Reviews

Motorola Razr Ultra 2025: Two-minute review

(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

I really dig the Motorola Razr Ultra 2025 – this phone delights in ways other flat slabs simply can't. Using it with the cover display like a tiny, competent smartphone? Love it. The sheer satisfaction of snapping the phone shut to end a call – or my doom-scrolling session? Chef's kiss. The Razr Ultra makes every other phone feel like a boring rectangle. It’s not perfect, but it’s pretty great.

What’s your excuse for not owning a Motorola Razr? Cameras? Durability? Raw gaming power? Whatever your hesitation, the Motorola Razr Ultra 2025 is here to gently overcome your doubts. This isn’t just the best Razr ever; it's a genuinely remarkable mobile device.

Let’s get the sticker shock out of the way early: the Razr Ultra 2025 is more expensive than any previous Razr (yes, even that golden Dolce & Gabbana Razr V3i from the 90s). Starting at $1,299 / £1,099.99, it’s a cool $600 pricier than the base Razr 2025. That's a leap.

However, more than any other phone in this lofty price bracket, the Motorola Razr Ultra earns every penny. Consider what you're getting:

(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

A glorious 7-inch main display. That’s one of the biggest screens you'll find on a non-tablet-style foldable. And it's not just big; our testing found that it's incredibly bright, and just as colorful as Moto claims.

But wait, there's more! The Razr Ultra's cover display isn't just for glancing at notifications. It’s a bona fide second screen that ran every app I threw at it. Plus, it's bright, sharp, and boasts a silky-smooth 165Hz refresh rate. Yes, the Razr Ultra's bonus screen is faster than any iPhone display.

This year's Razr Ultra 2025 also finally packs a flagship-level chipset: the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite, a processor that's been crushing it in every Android phone I've tested.

That powerful processor contributes to remarkable battery life. Despite its folding nature, the Razr Ultra packs enough juice to last all day, and even beat most competitors in our lab tests.

Even the cameras are good this year! During my cloudy New York City review period, I pitted it against the iPhone 16 Pro and Galaxy S25 Ultra. The Razr Ultra 2025 held its own, with photos sometimes better, sometimes worse – the hallmark of a decent camera shootout.

(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

Need more? The Razr Ultra boasts the most unique selection of materials and finishes around. My review unit is literally made of wood (responsibly sourced, no less).

My colleague at Tom's Guide has one in Alcantara, like a fancy sports car steering wheel. The Alcantara and faux suede devices are technically plastic, but they feel much more premium.

The best you'll get from Samsung and Apple? Glass or titanium. Oh, and speaking of titanium, this year's entire Razr family uses it to reinforce the hinge. Take that, boring slabs!

The Razr is catching on, and Motorola loves to talk about iPhone switchers. After a week with the Razr Ultra 2025, I'm surprised I'm not seeing more of these flip phones in the wild.

Durability is a common concern, and it’s a fair one. The Razr Ultra is the first foldable to use Gorilla Glass Ceramic on its cover display. And did I mention the titanium? It’s also IP48 rated, meaning it can handle an unexpected dip, but dust remains its nemesis.

(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

I’d love to say the Razr Ultra is bulletproof, but my first review sample had a screen hiccup within a day – it turned white intermittently, then fixed itself after a few days.

Moto replaced it, and the second unit has been flawless. I'll chalk it up to a fluke for now, but reliability is a hurdle for foldables. That said, the folding mechanism feels incredibly solid, closing with a deeply satisfying clap.

More than anything, using the Motorola Razr Ultra 2025 reminds me how refreshing a unique design and capabilities can be. Also, I adore hanging up on… well, everything.

Motorola Razr Ultra 2025 review: Price and availability

(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

• $1,299 / £1,099 for 512GB storage and 16GB RAM
• No Australian pricing or availability announced yet

The Motorola Razr Ultra 2025 is Motorola’s priciest Razr, starting at $1,299 / £1,099 / AU$TBC. A 1TB US model is an extra $200, but it's not available in the UK. We'll update this article with Australia pricing when we get it.

Yes, it's expensive – Galaxy S25 Ultra territory, and more than an iPhone 16 Pro Max. Only tablet-style foldables like the Galaxy Z Fold 6 cost more.

I'd argue that you get more bang for your buck with the Razr Ultra. The Galaxy Ultra gives you a stylus. Do you really need a stylus? The iPhone 16 Pro Max gives you… well, more iPhone. Both have more cameras, but that’s about it.

(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

The Razr gives you a huge, foldable display that vanishes into your pocket like magic, and a 4-inch cover display larger than the original iPhone's screen. It’s genuinely two phones in one.

You also get a design with unmatched colors and materials. If natural titanium and moody blues are your jam, Apple and Samsung have you covered. For tactile wood and soft suede, Motorola is your dealer.

A word to the wise: the Motorola Razr Plus 2024 was frequently on sale. Discounts, bundles, you name it. Right now, US buyers get a free storage upgrade to 1TB at launch. If you want to save some money, patience might be rewarded with a future deal.

• Value score: 5/5

Motorola Razr Ultra 2025 review: Specs

(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

Finally, a Razr that’s mostly flagship with few compromises. The Snapdragon 8 Elite is fast and efficient. The cameras are on a par with flat smartphones (though you only get two lenses). Even battery life is admirable.

I wouldn’t pay extra for 1TB of storage, and at launch, it's a free upgrade. My concern? Instead of price drops on the 512GB model, we might just see "special deals" offering the 1TB version at the 512GB price.

Dimensions:

154.7 x 73.3 x 8.9mm

Weight:

185.9g

Display:

6.3-inch Actua display

Resolution:

1080 x 2424

Refresh rate:

60-120Hz

Peak brightness:

2,700 nits

CPU:

Google Tensor G4

RAM:

8GB

Storage:

128GB / 256GB

OS:

Android 15

Cameras:

48MP main; 13MP ultra-wide

Selfie Camera:

13MP

Battery:

5,100mAh

Charging:

23W

Colors:

Obsidian, Porcelain, Peony, Iris

Motorola Razr Ultra 2025 review: Design

(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

• Excellent material options, including actual wood and Alcantara
• There’s a new button… for AI. You can mostly ignore it

The Motorola Razr Ultra 2025 looks almost identical to last year’s Razr Plus 2024, but it's available in new materials and new Pantone-inspired colors: Mountain Trail (real, responsibly sourced wood!), Rio Red, Cabaret, and Scarab (Alcantara suede).

No other phone feels like this. Motorola has refined the Razr design to a peak.

It’s not all sunshine and wood grain. There’s a new button on the left side of the Razr Ultra 2025, and I’ll give you one guess what… never mind. It’s AI. It’s a Moto AI button, and you can’t reprogram it to do anything but open Moto AI features (or just to do nothing at all).

To be fair, you can tie Motorola’s fascinating 'Pay Attention' feature to the button, and that intrigues me. I’ll talk more about the AI features in the Software section below, but it really bugs me that there's a whole new button and it’s just for AI.

The new Moto AI button on the side of the Razr Ultra 2025 (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

Why? Because Google’s Gemini AI already uses the power button on the other side! So, now there are two different AI buttons sitting on opposite sides of your Razr. Ugh.

If you’re concerned about the crease, don’t be. It never bothered me once. It’s hardly visible, and easy to ignore. It may look dramatic if you’ve never used a foldable phone, but it’s actually quite smooth. When you look at the unfolded screen head-on, you won’t see the crease at all.

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(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

The Motorola Razr Ultra 2025 in Pantone Rio Red

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(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

The Motorola Razr Ultra 2025 in Pantone Scarab

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(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

The Motorola Razr Ultra 2025 in Pantone Mountain Trail

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(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

The Motorola Razr Ultra 2025 in Pantone Cabaret

• Design score: 3/5

Motorola Razr Ultra 2025 review: Display

(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

• Incredibly large man display folds into a surprisingly small package
• The large cover screen is also fantastic

Think of the Razr Ultra 2025 as a two-screen device, because the cover display is half the fun. Using it closed, interacting with just the 4-inch display, feels wonderfully clever and so convenient; I loved finding new ways to enjoy it. It became my Roku remote, my palm-sized hiking navigator via AllTrails, and my Slack monitor so I could keep my desktop less cluttered.

(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

That 4-inch cover display isn't just capable with software; it's advanced, refreshing up to 165Hz! Overkill? Maybe. Awesome? Definitely.

The inner display is remarkable as well. It’s a 7-inch, LTPO AMOLED panel that's Dolby Vision certified. The display is nearly the same size as the 6.9-inch screen on the Galaxy S25 Ultra, but the Galaxy is also a millimeter thicker and 20 grams heavier than the Razr.

In our Future Labs tests the Razr Ultra 2025 displayed a wider color gamut than the Galaxy S25 Ultra, and it was just as bright. Samsung still doesn’t support Dolby Vision, so if you’re a Netflix fan, that might give the Razr Ultra’s display a leg up over Samsung’s mightiest screen.

• Display score: 4/5

Motorola Razr Ultra 2025 review: Software

(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

• Useful gestures to open the camera and turn on the torch
• AI image generator can be... problematic, producing stereotypical and offensive results

First, the good: Motorola’s interface gestures are great. Twist your wrist for the camera – it's the fastest camera shortcut out there. Chop thrice for the flashlight. I use these constantly; so does every Moto fan I've met.

