Technology

The Ingalls are back, 2026 style. Thanks to Netflix, Laura Ingalls Wilder's hit book series Little House on the Prairie is returning to the small screen, 52 years after it was first adapted.

The 1974 Western-drama ran for nine seasons, starring Michael Landon, Melissa Gilbert, Karen Grassle and Melissa Sue Anderson in the leading roles... but can the 2026 version last as long?

Before new episodes have even hit the streaming service, there's good news: Little House on the Prairie has already been renewed for a second season.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet — when is season 1 available to watch?

What time can I watch Little House on the Prairie on Netflix?

Little House on the Prairie drops on Netflix on Ju1y 9, 2026.

As for exact time, it should be the standard 12am PT release that previous hit shows such as Emily in Paris have enjoyed.

For global regions, here's when you need to be prepared:

• US – 12am PT / 3am ET
• Canada – 12am PT / 3am ET
• UK – 8am BST
• India – 12:30pm IST
• Singapore – 3pm SGT
• Australia – 6pm AEST
• New Zealand – 8pm NZDT

When do new episodes of Little House on the Prairie come out?

(Image credit: Netflix)

All eight episodes of Little House on the Prairie will likely be its standard release schedule going forward.

There's currently no word on when season 2 might be released, though it is thought to be in production.

• Hideo Kojima has spoken about the end of physical PlayStation discs at a festival
• He said he is "very sad" about the announcement and worries about what it means for ownership
• He warns that we might be heading towards a streaming future: "Some company will own the server and say, 'You can turn on the tap for a certain amount of money each month.'"

Celebrity video game designer Hideo Kojima has revealed that he is "very sad" about the recent news that Sony plans to discontinue the production of physical PlayStation game discs in January 2028.

Speaking at the Il Cinema in Piazza festival in Rome, Italy (remarks that we have machine translated), he said "I'm very sad about it, because I grew up with physical media" and mentioned that he is currently collecting Blu-ray discs and DVDs.

"Games are a little different because you download them to your hard drive, so the data remains on your hardware," he continued. "However, if games move towards streaming in the future, that will also disappear. It's like streaming subscriptions for movies. Like Netflix or Amazon, there's a server somewhere, and you only have the right to turn on the tap. When you turn it on, the data on the server comes out."

He fears that in the future many forms of media will only be accessible via subscription services "from the start" leaving us with no option other than to pay a monthly fee in order to access our favorite titles.

"If that happens, what will happen is that I won't own the data," he says. "Some company will own the server and say, 'You can turn on the tap for a certain amount of money each month,' [...] and it's certainly conceivable that the data will stop being distributed."

"When that happens, I won't be able to watch my favorite movies or play my favorite games, and that's what's scary."

The comments come as fans continue to grapple with the announcement, which has resulted in widespread backlash, though it seems unlikely that Sony will backtrack on the decision as the historic PlayStation factory that manufactured 24 billion gaming discs is already being turned into a micro-optics lab as production winds down.

Are you a Google user living in the European Economic Area (EEA), the UK, or Switzerland? If so, you have probably received a message from the tech giant informing you that it will soon start using your IP address for advertising measurement purposes.

Google has so far only used IP addresses to route traffic and display adverts in these regions. However, as reported by Bleeping Computer, from 4 August, it will allow third parties to show you more personalised adverts by tracking your activity via your IP address.

The move raises questions about compliance with the GDPR in the EU and UK, which classifies IP addresses as personal data. Under current regulations, companies must obtain users’ consent before tracking IP addresses for the purpose of personalising adverts.

Indeed, the tracking of IP addresses in the EU is regarded as 'fingerprinting' — an invasive profiling practice that tracks an individual and their devices to link their digital activities. IP addresses can help identify your device, making it much easier for third parties to build a profile and bombard you with targeted ads while potentially exposing your data to hackers.

Google has stated that it is now shifting the burden of complying with the regulations in these regions onto advertisers, reminding them to adhere to its EU User Consent Policy and to obtain valid consent from users in the regions concerned, thereby placing much of the responsibility for managing and tracking IP addresses directly on these companies.

The days when the tech giant promoted a privacy-friendly digital environment now seem a distant memory. However, the best VPNs can help you retain control over your IP address.

NordVPN: TechRadar's top-rated VPN
Our top-rated VPN offers blistering speeds, seamless unblocking, and a suite of additional security tools, like its flagship next-gen antivirus suite.

Plans start from only the equivalent of $3.49 per month, but you can give NordVPN a try without fully committing thanks to its 30-day money-back guarantee.

Read our full NordVPN review to know more.View Deal

What Google’s IP-tracking means for your privacy

Google's new initiative could mark a significant turning point in terms of consent. Above all, it involves the creation of persistent profiles based on users' activities.

By placing the responsibility for obtaining consent on advertisers, while at the same time making it impossible for users to delete their own 'digital footprint' themselves, the Big Tech giant heavily impacts users’ online privacy.

Additionally, advertisers may implement consent banners in ways that are unclear or designed to encourage users to click 'accept', leading regulators to question whether the new system truly respects users' choices.

Although users might soon be able to manage IP-based personalisation, current opt-out options are limited to existing cookies and ad personalisation settings — meaning that, at present, users have little control over this new form of profiling.

It is particularly clarifying that Google itself was previously against the move, having completely U-turned from 2019, when it recognised fingerprinting as 'wrong', claiming it undermines users’ freedom of choice.

However, in 2024, the platform backtracked on its pro-privacy stance and lifted the ban on advertisers' use of fingerprinting, almost immediately raising concerns at the UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), which described the reversal as 'irresponsible'.

Awkwardly for Google, new developments come just one month after the ICO published its 2026 guidance, where it reiterated that tracking a person's digital activity across different websites to build a behavioural profile will continue to require users' explicit consent.

How can a VPN help?

(Image credit: Getty Images)

A virtual private network (VPN) gives you control back over these issues, as it spoofs users' IP addresses to minimise tracking — routing your traffic through remote servers and fooling websites you visit into thinking you’re somewhere else.

Leading providers, including NordVPN, Surfshark and Proton VPN, offer services such as ThreatProtection, CleanWeb and NetShield, which provide both shared and dedicated, static IP addresses, as well as blocking trackers, reducing cookie pop-ups and using alternative IDs, making IP-based identification harder.

A handful of secure free VPNs, including ProtonVPN Free, Windscribe Free, and Privado VPN Free, are also worth the game. However, these solutions usually have limitations, often a limited number of servers, which can slow down connection speeds and cause traffic congestion.

In recent years, some top VPNs have also integrated anti-fingerprinting technologies. Windscribe, for example, has added such a feature on its Chrome and Edge browser extensions, while Mullvad VPN developed the Mullvad browser with fingerprinting resistance.

Finally, using a privacy-first browser like Mozilla Firefox, which incorporates an ad-blocker, free proxy, and fingerprinting protections, will help minimise IP-tracking for ad personalisation, making unpleasant ads a distant memory.

