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Questyle's tiny wireless DAC is the Bluetooth audio upgrade your phone so desperately needs

TechRadar Reviews - Mon, 09/22/2025 - 15:30

Questyle QCC Dongle Pro: Two-minute review

You may not realise it, but your phone and your wireless headphones don’t always agree on how good your music should sound. It’s a question of compatibility, and it can be a thorny issue.

Bluetooth audio codecs are the invisible lines of code that translate your music (whether streamed from a subscription service or stored locally on your phone) into something that can be transmitted wirelessly to your headphones, earbuds, or portable speakers.

All Bluetooth products support SBC, a codec that provides basic 'vanilla' audio quality, but when it comes to high-quality advanced codecs, like LDAC and aptX Adaptive (which preserve far more of your music’s detail), it’s the wild west out there. Some Android handsets support both. Some just support one. iPhones (in fact, all Apple devices) support neither. Support on the headphones/earbuds side of the equation can be equally messy – and it doesn't always follow that the more you pay, the more codecs your buds (or cans) will support.

So wouldn’t it be nice if there were a tiny, simple (yet powerful) gadget you could plug into any phone, tablet, computer, or game console that would assure you’ve always got support for these codecs? Behold – the Questyle QCC Dongle Pro.

Plug it in, open the app, and pair your headphones. Done. You’re now listening wirelessly at the highest possible quality (perhaps even losslessly) and you didn’t even have to mess around in Android’s Developer Options.

All of this makes the Questyle QCC Dongle Pro a very attractive little accessory for anyone who wants to maximize their listening experience.

One of the best portable DACs around – and more specifically, one of the best wireless Bluetooth DACs we've tested? Let's get to it.

Oh, it's red and no mistake (Image credit: Future)Questyle QCC Dongle Pro review: Price and release date

Release date: August 29, 2025
Price: $99 (around £70; AU$150)

$99 may seem like a lot for what you get. After all, it is tiny – and this device doesn’t make music or even play music; it just makes the music you already have access to sound better, with no guesswork.

I’ve also tried the $50 FiiO BT11, a nearly identical-looking product that, on paper at least, does all the same things. But it’s so maddeningly difficult to use, I’d happily pay the difference for the QCC Dongle Pro.

Still, there is another option. If you don’t need LDAC (perhaps because your Android phone already supports it), you can get the aptX-family-only QCC Dongle for $69 and save yourself some cash.

Elsewhere (and if you've got hard-to-drive headphones and a little more to spend), we love the FiiO BTR17 for its amplification powers on top of its codec mastery, and TR's audio editor still uses the FiiO BTR7 – both around $200 / £175 / AU$279.

Questyle QCC Dongle Pro review: SpecsQuestyle QCC Dongle Pro: specs

Dimensions

25mm x 10mm x 15mm

Weight

2.5 grams

Supported codecs

SBC, aptX, aptX HD, aptX Adaptive (including aptX Lossless), LDAC

Supported interfaces

USB-C, USB-A (UAC 1, UAC 2)

System compatibility

WinXP/Vista/Win7/Win8/Win10/Win11/Linux/Android/HarmonyOS/macOS/iOS/iPadOS

Bluetooth version

5.4

Power draw

37mA

Questyle QCC Dongle Pro review: Features

Excellent codec support
Easy, intuitive app
Works with almost all USB-equipped devices

A helpful app lets you control the dongle’s two main functions: getting it paired with your headphones and picking which codec and optional settings you want to use. An LED on the QCC Dongle Pro gives visual feedback on its pairing status as well as which family of codec is currently in use – a reassuring feature.

Better yet, as long as your headphones or earbuds support Bluetooth Multipoint, it’s possible to connect them to the dongle and your phone simultaneously. Doing so maintains your ability to adjust the headphones’ settings via their mobile app (if any).

Oh, and one more thing: the dongle also supports USB Audio Class 1 (UAC 1), which is a spec-speak way of saying you can use it as a wireless audio transmitter with gaming consoles like Nintendo Switch and PlayStation families – devices that don’t play nicely with run-of-the-mill USB Bluetooth dongles. Full disclosure: I didn’t test this feature.

You can use it as a transmitter for a PC or Mac, too, though with one caveat: there’s no Windows or macOS app, so you’ll need to initially pair your preferred headphones using the mobile app on a phone, then move the dongle over to your PC. It will automatically re-pair with your headphones and then you simply need to choose the Dongle Pro from your computer’s sound output menu.

Worried about the Dongle Pro sapping your phone’s battery life? Don’t be. With a 37mA draw, Questyle estimates that even if you used it intensively (e.g., with LDAC) for 10 hours straight, you’d only dent an iPhone 16’s full battery capacity by about 10%. Using aptX Adaptive would consume less juice. I didn’t notice any impact on my day-to-day use of my iPhone.

The bulk of my testing was done with the Sennheiser IE900 or the Austrian Audio 'The Composer' (Image credit: Questyle)

The QCC Dongle Pro is so easy and effective that it’s hard to find flaws. But if I were to nitpick, I’d point to the fact that the Questyle app doesn’t give audio nerds as much control over codec behavior as, say, Android’s Developer Options, or the uber-handy Bluetooth Codec Changer app.

For instance, purists often want to avoid additional resampling between their source of digital music and the output that gets to their headphones. With the apps/settings I mentioned above, you can set LDAC’s bit-depth and sampling rate to match that of your source. The QCC Dongle Pro doesn’t provide this level of control. The same goes for LDAC’s bitrate; however, you can nonetheless choose to favour sound quality over connection stability, which should accomplish the same thing.

I might also note that the dongle can’t support simultaneous Bluetooth connections. So if you were hoping to connect a set of wireless earbuds using LDAC and a set of headphones using aptX HD so you can hear the difference, I’m afraid you’ll have to find another way of satisfying your inner scientist.

Features score: 4.5 / 5

Note the 'wings' (Image credit: Future)Questyle QCC Dongle Pro review: Design

Tiny and featherweight
Fits most phone cases
Might block adjacent ports

The QCC Dongle Pro can plug directly into any device that can output audio over USB. At 2.5 grams, it weighs less than half as much as a single AirPods Pro earpiece. On its own, it will snap into USB-C ports, and a small ledge lets it protrude about two millimeters, making it compatible with many 3rd-party protective phone cases. It also comes with an adapter for gadgets that are still rocking USB-A ports. The only devices it can’t support are older iPhones/iPads with Lightning ports.

It’s a phone-friendly design, as long as you don’t mind using wireless charging while it’s plugged in. For laptops, especially those like the Apple MacBook Air with just two, closely spaced USB-C ports, the Dongle Pro forces the same choice, but without the fallback of wireless charging: You can have better Bluetooth audio or you can charge your computer, but not both.

Design score: 4.5 / 5

Everything in its right place… (Image credit: Future)Questyle QCC Dongle Pro review: Sound quality

Perfect match for LDAC/aptX devices
Lets you choose which codec to use when more than one will work

How does it perform? Brilliantly. Which is to say, when I use it on an iPhone 16 in either LDAC or aptX Lossless mode, with a compatible set of headphones, and then compare it to a phone with these codecs built in (e.g., Motorola ThinkPhone), they sound the same to me. I’m not sure I could ask for anything more.

Sony’s WH-1000XM6 (LDAC) revealed the subtle details in Dire Straits’ You And Your Friend that tend to go missing when listening via AAC. Similarly, Sennheiser’s aptX Lossless compatible Momentum True Wireless 4 Earbuds were able to tame the blurry bass notes and crunchy highs that I typically hear when playing Bob Dylan’s Man in the Long Black Coat.

Given how convenient it is to pop the Dongle Pro into the bottom of my iPhone, I can easily see it becoming a permanent fixture in my daily listening life.

Sound quality score: 5 / 5

This white light (for aptX Lossless) was oddly hard to come by when using sources able to handle it… (Image credit: Future)Questyle QCC Dongle Pro review: Value

Pricey compared to other transmitters
Unmatched codec support
Perfect size/shape for mobile use

Though a pricey little device, you need to look at the QCC Dongle Pro in the context of your other options.

Most companies that make USB-C Bluetooth transmitters that sell for between $25-$55 on Amazon come with one or more compromises. They’re primarily intended for PC use, so they’re often equipped with a USB-A interface. Even the ones with USB-C tend to stick out too far and could easily snap off during portable use. The Dongle Pro’s one direct competitor, the $50 FiiO BT11, is a bargain by comparison – but I found it much harder to use.

Value score: 4/5

Note the new 'rails' on the casework to help with cooling (Image credit: Future)Should you buy the Questyle QCC Dongle Pro?

Attribute

Notes

Rating

Features

Gives any phone or PC the most popular hi-res Bluetooth audio codecs.

4 / 5

Sound quality

Works as well as any phone with these codecs built in.

5 / 5

Design

Tiny, lightweight, and elegant. If only it were a tad narrower, it would be perfect.

4.5 / 5

Value

Pricey, but worth it.

4 / 5

Buy it if...

You’re the kind of person who wants to maximize sound quality
For now, wired connections are still better than Bluetooth, but with the Questyle QCC Dongle Pro (and compatible headphones), you may not hear the difference.

You own a recent iPhone
iPhones don't come with LDAC or aptX baked in, and this is arguably the easiest (and smallest) way to get those onboard. View Deal

Don't buy it if...

You don’t know (and don’t care) about codecs
If you're not bothered about lossless/hi-res audio, or compression – as long as your headphones just work –
the QCC Dongle Pro isn't for you. Its only reason to exist is to serve those who care deeply about sound. If that’s not you, great! You’ve got one less device in your life.

You’re an iPhone 14 (or older) owner
Without Lightning compatibility, the QCC Dongle Pro only works with USB-C-equipped iPhones (and iPads).

Questyle QCC Dongle Pro review: Also consider

Product

Questyle QCC Dongle Pro

FiiO BTR11

Dimensions

25mm x 10mm x 15mm

28mm x 9mm x 21mm

Weight

2.5 grams

3 grams

Supported codecs

SBC, aptX, aptX HD, aptX Adaptive (including aptX Lossless), LDAC

Supported interfaces

USB-C, USB-A (UAC 1, UAC 2)

System compatibility

WinXP/Vista/Win7/Win8/Win10/Win11/Linux/Android/HarmonyOS/macOS/iOS/iPadOS

Bluetooth version

5.4

Power draw

37mA (LDAC)

22mA (static)

FiiO BTR11
On paper, this very affordable ($50) dongle is a carbon copy of the QCC Dongle Pro, so why wouldn’t you just buy it instead? Well, if you’re only interested in using it with an Android phone, it’s definitely worth considering.

That’s because, unlike the QCC Dongle Pro, the BT11 isn’t Apple MFi certified. I’m not saying a product has to be MFi certified to work with iPhones, but in this case, it seems to make a big difference.

Whereas the QCC Dongle Pro just works when you plug it into an iPhone, I found the BT11 suffered from lag and, at times, couldn’t communicate with its companion app at all.

This is unfortunate since the BT11 has one skill the QCC Dongle Pro lacks: the ability to connect to two or more audio devices simultaneously.

Its construction and design aren’t as nice as the Dongle Pro, nor is it as sleek (it sticks out further from the USB-C port). Still, for half the price, maybe that doesn’t matter.
Read more about FiiO BTR11 and FiiO's other DACs

iFi makes strong design choices and you love to see it (Image credit: Future)How I tested the Questyle QCC Dongle Pro

Tested for 2 weeks
Used it at home and while at the gym
Predominantly tested using Apple Music on an Apple iPhone 16, but also: Google Pixel 7 Pro, Apple MacBook Air M1

Testing the Questyle QCC Dongle Pro was primarily a case of comparisons. In other words, how easy was it to use, and how did the sound quality compare to a smartphone with the same Bluetooth Codecs built in?

To do this, I paired the Dongle Pro first with the Sony WH-1000XM6 (to test LDAC performance) and then with the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4 Earbuds (to test aptX Adaptive/Lossless), with the Dongle Pro plugged into an iPhone 16.

Since both devices support Bluetooth Multipoint, I was able to pair them simultaneously with a Motorola ThinkPhone, which supports both codec families.

While using the same Apple Music Playlist on both the iPhone and the ThinkPhone, I swapped back and forth between these two sources, listening for any perceptible differences. I couldn’t detect any.

For additional testing, I swapped the dongle over to my MacBook Air and a Google Pixel 7 Pro. Both performed without issue.

Read more about how we test

First reviewed September 2025

Categories: Reviews

Silent Hill f will either be your game of the year or one of the worst games you’ve ever played – and I still can’t decide which it is for me

TechRadar Reviews - Mon, 09/22/2025 - 02:01

Silent Hill f is one of the most imaginative, compelling, and striking experiences I’ve had this year. Neobards has also made one of the most tedious, infuriating, and badly designed survival horror games I’ve ever played. We’ve all seen fascinating ideas mired by flawed mechanics countless times in the past, but it’s been a long time since I’ve wanted to completely walk away from a game just as much as I want to press on to see what revelations it has for me.

It’s this back-and-forth that I’m struggling to reconcile when settling on what I really think about Silent Hill f. Some will despise it for its dire combat, inconsistent atmosphere, and poor execution. To others, this will be a game of the year contender, with its beguiling mythology, gorgeous cinematic direction, and audacious design choices. I support the argument from both sides.

Review info

Platform reviewed: PS5
Available on: PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC
Release date: September 25, 2025

We play as Hinako, a young adult in 1960s Japan. She’s dealing with an abusive alcoholic father, a despondent mother, and a previously tight-knit friendship group that’s starting to show some cracks as emotions and hormones run high. The game’s themes are heavy, with gender, puberty, marriage, motherhood, family, friendship, and maturity just some of the topics that cult-favorite writer Ryukishi07 engages with throughout the story. I don’t have enough praise for the daring and uncompromising ways it engages with these big ideas.

Beautiful nightmare

(Image credit: Konami)

It helps that the outstanding performances, stellar cinematic presentation, and moody music elevate many of the game’s biggest story beats and give them the weight they deserve. Silent Hill f may sometimes look a bit plain, but it certainly knows how to frame some grotesque and gorgeous imagery or give a performance the time and attention it needs to shine, especially in the game’s original Japanese dub.

Best bit

(Image credit: Konami)

It's hard to talk about my favorite part of Silent Hill f because it's all to do with the game's ending. Obviously, I won't spoil anything here, but the strong writing, excellent performances, and big story revelations in the final few hours do so much to rescue the game from the drudgery of its repeatedly tedious combat sections. So much so that I was compelled to start a second playthrough to seek out what I'd missed.

It’s a shame the same can’t be said for all of the game’s environments, which swing from the signature foggy alleyways and disgusting visera-covered hallways of the series, to places that are too bright, too mundane, and too, well, clean.

There were brief moments where I was creeped out by the atmosphere (those scarecrows are pure nightmare fuel), but mostly I felt like a tourist taking a casual stroll through a town or temple in some inclement weather. That's a shame for a series that has mastered creating a feeling of dread with every step so many times in the past.

Silent Hill f also mixes up the exploration with a smattering of puzzles that we’ve come to expect from these games. These range from neat little brainteasers to cryptic nonsense, sometimes actually making less sense than what’s supposed to be the easier puzzle difficulty.

What also doesn’t help with the pacing is the way the game jumps between what is ostensibly the real world and a mystical otherworld throughout. Naturally, the two are intrinsically linked, but the transitions between the two are often contrived or completely unexplained, giving the game an inelegant and disjointed structure.