Now, the AI. Motorola has also partnered with Perplexity AI. Perplexity is known to have trained its AI engine by ignoring the robots.txt page on media sites, a serious violation of web ethics. This allowed Perplexity to steal content freely, even content that was behind a paywall. I’m not going to say more about Perplexity here, they don’t deserve my support. Let's move on.

Moto AI has some interesting tricks. ‘Pay Attention’ records and summarizes audio. It can record phone conversations, or it can just record you and your friends talking.

‘Catch Me Up’ summarizes notifications, though it was hit-or-miss in my testing, often ignoring texts or other key alerts.

(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

Then there’s the AI image generator. Guardrails seem optional. You can generate images of copyrighted characters and realistic-looking humans. Ask for humans, and you will likely get offensive stereotypes.

If you ask for an image of a person of any nationality or ethnicity, and you'll get a picture of what a bigot might think that person looks like. Ask for a "successful person"? Expect white dudes in suits.

• Software score: 2/5

Motorola Razr Ultra 2025 review: Cameras

(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

• Better than expected, occasionally even outshining the competition
• Great macro mode helps compensate for the lack of a dedicated zoom lens

Cameras were always the Razr's Achilles heel, but the Ultra 2025’s dual 50MP shooters are a huge step up. I was more impressed with its images than I have been with images from any previous flip phone.

AI processing clearly helps. Compared to the iPhone 16 Pro, the Razr Ultra showed less noise and better detail in distant signs, though close inspection reveals some artificial sharpening. The end result is still pleasant. These aren't the best cameras, but they're very good. You're no longer sacrificing photo quality for that cool flip.

In fact, the Razr Ultra sometimes outperformed top camera phones. Its macro mode is excellent, capturing sharper, more vibrant low-light macros than the Pixel 9 Pro. Motorola seems to have borrowed Samsung’s color tuning philosophy – photos are 'Pantone validated' to be vibrant, making my flower shots pop against dreary scenes. Photographers might prefer the iPhone's naturalism, but I liked the Razr's shareable, satisfying images.

Plenty of modes are available, including Pro and a cool camcorder mode. The Photo Booth feature, using the folded phone as a stand, is perfect. There's room for improvement, but this Razr no longer feels like a camera compromise, especially for selfies using the main 50MP camera and cover display.

• Camera score: 3/5

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(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future) Motorola Razr Ultra 2025 review: Performance

(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

• Excellent Snapdragon 8 Elite performance
• Tons of RAM helps, but occasional lag during busy moments

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite continues its reign, with the Razr Ultra 2025 delivering impressive real-world performance and benchmark results.

It's great for gaming. Call of Duty Mobile ran maxed out with my Xbox controller connected, and Vampire Survivors was smooth with tons of enemies on screen.

You can game on the cover display. Vampire Survivors and Mighty Doom were playable, but CoD was illegible.

Benchmarks put the Razr Ultra 2025 on a par with the OnePlus 13 (another Snapdragon 8 Elite, 16GB RAM phone), and slightly below the Galaxy S25 (which gets a slightly overclocked Snapdragon). You won't notice the difference.

The only lag I saw was with cloud-dependent AI features or when downloading multiple apps, where button presses sometimes became unresponsive.

• Performance score: 4/5

Motorola Razr Ultra 2025 review: Battery

(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

• Excellent all-day battery life
• Faster charging than most of the flagship competition

The Motorola Razr Ultra 2025 turned in impressive battery life. The phone had no trouble lasting all day in my weeklong review period, every day I used it.

The phone kept going whether I was using it for work, making video calls and using productivity apps, or using it for fun, taking photos and playing games on the train home. The Razr Ultra never quit before I went to bed.

In our Future Lab tests, the Razr Ultra is a top performer, lasting 18 hours and 30 minutes – just five minutes less than the Galaxy S25 Ultra, which has a larger battery. Moto's power management is clearly on point.

It also charges at 68W, faster than many rivals at this price (the Galaxy S25 Ultra is 45W). With a compatible Motorola charger, you get nearly a full charge in 30 minutes, while the Galaxy Ultra hits around 70% in the same time.

• Battery score: 5/5

Should you buy the Motorola Razr Ultra 2025?

(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future) Motorola Razr Ultra 2025 score card

Attributes

Notes

Rating

Value

The most expensive Razr, but also the first that doesn’t compromise on flagship specs, from the processor to the cameras. The Razr Ultra gives you more than other phones this expensive.

4 / 5

Design

Excellent Razr design keeps getting better, with improved durability, more unique materials and color options, and a new titanium hinge. Not to mention the cover display. Forgive the AI button, there’s still plenty to love if you ignore it.

5 / 5

Display

If the Razr Ultra only had the excellent 7-inch internal screen it would be great, but the 4-inch cover puts this phone in a class of its own. It’s the only flip phone that is truly two phones in one.

5 / 5

Software

Motorola has a clean interface and useful software editions. I especially love the added gestures. Moto AI may have some promise and I like the ‘Pay Attention’ feature, but an offensive image generator spoils the party.

2 / 5

Camera

Much better cameras than you’d expect on a flip phone, and I even liked some of the Razr Ultra’s photos better than my iPhone’s pics. It also excels at macro, which almost makes up for the lack of telescopic zoom.

3 / 5

Performance

Excellent performance from the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite inside. It’s not the fastest you can find, but it keeps up with all the best flagship phones and it plays my favorite games at their highest settings with no trouble at all.

4 / 5

Battery

Surprisingly good battery life, as good as the Galaxy Ultra even though the battery is smaller. Fast charging makes it worth splurging on a faster Moto charger – this is a phone that doesn’t want to miss the party, after all!

5 / 5

Buy it if...

You want a phone that is actually stylish
Are you tired of raw metal and phone colors that aren’t colorful? Motorola is making phones stylish again, with faux suede and real wood.

You want two devices in one, a big phone and a compact
Somehow the Moto Razr Ultra gives you one of the biggest displays on any smartphone along with one of the smallest, and both are quite capable.

You're really, really into AI and all the AI apps
AI isn’t my thing, but if you love AI, the Moto Razr puts AI tools front and center – literally, on the cover display, so you can talk to the robot without opening your phone.

Don't buy it if...

You need serious zoom cameras
If your kid plays a sport or you love bird watching, you might want that extra reach to get better photos from far away. The Razr Ultra doesn’t have it.

You want all the style but don’t need the performance
You can get a stylish flip phone for much less if you don’t care about performance or great cameras. The Razr 2025 is just over half the price of the Ultra.

Motorola Razr Ultra 2025 review: Also consider

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra
The Razr Ultra 2025 might be great, but the king of smartphone heap is the Galaxy S25 Ultra, with the fastest performance, most versatile cameras, and so many features.
Read our full Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra review

Motorola Razr 2025
You don’t sacrifice any style by choosing the less expensive Razr 2025, just the faster processor and better cameras. You still get great colors and two amazing displays.
We'll have a full review of the Razr 2025 on TechRadar soon.

Motorola Razr Ultra 2025

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra

Motorola Razr 2025

Price (at launch):

$1,299 / £1,099 / AU$TBD

$1,299 / £1,249 / AU$2,149

$699 / £799 / AU$TBD

Processor

Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite

Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy

Mediatek Dimensity 7400X

Display(s)

7-inch AMOLED / 4-inch pOLED

6.9-inch AMOLED

6.9-inch AMOLED / 3.6-inch pOLED

Cameras

50MP main / 50MP ultrawide

200MP main / 10MP 3X zoom / 50MP 5X zoom / 50MP ultrawide

50MP main / 13MP ultrawide

Charging

68W wired / 30W wireless

45W wired / 15W wireless

30W wired / 15W wireless

How I tested the Motorola Razr Ultra 2025

I used the Motorola Razr Ultra 2025 for one week. I tested the phone on AT&T’s network in the greater New York area, throughout the city and suburbs. I used the Razr Ultra as my primary work phone with all of my work accounts and apps, as well as using it as a personal phone for photos and gaming.

I tested the Razr Ultra with a Pixel Watch 3 and OnePlus Buds Pro 3. I connected the phone to my car and tested Android Auto. I connected an Xbox wireless controller for gaming.

I tested the Razr Ultra camera to the iPhone 16 Pro and Galaxy S25 Ultra. For macro photo comparisons, I compared to the Pixel 9 Pro.

Future Labs tests phones using a mix of third-party benchmark software and proprietary, real-world tests. We use Geekbench, CrossMark, JetStream, WebXPRT and Mobile XPRT, and 3DMark for performance testing. We test a phone's performance on video editing tasks using Adobe Premiere Rush. We also measure display color output and brightness.

For battery testing, we have proprietary rundown tests that are the same for every phone, which we use to determine how long it takes for the battery to run down.

Read more about how we test

Why you can trust TechRadar

☑️ 100s of smartphones reviewed
☑️ 15 years of product testing
☑️ Over 16,000 products reviewed in total
☑️ Nearly 200,000 hours testing tech

First reviewed May 2025

Imperium Hosting is a veteran-owned game server host which caters for a wide range of games. We focused on its place among the best Minecraft server hosting, but if you can think of a game with an online community, Imperium probably has a server plan for it.