For thirty years, the hardest part of a sophisticated cyberattack was the human labor behind it. Finding the vulnerability. Writing the exploit. Chaining the access. Staying quiet long enough to matter.

That work required teams, time, and tradecraft. It’s the reason nation-state operations looked different from criminal ones, and why most organizations could plan around the gap between them.

That gap is closing.

We are entering what I think of as the Mythos era, in which machines can do in minutes what used to take skilled human operators months. Cybersecurity defenses are improving, but the layer where final decisions are made, the human one, is now the easiest to exploit.

The advantage that protected most organizations, most of the time, is going with it. Precision at scale is no longer a contradiction. It’s a feature.

The Human Stack: what it is and why it matters

Most of the conversation about this shift has focused on what these systems do to vulnerabilities. That conversation is accurate, but incomplete. The harder problem is what machine-speed attacks do to the systems those vulnerabilities ultimately route through: systems that depend on human decisions.

That’s a layer most security programs don’t explicitly own. I call it the Human Stack, the point where every system finally comes down to a person deciding whether a wire transfer goes through, whether an email is trusted, or whether a voice on a phone call is real. We have spent a generation hardening everything above it, and almost nothing on the layer itself.

For most of cybersecurity's history, that was a tolerable bet. Attackers had to choose between going wide and crude, or narrow and precise. The Human Stack held because precision didn’t scale, and scale didn’t achieve precision.

That tradeoff is gone.

What the next wave of attacks looks like

The next wave won’t arrive as malware. It’ll arrive as evidence. A voicemail that sounds exactly like the person it claims to be. A video call with a face you have known for ten years. An email thread that picks up a conversation you actually had, in the cadence you actually use, referencing a project that actually exists. The technical indicators will be clean, and the social indicators will be perfect. The only thing that will be wrong is the conclusion the human is being led to.

Last year, I spent time with the team behind Midnight in the War Room, a documentary premiering August 5 at Black Hat USA. It brings together over 50 experts, from global CISOs and military strategists to reformed hackers and victims of cyber conflict. The conversations were about something that has been happening for a long time and is about to be accelerated: the industrialization of social engineering, and the steady weaponization of the behavioral attack surface.

That surface doesn't stop at your perimeter. It extends through every vendor, managed service provider, and cloud services administrator your business depends on. Your operations going offline may have nothing to do with your own people, and everything to do with someone three vendors deep making a decision under synthetic pressure.

What this means for enterprises

For businesses, this isn’t theoretical. Financial risk is direct. We're already seeing fraudulent wire transfers, manipulated approval chains, and finance chiefs impersonated so convincingly that payments clear before anyone notices.

Operational disruption can come with no malware on your systems. The behavioral attack surface doesn't stop at your perimeter. It extends through every vendor, managed service provider, law firm, auditor, and cloud administrator your business depends on.

A compromised third party, manipulated through a perfectly constructed social engineering campaign, can take your operations offline without leaving a fingerprint anywhere near your network. Most organizations scrutinize their own security posture far more rigorously than the human decision-making environments of the third parties they rely on, leaving that exposure largely unmanaged.

Regulators and insurers are starting to ask harder questions about that exposure, and most organizations don't yet have good answers.

The shift from prevention to resilience

There's a second shift that boards need to start preparing for, and it's bigger than any single control or technology. We're leaving the era in which security success is measured by attacks prevented. We're entering one in which the realistic measure is how quickly an organization recovers when belief fails.

Prevention still matters, and the investments organizations have made in it have been the right ones. But in a world where attacks will sometimes succeed because they're indistinguishable from legitimate activity, prevention alone is no longer a coherent strategy. Resilience is.

What resilience means at the human layer is different from what it means at the technical one. Technical resilience is about systems that fail gracefully and recover quickly. Human resilience is about decision-making environments that can absorb a successful deception, recognize it, and contain it before it compounds. Most organizations have invested in the first. Very few have invested in the second. That's the gap the next decade will judge us on.

What leaders should do

The security stack remains necessary, but this era exposes that even the best systems hand their hardest decisions to humans, and we haven't invested in that layer with the same rigor. Here’s where to start:

Measure recovery, not just prevention

When belief fails, how fast can your organization catch it, contain it, and get back up? That has to be designed into your operating model now, not figured out after an incident.

Design for decision-making under deception

Training people to spot phishing isn't sufficient when the phishing email is indistinguishable from a real one. Build institutional processes that don't rely on a single person making the right call under pressure.

Treat people as operational infrastructure.

Human judgment is a critical system. It needs redundancy and failure protocols, just like any other.

Extend your security culture to your vendor ecosystem

The behavioral attack surface runs through your entire supply chain. Your third-party risk program needs to account for the human layer, not just the technical one.

The window is closing

Midnight in the War Room will make this visible in a way an op-ed cannot.

The Mythos era did not create this problem. It revealed it. The cost of exploiting human decision-making precisely was high enough to keep most attackers out. That barrier is collapsing now.

What comes next will not announce itself. It’ll arrive looking like someone you trust, asking for something that feels completely reasonable, right up until the moment it isn't.

The question is no longer whether your systems can withstand attack. It's whether your people are prepared to make decisions in a world where the evidence itself can no longer be trusted, and whether your organization is built to recover when those decisions go wrong.

We've reviewed and ranked the best cloud antivirus.

This article was produced as part of TechRadar Pro Perspectives, our channel to feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today.

The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/pro/perspectives-how-to-submit

Your desk deserves a smart upgrade. This is the tech that makes the biggest difference for me.

From the iPhone 17 Pro and Google Pixel 10 Pro to Samsung's Galaxy S26 Ultra and two phones you may have never heard of, these are the top camera phones we've tested.

Looking for a different day?

A new Quordle puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Sunday's puzzle instead then click here: Quordle hints and answers for Sunday, July 5 (game #1623).

Quordle was one of the original Wordle alternatives and is still going strong now more than 1,500 games later. It offers a genuine challenge, though, so read on if you need some Quordle hints today — or scroll down further for the answers.

Enjoy playing word games? You can also check out my NYT Connections today and NYT Strands today pages for hints and answers for those puzzles, while Marc's Wordle today column covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about Quordle today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

Quordle today (game #1624) — hint #1 — VowelsHow many different vowels are in Quordle today?

• The number of different vowels in Quordle today is 4*.

* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too).

Quordle today (game #1624) — hint #2 — repeated lettersDo any of today's Quordle answers contain repeated letters?

• The number of Quordle answers containing a repeated letter today is 0.

Quordle today (game #1624) — hint #3 — uncommon lettersDo the letters Q, Z, X or J appear in Quordle today?

• No. None of Q, Z, X or J appear among today's Quordle answers.

Quordle today (game #1624) — hint #4 — starting letters (1)Do any of today's Quordle puzzles start with the same letter?

• The number of today's Quordle answers starting with the same letter is 2.