But these disappointing missteps are nothing in comparison to the one element that Silent Hill f gets severely wrong: the combat.

Lost in the fog

(Image credit: Konami)

The majority of Silent Hill protagonists have (intentionally) never been adept at fighting, which has led to a series of awkward and cumbersome combat systems. Most of them, though, are serviceable. Silent Hill f’s is one of the worst I’ve experienced.

It’s all melee-based and a basic light and heavy attack affair, but it layers on unnecessary system after unnecessary system to try and stretch out of its terrible combat mechanics. There’s stamina, there’s a sanity bar, there are focus attacks, there’s weapon durability, there’s perfect dodges, and counterattacks. All of this mess just to try and bolster the simple act of whacking a horrific manifestation with a lead pipe.

None of it helps. It’s painfully slow and frustratingly sludgy, like Hinako is always trying to swing through mud. Hits have no satisfying impact unless you charge up attacks every time, which you will have to do continuously, because it's the only consistent way to stun and kill enemies with any speed.

Enemies, meanwhile, are such jittery and erratic nightmares that it’s impossible to read them, and the dodge is so janky or the window to counter so small that by the time you realise an attack is coming in, it’s too late, you’ve already been slashed or spat on or lunged at. The dodge is the most hilarious and out-of-place choice, which sees Hinako dart about six feet in a straight line in any direction in a split second, like she’s borrowed powers from Goku.

(Image credit: Konami)

Some sections thankfully make the combat far more trivial in some unique and utterly bonkers ways that I won’t spoil. Ultimately, that’s still not much better, as it’s just as unsatisfying as it’s always been; it just requires less thought to get through it.

Every time I had to deal with the game’s combat, I thought it would be better just to let the Silent Hill fog take me. It wouldn’t be quite as bad if you could simply run past all enemies, but the game regularly forces you to engage with it, with creatures that block your path, walls that only drop once certain enemies are killed, and entire combat gauntlets that are thematically interesting but mechanically horrid.

And that brings me back to the dichotomy that makes Silent Hill f a curiosity that’s so hard to judge. There will be staunch defenders of this game for all of the incredible work it does with characters, story, and presentation. Others will be quick to trash it as a clunky, poorly designed, and maddening experience.

As is always the case with these things, I feel that the truth is somewhere in the middle. At times, it filled me with rage, but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that it captivated me in equal measure.

Should you play Silent Hill f?Play it if…

You want a thematically rich story
Silent Hill f takes the same approach as other greats in the series by telling a remarkable, complex, and gruelling personal story through the lens of psychological horror, with multiple layers to uncover.

You want to play something unique
For all of its flaws, there's little else out there quite like Silent Hill f, and for that reason, I'm glad that it exists. If you want to experience something different from the norm, creatively ambitious and uncompromising in its vision, you owe it to yourself to give it a go.

You miss the PS2 era
At times, Silent Hill f feels like it comes from an entirely different generation of gaming, where bold ideas and creative risks led the way over things like, well, precise and well-refined game design.

Don’t play it if…

You can't look past janky combat
I know I'm going on about this a lot, but the combat in Silent Hill f is so monotonous and unwieldy that it almost put me off the game entirely. If the issues sound too frustrating for you to look past, then you may find it too aggravating to play.

You don't enjoy repeat playthroughs
The story of Silent Hill f does offer a conclusion after you complete the game for the first time, but like Nier Automata and other works by Ryukishi07, there is still much more to uncover after the credits roll.

Accessibility

Silent Hill f doesn't have an extensive list of accessibility options. There are three filters for green, red, and blue color blindness, as well as subtitle customisation options to change the font, size, and color. There are also three different controller layouts to choose from on console, but you cannot create your own custom layout or edit specific button bindings.

The game has separate difficulty settings for the combat and puzzles, ranging from a standard 'Story' option, a more difficult 'Hard' mode, and the most challenging 'Lost in the Fog' setting. These cannot be changed once you begin the game.

How I reviewed Silent Hill f

I played Silent Hill f for around 14 hours on a PlayStation 5 Pro on a Samsung S90C OLED TV using a DualSense Wireless Controller and playing audio through a Samsung HW-Q930C soundbar. In that time, I completed the game twice, with my first playthrough clocking in at a little over eight hours.

The game does not have different graphics modes to choose from, but performance was excellent throughout, although I got the impression that cutscenes were disappointingly locked to 30 frames per second (fps).

Categories: Reviews

Wix's Logo Maker review

TechRadar Reviews - Sun, 09/21/2025 - 18:30

Although Wix is best known as one of the best website builder platforms on the market, it also offers a host of other helpful business tools to its users, including an easy to use logo maker.

The Wix Logo Maker is an AI-powered tool that helps businesses and individuals create professional logos without needing graphic design skills. By answering a few quick questions about your brand, the tool generates logo options that you can customize to match your vision.

Accessing the Wix Logo Maker is easy — you can find it on the official website and the mobile app. The tool is free to try, so you can make unlimited edits before purchasing. Plans range from basic logo downloads to full branding kits that include extras like business cards and social media assets - you may be able to save when you buy by using one of our Wix promo codes.

Features

Wix Logo Maker offers a range of features that make logo design easy and efficient. Its standout feature is the AI-driven design process, which generates logo suggestions based on your business name, industry, and style preferences. This ensures logos are tailored to your brand, though the initial designs can sometimes feel generic and may require extra customization to stand out.

The platform’s customization options are another strong point. With a drag-and-drop editor, you can easily adjust fonts, colors, icons, and layouts. You can even upload custom fonts or images to give your logo a personal touch. It's a really versatile tool, especially compared to competitors like Tailor Brands, which offer fewer editing tools.

Another key feature that I really liked is the ability to download high-resolution files, including scalable vector formats (SVG), perfect for both digital and print use. Wix also provides mockups that show how your logo will appear on merchandise or marketing materials before finalizing it. Recent updates have made SVG files available in basic plans, a significant improvement and not something I expected to see.

The tool also integrates seamlessly with the broader Wix platform, allowing you to align your logo with websites, social media kits, and business cards. This all-in-one approach helps create cohesive branding. But the AI recommendations could be improved by offering a wider variety of icons and style options upfront to give users more diverse starting points.

Ease of use

Wix Logo Maker is easy to use, making it a great choice for beginners or those with no design experience. The onboarding process is straightforward: answer a few questions about your brand’s name, industry, and style, and the platform generates logo suggestions for you. But while quick and efficient, the initial designs often need some tweaking to fit specific needs.

The drag-and-drop editor is intuitive and offers plenty of customization options without being too complicated. Features, like undo/redo buttons and side-by-side comparisons, make it easy to experiment with different styles. However, some users may feel overwhelmed by the number of design options at first, especially if they’re new to design principles.

For accessibility, Wix includes features like keyboard navigation and screen reader compatibility, ensuring the platform is usable for people with different needs. While these tools are mainly aimed at website design, they demonstrate a commitment to inclusivity and ease of use.

Overall, Wix Logo Maker strikes a good balance between simplicity and functionality. It’s user-friendly enough for beginners to create polished designs while offering enough tools for those who want more control over their logos.

Wix Logo Maker strikes a good balance between simplicity and functionality. (Image credit: Wix.com)Customer support

Wix Logo Maker offers a solid range of customer support options to help users resolve issues quickly. Self-help resources include a detailed Knowledge Base, covering common topics like logo creation, customization, and file downloads. Step-by-step guides and FAQs are also available through the Wix Support Center.

For personalized help, Wix provides live chat support in multiple languages during set hours and a callback service for more complex issues. These support options can be accessed directly from your Wix account dashboard for a smooth experience.

Wix also has active social media channels where users can ask questions or get advice. The community forum is another useful tool, allowing users to share tips and solutions. However, one downside is that making edits to a purchased logo comes with an extra fee, which some users may find frustrating.

Compliance

Wix Logo Maker provides full commercial usage rights once you purchase and download your logo files through any paid plan. This means you can legally use purchased logos for all business applications, websites, marketing materials, merchandise, and print advertising without any additional licensing fees.

However, there's an important caveat that sets Wix's tool apart from traditional design services. Logo elements (icons, fonts, colors, and other design components) are provided on a non-exclusive basis to all users of the platform. According to Wix's terms of use, that means the company cannot guarantee that your Wix Logo will not be similar, or even identical, to other companies using the tool.

Multiple businesses could theoretically end up with nearly identical logos if they select similar design elements during the creation process, which could pose challenges for brand differentiation and potential trademark registration. Wix also explicitly states that users "may or may not be able to register or use your Wix Logo as a trademark." It's always better to consult with an attorney regarding trademark availability.

Moreover, using the tool means you waive the right to legally challenge the validity or registration of similar logos created by other users using the same logo elements. Also, purchased logos cannot be modified after download (creating a derivative work requires purchasing a new logo), and individual logo elements cannot be used independently outside of the complete logo design.

All of this stuff is pretty standard for any similar logo generator you find on the internet, including most competitors. That said, you might want to do some research and consult an attorney if you want to use your generated logo for legal purposes.

Competition

Wix Logo Maker competes with other popular tools like Looka, Tailor Brands, and Canva.

Compared to Looka, Wix offers more customization, allowing users to adjust fonts, colors, and layouts in greater detail. Tailor Brands offers an all-in-one branding suite but doesn’t match Wix when it comes to customization.

Canva is another strong competitor with its beginner-friendly interface and huge library of templates. While it is better for creating a wide variety of marketing materials, Wix stands out for its seamless integration with its website builder and branding tools.

Generally speaking, Wix offers more control than most other logo designers, which is ideal for users who want to fine-tune their logos. However, the associated learning curve may confuse new users, which is especially perilous given that edits cost extra.

Pricing

Plan

Price

Payment Type

Key Features

Just Logo Plans

Basic Plan

$49

One-time fee

High-resolution PNG files, commercial usage rights, standard logo files

Advanced Plan

$99

One-time fee

Everything in Basic, plus scalable SVG files, 40+ social media formats, brand guide, favicon

Logo + Website Bundles

Value Plan

$11/month

Annual billing

Logo design, commercial usage rights, free domain (1 year), Wix Combo website plan

Professional Plan

$16/month

Annual billing

Everything in Value, plus resizable logo files, social media assets, business cards, Wix Unlimited plan

Deluxe Plan

$24/month

Annual billing

Everything in Value, plus priority customer support, optional graphic designer touch-ups

Wix Logo Maker has two main pricing options: Just Logo plans and Logo + Website bundles.

Just Logo Plans:

- Basic Plan ($49 one-time fee): Includes high-resolution PNG files for online use.

- Advanced Plan ($99 one-time fee): Adds scalable SVG files and formats for social media and print.

Logo + Website Bundles:

- Value Plan ($11/month): Includes a logo design, commercial usage rights, one free domain for a year, and Wix Combo website features.

- Professional Plan ($16/month): Adds resizable logo files, social media assets, and business cards.

- Deluxe Plan ($24/month): Includes priority support and optional graphic designer touch-ups.

Wix's plans are competitively priced compared to platforms like Looka or DesignEvo. However, extra fees for post-purchase logo edits can be a drawback unless you upgrade to a higher-tier plan, like "Brand Plus." Additionally, subscription plans renew automatically each year, so users should keep an eye on renewal dates to avoid unexpected charges.

Final verdict

Wix Logo Maker is an AI-powered tool that helps individuals and small businesses create professional logos easily. It offers customization options, high-resolution files, and seamless integration with Wix’s branding tools. While its initial designs can feel generic and some pricing aspects may be restrictive, it’s a great option for startups and entrepreneurs seeking an affordable, quick, and professional branding solution.

Categories: Reviews

The Terra Kaffe TK-02 brings the high-end coffee shop to your home

TechRadar Reviews - Sun, 09/21/2025 - 08:00

Terra Kaffe TK-02: two-minute review

Who knew excellent coffee could be so easy? Fill up the water tank and pour your bag of whole coffee beans into the hopper. If you like milk-based drinks, put your milk of choice into the milk carafe and attach it to the machine. The Terra Kaffe TK-02 will craft your favorite drink that rivals your local coffee shop with just a tap.

Choose from a limited menu on the Terra Kaffe TK-02's screen, or select from a longer list in the app. Create custom beverages to suit your personal taste. You can also teach (Amazon assistant) Alexa to brew your drink of choice on your voice command.

(Image credit: Karen Freeman / Future)

While it's certainly not perfect, this is the be-all, end-all coffee maker that replaces the two Nespresso machines, drip coffee machine, and coffee grinder I had in my coffee nook. The Terra Kaffe TK-02 is an expensive machine, though one could argue that if this gets you to eliminate your daily coffee shop runs it could pay for itself in a couple of years or less. The footprint is pretty large, though not nearly as big as the four machines it replaces for me. And like any coffee machine, it does require regular cleaning and maintenance, though none of it is difficult.

The bottom line is this: I've tested a lot of coffee machines in my personal and professional life, but I have never made better-tasting coffee and espresso drinks more quickly and easily than I have with the Terra Kaffe TK-02.

(Image credit: Karen Freeman / Future)Terra Kaffe TK-02: price and availability

Available at Terra Kaffe and several high-end online and brick-and-mortar retailers
Retails for $1,995 (£1,461 / AU$2,991)
Terra Kaffe has a rental program

You can purchase the Terra Kaffe TK-02 directly from Terra Kaffe's website, where it retails for $1,995 (£1,461 / AU$2,991). Currently, there is a $300 discount offer if you pair the machine with a coffee subscription. You can also rent the machine from Terra Kaffe for $119 per month.

Other places you can purchase the machine include high-end retailers like Bloomingdales, Nordstrom, CB2, and Seattle Coffee Gear. The Terra Kaffe TK-02 is available in two colors: black and white.

(Image credit: Karen Freeman / Future)Terra Kaffe TK-02: specs

Name

Terra Kaffe TK-02

Type

Automatic

Dimensions (D x W x H)

17.5” (D) x 10.4” (W) x 14.3” (H) / 44.45 cm (D) x 26.42 cm (W) x 36.32 cm (H)

Weight

29.5 lbs / 13.38 kg

Water reservoir capacity

75 fl oz / 2.22 liters

Milk frother

Yes

Bars of pressure

Terra Kaffe TK-02: design

Modern, sleek design
Everything you need except coffee and cups included
So easy to use

The Terra Kaffe TK-02 is sleek and modern, basically a giant rectangular cube with a drip tray sticking out the front. It's not immediately identifiable as a coffee machine, on looks alone. I tested the white model, but it also comes in black. I'd recommend the black version if you don't have a strong preference, since white shows the coffee spatters. The touchscreen on the top left front of the machine comes awake when you tap it.

(Image credit: Karen Freeman / Future)

The Terra Kaffe TK-02 is pretty big and heavy, at 17.5” (D) x 10.4” (W) x 14.3” (H) / 44.45 cm (D) x 26.42 cm (W) x 36.32 cm (H) and weighing in at 29.5 lbs / 13.38 kg. Still, it easily fits into my coffee nook with plenty of room to spare. And it takes up a lot less room than the four machines I had in there previously. My husband likes to use his own beans, so his coffee grinder and drip machine, plus my two pod machines (both coffee and espresso) were previously filling up that entire nook. The Terra Kaffe TK-02 eliminates the need for all the other machines.

It comes with a milk carafe that hooks up to the Terra Kaffe TK-02 to make lattes and other milk drinks, a wooden spoon for measuring ground coffee, a water filter, cleaning solution, and descaling solution.