For Minecraft, Imperium Hosting focuses on a range of configurable options rather than specific plan names which means a lot of variety. Besides game server hosting, Imperium also provides web hosting, VPS hosting, and dedicated servers. Potentially a good option for someone seeking the best dedicated server hosting, we’ve specifically looked at Imperium Hosting’s dedicated Minecraft server hosting options. Here’s what we found during our time with Imperium.

Plans and pricing

Unlike other game server host providers, Imperium Hosting doesn’t use dedicated names for its plans. Instead, you pick your game then configure the options you need.

For Minecraft, that means you can adjust the memory allocation between 2GB and 20GB, and the disk space between 50GB and 200GB. Additionally, there are options like a superior CPU and other add-ons as needed.

It’s great to have such flexibility but if you’re new to game server hosting, some guidance as to what plan works best for your situation would help.

All plans offer DDoS protection, global server locations, extensive customer support, and one-click mod pack installation.

Refreshingly, while Imperium Hosting offers some add-ons during sign up, like migration, everything is opt-in. As standard, you’re provided with the cheapest plan with Minecraft plans starting from $2.99 for a basic 2GB RAM/50GB disk space plan (you’ll need more RAM in most scenarios). It’s laid out well so you know what you’re getting.

The cheapest plan starts at $2.99 with the price rising to $72 for the maxed out 20GB RAM/200GB disk space/RealTime CPU plan. There’s no extra fee for any of the server location with servers based in Washington, California, Virginia, the UK, France, and Canada. Payment is accepted via PayPal or credit/debit card.

Ease of use

A screenshot of the Imperium Hosting control panel (Image credit: Imperium)

As mentioned, the sign up process on the Imperium website doesn’t involve clicking on specific plan names. Instead, you pick the memory and disk space you need along with the CPU priority you would like. It’s not as clearly laid out as other hosting options (and I never could find full details on concrete differences between the CPU options), but it does give you plenty of control.

In a similar vein, once signed up, the dashboard and control panel aren’t as clearly laid out as others either but there’s all you need once you dig around. Log in and you can dive into the MySQL manager (1 database comes as standard), or the game service manager. The latter is where you’ll be spending much of your time with clearly laid options for adding mods, checking logs, or scheduling tasks? Attractive to look at? Not in the slightest but it gets the job done.

There are many modpacks available as well as the option to switch between Spigot and Paper, or Vanilla. If you’re completely new to setting up a Minecraft server, Imperium Hosting can be a little intimidating but it’s as powerful as you need it to be.

My favorite highlight is how easy it is to add sub users as not every game server host makes that as obviously simple as this. Just go to Create a Sub User and you can easily get set up.

Speed and experience

Adding a user to your Imperium Hosting plan. (Image credit: Imperium)

Imperium Hosting has servers located around the world. These include three within the US, one in Canada, one in the UK, and one in France. When signing up, your options are a little more restricted to Western America, Eastern America, or Western Europe.

Elsewhere in the world, you may find this a little limiting but based in Western Europe, I achieved a steady ping under 40 at all times. While there could be more varied servers, the core market is covered with North America and Western Europe.

As with all Minecraft server plans, aim high if you want to install any mods. Checking out the most basic plan and installing a couple of mods soon maxed out the memory usage. That’s typical when managing any Minecraft server but bear in mind that it’s a smart move to research what you need for your plans as Imperium Hosting doesn’t provide any recommendations.

Support

When it comes to support, it’s a benefit that Imperium Hosting is fairly small. Support is friendly and well-respected by many users. There’s Live Chat, a Discord server, as well as a more typical ticketing system. There’s also a Knowledgebase which covers most queries.

A YouTube channel would round things up nicely but like a lot of the service, Imperium is all about function over form and it still works reasonably well.

Imperium doesn't provide insight into its uptime on the site so there are no statistics to compare with other hosting providers. However, in my experience using the server, there was no downtime.

Final Verdict

Imperium Hosting isn’t the prettiest or most novice friendly of game server hosts, but it deserves some attention. If you’re keen to back a smaller game server hosting service, you’ll gain a decent pricing structure and good customer service.

There’s no chance of paying for features you don’t need here as Imperium Hosting keeps it simply laid out even if it isn’t ideal for newbies. Similarly, while you won’t be regaling Minecraft buddies with tales of how good looking the control panel is, it gets the job done.

Simple yet effective in all the right ways, I’d still recommend Imperium Hosting even if it could be a little more refined in places.

Empower Servers might not be a major name in Minecraft game server hosting but it’s been around since 2018 and offers some key services.

It isn’t quite of the standard to feature among the very best Minecraft server hosting but its choice of standard or premium plans and a sliding scale all ensure it’s well suited for novices and experienced server admins alike.

We focused on our time with its Minecraft server but Empower provides hosting for many of the most popular games including Palworld and Rust. It also offers Discord bots and website hosting if you have wider plans in mind. If you’re looking for some of the best Palworld server hosting, this could be a good option for that as well as Minecraft. There are also options to rival the best Rust server hosting. Here’s how we found the dedicated Minecraft server hosting options within Empower.

Plans and pricing

Pick the game you want a server for and you’re presented with configuration options relating to that game. With Minecraft, that means a choice of tiers between standard and high performance, and the ability to adjust how much RAM you need. Predictably then, there’s a lot of flexibility here.

Once you’ve picked the basics, it’s also possible to pay extra for daily backups, a dedicated IP, plugin and mod install, and a domain registration, As standard, all the Empower plans promise 20GB of NVMe storage, a free subdomain, full mod and plugin support, no player limit, and unmetered bandwidth. Premium plans offer a dedicated IP, daily backups, and unlimited NVMe storage as part of the bundle.

Empower uses a mixture of AMD Ryzen 3900X, Intel i9-11900K, and Xeon-E 2286G CPUs. It’s not possible to pick the specific CPU your server uses if you’re keen for that level of control.

All plans have a 48 hour refund policy which is a little brief compared to the competition which typically offers 72 hours, but should still be sufficient for giving you enough time to figure out if you like how Empower does things.

Ease of use

The Empower dashboard console mid update. (Image credit: Future)

Empower Servers focuses on a simplified process when signing up which continues throughout use. Sign up is simple enough with you picking the game then working out what extras you want to pay for. It’s clearly laid out.

Once set up, the control panel is similarly obvious. It takes seconds to find the console, find plugins or modpacks to add, and all the other essentials you need.

It’s simple enough that you don’t need exactly how to set up a Minecraft server as Empower takes out most of the hard work. In particular, it’s great to see how easy it is to install extras without needing expert knowledge. You can also easily add files via the file manager so it’s not like you’re held back either if you know what you’re doing.

One neat addition is that you can easily add other admins with Empower laying out exactly what each option does via a series of tick boxes. That’s particularly useful for anyone figuring out the basics behind server hosting.

Speed and experience

The Empower dashboard showing all plugins available to install. (Image credit: Future)

Empower has servers located in eight locations. These include Canada, Germany, New Zealand, United States, Netherlands, UK, Australia, and Singapore.

While signing up, you can choose the location. I picked the UK one and had a steady ping of around 40 throughout use. Empower promises 100% network uptime.

Unusually, I did have brief downtime with my server crashing and restarting. However, I suspect that was because of a configuration issue rather than a fault on Empower’s end. I’d installed an out-of-date plugin which was causing connection issues. I think that ultimately led to the server rebooting.

It’s possible to sign up for a 2GB RAM plan but it’s not advisable. Empower suggests that such a minimal plan is only suitable for the Bedrock edition and in my experience, 4GB RAM at minimum is best for small server aims.

Once you install a few mods and plugins, less RAM can really negatively affect performance. Fortunately, Empower’s dashboard shows at a glance how your CPU and memory usage is being affected at all times.

Support

Empower offers quite a few different ways to reach out for support. At its simplest, it has an extensive knowledge base which covers a wide range of the most common issues you might come across.

When you need more assistance, there’s also a Discord for more direct help or general advice. Alternatively, there’s a live chat facility with AI assistance at first leading into human help. If it’s not too urgent, you can also email Empower.

Another option is to watch the Empower YouTube channel which offers some great tutorials on how to complete many tasks.

I found the service across the board pretty efficient and also helpful. Having so many choices means you shouldn't feel stuck with any issue or query you might have.

Final Verdict

Empower is good for everyone but its strength lies with being fairly user friendly. It doesn’t dig too deep into the details at first glance unless you want to go looking for it. Instead, it’s welcoming and ensures its control panel and dashboard make logical sense with clearly laid out terms that don’t require as much prior knowledge as you would expect.

The best option with Empower is a premium plan but you can still get good value from money from a standard plan. It all comes down to your needs. For someone looking to host a few friends, a standard plan will suffice, while those looking to create a community may wish to go for the premium plan.

Minefort is a dark horse of a game server hosting company. That’s because its initial focus is on how it provides free plans. It isn’t a perfect service which is why one of the best Minecraft server hosting providers is likely to be better suited for many needs, but for a quick hit, there’s appeal here.

Besides the free plan, there are premium options too. As the name suggests, Minefort exclusively caters for Minecraft players so others may prefer to use the best dedicated server hosting instead if you have bigger plans. Simpler than the best VPS hosting, here’s how we found Minefort for Minecraft server hosting.

Plans and pricing

Minefort offers five plans each named after a type of accommodation. The free plan is named Hut while there’s also Cottage, House, Mansion, and Fort. The free plan is only online when in use and goes into hibernation mode until you restart it. The others are all available 24/7.