If you just want to know the answers at this stage, simply scroll down. If you're not ready yet then here's one more clue to make things a lot easier:

Quordle today (game #1624) — hint #5 — starting letters (2)What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?

• T

• S

• P

• S

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

Quordle today (game #1624) — the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1624, are…

• TRAWL
• SPICE
• PIANO
• SHARK

This game worked out very well for me, although that was largely due to a quartet of pretty straightforward words.

TRAWL was my only moment of doubt but felt right as I slowly tapped the letters out.

Daily Sequence today (game #1624) — the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1624, are…

• BLEAK
• COVET
• GREED
• DROOP

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1623, Sunday, 5 July: PINEY, SWOON, TITLE, PINTO
• Quordle #1622, Saturday, 4 July: ARGUE, MOTEL, OPERA, TRUCE
• Quordle #1621, Friday, 3 July: AVERT, MOTOR, MANIC, WORDY
• Quordle #1620, Thursday, 2 July: BULKY, PARSE, BELOW, MOVIE
• Quordle #1619, Wednesday, 1 July: EASEL, OTTER, LYRIC, SHACK
• Quordle #1618, Tuesday, 30 June: HALVE, DRYER, THERE, MINTY
• Quordle #1617, Monday, 29 June: SLURP, CRACK, CRANK, PHONY
• Quordle #1616, Sunday, 28 June: RUPEE, TOPAZ, FULLY, BEING
• Quordle #1615, Saturday, 27 June: PRINT, MARRY, SADLY, BICEP
• Quordle #1614, Friday, 26 June: JUICE, ARRAY, BONEY, SKIFF
• Quordle #1613, Thursday, 25 June: SHELF, TAWNY, HYPER, SOLVE
• Quordle #1612, Wednesday, 24 June: SOBER, ECLAT, GOOSE, NINNY
• Quordle #1611, Tuesday, 23 June: ARDOR, DADDY, SERVE, SHEAR
• Quordle #1610, Monday, 22 June: WAXEN, APNEA, CHIME, WAVER
• Quordle #1609, Sunday, 21 June: ABBOT, NOTCH, DREAD, LURID
• Quordle #1608, Saturday, 20 June: SLAIN, TAMER, VIPER, FALSE
• Quordle #1607, Friday, 19 June: ALOUD, POINT, GLOBE, GROIN
• Quordle #1606, Thursday, 18 June: LATCH, BRAWL, STEEL, CRUSH
• Quordle #1605, Wednesday, 17 June: HOIST, PLUSH, GROUP, LEMUR
• Quordle #1604, Tuesday, 16 June: SLAIN, PLUCK, PINTO, SLICE

Here are hints and the answer for today's Wordle for July 6, No. 1,843.

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for July 6 No. 1,121.

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for July 6, No. 855.

OXS Storm A2: Two-minute review

The OXS Storm A2 is a wireless gaming headset with support for multiple platforms, including the PS5, Nintendo Switch 2, PC, and mobile.

It has a basic design that verges on anodyne, especially in its dark grey colorway. The X-shaped indents on the sides of the drivers do little to add interest, instead making it look dated.

Thankfully, the headband is far more sleek, and overall it’s much less bulky than many of its rivals. It’s also pleasingly light, and the drivers fold away neatly, making the Storm A2 one of the best PC gaming headsets for portability.

The quality of the materials is also quite good, with most feeling smooth and solid. The padding on the earcups and headband also appear strongly attached.

This padding is reasonably plush and comfortable, too. The headband is more comfortable than many others I’ve experienced, although it’s not quite plush enough to prevent fatigue after long sessions.

The same charge can be leveled at the earcup padding. It’s reasonably soft, but it’s not thick enough to prevent the insides of the drivers from pressing into my ears, which causes aches after a while. However, these aches are quite minor, and I’ve certainly tested more uncomfortable headsets than this.

More impressive is the sound of the Storm A2. There’s plenty of crispness and balance to all frequencies, which makes it a great headset for both gaming and listening to music.

(Image credit: Future)

The surround sound feature is also a must in my opinion: not only does it create a more immersive sense of space, but it adds a much-needed low-end fullness as well.

The ANC function is quite rudimentary, seeming merely to reduce the bass frequencies of ambient sound rather than masking it entirely. This is effective to an extent, but it certainly doesn’t rival the ANC of the best headphones.

It’s also a shame that there’s no software to tweak the sound of the Storm A2 further. This means that you won’t be alerted to firmware updates, either — if any at all were to appear for the Storm A2.

The mic quality is poor, mired as it is by crackling and a low resolution. What’s more, there were times when it seemed to stop working altogether until I powered the headset on again.

Connectivity is mostly good, although Bluetooth pairing can take a little longer than is typical. At least hot-switching between devices is quick and easy.

The battery life of the Storm A2 is also quite good, seeming to live up to OXS’ claim of 70 hours. You can also charge and use the headset at the same time, although the included USB cable is a bit too short to make this practical for many setups.

At just over $100, the Storm A2 represents good value considering its multiple connectivity modes and platform support, as well as its ANC and surround sound modes. Its lack of software and long-term comfort mar its appeal slightly, but if you’re looking for great sound without spending ungodly amounts, you could do worse than the Storm A2.

OXS Storm A2 review: Price and availability

(Image credit: Future)

• $129.99 / £129.99 / AU$169
• Available now in black and white colorways
• Decent price for an ANC wireless gaming headset

The OXS Storm A2 costs $129.99 / £129.99 / AU$169 and is available now in two colorways: black and white. It comes with a USB cable, a 2.4GHz USB dongle (with Type-A and Type-C connections), a detachable microphone, and a leather pouch for storing the headset.

This is a reasonable price for a wireless headset with multiple connectivity modes and ANC. The absence of companion software for further customizations tweaks does put a slight dent in its appeal, though.

For those on an even tighter budget, there’s the OXS Storm G2. This is a much bulkier wireless headset, but it’s still quite light and reasonably comfortable, although the sound is inferior.

For a more premium experience with a host of tweaks at your disposal, consider the Skullcandy Crusher PLYR 720. Aside from all the customizations available via its software and onboard controls, this headset also has the heaviest bass I’ve ever experienced, which can be great when you’re in the mood for it.

OXS Storm A2 review: Specs

OXS Storm A2

Price

$129.99 / £129.99 / AU$169

Weight

10.3oz / 293g

Drivers

40mm full-range Dynamic Drivers

Compatibility

PS5, PS4, Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch, PC, Mac, Mobile

Connection type

Wireless (2.4Ghz via dongle, Bluetooth 5.4), Wired (USB-C)

Battery life

Up to 70 hours, play-while-charging function

Features

5-mic ENC detachable gooseneck mic, ANC, Passthrough, OXS Xspace 7.1 spatial algorithm

Software

None

(Image credit: Future)OXS Storm A2 review: Design and features

• Impressive build quality
• Light and very portable
• Uncomfortable for long sessions

In terms of aesthetics, the Storm A2 isn’t particularly noteworthy. The grey colorway of my review unit was a little dour, while the X-shaped indents on the sides of the drivers look a little dated.