(Image credit: Karen Freeman / Future)

There are two coffee compartments on top. The main hopper holds up to 16 ounces (a typical bag) of whole bean coffee. A smaller, secondary compartment is for pre-ground coffee. If you use this option, add just one scoop of ground coffee and select the pre-ground coffee option from the brewing menu. Note that Terra Kaffe does not recommend using oily or flavored coffee beans.

A dial on the right side of the machine adjust the amount of steam you get in your milk. Dial it to the top to just heat your milk, or dial it to the bottom marker to froth.

(Image credit: Karen Freeman / Future)

The water tank sits behind a door on the front of the machine. As with all maintenance, the Terra Kaffe TK-02 will alert you when the water is running low, though the water level is visible even with the door closed.

The touch screen is the brain of the machine, and it will also let you know when the grounds container (which holds nine pucks) or drip tray needs to be emptied, when you need to descale or deep clean the machine, and when you need to refill the coffee hopper.

(Image credit: Karen Freeman / Future)

Design score: 4.5/5

Terra Kaffe TK-02: performance

Crafts amazing coffee and espresso drinks
Steam or froth your milk of choice
Could not be easier to use

What you really want from a coffee machine is delicious coffee, and the Terra Kaffe TK-02 delivers. You probably also want flexibility to create different kinds of beverages, easy/quick brewing, and easy clean-up. You get all of that with this machine. There are definitely some quirks, but overall, this machine's performance is excellent.

(Image credit: Karen Freeman / Future)

The Terra Kaffe TK-02 has lots of pre-set coffee and espresso settings, but any of them can be altered to your tastes. You can adjust the grind size, the amount of coffee, the amount of water, and the amount of milk. When making espresso, you can choose between "TK Standard" and "TK Specialty" brew. The TK Specialty tastes slightly stronger to me, so I reached out the company and they confirmed that it is indeed a stronger brew.

You can create your own custom beverages to your exact specifications, so the possibilities are nearly endless. You can only put 10 drinks at a time on the machine's touchscreen menu, but it's easy enough to add and remove your favorites in the Terra Kaffe app.

(Image credit: Karen Freeman / Future)

I brewed an iced coffee, which comes out at a slightly lower temperature and is specially designed for drinking over ice. I found it a bit weak, so I just changed the recipe, reducing the amount of water and increasing the amount of coffee. That made it perfect for my tastes. I also created a drink just for my husband, which is basically a standard Americano with an extra two shots of espresso. You can literally create anything and make it an option on your touchscreen menu.

The touchscreen menu is limited to ten drinks, so put your ten favorites there. You can still access plenty more (or create more anytime) easily with the Terra Kaffe app. You can teach your Alexa Amazon Assistant to work your Terra Kaffe TK-02, but I found that connection to be rather inconsistent.

The machine has to be on already; Alexa won't turn it on. Then you have to ask Alexa to launch the machine, because if you just ask to brew right away, she won't get it. Even then, sometimes she doesn't do what you ask. And she keeps asking you questions when you're done brewing, which is kind of annoying. Frankly, I found myself not really using Alexa much; both the touchscreen and the app are so easy to use. I open the app and wake the machine while I'm still in bed; by the time I get downstairs, the Terra Kaffe TK-02 is ready to brew.

(Image credit: Karen Freeman / Future)

Though I'm not really a milky coffee drinker, I did test out a number of milk-based drinks such as latte, cappuccino, macchiato, and flat white. They were all quite good, the milk frother heats and froths the milk as you'd expect. How much foam you get can also depend on the sort of milk you use. I used 2% dairy milk.

(Image credit: Karen Freeman /Future)

The Terra Kaffe TK-02 automatically grinds your beans to the correct size for the type of coffee you're brewing. For drip coffee, the beans will be ground on the coarser side. For espresso, you'll get a finer grind. Both of those can be adjusted to your preferences. Like all the best espresso machines, the Terra Kaffe TK-02 brews espresso at 9 bars of pressure.

If you prefer to use pre-ground beans, you put them in a separate designated hopper and select the pre-ground beans option before brewing. This is helpful for the occasional cup of decaf or using gifted grounds, but otherwise I'd stick to fresh whole beans.

(Image credit: Karen Freeman / Future)

Cleaning is pretty simple, but the machine does require regular attention. The Terra Kaffe TK-02 self-rinses frequently. I got in the habit of keeping a cup under the spout when not in use to catch the majority of rinse cycles. You can expect the machine to rinse out a few ounces of water when warming up, and again when shutting down. It also just rinses itself at random times.

We drink four cups a day on average, and even with the cup under the spout, I still have to empty the drip tray roughly daily. This is because water comes out directly into the drip tray sometimes too. If you froth milk, you'll need to run a rinse of the milk system right after. As you might expect, the water tank needs to be refilled pretty frequently as well.

Cleaning up the grounds couldn't be easier. All of the grounds end up as pucks in the grounds bin, you just have to pull it out and dump it roughly every nine brew sessions.

At some point, I'll need to do a deep clean and a descale. But in several weeks of use, it has not come up yet. You do not have to guess when to do any of this maintenance, as the machine will let you know when to do it and offer guidance if you're not sure how to go about it.

(Image credit: Karen Freeman / Future)

Performance score: 5/5

Should you buy the Terra Kaffe TK-02?Terra Kaffe TK-02 score card

Attribute

Notes

Score

Value

It's expensive, but is it cheaper than your daily coffee shop runs?

4/5

Design

It's cleverly designed and looks sleek on your countertop.

4.5/5

Performance

There's no learning curve. Brewing amazing coffee and espresso drinks is so easy.

5/5

Buy it if

You want delicious coffee and espresso drinks

Both the coffee and espresso are just delicious. Drip coffee, iced coffee, espresso, Americano, latte, cappuccino, macchiato, flat white: all amazing. I have no notes.

You want to kick the daily coffee shop habit

I can't imagine wanting to pay for a drink in a shop when the Terra Kaffe TK-02 is at home. Other than buying your whole coffee beans of choice, you might not even go to the coffee shop anymore.

You want easy

It literally couldn't be easier to make coffee from whole beans. Touch a button or tell Alexa to make your drink of choice in seconds. It's no harder than a pod machine but offers so many more options and produces excellent results.

Don't buy it if

You don't have it in the budget

If you have an expensive coffee shop habit and do the math, you might find that the Terra Kaffe TK-02 pays for itself—eventually. But this machine is quite pricey, even if you do a monthly rental.

You don't have space

While the Terra Kaffe TK-02 fits quite nicely in my coffee nook, it's not a small machine by any means. If you have a smaller kitchen, you'll need to decide how much counter space you can give up.

Terra Kaffe TK-02: also consider

Jura J10

In a similar price range but slightly cheaper, the Jura J10 makes all the espresso drinks you'd expect. But its specialty is incorporating your favorite flavored syrups into your milk foam.

Read our full Jura J10 review

De'Longhi La Specialista Touch

Looking for something smaller and cheaper? A semi-automatic espresso machine like this one might be for you. It has a built-in frothing wand, coffee bean grinder, and touch screen. It makes nine different drinks with ease.

Read our full De'Longhi La Specialista Touch review

How I tested the Terra Kaffe TK-02

Over the course of two weeks, I brewed multiple variations of coffee, espresso, iced coffee, and Americanos. I also made espresso-based milk drinks such as latte, cappuccino, macchiato, and flat white using cold 2% dairy milk. I performed maintenance on the Terra Kaffe TK-02 as directed by the machine: emptying the drip tray, refilling the water, emptying the coffee grounds, and adding new coffee beans.

First reviewed September 2025

Categories: Reviews

I tested the Creative Chat Wireless business headset - and I love the comfort, cost, and call quality

TechRadar Reviews - Sun, 09/21/2025 - 01:47

The Chat Wireless from Creative is a lightweight Bluetooth headset designed for business use. It doesn't seek to reinvent the wheel, but instead deliver exceptional comfort and crystal-clear audio at what I'd consider to be a very fair price.

As a chap who lives inside his headphones - for everything from conference calls to music playback and gaming sessions - I was keen to see how well they performed.

Spoiler alert: they're definitely worth a look if you're a professional. Yes, I have issues with the buttons, but the design, price, and overall quality of the audio and noise-canceling mic are excellent.

Creative Chat Wireless: Price & availability

The Creative Chat Wireless headset is currently priced at $70 from Creative’s official US site - while in the UK, it’s retailing for £50 via Creative.

I’m also seeing it available on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk for the same price.

Compared to alternatives, it’s priced pretty much at the low- to mid-range - it’s certainly not as pricey as offerings like the Jabra Evolve 2 65 Flex I’ve reviewed, which far surpasses the $150 mark.

Creative Chat Wireless: Design & featuresImage 1 of 3

(Image credit: Creative // Future)Image 2 of 3

(Image credit: Creative // Future)Image 3 of 3

(Image credit: Creative // Future)

The design of the Chat Wireless headset is par for the course and in line with what I’d expect from a unit at this price. Inside the box, there’s the headset itself, a USB cable, the USB dongle, and a quick start manual.

In hand, the headset is impressively lightweight with plenty of give to fit a range of head sizes. The band is made of a firm plastic, neatly rounded on one side, which I think gives it an attractive, premium style compared to bland, budget headsets. Encompassing the top is padding for a more comfortable fit. As an accent, there’s bronze-colored metal connecting it to the pads.

I found the earcups well-cushioned, with a foam interior covered with a synthetic material. They fit nicely over the ear, but don’t envelope them in the way casual consumer headphones do. These also swivel inward for easier storage - although they aren’t foldable and don’t come with a case.

On the left earcup is a USB-C port for charging and separate volume up and down buttons. I particularly like how they’re positioned on either side of the band, so I wasn’t blindly fumbling for the correct one.

It’s also home to the stowable microphone, which rotates both ways and features a physical mute button. At the base of the mic is a Call button, used to turn the unit on and off or entering Bluetooth pairing mode.

All in all, the headset boasts a simple and efficient design with all the core features you’d expect.

Creative Chat Wireless: PerformanceImage 1 of 3

(Image credit: Creative // Future)Image 2 of 3

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(Image credit: Creative // Future)

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the Chat Wireless is light, tipping the scales at 0.3lb / 137g when I weighed them. It’s the sort of headset you can easily wear all day (and I did) without discomfort. If you’re taking a lot of calls, they’re pitch-perfect in this regard.

When wearing the headset, it’s surprisingly firm on the ears - and while there’s no noise-cancelling on the earcups, the snug fit did prevent extraneous background noise filtering in.

I found audio quality to be excellent, with just the right amount of bass and treble, while voices had the correct timbre. I used these for video calls using both Bluetooth and the USB dongle, as well as hooking up via Bluetooth to my phone to listen to music and podcasts, and a Nintendo Switch 2 while playing games. Each time, I experienced no tinniness here, which I sometimes find from cheaper devices.

Microphone quality came out incredibly clear. There is noise-canceling on the mic and in my own tests, this worked well. Which is useful, as I have an especially vocal cat that likes to make its presence known during calls. I experienced absolutely no issues throughout my use, and yes, the mute button on mic works instantly and well (a perennial fear of mine). A discrete voice will whisper in your ear to let you know when it’s muted or unmuted, and the LED simultaneously switches from blue (unmute) to white (mute), too.

All button presses feel soft and pleasant - neither too clicky nor too mushy, but somewhere in between. However, I did find when attempting to adjust the volume, I had to be quite firm in order for it to register. Light taps just won’t work here.

This wasn’t the case with the Call button, which was immediately responsive when answering calls and hanging up. Other features like holding the volume buttons to skip tracks during playback or tapping the Call button to play or pause worked well.

Where I did run into problems, though, was when hitting this button multiple times to activate the various functions, like redial or opening my AI assistant. It took some time to figure out the appropriate amount of time between each click. It needs to be neither rapid nor too drawn out. Experimentation is recommended.

But where it really counts - audio and mic quality - I was highly impressed, and confident I was being heard. Never once did I have to ask “Can everyone hear me?” or “Is this thing on?”

Creative Chat Wireless: Final verdictImage 1 of 3

(Image credit: Creative // Future)Image 2 of 3

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(Image credit: Creative // Future)

Whenever I’m reviewing a device like this, I ask myself: Would I buy this with my own hard-earned cash? And, considering the cost and the overall audio experience, this one is a resounding yes. It’s impressively lightweight, and ideal for professionals in an office or home office setting.

I do have some issues with the buttons, which could be more responsive - but to some degree that might be user error on my part - and some may wish for extra features like a foldable design or a storage case. And if you prefer a wired connection, these aren’t the ones for you, as they’re wireless-only.

But for a low- to mid-range wireless unit that makes meetings more bearable, especially if you're using them all day, they’re one of the best Bluetooth headsets I’ve used.

Should I buy the Creative Chat Wireless?Buy it if...

✅ You wear a headset all day: The Chat Wireless is pleasantly lightweight for all-day use, and the earpads feel snug over the ear without pressing against them too hard. I found them to be very comfortable, even after wearing them for hours at a time.

✅ You want a well-priced headset with all the core features: It’s not overloaded with unnecessary features or expensive technology, but audio quality is great and the buttons deliver a multitude of additional functions for navigating calls and playback.

Don't buy it if...

❌ You need wired and wireless connection: As the name suggests, this headset is wireless only using Bluetooth 5.4 or the USB dongle. Creative does sell the Chat USB, which has a slightly thicker design but near-identical price with - you guessed it - a wired USB connection.

❌ You want noise-canceling audio: While the mic does have noise cancelation, the earcups don’t have this feature. I didn’t find this to be an issue even in somewhat active rooms, but it may be a deal-breaker for those in noisy workspaces.

For more top picks, we've reviewed the best headsets for conference calls.

Categories: Reviews

After a year of searching, I’ve finally found a rival for my favorite earbuds

TechRadar Reviews - Sat, 09/20/2025 - 16:30

Skullcandy Method 360: One minute review

As my editor at TechRadar well knows, I’ve spent the last year enamored with the Nothing Ear (a) as the best earbuds you can buy for a relatively affordable price, and nothing has come close to toppling these svelte and low-cost buds.

That’s all changed now though, because the Skullcandy Method 360 give their year-and-change older rivals a run for their money. And I see them being the new big buds that, going forward, I shall compare all contemporaries too.

These buds from American audio company Skullcandy are dead ringers for the brand’s cheap Dime Evo buds, coming in the same novel carry case, but I’ve already got to correct myself: these aren’t just from Skullcandy, but from another key player too.

In a big partnership, top audio dog Bose contributed to the sound of the Method 360, and it shows. These have the energy of Skullcandy buds but the audio precision of Bose ones, and the fantastic audio quality shows that the Method 360 benefits from the best of both worlds.

While Skullcandy boasts that the Method 360 have ‘Sound by Bose’, the design of the new buds also bears more than a passing resemblance to recent Bose earpieces too, especially with a gel fin around the buds to help them stick in your ear. Whether this was another case of the Bose helping hand or just a total coincidence, it’s welcome, with the Method 360 staying in the ear reliably even during workouts. They’re comfortable too, letting you listen for long bouts without your ears getting achy.

Design of the buds may be great, but the carry case itself provides problems: namely, that it’s absolutely huge. It’s a massive long tube which hides an inner shell that you slide out to retrieve the earbuds, and it’s far too big to easily fit in trouser pockets. According to promotional images Skullcandy sees you using the O-ring to strap the case to your bag, or perhaps your trousers, but the sheer size would make that about as unwieldy as walking about with a scabbard.