There’s no insight into what CPUs are used for each server plan but you’re provided with the essentials -- RAM, max players, backup slots, and storage limits. The free plan starts things off with 10 player slots at most.

Unlike bigger hosts, Minefort doesn’t lead the way with suggestions or even with a sliding scale to adjust plans, but the basics are here. There’s also DDoS protection and support for all plans. The two priciest plans offer ‘Advanced’ and ‘Premium’ DDoS protection but again, details are pretty non-existent as to what that entails. Consider Minefort simple in both good and potentially frustrating ways for micro managers.

Ease of use

A screenshot of the Minefort control panel (Image credit: Future)

Signing up to Minefort takes mere moments. It leans heavily into its free offering so there’s no need to enter card details until you get to the upgrade screen. A clearly laid out control panel is instantly accessible. Head to appearances to get things personalized while there’s one-click plugin installation for many different mods.

It’s also possible to quickly add another admin, create backups, and connect via FTP. That goes for the free plan as well as paid servers too.

On the free plan, you'll need to remember that the server can go into hibernation mode easily when not in use. Also, while you can set up many free servers, only one can be actively online at any one time.

Still, Minefort offers much of what you need from a paid plan while never feeling like you miss out on much when pursuing the free plan too. This is a service that’s appropriate for anyone new to knowing how to set up a Minecraft server as well as more experienced admins.

Speed and experience

Minefort general server options (Image credit: Future)

Unlike other hosts, Minefort doesn’t explain where its servers are located. You can’t choose the location but a dig around confirms they’re based in Canada. That means if you’re based in Europe like me, ping can be a little higher than average. In my case, it was around 150ish which isn’t too awkward. Certainly not for something a little more forgiving (most of the time) like Minecraft.

The lack of location options feels more of an issue when paying for a plan than it does with the free plan. Your mileage will vary here as obviously, it’s good to have plenty of control when paying a lot, but less relevant on cheaper plans.

Understandably, performance similarly varies depending on what you’re paying. Scant details are provided regarding CPUs and RAM, but the basic free plan lives up to its name which means it’s best just for a few players and not too many mods. It only offers 1GB RAM which is pretty low for most Minecraft installs. Upgrade and you can change things up between 35 players right up to 200. As with other Minecraft server hosts, you get what you pay for.

For any long term plans, aim for the most premium package (or potentially something from the best premium game server hosting).

Support

Minefort has fairly limited support on the free plan with 24/7 access for paid plans. On a free plan, your main route of support is a chatbot until support is available or the knowledge base. The chatbot is reasonably helpful for basic queries while the FAQ also covers many commonly asked questions. There’s also a Discord – an increasingly popular way to solve queries fast by crowdsourcing help in some cases.

It’s not as feature rich as competitors and the lack of a YouTube channel is a missed opportunity. Still, if you know what you’re doing, you may not need support very often.

Final Verdict

Minefort’s strength is in its free offerings. It’s refreshing to find a seemingly catch-free way of enjoying a free server with a few friends. After all, you don’t even need to enter card details. That free server may not offer much power but it’s still sufficient for a quick few sessions with a couple of buddies.

Where it gets trickier to recommend is when it comes to its paid plans. The lack of location choice and the limited details about hardware won’t appeal to experienced server admins and understandably so. It’s well priced but competitors do a better job of explaining all before you commit to anything.

Because of that, Minefort is best suited for anyone who needs an inexpensive or free plan for a short period of time. Something to tide them over rather than if they have plans for a community-driven server.

There’s a place for that kind of service which is why Minefort is worth acknowledging and checking out. Just make sure to temper your expectations. If you know what you’re doing and what you need, there are better alternatives around.

This review first appeared in issue 339 of PC Pro.

AOC has built its reputation on putting together high-quality monitors for a great price, and that’s exactly what it has done here. What lifts the Q27V5CW apart from previous mainstream AOC products is that it offers USB-C docking along with HDMI and DisplayPort inputs, which is quite remarkable for the price: one obvious competitor is HP’s E27d G4, which costs almost £500.

In terms of panel quality, the AOC is definitely a match for the HP. Both offer a 2,560 x 1,440 resolution across a 27in diagonal, and with 94% coverage of the DCI-P3 gamut coupled with an average Delta E of 0.33 the Q27V5CW is a vibrant offering. If you prefer the sRGB color space then head into AOC’s (clumsy) OSD, which switches to a fixed brightness of 255cd/m2. That is a drop from the screen’s peak of 336cd/m2 but it locks you to the sRGB gamut: 95% coverage out of 96% volume with an average Delta E of 0.43. Those are exemplary figures.

Like the HP, AOC also includes a webcam. But where HP sticks at 720p, this one goes up to 1080p. Overall, I was impressed: plenty of detail and solid colors are all most people need. There are no fancy AI features, such as following you around during calls, but it does support Windows Hello logins. The dual microphones are merely fine, suffering as they do from a slight hum, but the pair of 5W speakers are just about good enough for listening to music on. Audiophiles won’t be happy with the lack of bass and detail, though.

The USB-C port delivers up to 65W of power, so not the 100W of the best docking monitors but plenty for most laptops. Connecting over USB-C not only cuts down on cable clutter but also activates the four USB-A ports tucked away at the rear. However, this is no USB-B input so you can’t share a keyboard and mouse between two connected computers.

I took advantage of the well-built stand’s pivot option to access the ports more easily, and it also offers 130mm of height adjustment and plenty of swivel and tilt. It adds up to a superb everyday screen, and while AOC doesn’t offer high refresh rates – up to 75Hz – a 4ms grey-to-grey response time means casual gamers should be satisfied. But the real prize here is the £330 asking price, which is simply amazing for a high-quality 27in USB-C docking monitor.

We've also ranked the best monitors for a dual-screen set-up.

Anker Soundcore C40i: review

Enter the Anker Soundcore C40i, another competitor in the ever-growing field of open ear headphones. Thanks to their lack of a seal, these clip-on headphones are ideal for those who want to be aware of their surroundings – such as runners or gym-goers. At the same time, the Anker Soundcore C40i still aim to deliver a strong sonic experience – something that a lot of open ear models have struggled to accomplish. So how do they fare?

Well, as you may expect, you’re not going to get stunning audio from the Anker Soundcore C40i. Like all open ear headphones, the loose design means that sound is less concentrated and there’s ambient noise to compete with from your surroundings. Yet these still perform decently in the audio department. Well, that is, after a bit of tinkering.

You see, out of the gate, I wasn’t sure if me and the Anker Soundcore C40i would be best pals. The default Soundcore Signature tuning is a little convoluted and bass packs a pretty feeble punch… well, more of a tap really. But I had no need to fear, because like many of the best open ear headphones, the C40i have custom EQ settings. I simply wandered over to the Soundcore app and refined audio by selecting 3D Surround Sound.

I was actually quite surprised that the 3D audio mode was a hit – I’ve seen no end of headphones fail on this, including rival clip-on buds like the Edifier LolliClip. Bass response is improved and you get a decently immersive listening experience – I stuck with 3D mode for much of my testing. There’s also a Bass, Volume Booster and an eight-band custom option for those who aren’t digging the 3D effects.

After getting all set up, I got straight into A Seagull & Clouds by Himiko Kikuchi, a beautiful funk-infused jazz track. The C40i performed very well for a pair of open ear headphones, with subtle percussive elements including tambourines coming through clearly, yet subtly enough to give the expressive trumpet, dancing keys and smooth bass plenty of limelight.

Moving over to Black Eye by Allie X and the pounding drum machine didn’t have the razor sharp speed that I’ve heard from more premium headphones, but its depth was replicated nicely, especially given the C40i’s open build. Higher pitched vocal segments sounded perfectly clear at medium volumes but could sound a little harsh at top levels.

Overall, I’d argue that the C40i sound above-average for a pair of open ear headphones. There’s no LDAC for ‘hi-res’ listening and you’re unlikely to be wowed by massive sub-bass, for example. But these do still offer up surprisingly good separation and impressively immersive overall sound, which is to be applauded.

There’s no noise cancelling here, as seen with some open ear headphones like the Honor Earbuds Open. And if you pair that with the C40i’s inherently leaky open design, you can expect listening sessions to be significantly interrupted if you’re in busy areas.

That could be a big win if you’re concerned about the risks of using ANC-enabled buds in traffic-heavy areas for your morning run. But if you’re instead looking to shut out the world around you, don’t worry – you can check out our guide to the best noise cancelling earbuds instead!

(Image credit: Future)

In general, there really aren’t a ton of features to play around with on the Soundcore C40i. Again, you can adjust EQ in the super easy-to-use app, which also shows devices connected with multi-point and battery life remaining for each bud and the charging case. The only other major inclusion is customizable button controls. You can assign a different function to tapping once, twice, or three times on the buds’ buttons. Options include playback control, voice assistant activation and volume adjustment.

The decision to use traditional button controls was also one that I had no issue with whatsoever. Sure, it’s not the most modern approach, but it removes the frustration I’ve experienced when accidentally triggering touch commands on rivals like the Happy Plugs Clip. These buttons also let you take or reject calls, which brings me onto mic quality. I found the C40i performed nicely, with clear speech on both calls and a voice recording. Background static was very limited and I wasn’t subjected to harsh sibilance either – no complaints here!