There are some nice touches to its design, though. It’s a lot more sleek in its white colorway, and the minimalist design of the headband, which neatly hides the adjustment mechanism, is rather fetching. This mechanism can be a little difficult to slide, but it's not too onerous, and once set in place, it stays put.

The Storm A2 is uncluttered in terms of its controls, too. There are no fancy dials here, just four buttons: three on the left driver for volume and power, and a button on the right for toggling ANC, Passthrough, and surround sound functions. All buttons are quite small, but they’re easy to locate by touch and press while wearing the headset.

Build quality is also quite good. The various materials feel smooth and premium, and the joins are solid. The fabric padding of the earcups and headband is neatly and strongly attached, too.

(Image credit: Future)

The microphone is also well made. It has a gooseneck design, which means it can be bent into any shape you like. It’s easy to bend yet stable once in place, although there are certain positions that it refuses to adopt. It’s also relatively short, which does limit its versatility; you’ll struggle to get it dead in front of your mouth, for instance.

The whole headset is very light with a slender profile. You really could wear it out and about, while the agile folding design makes it easy to pack away into a bag.

This lightness helps with comfort, too, as the Storm A2 doesn’t weigh your head down. Its fit is quite snug and stable, while the earcups and headband are sufficiently padded to provide short-term comfort.

For long sessions, though, the thinness of the padding in these areas can cause minor aching. And in the case of the drivers, the thin padding failed to prevent the insides of the drivers from pressing against my ears, making the Storm A2 feel more like an on-ear rather than over-ear headset.

There’s no companion software or app for the Storm A2, which is a shame. Many other gaming headsets feature this, allowing you to adjust certain settings and tweak the sound. Such software usually delivers firmware updates as well, which makes its absence here even more concerning.

(Image credit: Future)OXS Storm A2 review: Performance

• Surprisingly crisp and clear audio
• Lacks the immersion of fully enclosed headsets
• Poor mic quality

The Storm A2 offers impressive audio. All frequencies are clear and balanced, while the bass is full and punchy without being overbearing or causing distortion. This makes the Storm A2 great for gaming, listening to music, and watching movies.

Audio effects and atmospheric sounds in Resident Evil Requiem, for instance, came through clearly, while the surround sound feature helped to impart a greater sense of space. It also made the overall sound noticeably fuller, adding far more low-end, so I always had this mode enabled. When I played Counter-Strike 2, gunshots were rendered with plenty of punch, while reloads were crisp and the direction of footsteps was easy to discern.

However, since the drivers don’t enclose your ears as much as other headsets, owing to that aforementioned thin padding, audio is less immersive than it otherwise would be, as if sound is leaking out of them a little.

There’s a slight background hiss at all times as well, regardless of whether I had ANC enabled or not. This was most noticeable when playing on the PS5, but it was also present on the Switch 2. Fortunately, this isn’t game-ruining since it’s easily masked by in-game audio most of the time, and I didn’t notice it at all when connected to my Android phone via Bluetooth.

(Image credit: Future)

The ANC feature does a reasonable job of negating outside sound, although it seems to merely cut the lower frequencies of ambient sound. More sophisticated ANC technology that's included in premium headsets and headphones does a better job of masking all kinds of frequencies and sounds from the listener’s environment. The Passthough function fares better, allowing outside sound to come through clearly.

Perhaps the worst aspect of the Storm A2, though, is its mic. The quality is poor, with audible crackles and a low resolution. Also, it failed to even register on my PC as an input on one occasion, while the toggle for turning the mic on and off (achieved by double-tapping the power button) seemed to stop working. Thankfully, a simple restart of the headset seemed to fix these issues, but they’re concerning nonetheless.

I didn’t have any connectivity issues with the Storm A2, though. In addition to my PC, it connected to my PS5 with the same ease as the best PS5 gaming headsets. Pairing with my Android phone and Switch 2 took a little longer than is typical for Bluetooth headsets and headphones, but not long enough to be a problem.

Hotswitching between Bluetooth and 2.4GHz connections was also quick and easy, merely requiring the holding of the ANC button for a second to cycle between them. You can also connect to devices over USB, which also charges the Storm A2 at the same time, something that can prove very useful. The included USB cable is quite short, though, so you’ll need your device close by. What’s more, neither ANC nor surround sound works with a wired connection.

OXS claims that the Storm A2 has a battery life of 70 hours. Based on my testing, I’m inclined to believe this figure, since I managed to use it for several days straight without charging.

Should I buy the OXS Storm A2?Buy it if…

You want versatile connectivity
Multiple connectivity options allow you to connect to numerous platforms, while hotswitching between them is quick and easy.

You want clear sound
Whether you’re gaming, listening to music, or watching videos, the Storm A2 is clear and full, especially with surround sound enabled.

Don't buy it if…

You want the best mic
The mic on the Storm A2 is perhaps its greatest weakness, sounding low res and sometimes failing to function correctly.

You want to customize the sound
Aside from ANC and surround sound, there aren’t any adjustments for the audio, since there’s no accompanying software.

OXS Storm A2 review: Also consider

If you don’t like the sound of the OXS Storm A2, try these alternatives instead:

OXS Storm A2

OXS Storm G2

Skullcandy Crusher PLYR 720

Price

$129.99 / £129.99 / AU$169

$79 / £62 (about AU$123)

$269.99 / £229.99 / AU$449.99

Weight

10.3oz / 293g

9.9oz / 282g

0.78lbs / 354g

Drivers

40mm full-range Dynamic Drivers

50mm full-range dynamic drivers

40mm

Compatibility

PS5, PS4, Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch, PC, Mac, Mobile

PlayStation, PC, Nintendo Switch, Mobile

PC, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Android, iOS

Connection type

Wireless (2.4Ghz, Bluetooth 5.4), Wired (USB-C)

Wireless (2.4GHz, Bluetooth), Wired (USB-A),

Bluetooth, Wired (USB-C, 3.5mm AUX), 2.4GHz wireless (USB-A dongle)

Battery life

70 hours

40 hours

48 hours

Features

5-mic ENC detachable gooseneck mic, ANC, Passthrough, OXS Xspace 7.1 spatial algorithm

Three EQ modes, detachable mic

THX Spatial Audio, Crusher bass enhancement, eight-band EQ, 4 sound presets, Sidetone mode, plug-in mic

Software

None

None

Skull-HQ (PC), Skullcandy mobile app (Android and iOS)

OXS Storm G2
An even more affordable wireless headset, the G2 is a lot larger than the Storm A2, but it still manages to keep the weight down. It doesn’t sound as good, either, but it still offers an enjoyable sonic experience.

Read our full OXS Storm G2 review.

Skullcandy Crusher PLYR 720
This is a lot more expensive than the Storm A2, but it has a lot more features, better levels of comfort, and a bass response that’s stronger than any headset I’ve experienced before. It’s certainly a lot bulkier than the Storm A2, and its open-backed design means people around you will hear everything you’re doing.

