.
That 4K resolution really makes a
difference in terms of detail if you’re
moving up from a model with fewer
pixels. With 90 per cent of the DCI-P3
standard covered, it’s impressively
accurate at reproducing colours.
The screen doesn’t rotate on its pedestal
but it can tilt by 40 degrees, and there’s a
limited amount of height adjustment as
well. Its 2W speakers sound quite tinny,
but they’d be perfectly adequate for
speech, if not music.
At 28in we like this size of screen. It’s
expansive enough to do justice to films
and games, while there’s plenty of room
for multiple open windows when you’re