A few rough edges show their face in the feature set too: the app often failed to connect to the earbuds, even when they readily connected to my phone without issues, which was irritating when I wanted to change ANC mode. Plus, the voice announcer on the buds is both terrifyingly loud and surprisingly low-res, making me wonder if I’d accidentally been sent a pair of Method 360 which had been cursed by the Babadook.

Are these flaws enough to ruin the Skullcandy? Not by any means, they’re just minor gripes, and ones that give me something to write about to seem even-handed too. But they do little to counteract the real strengths of the Method 360: its reliable fit, its fantastic sound and its affordable nature.

Skullcandy Method 360 review: Specifications

Component

Value

Water resistant

IPX4

Battery life (quoted)

11 hours (earbuds), 29 hours (total)

Bluetooth type

Bluetooth 5.3

Weight

11g / Charging case: 77g

Driver

12mm

Skullcandy Method 360 review: Price and availability

(Image credit: Future)

Announced in April '25
RRP $119 / £99 / AU$189
Priced against mid-range rivals

Skullcandy announced the Method 360 in April 2025 and put them on sale straight away afterwards.

The official price of the buds is $119 / £99 / AU$189, although they were cheaper for their first few weeks of existence thanks to introductory pricing. When considering their value, though, we’ll consider this official price.

At that price these can be considered mid-range buds, with the aforementioned Nothing Ear (a) costing more or less (depending on region) at $99 / £99 / AU$192. Their other big rival at that price is the WF-C710N which has an RRP exactly the same as the Skullcandy and we’ll get more into the differences in our comparison section below.

Skullcandy Method 360 review: Design

(Image credit: Future)

Huge case that's fiddly to insert buds into
Buds are comfortable and fit reliably
Range of color options

The worst part of the Skullcandy Method 360 is its case. It’s absolutely huge – you’ve got no chance of fitting this thing in your trouser pocket and it was even a squeeze fitting it into the folds of my jacket. It’s significantly bigger than the case of any other earbud I’ve tested recently, making it a pain for portability.

That’s a shame because it’s a bit more interesting-looking than your generic clamshell earbud case. It uses what Skullcandy calls ‘Clip It and Rip It’; this means that there’s an internal column holding the earbuds which you reveal by sliding it out of a protective tube. There’s an O-ring which lets you clip the case to a bag or, according to Skullcandy, trouser belt loop, which also makes it easy to do this sliding action.

It’s an interesting design which Skullcandy has used before, but two extra things beyond the size damn the case. Firstly, the charging port is on the bottom of the internal column so if you slide this column up, the charging port is hidden by the external case – it’s quite a procedure to keep charging while you remove the buds. Secondly, the buds only fit in their respective slots if you insert them at just the right angle, and it’s hard enough to tell which bud goes in which slot, let alone which angle to put them in at (there are a faint ‘L’ and ‘R’ to solve the first problem but it could be made more clear). These are the single most frustrating earbuds I’ve ever tested in terms of returning them to the case after use, and I constantly wasted time trying to rotate the buds to work out how to get them into their gap.

It’s not just me on this latter point: Skullcandy’s listing for the Method ANC has an FAQ question and one query is “How do I put my Method 360 ANC earbuds back in the case?” complete with a surprisingly in-depth 5-point answer. Skullcandy: if earbud users need to go through five steps to put an earbud in the case, perhaps there’s a better way of doing things. I also presented my much-smarter girlfriend with the buds and the case and she too found it akin to solving a Rubix cube.

Evidence of how easily-bendable the hook is. (Image credit: Future)

At least Skullcandy has done something I love in earbuds: offered multiple color options. As well as the standards of black and white there’s bright red, a sandy hue which Skullcandy calls ‘Primer’ and your grandma’s favorite option: leopard print.

Now onto the buds themselves: they seem to work as a medley of the two core types of in-ear buds with large bodies which stay in your ears with a silicon ridge, but they also have a slight, dumpy stem. Whatever color of case you fit, affects the buds too, though in the case of leopard print it’s just on one surface.

The buds weigh 11g so they’re among the heaviest earbuds I’ve tested, but in the grand scheme of things a couple of grams doesn’t make much difference on the ears. And that tells – not once in my testing did the buds fall out of my ears, even though I went on runs with them and took them to the gym. I’m going to point towards their fin as the reason for this, with the material of the tip also making them stay in my ear snug. In the box you get an array of sizes for both too.

Both buds have touch controls, activated if you tap the right spot on the body of the bud (if you look at the picture, it’s just below the slight ridge, around where the LED light is). This worked fine in picking up fingertips but I found it quite hard to reliably tap the correct spot when I wanted to pause music.

The buds both have an IPX4 rating making them protected against splashes of water, which essentially means they’re safe against sweat or a light drizzle of rain but nothing stronger (or wetter).

Design score: 3.5/5

Skullcandy Method 360 review: Features

(Image credit: Future)

Good on-bud battery life
ANC is strong, but not competition-beating
Skull-IQ app for extra features

With a case of its size, you’d expect the Skullcandy Method 360 to have a battery life longer than creation. And it’s definitely good, though set your expectations a little lower than ‘forever’.

According to Skullcandy, the bud battery life reaches 11 hours with ANC off or 9 hours with it turned on, with the case providing an extra 23 or 29 respectively. From my testing I’d say Skullcandy’s figures are, if anything, a touch conservative – either way those are respectable figures

You’re offered the two standard noise cancellation modes we often see: standard ANC and ‘Stay-Aware’, both with a slider letting you change intensity mode (before you ask the same question I did: higher intensity affects the strength of ANC, not of background noise allowed through).

Regardless of which option you pick, the ANC is strong and capable, and you’ll struggle to find better at this price point. It’s so effective, however, that Stay-Aware often failed to let through the kinds of loud nearby sounds that these ambient modes are designed to do. In fact I didn’t notice a huge difference between ANC and Stay-Aware most of the time.

You can download the Skull-IQ app on your phone or tablet to get extra features for the earbuds. Some of these are ability to toggle ANC and change what tapping the buds does, but there are a few more.

(Image credit: Future)

One of these is nigh-on mandatory at this point: an equalizer. You get several presets here but there’s also a five-band custom option. While that’s not as complex as we normally see in equalizers, I honestly don’t mind, as it’s a lot more simple for the average earbud user to get their head around.

Beyond that we’ve got features for low latency audio (useful for gaming), multipoint pairing to connect to multiple devices at once, the ability to use your earbud as a remote trigger for your smartphone camera and Spotify Tap, which lets you press and hold an earbud to instantly play from a certain Spotify playlist.

A few features I like to see are absent like Find My Earbuds, listening tests or earbud fit tests, but the features you do get work well… unlike the way you control them.

One thing that I’d love to see Skullcandy fix with the app is its reliability. A fair few times I’d boot it up while listening to music only to be told that the earbuds weren’t in use – one time this incorrect message was ironically covered up by my phone system’s own notification telling me the buds’ battery life. I’d have to either refresh the app, or give up on plans to change the EQ or noise cancellation.

On the topic of annoying features: the voice announcer, which tells you when the buds are connected when you put them in as well as when you change ANC modes, is both incredibly low-res and incredibly loud. Calm down please, announcer!

Features score: 4/5

Skullcandy Method 360 review: Sound performance

(Image credit: Future)

12mm drivers
Bose tuning pays off
Energetic sound with meaty bass

As I said in the introduction, Bose helped with the tuning of the Skullcandy Method 360 (though possibly not in lending the 12mm drivers, which are actually bigger than the ones we normally see Bose use in its earbuds).

This helping hand shows because the Method 360 are some of the best-sounding earbuds I’ve ever tested for their price. And, more obviously, they faintly resemble the tone of the Bose QuietComfort Buds from last year, in that music sounds rich, meaty and full (which I doubled down on by activating the bass booster EQ repeatedly through testing, though it’s far from necessary).

That’s not to say that the buds are just for bass-heads, as mids were just as energetic and electric as lower-frequency sounds. I found the audio profile perfect for punchy and fast-paced rock music which fits well with the Skullcandy branding. Treble could have been a little more glistening though and, while not audibly falling behind in the mix, it did lack a little zest when other parts of a song were going full-force.

If you like listening to high-velocity music, you’ll be glad to know that the Method 360 gets very loud, and I didn’t even test it at its top volume.

The Skullcandy also has a fairly pronounced sound stage, perhaps not as dramatic as the aforementioned Bose buds, but still great compared to many same-priced rivals. Instruments aren’t just panned left or right but to varying degrees around you, and audio was clear enough that I could hear the sound of fingers on guitar glissando or the type of drumstick a drummer would use.

Here’s where I’d discuss audio codecs or connection types but neither Skullcandy’s website nor the Skull-IQ app make any mention of them, so I’ve got to presume that high-res music isn’t supported.

Sound performance score: 4/5

Skullcandy Method 360 review: Value

(Image credit: Future)

The Skullcandy Method 360 are great value for money because in two big ways, they rival alternatives which you'd be spending twice the price on.

Both the sound quality and precision-designed fit feel like features you'd normally have to pay way more for. Yet here you go, finding them at a mid-range price. Good job!

Value score: 4/5

Skullcandy Method 360 review: scorecard

Read more about how we test

First reviewed: September 2025

Categories: Reviews

Terrified of damaging your Nintendo Switch 2? I reviewed this cheap screen protector, and it’s all you’ll need to put your worries at rest

TechRadar Reviews - Sat, 09/20/2025 - 09:00

Genki Aegis Shield: review

The Genki Aegis Shield has a pretty sublime namesake. In Ancient Greek mythology, Aegis sometimes refers to the shield of a deity, such as the thunder god, Zeus, or the goddess of wisdom, Athena. It is, then, a word that symbolizes protection of the highest order. And so, in comes the Genki Aegis Shield – a screen protector for the Nintendo Switch 2. Can it really offer divine levels of protection? I tested it to find out.

Out of the box, there was a lot going on. You get two screen protectors, an application frame, screen wipes, a microfiber cloth, and even a squeegee (great word, isn’t it). The application frame is pretty large compared to some others I’ve used, and it wasn’t the firmest around our Switch 2 – but it was still perfectly able to get the job done. There’s a lot of plastic here, with elements like a D-pad frame and play button etched into the application tool.

The application was fairly straightforward overall. The instructions weren’t as comprehensive as I’ve seen on other models, but the steps are accompanied by pictures to support your installation. I simply had to slot the frame onto the Nintendo Switch 2, pull a release tab out, swipe across the protector, and remove the frame.

(Image credit: Future)

After a bit of squeegee action, I was able to get all of the air bubbles out from under the Aegis Shield, ensuring a clean, well-aligned application.

At some angles, I could see a little bit of inconsistency on the left edge of the screen protector, but otherwise, the end result was fairly discreet. Of course, you may not encounter this minor hiccup, but it’s worth flagging.

(Image credit: Future)

Next came the damage test, and the Aegis Shield nailed it. I tried scraping a key across the protector, applying increasing pressure over time. But even when pressing pretty hard, the key glided across the surface with almost no resistance, and never left a single mark. Genki itself claims to have tested a drill on the screen, so this thing should be able to withstand all kinds of action.

Image 1 of 2

Before... (Image credit: Future)Image 2 of 2

...and after! (Image credit: Future)

One thing that I picked up on is that the Aegis Shield was pretty prone to picking up obvious fingerprint marks – even when I compared it to the DBrand Prism 2.0 screen protector for Switch 2. However, all it takes is a quick wipe with the microfiber cloth, and you can cast those pesky marks away.

Elsewhere, this is a strong performer. When playing Mario Kart World, the protector didn’t inhibit display clarity whatsoever. No parts of the Switch 2’s screen were obscured, foggy, or discolored, which was very pleasing indeed. When picking at the corners of the protector, it also remained comfortable in place, so it’s safe to say that it’s a secure pick.

(Image credit: Future)

And when you consider this model is only $19.99 / £17 / AU$35, it’s great value for money. It’s considerably cheaper than that DBrand model I referenced, and in the same ballpark as the impressive Belkin TemperedGlass screen protector that we tried out during batch testing.

Yes, the application frame may seem a little overkill. I could see a small inconsistency on one edge of the screen, and you will notice fingerprints fairly easily. But still, you get a clear display and plenty of toughness at a reasonable price. For that alone, this is a model worth checking out.

Genki Aegis Shield review: price & specs

Price

$19.99 / £17 / AU$35

Number of screen protectors

Material

Tempered glass

Application type

Drop-in-place frame

Additional items

Microfiber cloth, screen wipes, squeegee

(Image credit: Future)Should I buy the Genki Aegis Shield?

Attributes

Notes

Rating

Ease of application

Instructions could be a touch clearer, but fairly straightforward, tiny inconsistency on the left edge of the screen post-application.

3.5/5

Design

Application tool is quite large, but easy enough to use, fingerprints picked up easily, but cleaning tools work well.

3.5/5

Toughness

Easily withstood key scraping, with no signs of scratching or wear.

5/5

Value

Despite a couple of quirks, you’re getting a tough, low-priced protector.

4.5/5

Buy it if...

You’re looking for reliable protection
After scraping the screen protector with a key, I didn’t see even a spec of damage. And believe me, I pressed pretty hard. Genki itself claims to have put the Aegis Shield through a drill test, so I think it’s safe to say you won’t have to worry all too much about scratches.

You’re on a budget
At just $19.99 / £17 / AU$35, the Aegis Shield is a great budget-friendly option. You get two screen protectors in the box and all the cleaning tools you could possibly need, so this model offers plenty of bang for your buck.

Don't buy it if...

You want the most seamless application possible
During testing, the application frame was a little larger and clunkier than some other models I’ve used. Meanwhile, the instructions are fairly easy to follow, but not the most detailed. So, if you want the most seamless application possible, the Aegis Shield may not quite hit the spot.

You’re looking for something fingerprint-proof
This screen protector picked up fingerprints a little easier than the DBrand Prism 2.0, for example, which may frustrate some. Having said that, there is a microfiber cloth included in the box if you ever need to give the surface a quick clean.

Genki Aegis Shield review: also consider

Belkin TemperedGlass Screen Protector for Nintendo Switch 2
During batch testing, we were really impressed with the Belkin TemperedGlass screen protector. There’s no chunky plastic mechanism, just a basic frame. On top of that, the instructions are easy to follow, the application feels smooth, and the end result looks great. It's even cheaper than the Aegis Shield too – what’s not to like?

How I tested the Genki Aegis Shield

(Image credit: Future)

Applied the screen protector using the written instructions
Tested its effect on display, fingerprint resistance, and how easy it is to damage
Tested by a lifelong gamer

For the Genki Aegis Shield, I used TechRadar's standardized process for testing Nintendo Switch 2 screen protectors. First off, we apply the screen protector using the included instructions. Then, we test the protector's impact on the console's display by assessing aspects like brightness and viewing angles.

After this, we test how the surface copes against fingerprints, before scratching the model with a set of keys and attempting to peel at the edges. Ultimately, all of this helps us to judge ease of application, durability, and general build quality.

But let's talk about my experience. I've tested more than a hundred products at TechRadar – everything from gaming accessories, such as the Hori Piranha Plant Camera for Nintendo Switch 2, through to other screen protectors, like the DBrand Prism 2.0.

On top of that, I'm a lifelong gamer with a massive love for Nintendo. I own a Switch 2 personally, and have reviewed a number of games for the platform, including Drag x Drive and Raidou Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army.