Read our full Skullcandy Crusher PLYR 720 review.

How I tested the OXS Storm A2

(Image credit: Future)

• Tested for several weeks
• Used for gaming and other tasks
• Extensive gaming and audio experience

I tested the Storm A2 for several weeks, during which time I used it for gaming, watching streams, and listening to music. I used all of its features, too.

I connected it to my PS5 via the 2.4GHz dongle and to my Android phone via Bluetooth. For the Switch 2, I used a mixture of both these connections, and I connected to my PC via the dongle and via the USB cable. I played a variety of games, including Counter-Strike 2 on PC, Resident Evil Requiem on PS5, and Super Mario Bros. Wonder on Switch 2.

I’ve been gaming for decades, and have used multiple headsets with multiple platforms during that time. I’ve also delved into the world of audio production, so I have experience with monitor and hi-fi headphones. I’ve reviewed other gaming headsets before, including another OXS model, the Storm G2.

• First reviewed: June 2026
• Read more about how we test

Tenda BE5010 i36 Access Point: 30-second review

The Tenda BE5010 i36 is a dual-band Wi-Fi 7 ceiling access point built for business environments. It supports speeds of up to 5010Mbps across 2.4GHz and 5GHz. A 2.5GbE PoE+ uplink removes the bottleneck that limits most budget ceiling APs. And the price sits well below what you would normally pay for hardware at this specification level.

Tenda has been making network equipment since 1999. The i36 is not an adapted home product. It is purpose-built infrastructure hardware that powers up via PoE, mounts cleanly to a ceiling or wall, and feeds into the Tenda CloudFi management ecosystem.

The feature list covers all the expected ground for a business-grade AP. Fast roaming, WPA3, VLAN tagging per SSID, MU-MIMO, OFDMA, beamforming, and load balancing are all present. Up to 256 clients can associate, with 100 recommended. That recommended figure is a point worth noting. Most vendors only publish the maximum, as producing a realistic number is something most in the networking industry avoid like the plague.

The one critical thing missing is a 6GHz radio. The i36 is dual-band. That means no access to the wide, uncongested channels that the upper tier of Wi-Fi 7 makes possible. In most deployment scenarios, that will not matter. In very dense, high-demand environments, it might.

In terms of features and management, this might not be the best Access Point available, but for those working with a tight budget, it might be sufficient.

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)Tenda BE5010 i36 Access Point: price and availability

• How much does it cost? $109.99/ £105.99/€107.99
• When is it out? It is available now
• Where can you get it? You can get it directly from online retailers like Amazon

At around $109.99 in the US via Amazon, the i36 represents some competitive spirit. Comparable dual-band Wi-Fi 7 ceiling APs from TP-Link and Ubiquiti regularly cost two or three times as much. In several cases, those rival units offer only marginal advantages in spec.

The pricing even undercuts some mature Wi-Fi 6 ceiling APs still on the market. That naturally raises questions about build quality and ecosystem depth.

The UK price is £105.99 on Amazon, and from the same source, it can be found across Europe for €107.99.

Tenda does sell via AliExpress, but at the time of writing this model isn’t available from that location.

As a PoE injector that delivers 802.3at power is included in the box, buyers don’t need a PoE switch or injector in addition to this AP. The i36 draws up to 17.4W. That sits well within the 30W ceiling of 802.3at, so any standard PoE+ switch is sufficient, and most businesses should have one by now.

Looking at the opposition, most have ceiling Access Points that are cheaper, but they’re invariably Wi-Fi 6, not Wi-Fi 7. Once you add the number 7, things become notably more expensive.

The TP-Link EAP772, for example, does have the 6GHz band, but it is $169.99/£151.92, and it doesn’t come with a PoE injector, so extra expense may be hidden.

Even more expensive is the Ubiquiti UniFi U7 Pro, which is close to $190 in the US, and it doesn’t have a power adapter either.

And, the most expensive model I found was the EnGenius ECW510, which has roughly the same specs as the BE5010, but the asking price is $217.98.

Probably the best-value alternative is the Zyxel Wi-Fi 7 BE5100 Access Point, which sells for $77.59, but the power supply is not included. And from what I understand, it supports Mesh.

But in the grand scheme of things, the Tenda BE5010 i36 offers exceptional value.

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)

• Value score: 4.5/5

Tenda BE5010 i36 Access Point: Specs

Feature

Spec

Model:

i36 Ceiling Access Point

2.4GHz:

2x2 up to 688 Mbps (20/40MHz)

5GHz:

2x3 up to 4323Mbps(20/40/80/160Hz)

6GHz:

N/A

Max Clients:

256

Recommended Clients:

100

SSIDs:

8

Ports:

1x 100/1000/2500Mbps PoE+ Ethernet; 1x 10/100/1000Mbps Ethernet 1 x Reset button

Mesh:

No

MLO

Yes

AFC

No (no 6GHz)

Wired Link Aggregation

No

CPU:

Unknown

Memory:

Unknown

Storage:

Unknown

USB Ports:

No

Modes:

Access Point, Client + AP

Firmware:

V1.0.0.3(4327)

Dimensions:

250.6 mm diameter x 55 mm

Weight:

640g

Tenda BE5010 i36 Access Point: Design

• Saucer
• Dual LAN ports
• PSU included

The i36 is a circular white disc that appears to have modelled itself on the saucer section of an original series Star Trek ship. I’m not sure if this is trying to draw attention to itself or not, but if it is, that’s exactly not what you want from a ceiling AP.

At 250.6mm across and just 55mm deep, it’s quite large as these devices go, but it should work in the majority of office settings with white paintwork or ceiling tiles.

Tenda includes mounting hardware for both ceiling and wall installation. The disc clicks onto a base plate that screws directly to the surface. Cable entry is through the edge of the mount, and there are three standoffs included that should provide sufficient ventilation for the AP in use. The installation is clean, assuming a LAN cable run is already in place.

The port arrangement is better than most, where a single PoE LAN is offered. A 2.5GbE port handles both incoming PoE power and uplink network traffic. The secondary gigabit port adds flexibility. A thin client, display controller, or IP phone can sit alongside the AP and plug into that second port without needing a separate drop. It is a small detail that competing units at this price often omit. It’s a shame that the second port wasn’t also 2.5GbE, allowing for these to be chained from a single LAN cable, but having the second port is incredibly useful.

Included in the box with the AP is a PSU, and thankfully, Tenda avoided the classic mistake of making a directly connected power supply that requires a local power outlet. The PSU provided comes with a PoE Ethernet injector, enabling power to be supplied at the server end of the cable, where power is likely to be easily accessible.

In my testing, I didn’t use this, since it was made for an American power outlet, but hopefully, for those buying this device outside the USA, regionally compliant versions are included.

The design of this AP is simple yet functional, and that’s mostly what IT people want from them.