Outside of their button controls, I didn’t quite fall in love with the C40i’s design, though. Firstly, they’re not particularly pretty, with the Midnight model I tested having an almost muddy shade to it. The case also feels a little chunky and positioning the sync button on the underside of the case is a little odd – not that I really needed it thanks to the C40i automatically pairing to my phone via Bluetooth 5.4.

I also didn’t find these open ear headphones to be particularly comfortable. They were a little tight for me, so I rarely found myself keeping them on for longer than a couple of hours at a time. That’s something that the slightly newer, more expensive model, the Anker Soundcore AeroClip corrected with a more flexible build.

A couple more things before I stop moaning – both the C40i’s waterproofing and battery life are markedly average, with a number of competitors outperforming them. They’re just IPX4-rated, meaning they can handle some water splashes and sweat, but might not be the best with water jets or submersion. That’s not the case for a model like the IP57-rated Huawei FreeArc, which have plenty of protection against the elements. And you’re getting a moderate eight hours of playtime from the buds and maximum 21 hours with the case – again, nothing special.

The C40i still plate up impressive audio in 3D sound mode and I’m a big fan of the Soundcore companion app, so their list price of $99.99 / £99.99 / AU$149.99 is hardly outrageous. But you can do better. Specifically, the newer Anker Soundcore AeroClip are a more rounded, comfortable pick and only cost a touch more. And if you’re on a tighter budget, you can grab an excellent budget alternative like the Huawei FreeArc, which I’ve spotted on sale for less than £80 fairly regularly – but more on these below.

Anker Soundcore C40i review: specs

Waterproof rating

IPX4

Battery life

7 hours (earbuds); 21 hours (with charging case)

Bluetooth type

Bluetooth 5.4

Weight

5.8g (per bud); 40g (charging case)

Frequency range

20Hz-20kHz

(Image credit: Future) Anker Soundcore C40i review: price and availability

• $99.99 / £99.99 / AU$149.99
• Launched in October 2024

The clip-styled Anker Soundcore C40i released in October 2024 alongside a more traditional open ear model, the Anker Soundcore Aerofit 2. You can grab this model in three colorways: Desert Bronze; Midnight (black); or my personal favorite, Champagne Mist, which is a see-through variant, similar to the Sony WF-C710.

The C40i launched with a list price of $99.99 / £99.99 / AU$149.99, which is in the budget-to-midrange category. It’s worth noting that this model is significantly pricier than its predecessor, the Anker Soundcore C30i, which are typically $69.99 / £59.99 / AU$99.99. On the other hand, you’ll have to shell out $129.99 / £129.99 (about AU$210) for the more recent (and superior) Anker Soundcore AeroClip.

(Image credit: Future) Should you buy the Anker Soundcore C40i?

Attributes

Notes

Rating

Features

Solid mic quality, effective 3D sound mode, battery life just OK, no ANC.

3.5/5

Sound quality

Need some tuning, but offer solid bass output and clear audio for open ears.

4/5

Design

Not the most comfortable, average waterproofing, nice button controls.

3/5

Value

Fairly priced but you can do better in a similar price range.

3.5/5

Buy them if...

You’re on a budget
With a sub-$100 / £100 list price, the Anker Soundcore C40i are far from the most expensive open ear headphones on the market. They’re a bit less than the newer AeroClip model, making them a solid budget alternative.

You’re not into touch controls
If you don’t want fiddly touch controls then you’re in luck, because the C40i stick with good ‘ol buttons. You can customize the button controls in the Soundcore app too, allowing you to assign a different function to one, two, or three button presses.

Don't buy them if...

You’re an audiophile
These sound above average for a pair of open ear headphones, but still, you’re not going to get that rich, detailed and separated sound that a pair of the best wired earbuds can offer, for example.

You’re looking for ANC
Like a lot of open ear headphones, you won’t get ANC out of the Anker Soundcore C40i. Combine that with their open design and you’re going to find that a lot of ambient noise will flow in.

Anker Soundcore C40i review: also consider

Anker Soundcore C40i

Edifier LolliClip

Huawei FreeArc

Price

$99.99 / £99.99 / AU$149.99

$129.99 (about £100 / AU$210)

£99.99 (about $130 / AU$200)

Waterproof rating

IPX4

IP56

IP57

Battery life

7 hours (earbuds); 21 hours (with charging case)

9 hours (earbuds); 39 hours (with charging case)

7 hours (earbuds), 28 hours (with charging case)

Bluetooth type

Bluetooth 5.4

Bluetooth 5.4

Bluetooth 5.2

Weight

5.8g (per bud); 40g (charging case)

7g (per bud); 46g (charging case)

8.9g (per bud); 67g (charging case)

Frequency range

20Hz-20kHz

20Hz-40kHz

Not stated

Edifier LolliClip
OK, so at the time of writing, this model is only available to those of you in the US, although I got to test them out myself on the other side of the pond. These are a great pair of open ear headphones that have plenty of features – including ANC, heart rate monitoring and blood oxygen tracking. They also supply strong sound quality, a neat design and high comfortability. Sure, their companion app isn’t as sleek as the Soundcore one and EQ options are a bit limited, but they’re still an option that’s well-worth your consideration. Read our full Edifier LolliClip review.

Huawei FreeArc
Conversely, the Huawei FreeArc are an alternate option for UK customers who want a truly excellent open ear experience. We love these buds for their “top-tier sound”, natural fit and competitive price. That’s right, these can also be yours for less than £100 (about $130 / AU$200). Like the C40i, there’s no ANC and battery life won’t blow you away. But still, these are a great value option in a red-hot market. Read our full Huawei FreeArc review.

Anker Soundcore C40i review: How I tested

(Image credit: Future)

• Tested during a one-week period
• Used in the office and while out in public
• Predominantly tested using Tidal

I tested the Anker Soundcore C40i across the course of a week, predominantly when working at Future Labs, but also when out and about. I played around with their full set of features, tuned in for casual and critical listening and assessed their quality across all EQ presets.

When listening to music, I made use of Tidal on my Samsung Galaxy S24 FE. As always, I ran through the TechRadar testing playlist, which includes tracks from a variety of genres and is optimized for assessing sound quality across the frequencies. I also blasted a ton of tunes from my personal music library and compared audio capabilities against the Soundcore AeroClip on ear headphones.

• First reviewed: May 2025
• Read more about how we test

Tozo S6: Two minute review

The Tozo 6 is unlikely to make it into our guide to the best smartwatches, but it's certainly good value for money, comparable with some of the best cheap fitness trackers. What you get for the $79.99 / £54 / around AU$111 price tag is pretty impressive, although you’ll be purchasing it knowing its limited feature set. Despite being relatively feature-rich, there are a lot of limitations. We’ll get into those alongside what’s good and commendable about this budget-friendly option below.

The Tozo S6 looks almost identical to the Apple Watch SE, a cheap dupe. I appreciate it can be difficult to make smartwatches stand out from each other, but if you put these two smartwatches next to each other, you’d be amazed at how similar they are. It’s not even just the shape, but also the location of the crown and secondary button, as well as the strap's style.

The Tozo S6 plastic case boasts a smooth curved bezel from back to front, culminating in a sizable 1.82-inch AMOLED display. Tozo has done a superb job of engineering a screen that is both clear and bright, especially for the price. Colors are generally replicated accurately, with a slight tendency towards being too vibrant. Customizable watch faces are an expected, but welcome addition.

On the right-hand side, you’ll find a rotating crown above a secondary button. The crown performs nicely with sufficient resistance and satisfying ‘feedback’ to enable predictable and controlled scrolling. The secondary button protrudes from the case and is easy to locate without looking.

The silicone strap took a while to install due to some rather fiddly pins but once in place, it was pretty comfortable. Once tightened, the rest of the strap folds up underneath so it’s not flapping around. At first, I thought this would be unbearably uncomfortable but in reality, it caused no discomfort at all.

(Image credit: Future)

Moving on from the design and onto the features, we find a smartwatch that covers all the expected bases when it comes to smartwatches, health trackers, and fitness trackers.

The Tozo S6 provides the ability to track metrics, including heart rate monitoring and blood oxygen levels. Unfortunately, the watch is slow to generate results, with a heart rate measurement taking upwards of 30 seconds. This is noticeably slow compared to other smartwatches, including the Huawei Watch GT5, which takes between 10 and 15 seconds. Having to wait for metrics is one of the downsides of paying so little for the watch.

Exercise activities can be tracked using one of 10 sports modes, although more can be added by using the app, which is a slightly odd system. Your desired sports mode can be located by swiping up and down through the list, although the scrolling experience is far from smooth and reliable. However, once in, the interface is actually quite nice; stats during runs and cycles, such as time elapsed, calories burned and distance traveled are prominently displayed, enabling them to be easily seen even during intense exercise or adverse weather conditions.

The accuracy of metrics collected during my test cycles is comparable with other smartwatches that I’d worn while cycling the same routes. These include the recently-tested Huawei GT5 and Suunto Race S, which are both at the more premium end of the market. Recorded activities are nicely displayed in the Tozo app.

I liked how these were organized and presented in a calendar format, with each one showing a set of key stats and presented in easy-to-digest graphs. For such a cheap smartwatch, the Tozo app is actually comparable with anything you’d find from Huawei or Samsung.