First reviewed: September 2025
Read more about how we test

Categories: Reviews

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition review: I tested this convertible business laptop and the pros far outweigh the cons

TechRadar Reviews - Sat, 09/20/2025 - 01:47

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition is a convertible two-in-one laptop well-suited to both business and creative tasks.

It’s a highly portable machine, measuring 0.31 in - 0.64 in x 12.31 in x 8.57in and with a starting weight of 2.97lb (1.35kg). As I’d expect from a true ThinkPad - even a 2-in-1 model - it’s robustly built and ideal for home and office working.

As an Aura Edition laptop, it’s an AI PC running on an Intel Core Ultra chip which, according to Lenovo “accelerates your AI experience” without being a drag on the battery. Whether that’s a plus or a minus in your book will vary. In my experience it was…fine. But I’m not the world’s biggest AI user anyway.

But as a self-confessed ThinkPad fan, I was excited to check out the overall feel and performance.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition: Price & availability

Prices for the laptop start from $1892 / £1820 (currently discounted from £2250 at time of review).

At that price, the US version of the machine comes loaded with Windows 11 Home running on the Intel Core Ultra 5 226V, 16GB RAM, and 512GB M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4 SSD.

In the UK, the base model runs W11 Home on the Intel Core Ultra 7 258V chip, 32GB RAM, and 512GB M.2 2280 PCIe Gen5 SSD.

You can also spec-up the machine with up to an Intel Core Ultra 7 268V vPro processor, 2TB SSD, and Windows 11 Pro operating system.

Either way, the base model 14in IPS touchscreen display panel has a resolution of 1920 x 1200, with Anti-Glare. It hits 100% sRGB, has a brightness of 500 nits, and a 60Hz refresh rate.

There are two other screen options, too - either the business-oriented display with its ePrivacy filter, which is otherwise identical to the base model. Or the more complex 2.8K OLED Low Blue Light display with HDR 500 True Black with 100% DCI-P3, 500 nits, VRR 30-120Hz, making it the better pick for creators.

The ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition is available from Lenovo US and Lenovo UK, as well as online retailers.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition: Design & features

(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future)Specs

As reviewed:

CPU: Intel Core Ultra 7 258V
RAM: 32GB
GPU: Integrated Intel Arc 140V GPU (16GB)
Storage: 1TB
Display: 14in OLED
Brightness: 500 nits
Refresh rate: 30-120Hz
Color gamut: 100% DCI-P3
Ports & connectivity: 2x USB-A, 2x USB-C Thunderbolt 4, 1x Nano SIM, 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x audio jack, 1x Kensington Nano Security slot, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi 7
Operating system: Windows 11 Pro

The look and feel of the X1 2-in-1 is distinctly ThinkPad - I found it robust in hand thanks to its aluminum chassis, which boasts MIL-STD-810H construction. Not exactly a true rugged laptop, then, but durable enough for the most hardened commuters. Besides the silvery accents, the main body is a stylish space grey that I thought looked professional without being boring.

The 14in screen has a thin bezel that sits behind the glass, with an elevated notch where the camera sits. The camera itself is 5MP, comes complete with physical privacy shutter, and supports Windows Hello for a passwordless sign-in.

Along the right-hand side is a USB-A and two USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports, and a Nano SIM slot. To the left, there’s another USB-A port, as well as HDMI 2.1 port, audio jack, a Kensington Nano Security slot, and a discrete power button that sits flush with the frame. In a world where laptop makers are gradually stripping back connectivity, I find this array generous enough, and I didn’t feel the immediate need to hook up a laptop docking station. Another bonus here is the support for Wi-Fi 7, perfect for future-proofing connectivity.

Now, I’m a big champion of ThinkPad laptops (I use the T14s on a daily basis, but I’ve been a fan since I first got my trusty old T431s). In my experience, they easily offer the best typing experience compared to other laptop brands. Alright, the new Lenovo models may lack the key travel of the older IBM ThinkPads (1.5mm vs 1.8mm), but even still, they’re a joy to use.

In this regard, I was a little wary of trying out X1 2-in-1 Gen 10, as some older X1 laptops had previously used a keyboard with a stubby 1.35mm travel depth. Lenovo has, thankfully, done away with that - here, you get the same 1.5mm backlit board you’ll find on the T-series ThinkPads. As such, using this for long writing sessions is a total breeze.

However, I spotted a few differences here compared to your more traditional business laptops. Of course, there’s the iconic red Trackpoint, but there’s also a fingerprint scanner for signing in without a password and beside it, a dedicated Microsoft Copilot button - clicking this unlocks the AI assistant, while granting easy access to all the usual Office apps.

Interestingly, Lenovo has switched the Fn and Ctrl keys around here, bringing it in line with most keyboards. Older ThinkPads place the Fn key to the left, rather than the right, and I have to change this using the Lenovo Vantage app.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition: Display

(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future)

My review model featured an OLED screen at 2880 x 1800 resolution with 60-120Hz refresh rate. Colors are vivid and bright, near-perfect in reproduction due to the 100% DCI-P3 gamut. For those looking for a general laptop for photo editing as well as productivity tasks, this is a pretty safe bet, I found.

The laptop operates in four ways - laptop, tablet, tent, and presentation mode, and all four work very well. I experienced no issues here at all, with the screen orientation changing swiftly and without lag when I switched from one configuration to the next. The movement feels sturdy and smooth, and pleasingly there’s no additional play to the 360-degree hinges.

What I didn’t like, however, was how reflective the screen was. Turn off the laptop and it’s like staring into a black mirror. That might not be a deal-breaker for some, but it certainly gave me pause and if you’re going to be using this outside or in direct sunlight, you’ll want to crank up the brightness to mitigate it as much as possible.

As a touchscreen device, this unit also included a stylus, which magnetically clamps to the right side of the screen. Using this in tablet mode was a total joy. Input was instant and the whole experience felt smooth.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition: Performance

(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future)

I experienced no issues when using the laptop - running Microsoft’s Office suite, browsing the internet, opening many, many, many, many tabs in Chrome, at this level, nothing seemed to slow down this machine.

Under heavier workloads, there is a tendency for the X1 to run a little warm, and there, I did experience some minor slowing. But even, the impact felt negligible and it’s unlikely to prove an issue for professionals using this for general business tasks.

For a convertible business laptop, then, I found it well-specced and impressively powerful enough for day-to-day operations. Ok, it won’t deliver the same performance you’ll find from a mobile workstation or gaming laptop, but that’s not what it’s been designed for.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition: Battery life

One of the stand-out areas with the X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition is the battery life. The machine is rocking a 57Whr battery, which is hardly massive, but acceptable. Don’t let that fool you, though, because battery life is surprisingly spectacular.

The device itself is rated for up to 20.2 hours when benchmarked using MobileMark 25, according to Lenovo. But this assumes minimal use. Streaming video playback should net up to 16.3 hours. For those using this laptop on the go, it’s positively perfect.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition: Final verdictImage 1 of 2

(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future)Image 2 of 2

(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future)

Overall, I enjoyed my time with the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition - whether I was using it as a tablet or laptop.

It’s more than capable of handling the usual suite of business apps and software, and here, the laptop performs brilliantly. Everything feels smooth, responsive, and efficient, making it a good pick for those who prize productivity above all else.

True, it’s not the most powerful around, it’s expensive for what it is, and I’m still not a fan of the glossy screen, but all told, there’s little else to complain about.

Couple that durable design with a good port selection, excellent battery life, and a neat, multi-use design, and you have one of the best 2-in-1 laptops for professionals around.

Should I buy the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition?

(Image credit: Collin Probst // Future)

Attributes

Notes

Rating

Design

Convertible, durable, and distinctly ThinkPad in style

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Performance

Perfect for office duties as well as lighter weight creative tasks

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Price

A steeper cost than I'd like, but par for the course with a business laptop

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Buy it if…

You want a business 2-in-1: As a convertible laptop, this works superbly well in all its configurations. I especially like the smooth efficiency when using it as a tablet alongside the Yoga Pen stylus.

Battery life is a concern: I found the longevity of the battery to be superb here, and if you’re working on the go or away from a mains outlet, it’s perfect.

Don’t buy it if…

You need absolute power: Yes, it’s a powerful little machine, but with these specs, it can’t measure up to the performance of the ThinkPad P-series. This is, after all, a business laptop first and foremost.

You’re on a budget: Arguably the biggest issue with this device is the cost - it’s a pricey number, as business machines tend to be.

For more productivity performance, we tested the best business computers and the best business tablets.

Categories: Reviews

If you thought belt-driven racing wheels were dead, the Thrustmaster T248R would like a word

TechRadar Reviews - Fri, 09/19/2025 - 19:00

Thrustmaster T248R: One-minute review

It’s not a new racing wheel you’re looking at here, but instead a revamped and thoughtfully tweaked 2025 edition of the existing Thrustmaster T248. The youthful maverick that is the T248R features many small but noticeable improvements, including a visual facelift, upgraded gear shift paddles, and a sharper digital display that offers genuinely useful readouts.

As for the tech powering your driving sensation, that’s a double-edged sword. On one hand, it’s a downside that the T.HD wheelbase is built on a hybrid of gear and belt-driven feedback, which can’t compete with direct drive for smooth, fast, precise feedback.

And with the price of direct drive bundles tumbling down lately into price points not that much more than the price of this bundle, that’s definitely a major consideration for anyone hovering over the ‘add to cart’ button.

(Image credit: Future)

On the other hand, nobody does belt-driven feedback quite like Thrustmaster, so the driving sensation you actually get out of this wheel in your hands isn’t anything as old-fashioned as you might imagine.

It’s plenty powerful for the entry-level sim racer it’s designed for, outputting a peak 3.1Nm of torque, and there’s some subtlety to the feedback too, which doesn’t produce a detrimental amount of cogging (that grindy, stuttering feeling associated with older belt-driven feedback).

Down at your feet, the pedal base is everything you could ask for at this price. It stays where you put it, even on a carpeted floor; the three pedals are well-spaced apart from each other, and the brake has a satisfying amount of stamping force thanks to its stiff load cell.

It’s a wheel to be recommended, ultimately, but it’s a qualified recommendation. If the cheapest direct drive wheels like the Nacon Revosim or the Thrustmaster T598 are out of budget, or you simply don’t race enough to justify the extra outlay for the improved sensation, this bundle makes a lot of sense.

That’s even factoring in the great Logitech G923, a true titan of non-direct drive wheels at the sub-$300 mark. Logi’s wheel offers slightly better build quality, and its TrueForce feedback offers impressive detail, but those are marginal gains over this dependable and well-priced T248R.

(Image credit: Future)Thrustmaster T248R: Price and availability

List price: $349.99 / £249.99 (around AU$512)
Priced cheaper than outbound T248 and Logitech’s G923
It may be old tech, but it still offers great bang for buck

Price is a vital bit of context here. It’s true that direct drive (DD) is becoming much more affordable, with bundles like Nacon’s Revosim and the fantastic T598 from Thrustmaster’s own stable bringing high-quality DD sensation to the masses at a price point below $500. But this T248R’s pricing is so far below that $500 threshold that a belt and gear-driven bundle is still a worthwhile consideration.

That does mean the looks and finish quality do feature some obvious compromises compared to the G923. But with a crystal-clear digital display, nice tactile buttons, quiet shifters, and a high-quality set of pedals, there’s real value here. The build quality and driving experience are more than enough for casual racers and even more committed enthusiasts on a budget.

Thrustmaster T248R: Specs

Weight

12.6lb / 5.7kg

Peak torque

3.1Nm

Features

Digital display, load cell brake pedal, magnetic shifters, cushioned pleather wheel finish

Connection type

USB-A

Compatibility

PC, PS4, PS5

Software

My Thrustmaster

Thrustmaster T248R: Design and features

Well built, if a little plasticky
Pleather wheel feels great
Useful display

Thrustmaster has been making the T248 in its various iterations for long enough to know that its audience isn’t likely to be attaching it to a sim rig, so it’s sensibly built both the wheel and pedals to be used comfortably at a desktop. The pedal base is heavy and grippy, which is absolutely crucial for an enjoyable drive.

The last thing you want when you’re stamping on a load cell brake at 180mph in Assetto Corsa Competizione is to feel the whole base shift position or rotate, and happily, there’s next to none of that with this bundle, despite a relatively stiff load cell on the brake. The aluminium contact points on the pedals are a nice touch at this price, too.

Working our way up, the wheelbase and wheel itself show a few more concessions to the affordable price point. Primarily, all the plastic. Although it’s a definite upgrade versus the outgoing T248 (which will still be on sale in Xbox config, as this new T248R supports PC, PS4, and PS5 only, so is targeting the best PS5 racing wheel market), there is still a lot of quite light, flimsy plastic used on the face, inner wheel, and hub.

Thrustmaster’s done its best to disguise some of this with a carbon fiber-style weave effect, but realistically, it’s fooling no one. Personally, for this price, I can live with it, but it’s worth noting that the slightly pricier G923 does look and feel more substantial and somehow, well, more pro.

Buttons are laid out sensibly around the centre, and at the top there’s a digital display with a sharper resolution now, which can give you some really useful readouts and telemetry – a definite perk for the price.

The biggest weakness in the T248’s overall design comes in the desktop clamp. There’s no major issue here - it does its job in keeping the wheel fixed in position on your desk, but now with the same rigidity or assuredness as the G923, whose two tightening screws at either side of the wheelbase lock it tightly in position. Here, there’s just one central screw, and while it does keep out of the way of your legs, it’s not as secure a contact point as Logitech’s.

(Image credit: Future)Thrustmaster T248R: Performance

Plenty of power
A pleasing sensation considering the older tech
Buttons, shifters, and pedals all feel great while driving

How does it feel to drive a lap with this updated model?

Well, firstly, it’s pretty straightforward to get onto the track in the first place, since most games recognise this as either the older T248 or the TGT wheel. That means you’ve got default assignments for inputs across the wheel, and pretty good axis and force feedback values from the off. Every title I tried with this new model was recognised enough that all my mappings were done for me, and I didn’t need to calibrate the wheel axis by axis.

On the track, Thrustmaster’s unique hybrid of belt and gear-driven force feedback shows its merits. It does feel very different to direct drive – it’s nowhere near as smooth to rotate the wheel, for starters. But it’s also not coggy or rough in the way that older traditional belt-driven models (remember the MOMO Force?) used to be.

Instead, you’ve got a happy medium between smooth wheel actuation and rumbly feedback that feels about right for the price point. Does it offer the same variety of feedback types as Logitech’s TrueForce-enabled G29? It does not.

The Logi wheel conveys tarmac rumble a little better and gives a more convincing sense of weight to the vehicle you’re driving, but that doesn't really have a meaningful effect on lap times.

(Image credit: Future)

I noticed how well built the input buttons feel as I was driving, too. It’s common for the face buttons – translated from a traditional console controller and arranged around the wheel – to feel loose and flimsy on a lower-end wheel, but here they feel higher quality. You’re always sure that a button input was registered properly.

It’s a small tweak, but the magnetic paddle shifters have been lavished with some redesign attention to produce a smoother, quieter shift. I’d say more than that, it just feels nicer than it did to change gears on the older T248.

Speaking of, previously the digital display was monochrome and had a limited viewing angle, but it’s much sharper now and thus much more useful. You don’t have a dynamic rev counter, but you do have an RPM light that lets you know when it’s time to upshift. While on the main display, you might have your current lap deltas.