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)

Design score: 4/5

Tenda BE5010 i36 Access Point: In use

• Basic router
• Limited controls

There are three ways to configure the i36. A local web interface is available at 10.16.16.169 or 192.168.0.254. The Tenda CloudFi mobile app covers most day-to-day management tasks. And the full CloudFi cloud platform handles multi-site deployments and fleet management.

For a single AP installation, the local web interface is perfectly adequate. For a school, hotel, or office campus running multiple units, the cloud platform and app become genuinely useful tools. That flexibility across deployment scales is a strength of the platform.

Tenda describes three steps to get a standalone unit running: set the working mode, configure the wireless network, and congratulate yourself on a job well done. The interface and feature set provide a straightforward onboarding process that only requires you to provide an 8-character password with no restrictions for special characters.

The management feature set goes a little beyond the basics. However, it can isolate clients using VLAN tagging, and also isolate the SSID. There are eight possible SSIDs, so you can put Guests on a different one from standard users, and isolate admin functions to another.

AP isolation, client access control, and RSSI threshold controls let you shape the wireless environment precisely. Weak signal client steering actively moves poorly connected clients to a stronger access point, or it will if you have multiple APs and are using the CloudFi functionality to administer them.

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)

Fast roaming via 802.11k/v/r is supported throughout, although the word ‘Mesh’ is never mentioned in this context. In any environment where users move between access points, a clean handoff matters. Hotels, school corridors, and warehouse floors all benefit from this, though this function isn’t Mesh, which the hardware doesn’t support.

The other word that isn’t used is VPN, as there are no automated connections where VPN tunnels can be established via the AP.

Compared to the management tools provided by others, specifically TPLink Omada and UniFi, this is Cloud management with a very light touch. While it is possible to have multiple projects for different locations and administer them centrally, there are limits to what can be done with this tool. There is a mobile app version with the same functionality, but it relies on you registering on the Cloud version to have an account to interface.

Perhaps there is more to CloudFi if you have other Tenda equipment, such as gateways and switches, but it’s a shadow of the Omada Cloud admin. But, on the positive side of that coin, Tenda don’t charge you to use it, or expect a local hardware controller.

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)

• In Use: 3.5/5

Tenda BE5010 i36 Access Point: Performance

• 5010Mbps peak
• 2.5GbE uplink
• 160MHz channel
• No 6GHz band

And, this is true of the most expensive hardware, as much as it is with this.

On paper, the i36 is an impressive unit. The 5GHz radio tops out at 4323 Mbps using 4096-QAM modulation across a 160 MHz channel. That is a decent amount of bandwidth for a dual-band Wi-Fi 7 radio without a 6GHz band. The 2.4GHz radio contributes 688Mbps. It is useful for legacy devices and extending the range into areas where the 5GHz signal falls away. I wasn’t expecting the 6GHz band at this price, and it isn’t included.

The 2.5GbE uplink is the headline specification at this price. Most budget ceiling APs are throttled by a 1GbE uplink long before the wireless radio hits its limit. With 2.5GbE, the wired connection to the network is no longer the constraining factor. Tenda claims aggregate wired throughput of up to 2.1Gbps under optimal conditions. But, and this is a problem with most APs of this generation, if it does hit those high notes using dual-band Wi-Fi 7 clients, then it's still leaving 60% of the possible Wi-Fi performance on the table. The only way this could be fully utilised is if Wi-Fi clients are talking between themselves, and not using the uplink.

To better explain my thinking here, let’s talk about that 4323Mbps 5GHz figure. It assumes a Wi-Fi 7 client capable of 160MHz channel operation and 4096-QAM encoding. Most current smartphones do not meet both of those requirements, and actually, relatively few laptops do either. A mixed environment of Wi-Fi 5, Wi-Fi 6, and Wi-Fi 7 clients will produce substantially lower aggregate throughput.

That is true of every access point in this generation and should be factored in when reading any peak specification figure. Just because this router can theoretically operate at those speeds doesn’t mean it will be doing so regularly, if ever.

Connecting with a laptop that had a Wi-Fi 6E adapter to my 1GbE PoE network, I managed a connection bandwidth of 2.4Gbits, but due to the LAN limitations, the fastest file transfer was about 85MB/s. Using a Comfast Wi-Fi 7 adapter, I managed a 2.8 Gbit link, but less performance on the file transfer. With a 2.5GbE backhaul and a better Wi-Fi 7 adapter, 200 MB/s might be possible, but that is when there is only me using the AP.

Without a 10GbE backhaul or 6GHz band and given the variability of Wi-Fi 7 technology, these are realistically the results most access points will deliver currently.

(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)Tenda BE5010 i36 Access Point: Final verdict

The Tenda BE5010 i36 is a dual-band Wi-Fi 7 ceiling access point that punches far above its price. It brings 5010Mbps of wireless speed, a 2.5GbE uplink, WPA3 security, and a capable cloud management platform to a category that typically charges far more for these features.

The absence of a 6GHz band is a real limitation for those who need it. For everyone else, this is a compelling piece of kit at a price that is hard to argue with.

(Image credit: Tenda)Should I buy a Tenda BE5010 i36 Access Point?Tenda BE5010 i36 Access Point Score Card

Attributes

Notes

Rating

Value

For Wi-Fi 7, this is a bargain

4.5/5

Design

Simple but effective saucer design

4/5

In Use

Cloud connector or not, its your choice

3.5/5

Performance

2.5GbE LAN backhaul is the limiting factor

4/5

Overall

Excellent 5G travel router with a few caveats

4/5

Buy it if...

You need cheap equipment
Given that most of the alternatives are at least 50% more, and don’t come with a PoE injector, this hardware is undoubtedly a cost benefit. However, the CloudFi system isn’t as powerful as a TP-Link or UniFi system, so it may take more time to administer.

Don't buy it if...

You want all Wi-Fi 7 offers
Without the 6GHz band, Wi-Fi 7 isn’t much faster than Wi-Fi 6e, and equipment at that level is even cheaper than this. It does have some other virtues that make it worth considering, but the unused frequencies of 6GHz make it special. This AP doesn’t support 6GHz.

You want a Mesh solution
This hardware doesn’t support Mesh, even if it does have fast roaming via 802.11k/v/r. Without Mesh technology, it would be difficult to integrate this into existing APs from other brands that do support Mesh technology.

For more connectivity solutions, we've reviewed the best business routers

• Japan plans to deploy 10 million additional robots before 2040 arrives
• Nursing homes and food factories sit at the centre of expansion
• Noetra will supply the AI foundation powering future Japanese robots nationwide

Japan has unveiled a revised national robotics strategy which aims to introduce around 10 million robots in the country by 2040.

Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Ryosei Akazawa announced the plan, which now spans 18 fields after adding food manufacturing and medical care to earlier priorities.

The government intends to move quickly to establish a core AI robotics hub, supporting deployment, research, and workforce training activities across the country.

Robots move beyond the factory floor

Officials described the hub as central to helping companies adopt robots at scale over the coming years, particularly in sectors already struggling with staff shortages.