Smartwatch features include receiving notifications and reminders. These are delivered reliably and instantly, as long as the device is connected through the app. I did find the device dropping connection more often than I would have liked, but thankfully the pairing process is both quick and easy. For the price, I was impressed that Bluetooth calling was available, although you have to add contacts into the Tozo app first. Audio quality could be improved, but what are we really expecting for one of the most budget smartwatches around?

The watch is advertised as lasting around 15 days on a single charge, although I barely managed 10 days during my ‘only check the time and notifications’ testing period. With activity tracking and health monitoring performed each day, the battery life dropped nearer to 5 days.

Tozo S6: Specifications

Price:

$79.99 US / £54 UK

Dimensions:

44.5*38.5*10.8 mm

Weight:

39.5g

Case/Bezel:

PC+ABS

Display:

1.85-inch AMOLED 390x450 ppi

GPS:

None

Battery life:

Up to 15-days battery life

Connection:

Bluetooth

Water resistance:

1 ATM

Tozo S6: Price and availability

• $79.99 US / £54 UK
• One size only

The Tozo S6 is only available in one size and one color (black). It retails at an unbelievably low $79.99 US / £54 UK. Shipping takes between three and seven days. Every purchase includes a 30-day money-back guarantee, a one-year hassle-free warranty, and lifetime customer support.

Tozo S6: Scorecard

Category

Comment

Score

Value

For $79.99 / £54, you'd be hard pressed to get anything better.

4.5/5

Design

An Apple Watch-style design but without the class. The 1.85-inch AMOLED screen is a redeeming quality.

3.5/5

Features

With only relatively basic and limited health and exercise tracking, the Tozo S6 doesn’t score too highly.

3.5/5

Performance

Given the cost, the performance is quite impressive. But compared to more expensive alternatives, it really lacks features and accuracy.

3.5/5

Total

A basic smartwatch with the budget price to match

3.5/5

Tozo S6: Should I buy?

(Image credit: Future) Buy if it...

You want a cheap smartwatch
At $79.99 / £54, there aren’t many cheaper options. It’s incredible that you’ll still benefit from a range of tracking for health and exercise.

You want a crisp and clear display
The 1.85-inch AMOLED Ultra-Clear screen looks fantastic.

You are only a casual tracker of exercise
The limited tracking options are good for generalists but not for tracking specific sports.

Don't buy it if...

You like a premium smartwatch
At $79.99 / £54, almost everything about the Tozo S6 is cheap. It also looks cheap and if that’s not what you want, then I’d steer clear.

You want good fitness tracking
For better tracking of your exercise and fitness, you’d be better off investing in one of the budget Fitbit watches.

Also consider

Amazfit Active 2

A gold standard for cheaper smartwatches.

Read our full Amazfit Active 2 review

Garmin Forerunner 165

A more expensive watch, but a better outdoor companion.

Read our full Garmin Forerunner 165 reviewView Deal

How I tested

I wore the Tozo S6 for over a month, during which time I tracked a range of activities, including walking, cycling, and running. I also tested every single health-tracking feature that the smartwatch offers. I paired the watch with my iPhone although there’s also a Tozo Android app.

First reviewed: May 2025

DJI Mavic 4 Pro: one-minute review

I’ve flown and reviewed every DJI drone from the past 10-plus years, and I’m blown away on an almost yearly basis; and that's the case once again with the DJI Mavic Pro 4, which sets a new benchmark for what’s possible with consumer and prosumer UAVs. The Mavic 4 Pro is, without a doubt, one of the best DJI drones you can buy.

The responsiveness of the controls and speed and smoothness of flight remind me more of the DJI Inspire 3 than the Mavic 3 Pro. Let’s not get carried away though; the Inspire 3 and Mavic 4 Pro are different in many ways, and the Mavic 4 Pro takes prosumer drones to a whole new level.

(Image credit: James Abbott)

And this is all before we consider the three impressive cameras with true vertical shooting. That’s right – the gimbal rotates 90 degrees, which is a first for a drone with more than a single small camera and sensor, let alone one with a Four Thirds camera.

The Mavic Pro 4 camera offering is headed by a 28mm 4/3 camera with up to a 100MP resolution and an adjustable f/2-f/11 aperture. This is complemented by a 70mm camera with a 48MP 1/1.3-inch sensor, and a 168mm camera with a 50MP 1/1.5-inch sensor. Video is available up to 6K 60fps with the main camera, and up to 4K 120fps with the two telephotos.

DJI Mavic 4 Pro: release date and price

• Released on 13 May 2025
• Three kit options
• Prices start at $TBC / £1,879 / AU$3,099

The DJI Mavic 4 Pro was announced and released on 13 May 2025, and is available directly from DJI and authorized retailers. There are three kits, starting with the DJI Mavic 4 Pro (DJI RC 2), which costs £1,879 / AU$3,099; as mentioned, DJI has yet to confirm when or if the Mavic 4 Pro will be available in the US. This kit includes the Mavic 4 Pro, RC 2 smart controller, 64GB of internal storage, an Intelligent Flight Battery and accessories.

The DJI Mavic 4 Pro Fly More Combo costs £2,459 / AU$4,039. This includes all of the above plus two additional Intelligent Flight batteries, a DJI 100W USB-C Power Adapter, a Battery Charging Hub and a shoulder bag. In my opinion, this kit offers exceptional value for money.

The third and most high-end kit option is the DJI Mavic 4 Pro 512GB Creator Combo. This costs £3,209 / AU$5,359, and includes everything in the standard kit plus 512GB of internal storage, a 240W power adapter, two additional Intelligent Flight batteries, a Parallel Battery Charging Hub, a USB-C to USB-C High-Speed Data Cable and a Shoulder bag.

(Image credit: James Abbott) DJI Mavic 4 Pro: specs Specs

Camera

28mm 100MP 4/3 sensor / 70mm 48MP 1/1.3-inch sensor / 168mm 50MP 1/1.5-inch sensor

Video resolution

Up to 6K

Frame rates

6K up to 60fps / 4K up to 120fps / FHD up to 60fps / Vertical 4/3 up to 4K 60fps, Tele 2.7K up to 60fps

Video transmission range

18.6 miles (FCC) / 9.32 miles (CE, SRRC, MIC)

Flight modes

Sport, Normal, Cine

Battery

6654mAh / up to 51 minutes flight time

Charger type

USB-C / charging hub

Weight

2.34lbs / 1063g

Dimensions

10.14 x 4.91 x 4.07 inches / 257.6 x 124.8 x 103.4mm folded / 12.94 x 15.37 x 5.32 inches / 328.7 x 390.5 x 135.2mm unfolded

DJI Mavic 4 Pro: design and handling

• Excellent design and build quality
• Impressive gimbal
• Great new controller

The DJI Mavic 4 Pro features the folding design we’ve become accustomed to, but the drone is slightly larger than the Mavic 3 Pro, with larger propellers. As a result, the Mavic 4 Pro is also slightly heavier than its predecessor at 2.34lbs / 1063g. In use, you don’t notice this, but the increase in speed, power, and maneuverability are noticeable.

The most obvious difference between this drone and the Mavic 3 Pro is the new camera and gimbal design. We get three cameras as before, but the camera housing is more spherical, with a more robust gimbal that supports upright shooting, with vertical movement of the camera available between -90 and 70 degrees.

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(Image credit: James Abbott)

This opens up new creative possibilities, and during testing I was able to capture the northern lights by flying at a low altitude and tilting the camera up to capture more of the night sky. Further enhancing creative convenience, the drone switches on automatically when you unfold the propeller arms, while the controller switches on when you raise the screen to reveal the controls beneath. The controller goes into sleep mode when closed, unless you switch it off first.

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(Image credit: James Abbott)

The new DJI RC 2 smart controller features a completely new design with an impressive 2000-nit 7-inch high-bright Mini-LED display. This can be rotated 90 degrees when shooting in portrait format to give you a full-screen camera view.

There’s also a new adjustment dial that makes changing camera settings easy, an HDMI port for video-out, up to four hours of battery life, and 128GB of built-in storage, while audio can be recorded with the built-in mic or when paired with a DJI Mic.

The screen also covers the control sticks when closed to make the controller more compact for transport and storage. Since the controller runs Android, you can view a standard Android interface that supports third-party apps.

This wasn’t tested because I didn’t have any relevant APK files to install and the Google Play Store isn’t installed on the controller. The Firefox web browser is, however, installed, so this would provide one way to install apps.

DJI Mavic 4 Pro: features and performance

• Fast and positive flight
• Excellent Return to Home
• Advanced subject tracking

The Mavic 4 Pro's responsive controls and speed and smoothness of flight remind me of the Inspire 3. It’s not as powerful, of course, but flight performance overall is noticeably improved compared to the Mavic 3 Pro. Flight is incredibly smooth and positive, with a top speed of 60.4mph in Sport mode and 40.3mph when tracking moving subjects. Wind resistance is 26.8mph. You also get all the usual features including Quickshots, timelapse, burst shooting, exposure bracketing and free panorama.

Subject tracking is great, and tracking cars works well, with the Mavic 4 Pro maintaining tracking even when the target vehicle is partially obscured by trees, as claimed by DJI. During testing, I tried to position the drone in front of, directly above, and to the side of the car, as well as the standard behind. Above and behind worked well, but when I tried the other two orientations the drone reverted to behind automatically, so although highly effective, the Mavic 4 Pro isn't as versatile as the DJI Flip or Neo for general tracking. The drone also allows adjustment of the gimbal and flight parameters during tracking.