I’m a particular fan of the pedals, and they contribute a lot to the quality of the driving experience in this bundle. It’s great to have a load cell brake that can be adjusted for stiffness by swapping elastomers and springs in, and equally great to feel so planted when you exert a pedal input.

(Image credit: Future)Should I buy the Thrustmaster T248R?Buy it if…

You’re a desktop racer
This bundle is designed to be enjoyed at a desktop rather than fitted to a sim rig, so if that’s your intended use, you’ll enjoy the planted pedals and functional desk clamp

The G923 is out of budget
Logitech’s standard-setting belt-driven wheel offers slightly better feedback, but it’s also pricier. If you can live with that tradeoff, this is a great value alternative.

You race for fun
Seriously competitive racers will look for every advantage that technology can offer, starting with direct drive feedback. If you’re more about the experience than the lap times, though, going with this more modest bundle makes sense.

Don’t buy it if…

You’re looking for the newest tech available
Direct drive is becoming increasingly mainstream, not to mention affordable. This bundle doesn’t offer it. Worth keeping in mind.

You race on Xbox
This revamped ‘R’ version of the T248 supports PC, PS4, and PS5 only, with the older T248 continuing to support Xbox racers.

You’ve got sim racing aspirations
Long-term, if you’re dreaming of competing against the best in serious sim racing titles, racing with this older tech could hamper your competitiveness

Also consider

If the Thrustmaster T248R doesn’t hit your apex, try these similarly priced rivals.

Thrustmaster T248R

Logitech G923

Hori Apex

Price

$349.99 / £249.99 (around AU$512)

$299.99 / £299.99

$119.99 / £99.99

Weight

12.6lb / 5.7kg

4.96lbs / 2.3kg

3.09lbs / 1.4kg

Peak torque

3.1Nm

2.2Nm

N/A

Features

Digital display, load cell brake pedal, magnetic shifters, cushioned pleather wheel finish

TrueForce feedback, dial controls, rev display

Textured wheel grip, simple setup

Connection type

USB-A

Compatibility

PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5

PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, PC, or Xbox Series X/S, PC

PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PC

Logitech G923
Five years since release, Logi’s mid-priced, belt-driven force feedback wheel is still the gold standard at this price range. It doesn’t have as much peak torque as the T248R, but its TrueForce feedback implementation offers more subtlety and immersion.

For more information, read our full Logitech G923 review

Hori Apex
Want to take the price-saving to the extreme? For considerably less than the T248R, Hori’s no-frills Apex wheel will do the job. No force feedback though, and just two – rather flimsy – pedals.

For more information, read our full Hori Apex review

(Image credit: Future)How I tested the Thrustmaster T248R

Tested in F1 24, F1 25, Rennsport, ACC, and AC Evo
Two weeks with a desktop
A variety of FF strength settings tried

I loaded up my usual racing titles to test this updated T248R wheel, since I’m already familiar with how they feel with a variety of both belt-driven and direct drive wheels.

Happily, every title recognised the wheel to some degree and offered sensible default mappings and values.

There’s a range of different force feedback strength levels available here via Thrustmaster’s ‘BOOST’ tech, although in practice, that’s no different from adjusting the strength of any other wheel via the in-game settings or manufacturer app. Nevertheless, I adjusted to different strengths during testing.

Finally, and importantly, all testing was conducted at a desktop setup, since this bundle can’t easily be mounted onto a sim rig like my Playseat.

Read more about how we test

First reviewed September 2025

Categories: Reviews

The new Thrustmaster T98 racing wheel took me back to my childhood, and I couldn't wait to grow up

TechRadar Reviews - Fri, 09/19/2025 - 14:00

Thrustmaster T98: One-minute review

The Thrustmaster T98 is about as budget as a budget racing wheel and pedals can get, but that’s by design. This entry-level bundle includes everything a young racer needs to get started with a wheel, pedals, and mounting clamp, but does away with plenty of standard features in order to keep costs down.

Feeling more like a racing toy than a piece of sim racing gear, the T98 is made entirely of plastic but still carries an impressive overall build quality. The wheel itself has all the usual buttons and inputs, but the attached wheelbase offers no force feedback or even simple vibration. Instead, the T98’s wheel has a light, linear resistance from what Thrustmaster calls ‘bungee cord technology’ and will always spin back to centre when let go

The pedals are equally simple, just an accelerator and brake with a short travel distance and no real pushback. Remarkably, though, Thrustmaster has managed to include Hall effect sensors here, which almost feels out of place with the rest of the unit but is certainly a welcome addition.

I’ve hit the track in a few different games, and while racing with the Thrustmaster T98 is more fun than with the stock Xbox Wireless Controller, it’s a very superficial experience. The wheel feels floaty and disconnected from your digital car, making it surprisingly hard to achieve any real control, even with three sensitivity profiles to choose from.

It may be targeted at kids and the entry-level market, and I can see such an audience initially enjoying it, but I’d imagine most will quickly outgrow the T98 and soon be wanting a wheel that offers a little more.

(Image credit: Future)Thrustmaster T98: Price and availability

List price: $109.99 / £89.99 / AU$199.99
Available direct from Thrustmaster
Great value for money for an entry level wheel

You’re not going to find many full racing bundles much cheaper than the Thrustmaster T98, and that’s worthy of applause in itself.

It’s a refreshing change to see a genuine, modern, entry-level option around that $100 mark. Perhaps more importantly, it’s nice to see brands starting to fill in options at both ends of the market. Beyond the similarly priced Hori Racing Wheel Apex for PlayStation, the numbers quickly increase until you reach the genre staple Logitech G923 racing wheel.

What’s particularly pleasing is that the T98 is a complete set; there are no asterisks or sold separately disclaimers here. There’s even a desk clamp included, too; one box really is all you need to go from nothing to racing.

This makes shopping easy for parents, just make sure you get the right version, as there are separate Xbox and PlayStation variants with just a single letter differentiating the model names - GTS for Xbox and GTB for PlayStation.

Thrustmaster T98: Specs

Dimensions

10 x 9.6 x 9.8in / 255 x 245 x 250 mm

Weight

2.9 lbs / 1.3kg

Rotation

240 degrees

Force Feedback

Platform Compatibility

Xbox/PC or PlayStation/PC

Box Contents

T98 Ferrari 296, clamping system, T2PM pedal set, instruction manual, and warranty information

Thrustmaster T98: Design and features

Complete set with wheel, pedals, and table clamp
Three on-board driving profiles
H.E.A.R.T. Hall effect sensors in pedals

At this price point, it’s really no surprise that every part of the Thrustmaster T98 bundle is entirely made of plastic. Usually, I’d be critical of this; it’s not exactly the most premium material, but this isn’t a premium bit of kit, so it’s understandable. As far as plastic goes, it’s not bad, though.

Pulling it out of the box, I was immediately struck by just how solid the wheel and wheelbase both feel. There’s no flex or creakiness to either of them; they feel reassuringly sturdy. Thrustmaster’s experience in the genre really shows here, even if this is the closest thing to a toy it’s ever made.

The Thrustmaster T98’s 10” wheel is inspired by the one you’ll find in the Ferrari 296 GTS, and it’s not a bad recreation. The overall shape is sporty, and it’s comfortable enough to hold. There’s a little grip texturing embossed into the plastic on either side, which is a welcome addition, and a few faux carbon fibre accents to break things up.

The standard range of controller buttons is neatly spread across the face of the wheel, with a pair of clicky paddle shifters behind. I could easily reach all of them without adjusting my grip on the wheel, and it’s something I not only appreciated but have regularly not been able to do with more expensive options.

Admittedly, I have reasonably large hands, but they all felt close enough that I imagine smaller users would be able to reach them just as easily.

(Image credit: Future)

The Thrustmaster T98’s wheelbase is simple but stylish enough. It’s a compact little unit that takes its design cues from more ‘grown-up’ options, albeit with considerably less going on inside. The included desk clamp took a little fiddling to correctly line up, but eventually held things firmly in place.

With no force feedback and no vibration or rumble motor, it’s left to essentially a rubber band to impose any sort of resistance. It’s not uncommon for wheels to forego force feedback. Logitech’s Heavy Equipment Bundle will set you back nearly three times as much and offers the same experience, but that doesn’t make me miss it any less.

The pedals are the most basic part of the Thrustmaster T98 bundle, though funnily enough feature the most advanced technology. Both the accelerator and brake feel similar underfoot without much travel distance and an equally small amount of resistance. These are definitely designed with junior racers in mind. If you’re pressing it, you might as well floor it; there’s no real in-between.

That makes the inclusion of Thrustmaster’s H.E.A.R.T. Hall effect sensors in each pedal a little unusual. I’m not complaining, it’s great to see this kind of technology in a budget device, I’m just not sure anyone is going to see the benefit beyond some extra lifespan and no chance of stick - I mean, pedal - drift.

Speaking of which, there’s a good chance you’ll find the whole unit drifting across your floor because while there’s a generously sized heel plate with some texturing on top, the bottom of the pedal box is pretty slick.

There’s no spikey carpet gripper bar to keep things still, and while there are four tiny rubber pads, these didn’t achieve a lot when I tested on my laminate floor.

Thrustmaster T98: Performance

Impressive plug-and-play game compatibility
No force feedback or rumble
Bungee cord resistance has quirks and a learning curve

"It's not aimed at sim racers, it's aimed at kids, for first-time steering wheel users”. That’s what Thrustmaster product marketing manager Xavier Pieuchot told us when we got our first look at the T98 at Gamescom in August.

Well, I’m none of those things. I do quite a lot of sim racing, and my usual setup is worth north of $2,000. I know what the top end of the market is like, so I channeled my inner child when I played with the Thrustmaster T98.

Setup was a breeze, and actually an area the T98 performed better than a vast majority of considerably more expensive wheels I’ve tested in recent times.

I plugged in the single, pre-attached cable from the pedals to the wheelbase, and then the USB-C cable from the wheelbase to my Xbox Series X. That’s it. Done. Ready to race. The list of officially compatible games on the Thrustmaster website is surprisingly modest, but pretend-8-year-old Alex doesn’t read product listings, so my first stop was a game not on the list, Forza Motorsport.

Who needs compatibility lists anyway? The Thrustmaster T98 worked perfectly from the moment the game launched. Every button was pre-bound to what I’d have expected it to be, including the pedals, and without even considering an options menu, I was straight out on track and racing.

I can’t overstate how refreshing this was and how many times this hasn’t been the case with ‘premium’ options. It was the same story in almost any other game I tried; Forza Horizon 5, EA Sports WRC, Farming Simulator 25, and even older titles like Wreckfest, everything was fully button-mapped, and the wheel and pedals worked exactly how I’d hoped they would.

(Image credit: Future)

Unfortunately, the actual experience behind the wheel wasn’t quite as positive for either my experienced sim racing side or my childhood alter ego. I can overlook the lack of force feedback; that’s a nice-to-have feature, albeit a basic one, and I remind myself this is a $110 wheel after all. The problem is that while the Thrustmaster T98 was more of a giggle to play with than a controller, even the adult me found the learning curve and overall difficulty much harder than it should have been.

Thrustmaster calls the bungee resistance linear, though I experienced quite a wide physical deadzone before the cord grabbed. For hard corners and aggressive moves, this wasn’t a problem. The 240° max rotation can be a little limiting on some tracks, but I still had a good amount of fun. Across titles, though, it was the gentle, sweeping turns, small adjustments, and overtaking manoeuvres that proved surprisingly difficult.

I’d constantly need to turn the wheel further than I’d like to get the car to respond, and then quickly correct it back the other way when it inevitably went too far. More often than not, this caused me to lose control completely and end up against a wall, even down straights. It was a frustrating experience for me as a 33-year-old; I can’t imagine how much patience a 10-year-old might have before giving up and labelling it dumb and annoying.

There are three ‘driving support profiles’ built into the Thrustmaster T98 that adjust the sensitivity of the wheel. I did notice a clear difference between each setting, and it’s a nice idea to be able to dial down the sensitivity and, in theory, make things easier, though none of them managed to overcome the problem I mentioned before.

It’s also worth noting that these don’t change any physical characteristics of the wheel's behavior, just how your movements are translated into the game.

(Image credit: Future)Should I buy the Thrustmaster T98?Buy it if…

You’re playing a lot of racing games with a controller
It’s light on realism and not without its quirks, but once I’d gotten used to it, I found racing with the Thrustmaster T98 more fun than if I was just sitting there motionless with a controller.

This is the absolute maximum you can spend
This is about the cheapest racing wheel you’ll find from a major brand, particularly one with the expertise of Thrustmaster. If you can hold off a little longer, there are more features to be gained by spending a bit more.

Don’t buy it if…

You’ve used a racing wheel before
If you’ve been to a friend's house and tried a wheel for the first time, even a lower-end option like the Logitech G923, the Thrustmaster T98 is not going to give you the same kind of experience, and you’ll be left disappointed.

You’re looking for a realistic experience
No force feedback, no rumble, and (semi) linear bungee cord resistance make no effort to deliver an immersive or realistic driving feel. This is an arcade toy rather than a simulator.

Also consider

Not sure if the Thrustmaster T98 is your best option? There are plenty of other sim racing wheels available, though not too many at quite such a low price point.

Thrustmaster T98

Hori Racing Wheel Apex

Logitech G920

Price

$109.99 / £89.99

$119.99 / £99.99

$299.99 / £349.99

Dimensions

10 x 9.6 x 9.8in / 255 x 245 x 250 mm

11 x 10.8 x 11.3in / 280 x 275 x 286mm

10.6 x 10.2 x 10.9in / 270 x 260 x 278mm

Weight

2.9lbs / 1.3kg

3.09lbs / 1.4kg

4.96lbs / 2.25kg

Rotation

240 degrees

270 degrees

900 degrees

Force Feedback

Dual-motor

Hori Racing Wheel Apex
The Hori Racing Wheel Apex offers a similar overall package to the T98. It’s equally basic with no force feedback, though you do gain a companion app to fine-tune driving profiles.

For more information, check out our full Hori Racing Wheel Apex review.

Logitech G920
This has arguably been the entry-level racing wheel for years. The Logitech G920 is a considerable step up from the barebones T98, moving from toy racing wheel to sim racing wheel. It’ll set you back just over twice as much, but this is reflected in the experience with full force feedback and higher build quality.

For more information, check out our full Logitech G920 review.

(Image credit: Future)How I tested the Thrustmaster T98

I used the T98 on my Xbox Series X for a few days
Tested across a range of titles
Approached as a complete beginner

I swapped out some of the best Xbox racing wheels and used the Thrustmaster T98 as my primary racing wheel on Xbox Series X for a week. At this time, I reset my expectations, approaching this as a complete novice and casting my mind back to how I’d have felt about this as a child.

I tried a range of different games, including options both on and absent from the official compatibility list.

I jumped into each title blind, avoiding any configuration or settings menus. I aimed for the most plug-and-play experience possible, seeing how the T98 felt in each game out of the box. The only change I made was testing the three on-board driving profiles in each game, often switching multiple times during a single lap to feel the impact this had.

Throughout testing, I had the Thrustmaster T98 clamped to a coffee table with the pedals resting on the floor. Primarily, this was carpeted, though I also moved my setup into the hallway to test movement and feel on a hard, laminate floor.