The strategy centres on Noetra, a domestically produced multimodal foundation model developed alongside a National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology project focused on physical AI.

Noetra is majority-owned by SoftBank, NEC, Sony Group and Honda, while Fujitsu and Rakuten are reportedly still weighing whether to join the consortium.

Akazawa said accumulated data from elderly care, disaster response, manufacturing sites and the Fukushima Daiichi decommissioning effort underpins the government's confidence in the approach.

"The utilization of accumulated data" would become Japan's "winning strategy," he said, framing global competition as a contest over accessible datasets rather than raw computing power alone.

The government plans to build data infrastructure for physical AI and robots that reflects the country's own industrial strengths.

It will lean on decades of experience operating machinery in hazardous or labour-scarce environments nationwide.

International partnerships and regional ambitions

Officials have confirmed a collaborative arrangement with research institutions in the US, Canada, France and the UK to support development of the base model.

The resulting technology will reportedly be made available widely to Japanese AI developers, businesses and eventual users across multiple industries and regions.

According to officials briefed on the plan, some companies are expected to use the platform as a foundation for expanding into foreign markets in later years.

The minister also linked the strategy to broader efforts encouraging AI-driven transformation originating from regional areas outside Japan's major metropolitan centres, rather than concentrating growth in Tokyo alone.

Japan's ageing population and restrictive migration policies continue creating labour shortages across industries struggling to recruit sufficient numbers of workers.

Policymakers increasingly view automation as a practical response because many vacancies remain difficult to fill through conventional hiring efforts alone.

Supporters frequently argue that robots are filling roles unavailable to human workers rather than directly replacing existing employees across industries.

The revised strategy therefore includes medical care responsibilities alongside duties within food production and beverage manufacturing environments across the country.

South Korea announced a comparable robotics ambition this week, adding a competitive dimension to the wider regional picture as both countries pursue sovereign AI capabilities.

Whether those ambitions become reality may depend less upon announcements than sustained investment, technical progress, and broader public acceptance domestically.

Via The Register

The Samsung S95F was our TV of the Year last year, thanks to its excellent picture quality, effectiveness in a bright room and superb gaming capabilities. It edged out the LG G5, the S95F’s flagship rival, for the honors — but needless to say, both these models were top-tier performers and contenders for our list of the best TVs. So I've been relishing testing their successors side by side.

I’ve already tested and reviewed the LG G6, the G5’s successor, and it earned five-stars in my LG G6 review. It’s one of the best OLED TVs I’ve tested this year, especially for bright room viewing (more on that later).

Now, the S95F’s successor — which is called the Samsung S95H in the US, and the S99H in the UK (and there is a separate model called the S95H in the UK, which is different to the US' S95H. Clear? Great…) has arrived in our test room, so I put the S95H/S99H and G6 side-by-side to see which flagship OLED comes out on top.

Colors

Both the Samsung S95H/S99H (left) and LG G6 (right) showcase bold colors, but the S99H made reds in Speed Racer look orange in places, shown in the floors and shelving, while the G6 showed red (Image credit: Warner Bros / Future )

Color reproduction on both these TV’s predecessors has been superb in the past, so I was keen to see how the two new models would fare. I started with Speed Racer on 4K Blu-ray, which I recently reviewed as part of the June 2026 Blu-ray Bounty, and boy, does it have some impressive colors.

With both TVs set to their respective HDR Movie modes (called Cinema Home on the G6) colors are bold, punchy and vibrant on both TVs, perfectly delivering the hyper-saturated, cartoon-esque look of the movie.

Colors practically exploded on screen on both TVs. Looking closer, the G6 has deeper, richer colors which add a more 3D-like effect to the picture, while the S95H/S99H’s are on the more natural side. Blues, greens, purples and yellows appear more true-to-life on the S95H/S99H, while the G6 opts for dazzle.

One thing I found very interesting however was how each TV rendered red. In some scenes, I noticed that the S95H/S99H made these red details look more orange, while on the G6 they had a much more candy-apple red look that felt more accurate to the movie. This was clear in a scene with the red shelves, walls and floors of the Racer family garage, shown above.

The S95H/S99H (left) has higher fullscreen brightness, but the G6 (right) has punchier peak brightness and bolder colors (Image credit: Warner Bros / Future )

In the close-up shot of Speed Racer during a race shown above, the red of his seat and the M logo on his helmet was deeper and bolder on the G6, looking a little pale on the S95H/S99H. For any red tones, I preferred the G6’s saturation: for this movie at least, in these modes.

For the record, in terms of measurements, the S95H/S99H scored 2.2 SDR color accuracy and 99.97% UHDA-P3 and 89.3% BT.2020 HDR color gamut coverage, to the G6’s 2.3 SDR color accuracy, 99.3% UHDA-P3 and 83% BT.2020 color gamut coverage (measured after its most recent update as of July 3rd 2026). So, these two generally measured about the same in these major areas.

When it came to skin tones, I found myself drawn to the S95H/S99H. The G6 clearly favoured red in Cinema Home, hence the deeper reds in objects. To some, the skin tones of characters on the S95H/S99H may have looked a little washed out, but I found the highlighting red tones in people’s faces, such as their cheeks, during close-up shots to be a little distracting.

The S99H (left) has more accurate skin tones, with the G6 (right) favoring red shades in skin tones Lionsgate / Future Both TVs show great color reproduction in La La Land, but the S99H's (left) feel more natural Lionsgate / Future Both TVs do a great job rednering the gradation of the sky in La La LandLionsgate / Future

Switching to La La Land, with both TVs in Movie mode, the more natural colors worked in the S95H/S99H’s favour. At the spring pool party, Mia’s yellow dress was vibrant on both screens with some gorgeous visual pop, but the yellow looked more authentic on the S95H/S99H. In the background, the green bushes were deeper on the G6, which gave them a nice, rich look, but again I felt the softer green of the S95H/S99H suited the movie better.

Later on, a close-up shot of Mia, the G6 again showed off the red tones in her skin, while on the S95H/S99H, her skin tone was uniform, more lifelike. In the ‘City of Stars’ scene, as Sebastian walks along a pier at sunset, both TVs accurately delivered the gradation of the sky, which goes from purple, to orange, to pink, accurately and while the G6 again had that richer look, the S95H/S99H had a bit more punch in the paler tones.

Contrast and dark room viewing

With both TVs set to Movie mode (Cinema Home on the G6), both can easily show a dark movie like The Batman in brightly lit conditions and still have good contrast (Image credit: Warner Bros / Future )

Moving onto darker movies, I started with The Batman, my reference disc for darker scenes. The Batman is a very dim movie (mastered at a max of around 400 nits) so it can be tricky for any TV to accurately display.

As both TVs have effective reflection handling layers (more on that below), I tried out the movie in Filmmaker Mode in a brightly lit room — and of the two, the G6 better preserved richer black tones with crisper textures and contrast. The S95H/S99H was much dimmer, and although the matte screen blocked mirror-like reflections, the movie was harder to watch.