The Mavic 4 Pro features DJI's 0.1-Lux Nightscape Omnidirectional Obstacle Sensing system, comprising six low-light fisheye sensors, a forward-facing LiDAR on the right propeller arm, and an infrared sensor at the bottom of the aircraft. When flying in highly complex environments the obstacle avoidance worked well in both daylight and at dusk, with Brake and Bypass options available alongside off. Sometimes, the latter is essential for smooth flight but is naturally high-risk. The drone is also backed up by DJI O4+ with up to 18.6 miles and 10-bit HDR Video Transmission.

Car tracking with the DJI Mavic 4 Pro

Adding to the safety credentials, Return to Home has seen some impressive improvements, including the ability to take off and Return to Home without a GPS signal. This is achieved using real-time vision positioning and map construction technologies, with the drone capturing flight paths when light levels allow.

Then there’s Dynamic Home Point, where the Home Point is set by the controller location rather than the take-off point. This is useful when tracking vehicles if you’re in the vehicle, but if doing so you should always maintain visual line of sight (VLOS) of the drone.

The Mavic 4 Pro can transfer files to your computer without being switched on when connected via USB-C, and it can also transfer files to the DJI Fly app when switched off using off-state quick transfer. I’ve never found phone transfer functionality useful myself, but many people do, and it allows you to view and download files to the DJI Fly app on your phone using WiFi 6, which could be useful for sharing photos and videos quickly to social media and clients.

Flight times per battery are claimed to be up to 51 minutes, and during testing my flight times were typically around 37 minutes, with the drone offering Return to Home at 15% battery. Also, during one test flight, an airplane flew around my flight area at an altitude of roughly 660ft / 200m, and the controller alerted me to the aircraft being close. This is impressive, although I had seen the plane 30 seconds before the alert was displayed on the controller.

DJI Mavic 4 Pro: image and video quality

• Three impressive cameras
• Up to 6K 60fps and 4K 120fps video
• Up to 100MP photos in raw and JPEG

(Image credit: James Abbott)

The cameras on the DJI Mavic Pro 4, along with the innovative gimbal, are impressive, and each offers excellent image quality alongside some impressive features. There is some fall-off in sharpness towards the edges of the frame when shooting photos, and the higher-resolution images aren’t as sharp as those taken at lower-resolution settings, while video doesn’t suffer from the fall-off in sharpness.

All three cameras feature Dual Native ISO Fusion, a feature seen in previous DJI drones to reduce noise in photos and videos. A photo of the northern lights shot with the main camera at 100MP was quite noisy but still useable, although in theory 25MP should have been more effective. The short duration of the phenomenon didn’t allow for a lower-resolution example to be captured, unfortunately.

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The main Hasselblad camera features a 28mm equivalent focal length and an adjustable f/2-f/11 aperture. F/2 is a hugely welcome upgrade over the Mavic 3 models, which have a maximum f/2.8 aperture. The new Four Thirds sensor can be set to capture at 100MP or 25MP. The 70mm equivalent camera features a 48MP / 12MP 1/1.3-inch sensor, while the 168mm equivalent camera uses a new 50MP / 12.5MP 1/1.5-inch sensor. Both of these telephoto cameras have a fixed f/2.8 aperture. Photos can be captured in raw and JPEG formats.

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Shot with the 168mm camera (Image credit: James Abbott) DJI Mavic 4 Pro 4K 30fps video

The main Hasselblad camera can capture up to 6K 60fps video, while the 70mm can capture up to 4K at 120fps and the 168mm up to 4K at 100fps. Cropped vertical video is also available with all three cameras, with the main camera offering up to 4K 60fps, and the telephoto cameras able to capture up to 2.7K up to 60fps. You can also rotate the camera to portrait orientation to capture video.

During testing rotating the camera allowed me to capture 6K vertical video with the main camera and 2.7K with the 70mm camera. Sometimes, this caused the drone to fly slowly, which may be a quirk of the pre-release firmware because it wasn’t consistent.

Video color profiles include Normal for straight-out-of-the-camera use, D-Log, D-Log M and HLG (HDR). Shooting HDR, the 28mm can capture up to 16 stops of dynamic range, the 70mm up to 14 stops, and the 168mm up to 13 stops. The 512GB Creator version of the Mavic 4 Pro can also capture video in the ALL-I 4:2:2 codec. Overall, you've got plenty of options for a variety of workflows and requirements.

DJI Mavic 4 Pro: testing scorecard DJI Mavic 4 Pro

Attributes

Notes

Rating

Price

A surprisingly inexpensive Fly More Combo.

5/5

Design

New design for aerodynamics with an innovative new gimbal.

5/5

Performance

Flight is fast and smooth while features perform well.

5/5

Image and video quality

Excellent image quality from the three cameras with upgrades to the main Hasselblad camera.

5/5

Should I buy the DJI Mavic 4 Pro? Buy it if...

You require speed and power
The Mavic 4 Pro is a fast and powerful drone with excellent flight performance that allows the drone to be flown in winds of up to 26.8mph.

You need three cameras
With impressive 28mm, 70mm and 168mm equivalent cameras capable of capturing a variety of photo and video formats, you have many creative possibilities available to you

You capture professional aerial video
If you use a drone for professional video capture, the Mavic 4 Pro can capture D-Log, D-Log M and HLG (HDR). The 512GB Creator version can also capture video in the ALL-I 4:2:2 codec.

Don't buy it if...

You’d like a less restricted drone
If you’d prefer an easier-to-carry, more regulations-friendly DJI drone, the DJI Mini 4 Pro is the best sub-250g drone money can buy.

You'd like a less expensive dual-camera drone
The DJI Air 3S offers dual cameras and is smaller and lighter than the Mavic 4 Pro. What’s more, the smart controller kit is considerably less expensive.

You’d like to capture a first-person view
If you'd like to capture immersive FPV video, the DJI Avata 2 is a beginner and expert-friendly FPV drone that offers excellent video quality. Photos, however, are extremely limited with this drone.

DJI Mavic 4 Pro: also consider DJI Air 3S

The DJI Air 3S is similar to the Mavic 4 Pro in several ways, but comes in at a more affordable price for consumers. Not only is it smaller and lighter, it also features dual 24mm and 70mm cameras. This is the logical drone for you if you don't need the Mavic 4 Pro's 168mm camera.

Read our in-depth DJI Air 3S review

How I tested the DJI Mavic 4 Pro

• All features and functions tested
• All three cameras tested for photo and video capture
• Tested in different conditions

I tested the DJI Mavic Pro 4 over several weeks, testing all of its features to assess their effectiveness in real-world situations. I also captured a variety of photos and videos to test the quality of the three cameras.

Photos and videos were captured in a range of conditions including overcast, sunny, and windy to see how well the drone performed in these situations.

First reviewed May 2025

This review first appeared in issue 340 of PC Pro.

HP’s acquisition of Poly in August 2022 gives it a strong presence in the hybrid working market with access to a fine range of VC products. Poly retains its name for now, and the Studio R30 on review aims to offer SMBs an affordable all-in-one solution for small conference spaces.

At first glance, the R30 looks very similar to Poly’s P15 video bar, but its chassis is slightly larger, the central 4K UHD camera has a much wider diagonal 120° field of view (FoV) and its digital zoom steps up from 4x to 5x. Internally, things remain the same: it has an 8W internal speaker, while a triple-microphone beamforming array provides speaker tracking and automatic framing.

The Studio R30 employs Poly’s NoiseBlockAI and Acoustic Fence technologies to identify and remove annoying background noises such as keyboard heavy hitters. It goes a step further as Poly’s new DirectorAI feature ensures no meeting participant feels left out by providing automated group, people and speaker framing, along with presenter tracking.

The central 4K UHD camera has a wide 120° field of view (Image credit: Future)

Rear-mounted ports include an external PSU connector and a USB Type-C port for host connection, with the kit including a generous five-meter cable. Two USB Type-A ports allow the R30 to function as a USB hub but, unlike the P15’s mechanical privacy shutter on its lens, the R30 gets only a cheap rubber cap.

Installation is swift. We connected the R30 to a Windows 10 PC and watched it load the camera and audio device drivers in a few seconds. You’ll want to add Poly’s free Lens Desktop app as this provides a firmware upgrade tool along with local access for manually adjusting audio and video functions and selecting a framing mode.

Using the app to link up with our Lens cloud account, we could remotely manage the R30, change its settings from the portal and use the inventory service to see its physical location. Use the app to connect the R30 to a wireless network and it will link up with a remote Poly provisioning server for pushing custom settings to it.

Rear ports include a USB-C, two USB-A and an external PSU connector (Image credit: Future)

During meetings, we found Poly’s tracking and framing features worked very well, with the camera snapping to the current speaker, zooming back out when they stopped talking and moving effortlessly to other speakers. In presenter mode, the R30 easily kept track of us as we moved around our meeting room while we spoke, with shift delays of around two to three seconds.

The speaker delivers a clean soundscape, and in our 24m2 room we found a volume level of 75% was sufficient to cover all areas. The integral mics also impressed, with remote meeting participants saying they could hear us clearly at distances of up to three meters.