Read more about how we test

First reviewed September 2025

Categories: Reviews

I spent a week playing EA Sports FC 26, and I’m baffled that EA has found new ways to make me care

TechRadar Reviews - Fri, 09/19/2025 - 11:00

Review info

Platform reviewed: PS5
Available on: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
Release date: Early Access: September 19, 2025 | Full release: September 26, 2025

Developer and publisher EA’s marquee sports franchise is in a strangely privileged position. For years, FIFA fans lambasted the developer for wheeling out what seemed like the same game in a fresh lick of paint, and while the newer EA Sports FC titles haven’t exactly rewritten the FIFA rulebook, they have felt like more complete, harder-to-criticize packages overall.

Why? Because a decade’s worth of minor tweaks is bound to add up to something great. As I wrote in my EA Sports FC 25 review this time last year, “it feels like we’ve reached a point where the overall FC experience is so good that it’s hard to chastise EA for making small improvements to an already excellent foundation,” and the latest entry in this long-running series, EA Sports FC 26, is shielded by the same safety blanket.

FC 26 is not a dramatically different offering from what’s come before, but it is an objectively better game than FC 25 in a few key ways.

There’s a brand new gameplay option for slower, more realism-focused offline play, a clever real-world integration for Career Mode, and meaningful player-requested changes for Ultimate Team (FUT) and Clubs. The graphics have never been better, and, of course, there’s the customary thrill of using up-to-date players, in up-to-date kits, at up-to-date clubs.

None of these upgrades are particularly flashy; they’re more under-the-surface than something you can advertise in a TV spot. But (I promise!) they do bring new, unexpected depth to EA’s tried-and-tested modes – particularly Career Mode, which feels closer to Football Manager than it’s ever been (complimentary).

Keeping it real

Cole Palmer in EA Sports FC 26 (Image credit: EA Sports)

If you pressed EA to tell you this year’s single biggest FC upgrade, it would probably say “the overhauled gameplay experience powered by feedback from the FC Community.” That sounds like marketing mumbo jumbo, but FC 26 genuinely does play better than FC 25 for a number of reasons.

There are fewer bounce-backs this year (read: matches feel less like a game of pinball), dribbling is more responsive, it’s easier to change direction, goalkeepers no longer parry the ball straight into your opponent’s lap (or rather, they do so less frequently), and, mercifully, headers are now scorable again.

These were the five most tangible gameplay improvements I noticed during my short time with FC 26 ahead of launch, though EA also says that tackles are cleaner, interceptions are more controlled, passes are quicker, and skills are easier to perform.

Some of the best players in EA Sports FC 26 (Image credit: EA Sports)

Players with high dribbling stats definitely feel more powerful in FC 26. The likes of Lamine Yamal, Cole Palmer, and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia are now just as fun to play with as they are to watch in real life, and while pace freaks like Kylian Mbappé and Vinícius Júnior will undoubtedly remain the weapon of choice for FUT loyalists, it’s nice that more of the world’s best players feel genuinely threatening in-game. There’s a new Gamechanger PlayStyle for flair finishers like Yamal, too, which feels like a cheat code when paired with existing dribble-focused PlayStyles like Technical+.

EA has also rolled a bundle of realism-focused tweaks into an entirely new gameplay preset called Authentic Gameplay. An optional mode in Kick-Off and Career Mode, Authentic is tuned for higher realism and true-to-life match speed; dribbling is slower, tackles are more violent, AI defenders are smarter, and rebounds, blocks, and bounces are more unpredictable. In other words, Authentic is a slower, harder, but (in my experience) more rewarding gameplay experience than Competitive, which is the faster-paced gameplay preset locked to online modes like FUT and Clubs.

Just look – look! – at Marc Cucurella's in-game hair in EA Sports FC 26 (Image credit: EA Sports / Future)

In Authentic, it’s much easier to keep hold of possession for long spells, and much harder to slip players in behind using L1. It’s also nigh-on impossible to burst away from defenders with pacey players, which – as in real life – encourages you to aim for space (I do expect EA to tweak the latter aspect in the coming weeks, though, as Mbappé should be able to leave Francesco Acerbi for dead, regardless of the game mode).

It’s true that previous FC games (and indeed previous FIFA games) featured a Simulation preset that, in theory, imposed similar realism-focused gameplay changes. But toggling this option always felt like spiking your players with horse tranquilizer. Yes, in FC 26, Authentic Gameplay feels slower than its Competitive counterpart, but it doesn’t throw the whole FC experience out of kilter. I like it a lot.

Board Expectations 2.0

The Manager Live Hub in EA Sports FC 26 (Image credit: EA Sports / Future)

Career Mode is the perfect place to give Authentic Gameplay a spin, and EA has sprinkled some great new features into its decades-old take on Football Manager.

The headline addition is Manager Live, which evolves last year’s Live Start Points mechanic into a series of full-blown, inspired-by-real-life challenges. Manager Live is essentially Manager Career, but you commit to fulfilling certain objectives or storylines in a given number of seasons. The catch? Each challenge imposes a unique set of feature restrictions and operating conditions, meaning it’s harder to cheese your way to victory by buying the best players or never rotating your squad.

For instance, one Manager Live challenge – Winning With Youth – tasks you with finishing at least eighth in any European league while only playing players under the age of 24 and not signing any players under the age of 21. Another – European Royalty – challenges you to win the UEFA Super Cup twice in three years with increased referee strictness and no ability to restart matches. These feats are harder to complete than they sound, and they force you to think more like a real-life manager under similar real-life pressures.

The Icon and Heroes selection in my edition of EA Sports FC 26 (Image credit: EA Sports / Future)

By completing Manager Live challenges, you can earn classic kits and, for the first time, the ability to play with Icon and Hero players in regular Manager Career. I haven’t yet had enough time with FC 26 to complete one of these multi-season challenges, but luckily, my Ultimate Edition version of the game included three Career-ready Icons straight out of the box (you best believe Fernando Torres went straight into my 2025 Chelsea side).

Other neat updates for regular Career Mode include Manager Market and Unexpected Events. The former gives managers their own Manager Profile and Job Security rating, and you can track which coaches are untouchable, under pressure, or seeking new opportunities throughout the season in a dedicated Manager Market menu. Previously, you’d have to hope and pray that your next role of choice would appear in the hard-to-find Vacancies tab, but now, you can track your dream managerial job and react accordingly.

The Manager Market interface in EA Sports FC 26 (Image credit: EA Sports / Future)

Unexpected Events are exactly what they sound like: random scenarios (positive or negative) that test your adaptability as a manager. Events like Abrupt Retirement, Urgent Family Leave, and Budget Malfunction bring new dynamism to long seasons, where previously, you’d only have the odd player injury or contract negotiation to contend with. Again, this is another small-but-welcome change.

No more rage quits?

Live Events are a new addition to Ultimate Team in EA Sports FC 26 (Image credit: EA Sports)

For FUT fans, those aforementioned gameplay tweaks will prove the most meaningful change (the improvements made to goalkeeper parries, in particular, should reduce the number of rage quits considerably). But EA has also reintroduced Tournaments under a new Live Events banner in FC 26, while Gauntlets force you to rotate your FUT squad in every round, encouraging you to build two competition-ready XIs. During my pre-launch testing, I only had one live Live Event available – the Early Access Elimination tournament – but three more were listed as ‘upcoming’ post-launch.

Other changes include the removal of Rivals qualifiers, the addition of a second tier of Weekend League, and – finally! – fairer consequences if your opponent disconnects from a match by any method: yes, you’ll be awarded the win if the score is a draw.

Best bit

(Image credit: EA Sports FC 26)

Hitting my first trivela assist with Lamine Yamal after beating three defenders using the Technical+ playstyle. These types of moments felt harder to pull off in previous games, but FC 26 actively encourages them.

Those Live Events now feature in Clubs, too, as does a new Archetypes system for developing your Pro, which encourages you to pick a specific style of play (Magician, Creator, Engine, and so on) and run with it. You can choose more than one Archetype (once you’ve unlocked more), but each Archetype progresses separately, so you’ll need to play multiple matches with each one to level them up.

Honestly, I’m not too sure about this new system. Previously, you were able to change your Pro build on the fly to suit the needs of any given position, or just to mix things up. In FC 26, you’ll be able to get really good at being one type of player, but then be forced back to square one if you join a squad that necessitates a position change.

I’m intrigued to see how longtime Clubs fans take to this new progression system – though any annoyances might be offset by the long-awaited ability to join multiple clubs in FC 26.

Should I play EA Sports FC 26?

Ronaldo Nazário in EA Sports FC 26 (Image credit: EA Sports) Play it if…

You want a more in-depth Career Mode experience
The Authentic Gameplay preset, coupled with the new Manager Live challenges, makes Career Mode the best it’s ever been.

You love FUT, but hate the rage it leads to
EA has taken strides to make FUT a less rage-inducing experience. Gameplay is more enjoyable, and disconnection consequences have been made fairer.

You want the best-looking football simulator
I say this every year, but EA Sports FC 26 is the best-looking football game EA has ever made. Just look at those hair physics.

Don’t play it if…

You’re looking for a dramatically different experience
EA Sports FC 26 brings meaningful tweaks to tried-and-tested modes, but you won’t find radical surface-level changes here.

Accessibility

The Accessibility menu in EA Sports FC 26 (Image credit: EA Sports / Future)

EA Sports FC 26 offers a comprehensive suite of accessibility options, including settings for subtitles, button remapping, color blindness, and increasing the size of the player indicator. It also introduces a dedicated High Contrast Mode for low-vision and cognitively disabled players. All of these accessibility options can be found in a dedicated Accessibility Settings tab. The game has six difficulty levels – Beginner, Amateur, Semi-Pro, Professional, World Class, Legendary, and Ultimate – and features support for 21 languages.

How I tested EA Sports FC 26

I played EA Sports FC 26 for five days ahead of its official release. During that time, I had access to all modes and features and was able to compete against real-world players who also had early access to the game (before the start of EA’s Early Access promotion).

I played on PS5, using a standard DualSense controller, on a Samsung QN95A Neo QLED 4K TV. I’ve played every EA Sports football title since FIFA 13, and also reviewed FIFA 22, FIFA 23, EA Sports FC 24, and EA Sports FC 25 for TechRadar Gaming.

First reviewed September 2025.

Categories: Reviews

Squarespace review 2025

TechRadar Reviews - Fri, 09/19/2025 - 01:54

Squarespace is a designer-friendly no-code platform with great aesthetics that consistently ranks among the best website builder platforms on the market. With its sleek templates and comprehensive feature set, Squarespace positions itself as an all-in-one solution for creating stylish and functional websites with minimal effort.

Over the years, Techradar has spent thousands of hours testing 140+ website builders, making our reviewers the leading experts in what makes a platform exceptional. Squarespace stands out to us for its award-winning templates, which can be modified down to the last pixel thanks to a powerful block-based editor.

Wix remains our top pick for the best website builder of 2025, thanks to a slightly higher number of features at a reduced price point. But, Squarespace's new Blueprint AI and Design Intelligence tools make it a close competitor that gives the former a good run for its money.

Squarespace: 2-minute review

Squarespace is a complete website builder, with everything you would expect from one of the best-known names in the industry. This includes a range of stunning website templates, a full AI website builder, ecommerce features including payment gateway integrations, marketing tools, analytics, and the ability to integrate with select 3rd party services.

The platform was originally built to serve the blogging space but is now capable of hosting practically any type of website from ecommerce stores to freelancer portfolios. Despite the platform's growth, it stays true to its roots by continuing to offer some of the more aesthetically pleasing website templates available.

Squarespace isn’t the cheapest website builder, but it is fairly priced when compared with competitors with similar features, tools, and ease of use. Its entry level plan starts at $16/mo with an annual plan, which is in the same ballpark as Wix ($17/mo) and Hostinger ($11.99/mo). Plus, you can take advantage of a 14-day free trial to test it out, although unlike Wix, it doesn’t offer a forever-free version.

Overall, Squarespace is a safe bet for those looking for an easy to use website builder with all the features most businesses will ever need.

What is Squarespace?

Squarespace is a website builder that helps you create professional websites without coding. It’s like a digital canvas where you can design your online presence. You can use pre-made templates and customize them to fit your vision. Whether you want a blog, portfolio, or online store, Squarespace has all the tools you need.

When you sign up, you can choose from over 180 designer-made templates or use their AI-powered Blueprint tool for a custom design. After that, you can easily add your content, change colors and fonts, and arrange elements with its drag-and-drop editor. Squarespace takes care of technical details like hosting and security, so you don’t have to stress about them.

What’s great about Squarespace for beginners is that everything is in one package. This includes domain registration, cloud hosting, design tools, and a CMS. The all-in-one approach saves you from juggling services from different providers, which can be overwhelming when starting out.

Recent updates

Squarespace 7.1 represents a fundamental shift in the platform's design philosophy, moving away from fixed template families to a highly flexible design system powered by Fluid Engine. This introduces a grid-based editing system that allows users to drag, drop, and layer content blocks with unprecedented freedom, essentially transforming every website into a custom design canvas with zero template limitations.

Design

The Fluid Engine editor enables independent mobile and desktop layout design, giving users granular control over how their content appears across different devices, a significant improvement from the previous version where mobile layouts were automatically generated.

Squarespace 7.1 introduces Auto Layouts that intelligently present content sets, gallery sections for cohesive image displays, and advanced visual effects like Block Pinning for split-scrolling and Text Highlights for emphasizing selected content.

Content management

We found the new page section functionality particularly impressive, as it allows users to divide content into distinct sections with unique design, layout, and styling options. This is a major improvement from 7.0's single content area limitation. They also added Saved Sections functionality in May 2025, enabling users to create reusable design components across multiple pages, speeding up the design workflow for both beginners and professionals.

Ecommerce

For ecommerce users, 7.1 delivers substantial improvements in selling capabilities and product management. The platform now supports up to 10,000 products per page (compared to 200 in version 7.0) and 250 variants per product (up from 100), while introducing nested category navigation and optimized mobile scrolling for longer product descriptions. Product waitlists, previously available only on specific templates, are now accessible across all websites.

However, it's worth noting that Squarespace recently implemented Products V2 with a mandatory migration deadline of August 30, 2025, requiring users with custom code targeting product pages to update their implementations to maintain functionality.

Support

Security and support options have been strengthened through Squarespace's dedicated security team implementing enhanced technical and organizational measures updated in January 2025. The platform maintains a risk-based security approach with continuous monitoring, red team exercises, and threat modeling for new system developments, ensuring robust protection for both company and customer assets.

Integration capabilities have also evolved, though 7.1 maintains Squarespace's philosophy of relying primarily on native tools rather than extensive third-party integrations, which some users find limiting compared to competitors but ensures better stability and support.

Partner program

The platform's recent major update arrived in September 2025 with the launch of Squarespace for Pros, unveiled during Circle Day 2025. This professional-grade experience introduces Finish Layer Design Tools with interactive block animations, customizable transforms (opacity, rotation, offset), and the ability to import external fonts for complete brand consistency.

It also includes integrated practice management for project oversight and client collaboration, plus expanded Circle partner program benefits representing Squarespace's most significant investment to date in supporting professional designers and agencies. However, you should be aware that upgrading from classic editor sections to Fluid Engine is irreversible and may break custom CSS implementations.

Note: Upgrading to the 7.1 version of Squarespace is entirely optional for now. While new users get introduced to Squarespace 7.1 by default, existing website owners can choose to keep the legacy version of the website builder, along with all its existing features and support.