Switching to Movie mode on both TVs, it then became a much closer call. Watching the subway scene, as Batman stands on a dark subway platform, both TVs delivered strong black levels with good shadow detail. The S95H/S99H had the more uniform picture of the two overall in Movie mode.

With both TVs set to Filmmaker Mode, the S95H/S99H (left) shows deeper blacks and more dynamic contrast, but sometimes can crush said blacks. The G6 (right) preserves better detail, but is a little bright (Image credit: Warner Bros / Future )

Switching to darker viewing conditions, and switching back to Filmmaker Mode, the differences between each TV was much more apparent. While both TVs still delivered strong contrast, shown in scenes with bright lights against dark backgrounds such as the Batcave and the crime scene at Mayor Mitchell’s house, the S95H/S99H actually delivered noticeably deeper blacks.

In some cases they were too deep, as it did exhibit some black crush, which resulted in loss of shadow detail. In the same subway scene from before, the background became mostly ineligible on the S95H/S99H. On the G6, these same details were preserved, but the picture was much brighter and the darker areas on screen weren’t as satisfying. Despite the black crush, I found myself drawn to the S95H/S99H’s more uniform picture.

With both TVs in Filmmaker Mode, the G6 (right) does a better job showing this scene from Fight Club in a bright room20th Century Studios / Future With both TVs set to Movie mode, it becomes a much closer call20th Century Studios / Future

Next I switched to ‘brighter’ movies with dark scenes, and went back to having brighter conditions in the room. In Fight Club, back in Filmmaker Mode, the G6 had the more impactful contrast and richer black tones.

As Marla and the narrator talk in a dimly-lit shop, the S95H/S99H’s matte screen created a haze effect across the screen, affecting some dark tones and made textures look a little softer. The G6’s glossy screen had crisper textures and deeper blacks with more impactful contrast. But switch to Movie mode and, again, it was a toss up as to which looked better.

Using a scene from space in Alien: Romulus in Movies modes, both TVs delivered rich black tones with a good amount of white stars dotted throughout, something some cheaper TVs I’ve tested can’t reproduce as cleanly. Again, in Filmmaker Mode, the G6 was the more engaging picture with the inky blacks, but the S95H/S99H did a better job handling reflections on this occasion, while still delivering powerful contrast. So let's dig more into reflections and visual punch.

Brightness and reflections

Both TVs deliver bright, brilliant whites with excellent, controlled brightness. A note: the S95H/S99H does not have this red tint in person, it is the matte screen being picked up the camera awkwardly (Image credit: Future)

OLED TVs are getting brighter. Once struggling to hit over 1,000 nits HDR peak some years ago, this is easily surpassed now, on both flagship and mid-range models.

I measured the S95H/S99H as hitting 2,739 nits HDR peak brightness (10% window) in Filmmaker Mode, as well as 449 nits of fullscreen HDR (100% window). In HDR movie mode, the S95H/S99H hit 2,751 nits peak and 450 nits fullscreen.

The G6 in the same modes, after a re-test with a new firmware update, hit a staggering 3,004 nits peak (10%) and 451 nits fullscreen brightness in HDR Filmmaker Mode. In HDR Cinema Home, the G6 hit 2,207 nits peak and 365 nits fullscreen brightness.

How did this translate into real-world scenes? Using some snow scenes from the Spears & Munsil UHD Benchmark, both TVs, set to Filmmaker Mode, showed punchy white tones with plenty of vibrancy, but the G6 had that little bit more depth in some areas. Generally, however, the S95H/S99H had the brighter picture in larger white areas, during a shot of a snow-covered ground or a white sky.

The S95H/S99H's (left) stronger fullscreen brightness in Movie mode is on show in this scene from Fight Club, as the blue sky looks much brighter than on the G6 (right) (Image credit: 20th Century Studios / Future )

In movies, going back to Speed Racer, Speed’s white Mach 5 car and helmet appeared brighter on the S95H/S99H, especially in Movie mode, which makes sense based on the 500 nits peak HDR difference between the S95H/S99H and G6 in that mode.

However, the G6 again had that satisfying glint that drew the eye more. In daytime scenes, the S95H/S99H again showed higher overall brightness, especially in lighter colors like green and yellow. But, the G6’s richer colors sometimes gave it a perceived sense of higher brightness through its boldness.

In another scene from Fight Club, again in Movie mode, as the narrator stands over an overturned car in the day, the clear, blue sky was noticeably brighter on the S95H/S99H. The G6 still showed good brightness, but it wasn’t as impactful as the S95H/S99H.

Both TVs are very effective at reducing reflections and while the S95H/S99H (left) is better at getting rid of them totally thanks to its matte screen, the G6 (right) does a better job maintaining black tones while reducing reflections (Image credit: Future)

I’ve touched on bright-room conditions and reflection handling above, and both these TVs are impressive on this front. The S95H/S99H’s anti-glare screen does an excellent job at eliminating mirror-like reflections, turning them to a haze. While it would beat every other OLED TV in brighter rooms, the G6 is more than a match for it.

When I compared the LG G6 to last year's Samsung S95F for their reflection handling, I preferred the G6, as it did a better job delivering inkier, richer black tones while still eliminating most reflections.

The S95H/S99H is brighter than the S95F, and while this does mean its overall picture quality next to the G6 is improved, delivering more powerful contrast, I still prefer the G6 for bright rooms… in Filmmaker Mode.

In Movie mode, however, it again becomes a very tight call, edged by the G6 for me. I just preferred the preservation of contrast over the out-and-out reflection handling.

Which do I prefer?

(Image credit: 20th Century Studios / Future )

In these tests, the LG G6 proved to have bolder colors, with better black levels and punchier highlights in brighter conditions (still with great reflection handling). The Samsung S95H/S99H showed better skin-tone accuracy, better contrast balance and black tones in dark room viewing, and higher perceived fullscreen brightness.

Deciding between these two TVs is no easy task. Both deliver outstanding picture quality, with their own strengths, and superb gaming experiences. It's never been a closer contest. So torn am I between the two, I’m saying you can’t really go wrong with either. It will come down to price and what you’re looking for — though while I've only focused on picture here, I do know that a lot of people are put off by the huge frame on the S95H/S99H, and that might make the difference.

If you want Dolby Vision HDR, bolder colors and better contrast with richer black levels in a bright room, go for the G6. If you want HDR10+, a more accurate-feeling picture out-of-the-box in a dark room, and a TV that beats the most challenging reflections, go for the S95H/S99H. Honestly, both TVs can do pretty much everything.

If I had to choose one today, it would be the LG G6. Not only does it have the better black level performance in brighter rooms, but right now, it's cheaper in the UK (where I am) and Australia, with a 55-inch G6 costing $2,299 / £2,099 / AU$3,499, while the S95H/S99H 55-inch costs $2,199 / £2,399 / AU$3,999. If I were in the US, or if the prices switch here, I could easily change my mind: it's that close.

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