In a direct comparison with the lab’s Studio P15, we found the R30’s wider FoV clearly provides greater horizontal coverage. It didn’t suffer from the P15’s slightly soft focus and presented a sharper, cleaner picture with a more natural color balance, while its backlight compensation coped better with bright sunlight.

Video quality is good and the Poly Lens service enables remote management (Image credit: Future)

The camera’s digital pan, tilt and zoom (PTZ) functions can be manually controlled from the Lens app but only when auto-tracking is disabled. Although currently in a preview testing phase, you can also select a conversation mode to display two speakers in a split screen, while people framing shows all participants using up to six split screens.

Poly’s Studio R30 offers SMBs an affordable and easy-to-use 4K videoconferencing solution. Video and audio quality are very good and its clever people-tracking and framing features add that all-important professional touch to your meetings.

We've also rated the best webinar software.

This review first appeared in issue 340 of PC Pro.

MSI describes the Summit MS321UP as a business and productivity monitor, as opposed to its huge range of gaming screens and a handful of creative displays. With a peak 60Hz refresh rate it’s obvious that gamers won’t be applying, but MSI still hopes to lure designers here as it includes a monitor hood in the box.

Print designers can’t expect miracles at this price. There is an Adobe RGB mode, but with this selected it covers only 79% of that color space; a huge distance behind the 95% you can expect of an Eizo ColorEdge monitor. But, and it’s a big but, even the 27in ColorEdge CG279X costs twice as much, while the 32in and 4K ColorEdge CG319X retails for almost £4,000. Two more pitfalls for print designers: its color accuracy isn’t great, with an average Delta E of 1.97, and there’s no Pantone certification.

There’s far more for digital creatives and photographers to cheer, as coverage of the DCI-P3 space is 92% if you switch to the Display P3 profile, while color accuracy improves with an average Delta E of 0.88. You may also want to take advantage of the Design Assistance tools. Alongside print-focused aids such as guides for business cards, A4 and more (these guides appear as rectangular overlays on the screen, so you just slot your artwork within the lines), there’s a bunch of rulers and grids, including a rule-of-thirds grid.

In general, though, I found myself sticking to the sRGB gamut as it locks so well to the 6500K color temperature – I measured 6501K, which is essentially perfect for whites – while again scoring 0.88 for color accuracy. And while a 4K resolution may seem overkill when working in typical business tools such as Word and Excel, you grow to enjoy the sheer crispness of the words and numbers on screen.

A monitor hood is just one of this flexible display’s many attractions (Image credit: Future)

The panel pushes up to 468cd/m2, which is retina-burning high for daily use, and, as its HDR600 certification illustrates, it can push right up to 600cd/m2 in localized areas. I preferred to keep it at around 375cd/m2 (70 in the controls), but this consumes 47W of power. If you’re trying to control your energy outgoings then you can manually drop this yourself or switch to the Eco mode, where brightness dropped to 175cd/m2 – which is still fine in a typical office – and power consumption to 33W. You can also activate auto brightness control, but I found that distracting.

As you can tell from all these options, it’s worth investigating the OSD menu. Tucked away at the bottom of the profile choices are three calibration profiles for your own use, for example, and if you select the User profile a sophisticated array of tools for controlling color temperature, saturation and hue become available. But these are probably overkill for most users, unless they want to fine-tune the color calibration themselves.

You don’t need to head into the main menu to switch between profiles, as pushing the joystick upwards flicks between them. Pushing down activates the Design Assistance tools, while heading right gives you the option of choosing the display input: there are two HDMI ports, one DisplayPort and the increasingly crucial USB-C port.

Connections include two HDMI ports, a DisplayPort and a USB-C port (Image credit: Future)

It’s disappointing that this only delivers 15W of power, so it will trickle-charge laptops at best, but that isn’t such a problem if a laptop will stay connected most of a working day. And because there’s a KVM built into the monitor, if you connect a second PC or laptop (via the monitor’s USB-B input as well as the video input) then you can share a mouse and keyboard between them. Pressing left on the joystick allows you to switch inputs, or you can keep it as automatic – or you can use the Picture-in-Picture (PIP) and Picture-by-Picture (PBP) features.

You can also share any device connected via the three USB-A ports, with one port tucked awkwardly at the rear and the other two on the left-hand side. There are mic and headphone jacks here, too – note the lack of built-in speakers – along with a full-size SD card slot.

I ended up being grateful for the proximity of those ports, as this 9.7kg hunk of a monitor isn’t easy to move. There’s 35° of swivel to the left and right, and a more than adequate 100mm of height adjustment, but with a 32in panel such as this you’d need an even heftier stand to support 90° pivots into portrait mode.

Despite this lack of physical flexibility, this monitor fully deserves to be described as versatile. The ease with which you can switch between color profiles, along with the shedload of features, mean it can fit into almost any workflow. And at £700, with a five-year warranty, it’s great value.

We've rated the best monitors for a dual screen setup.

This review first appeared in issue 340 of PC Pro.

We are entering another exciting phase for PC processors, particularly if you’re a content creator. While the mid-range pendulum swung back to Intel in our workstations Labs, AMD’s Ryzen 7000 series promises huge potential for content creation. Here, I put it through its paces in Armari’s Magnetar M16R7-1300G3.

Armari has, of course, opted for the top Ryzen 9 7950X for its system. Unlike the Intel Core i9-12900K chips that proved so popular in the Labs, the Ryzen 9 has 16 full-speed cores rather than eight, alongside eight low-power ones. And the 7950X provides a base clock of 4.5GHz across all its cores, with an incredible maximum Boost frequency of 5.7GHz, so it should hurtle through any task with a multithreaded bias.

The Ryzen 7000 series is AMD’s first to support DDR5, with Armari providing a generous 64GB complement of 5,600MHz Corsair Vengeance Black DDR5 as two 32GB DIMMs. This runs at 4,800MHz on the system, but enables the processor’s dual-channel memory capability. It also leaves two DIMM slots free on the Asus X670E ProArt-Creator WiFi motherboard, to make an upgrade to 128GB possible – but this will drop the DIMM operating speed to 3,600MHz.

One area where AMD hasn’t had the upper hand for some years is professional graphics. Nevertheless, Armari sticks with AMD here, via a Radeon Pro W6800 graphics card that sports a hefty 3,840 Stream processors and 32GB of GDDR6 frame buffer. The latter operates at 512GB/sec, a little behind Nvidia’s latest and greatest, but there’s no shortage of connectivity, with six mini DisplayPort 1.4 connectors enabling up to two 8K displays or six 5K ones.

Armari hasn’t gone to town with storage, unlike the £16,000 Scan 3XS GWP-ME A1128T. Just a single drive is included, but it’s a potent one. The 2TB WD SN850 Gen4 M.2 SSD SN850 delivered a sustained reading throughput of 7,050MB/sec in CrystalDiskMark 8, with writing at 5,248MB/sec, making this the fastest single NVMe drive we’ve tested.

Armari’s latest workstation is a powerful beast (Image credit: Future)

If you need secondary storage for large media files, the chassis includes four 3.5in/2.5in easy swap backplanes and drive sleds, which you can switch out when the system is powered down and the side panel off. The case is one of Armari’s secrets, as the firm custom-designs its own. The Magnetar M60 Gen3 chassis has loads of cooling, including a side mount for the CPU liquid system, replete with a trio of 120mm fans.

Despite all this, the Magnetar isn’t a power hog. It consumes 90W when idle, pushing up to 370W when rendering a scene in Blender using both the CPU and GPU. If you run the CPU, GPU and memory all at maximum it consumes 530W, which still isn’t terrible considering how much processing power you’re getting in return. And since Armari has included a hefty 1,300W power supply, you can be confident the system will stay stable even under maximum load.

You may want to make full use of that maximum load, too, because this workstation has outrageous power. The Magnetar was a stunningly quick system in every CPU-related test I threw at it. The score of 773 in the PC Pro benchmarks would have beaten every system in the most recent Labs, and even surpasses the excellent Scan 3XS GWP-ME A1128T with its 64-core Threadripper processor.

Underlining the CPU’s potency is a Cinebench R23 multicore result of 37,170, which trounces a pair of 24-core Intel Xeon Gold processors and would even beat a 32-core AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2990WX. The single-core result of 2,093 is on a par with that of the Intel Core i9-13900K in the Scan Vengeance 3XS – except the Ryzen 9 7950X has 16 cores capable of this speed, where the Intel chip only has eight. To further underline the AMD chip’s power, the Blender Gooseberry render only took 293 seconds using the CPU.

The single area of weakness is the graphics acceleration, but only relatively. With 3D modelling and animation, using SPECviewperf 2020 the AMD Radeon Pro W6800 achieved 174 in 3dsmax-07 and 456 in maya-06, which are great results, but Nvidia’s Quadro A4500 will surpass the latter. With CAD/CAM, the scores were 99 in catia-06, 133 in creo-03, 431 in snx-04 and 259 in solidworks-05. All good results, but again the A4500 holds the advantage here.

Nevertheless, the Magnetar is an unquestionably capable workstation that can slice through every kind of content creation task, be it modelling and design or rendering the results out to a file. Armari has delivered the AMD platform in its habitual efficient, solid build. The price is high, but the amount of power you get from this 16-core processor workstation is phenomenal.

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