Features

Squarespace provides a wide range of features for different website needs. (Image credit: Squarespace)

Squarespace has always offered some of the best website templates on the market, making it a firm favourite amongst creatives such as artists and photographers. Anyone looking for a stunning website should seriously consider Squarespace.

Owain Williams, Website Builder Editor

Squarespace provides a wide range of features for different website needs. At the heart of the platform is a powerful drag-and-drop editor with a smart grid system. This helps keep your design elements aligned. You’ll also find over 180 professionally designed templates. These templates are great starting points for creating stunning websites. They feature a modern, minimalist design with plenty of white space and room for photos.

If you want to sell online, Squarespace offers strong ecommerce tools in its Business plans. You can sell physical and digital products, offer subscriptions, and create discounts. It even helps with abandoned cart recovery emails and social media sales. The platform supports various payment methods, such as PayPal, Stripe, and Square, and includes automatic tax calculations. However, these ecommerce features come at a higher price compared to some competitors.

In 2023, Squarespace introduced Blueprint AI, which streamlines website creation. This AI system guides users through five simple steps to create a personalized website. It also generates content with its AI text generator. We found this feature helpful for beginners facing the "blank page" anxiety. Still, the AI-generated templates seem basic compared to Squarespace's professionally designed options.

The platform has specialized tools like Acuity Scheduling for booking appointments, available for $16 a month. It also offers portfolio collections for showcasing work and various blocks to enhance user experience, like search and archive functions. While Squarespace includes many built-in features, it mainly relies on its own tools. This limits extensive third-party integrations in most areas. Squarespace’s pricing ranges from $16 to $52 per month (billed annually). Although it's a premium price, the quality of design and features usually justify the investment for users.

Tools

Over the years, Squarespace has stacked on a bunch of different tools and add-ons to make its website builder more lucrative. (Image credit: Squarespace)

Over the years, Squarespace has stacked on a bunch of different tools and add-ons to make its website builder more lucrative. This includes everything from SEO features to help you optimize your content strategy to AI tools for assistive design suggestions.

Blogging

Squarespace is well known for being one of the best blogging sites around. So, if you’re into blogging, you’ll be glad to hear that Squarespace provides a full set of blogging features such as built-in blog pages, a comment section, and content promotion tools. However, if you’re making a blog as a means of making money, Squarespace shouldn’t be your first choice. First off, to get hold of ecommerce features, you’ll have to purchase the “Business” plan or up, and it will set you back $23 per month (if you subscribe for a year) or $36 for one month.

Ecommerce

The Business plan (and up) will also let you integrate a shopping cart into your website with ease, as well as sell physical products, digital downloads, online services, and subscriptions. However, if we take the 3% transaction fee on sales and the plan’s initial price tag into account, this solution doesn’t seem particularly pocket-friendly.

Also, Squarespace isn’t as strong as some of its competitor (like Shopify) when it comes to shipping and payment options – for instance, manual payments isn’t an option and you can’t sell in multiple currencies.

SEO and marketing

Squarespace also offers superb Search Engine Optimization (SEO) features, which will help you get your site in front of your core audience. There are multiple options for social media marketing, email marketing, and custom post designs. Not only are these tools powerful, but they are easy to use - this makes it one of the best small business website builders on the market.

AI tools

Although Squarespace’s AI offering isn’t quite as advanced as some competitors such as Wix and Hostinger, it does offer a host of helpful AI-powered tools that will make creating your website a breeze.

The list starts with the option to use AI to get your initial website set up. If you select this option Squarespace will ask you a few questions such as the name of your site, which sections and pages you want on your website, which colors and fonts you want to use, and then use your answers to build your site.

Like with most AI website builders, the results are a little generic and will need some editing. Luckily, Squarespace also offers some AI tools to help you do this. For example, you can use an AI copywriter to help you complete your site's written content. A similar tool can be used to create product descriptions, which can be a lifesaver for large online stores.

Finally, Squarespace also offers AI-powered branding and email marketing tools, helping you make the right impression and getting you in front of the right people.

Integrations

Squarespace doesn’t take too kindly to third-party tools – while there’s a decent variety of versatile tools it’s not up to scratch – so, you might feel like you’re stuck with Squarespace's ecosystem.

Website editor

We should also talk about Squarespace’s up-to-date, drag-and-drop editor called Fluid Engine, a superior version to their old editor. As soon as you add an element or change something on the template you’re using, it will become visible straight away. It also offers a decent level of customization choices, so you can adjust your template to suit your needs and desires.

The only major drawback is that you can’t place elements (such as images or text) wherever you want them to be - you can position them in pre-built places bounded by grid lines. Also, while you’ll be prompted to save your site after each change, you won’t enjoy the convince of the autosave functionality.

Ease of use

Of all the website builders we have tested, Squarespace ranks as one of the easiest to use. (Image credit: Squarespace)

Of all the website builders we have tested, Squarespace ranks as one of the easiest to use. Its drag-and-drop editor balances simplicity and functionality. This makes it great for beginners but still offers depth for experienced users. The clean, minimalist interface removes clutter. It shows only the tools you need, like the option to add a new section, which appears when you hover over an existing section.

Getting started with Squarespace is easy. During onboarding, you answer a few questions about your website's purpose and goals. This helps the platform tailor its recommendations to your needs. The 14-day free trial lets you explore without rushing into a paid plan. We liked that no credit card is needed to start the trial, allowing risk-free experimentation.

Squarespace emphasizes user experience (UX) principles, evident in how the platform works and the sites it creates. The editor uses a smart grid system to align elements. This helps beginners create visually balanced pages. Real-time previews show how your changes affect your site, making the design process dynamic. However, some users notice lag or unresponsiveness with larger, content-heavy websites.

The platform includes accessibility features through its All in One Accessibility Widget. This makes your website more usable for people with various disabilities, including visual, hearing, motor, and cognitive impairments. Yet while customization is simple, Squarespace has limits. Once you pick a template, you can't switch to another without rebuilding your site. And some advanced customizations need CSS or JavaScript knowledge, which is only available on higher-tier plans.

Pricing

With Squarespace, you can choose between four all-in-one plans ranging from $16 to $52 per month. (Image credit: Squarespace)

Plan

Monthly cost (paid monthly)

Monthly cost (paid annually)

Personal

$25

$16

Business

$36

$23

Commerce (Basic)

$40

$28

Commerce (Advanced)

$72

$52

The site builder’s price tag is on par with similar all-in-one solutions on the market and it provides plenty of bang for the buck. However, if you only wanted a pocket-friendly site builder without other components of Squarespace, we’re sorry to say you won’t find this here.

If you’re in for an all-in-one solution, you can choose between four plans ranging from $16 to $52 per month, if you opt for an annual billing option, that is. If you choose a one-month-only option, the price will spike significantly.

While Squarespace doesn’t offer a forever-free edition of its site builder, there is a 14-day free trial with all four plans and no credit card details are required. It is also worth mentioning that you can often save on your subscription by using Squarespace promo codes and/or signing up for a longer period of time.

As for payment methods, Squarespace accepts all major credit/debit cards (Visa, Mastercard, and American Express included), JCB, Diners Club (in USD only), and SEPA direct debit (in EUR only). As you already suspect, you can’t pay via PayPal or Bitcoin (BTC).

For a more detailed review the plans available on Squarespace you can read our full Squarespace pricing guide.

Integrations

Squarespace takes a curated approach to integrations, offering built-in connectivity to carefully selected platforms rather than an open marketplace of third-party apps. The platform provides what it calls "Connected Services," which are seamlessly integrated into the core Squarespace experience.

This includes essential tools for payment processing (Stripe, PayPal, Square), shipping carriers (FedEx, UPS, USPS), social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Vimeo), and marketing services (Google Analytics, Mailchimp, Facebook Pixel). We find that this approach ensures reliable performance and support, though it may feel limiting compared to platforms that offer thousands of third-party integrations.

But for automation enthusiasts, Squarespace also supports Zapier integration, which opens up connectivity to over 1,000 additional 3rd-party apps and services. Through Zapier, users can create automated workflows (called "Zaps") that trigger when specific events occur on their Squarespace site, such as new form submissions, newsletter signups, or product purchases. Common automation scenarios include adding new form submissions to Google Sheets, creating CRM entries in Salesforce or HubSpot, sending notifications to Slack, or adding contacts to email marketing platforms like ConvertKit.

Finally, Squarespace offers API access for developers looking to build custom integrations, though this requires technical expertise. API key generation is possible through the platform's developer settings. It uses OAuth 2.0 authentication and provides REST endpoints for managing content, products, orders, and inventory.

Developers can access endpoints for site-level configurations, e-commerce functionality, and content management, enabling custom solutions for businesses with specific integration needs. This is useful for connecting Squarespace to enterprise systems like ERPs, CRMs, or custom fulfillment services that aren't available through the standard integrations.

Security

Squarespace websites are all kept on secure with SSL certificates, two-factor authentication (2FA), and protection against distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. (Image credit: Squarespace)

Squarespace websites are all kept on secure with SSL certificates, two-factor authentication (2FA), protection against distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, and a login activity panel. While the activity log won’t protect your site by itself, it’ll help you discover if any logins were made from suspicious or unknown devices.

Squarespace’s security staff is monitoring all Squarespace sites round-the-clock for threats and vulnerabilities to make sure your site is properly protected. Still, if you discover a vulnerability, you can report it to the security staff and they’ll conduct their investigation on it.

Customer support

You can seek assistance from Squarespace’s support staff via live chat, email, and X (Twitter). (Image credit: Squarespace)

If you get stuck somewhere during your Squarespace journey, you can seek assistance from their support staff via live chat, email, and X (Twitter). Sadly, phone support isn’t available.

Live chat is available Monday to Friday, 4 AM to 8 PM, ET, and once you contact the staff, someone will get back to you in a matter of minutes. In contrast, email support is available 24/7, but the response time can sometimes be sluggish.

As for self-service, you can visit the Help Center which contains a well-supplied knowledge base, video guides, and an avidly active community forum you can conveniently browse by topics.

Alternatives

As we noted earlier, Wix is an awesome alternative for those who want to build their site on a tight budget or entirely free — it even offers a forever-free edition of its site builder for personal use. Plus, it’s super simple to use, packed with features, and provides automatic backups.

If you’re searching for a cheap yet endlessly customizable site builder, WordPress is the solution of choice. Since it’s an open-sourced software, it has thousands of themes, templates, plugins, how-to guides, and a committed community that can lend you a helping hand. While it’s not as beginner-friendly as Squarespace or Wix, it makes up for it with a fabulous level of flexibility and freedom.

Finally, Shopify is built for ecommerce from the ground up, so if an ecommerce solution is what you’re looking for, it might be the best choice. Squarespace offers all essential ecommerce features, but it’s still better suited for a professional site or a blog.

How we tested Squarespace

To test the Squarespace website builder, we started by setting up an account. We then got hands-on with the tools and features available when building a website on the platform. This included exploring the various available website templates, SEO and marketing tools, and testing the drag-and-drop website editor.

We also reviewed the available plans, comparing their pricing and what they include. Finally, we researched what level of help and support is available to users and how the platform protects users’ websites from security threats.

You can learn more about how we test website builders with our full guide.

Summary

Squarespace is a splendid, simple-to-use site builder with terrific templates and it gets better each time a new version crops up. Hitting high marks in all major areas, Squarespace site builder qualifies as an amazing all-arounder in the market, and it’s also fit for small and mid-sized online stores.

Their website builder comes packed with tools and features such as email marketing, an SSL certificate, and options for mobile responsive templates - giving you everything you need to launch and grow your website in one convenient space.

However, Squarespace keeps its users on a short leash with a low level of customization and the inability to switch between templates without starting from scratch. Also, the lack of auto-save features makes it less convenient than some of its competitors.

Squarespace: FAQsDoes Squarespace have a free plan?

No, unlike some other website builders, Squarespace doesn’t have a free plan. However, it does offer a free 14-day trial. This offers you the opportunity to test out the platform to make sure it is the right one for you.

Does Squarespace charge a transaction fee on sales?

It depends on the plan you pick.

The Business plan ($23/mo paid annually) is the cheapest plan which offers the full range of ecommerce functionality but charges a 3% transaction fee for physical products and services sold via the site. Both the Commerce plans (Basic ($27/mo paid annually) and Advanced ($49/mo paid annually)) charge a 0% transaction fee.

So, at just $4 extra a month, most ecommerce businesses would benefit from investing in the Commerce plan. But you will need to do the math to decide which one works best for you.

Can I get a discount on a Squarespace plan?

Yes, we keep track of all the latest Squarespace voucher codes.

Is Squarespace better than Wix?

Well, it depends on what you’re looking for in a site builder. Wix offers more templates overall, but the ones you’ll get with Squarespace look better. Also, Wix has a forever-free edition, while with Squarespace you can make use of a 14-day free trial, and that’s about it.

Both site builders are easy to use, offer robust ecommerce features, and provide superb value for money. However, Wix is cheaper while Squarespace has more additional tools for growing your site.

Is Squarespace good for beginners?

Yes, Squarespace is one of the best site builders for beginners. Its intuitive, drag-and-drop editor is backed by simple-to-follow guides in case you get stuck. And if that doesn’t do the trick, you can rely on rather responsive customer support staff.

What are the downsides of using Squarespace?

The primary drawbacks of using Squarespace are the shortage of customization capabilities, the absence of auto-save features, and the lack of phone support. Also, there are cheaper options around and some of them offer a free edition of their site builders too.

Categories: Reviews

Midnight Murder Club is a lot of fun – but only if you can convince your friends to join in

TechRadar Reviews - Thu, 09/18/2025 - 17:00

Midnight Murder Club is a bite-sized first-person shooter with a unique premise that makes it worth trying out.

Set in a pitch black mansion, this PS5 exclusive (well, console exclusive) challenges you to track other players using only the light from a small torch and audio cues like muffled footsteps, the creaking sound of doors opening, and overheard conversations through proximity chat.

Review info

Platform reviewed: PS5
Available on: PC, PS5
Release date: August 14, 2025

When you have a full match of six players all using their microphones, the atmosphere is absolutely electric. There’s serious tension as you creep around, which always gives way to pure chaos once the shooting starts. If you’re looking for something to try on your next night of gaming with friends, then you can certainly do much worse for the modest $9.99 / £8.99 asking price. There’s even a ‘Guest Pass’ feature that lets your buddies join in completely for free, which is appreciated.

Unfortunately, the experience falls apart when you don’t have a dedicated group. Finding online matches is almost impossible thanks to a tiny pool of players just a few weeks after launch, and the few offline modes, while a decent starter course, won’t keep you entertained for long.

Lights out

(Image credit: Sony)

Midnight Murder Club offers a total of five player-versus-player (PvP) game modes, and while they follow the same general format, a few unique mechanics keep each one interesting.

The main mode is called Wildcards and features three teams of two players vying for the most kills. At the start of the match, every player selects a titular wildcard from a deck, each one boasting a unique effect. This ranges from simple bonuses like faster reload speeds and more effective flashlights to whackier options like a card that turns every gunshot into a loud jazz trumpet toot or another that gives everyone massive heads.

The chosen wildcards affect all players, leading to some enjoyably bonkers combinations. More cards are unlocked with each completed match, too, giving you at least a small reason to keep coming back for more.

Best bit

(Image credit: Sony)

Nothing quite compares to the satisfaction of nailing a foe using nothing but sound. Hearing footsteps and taking a risky shot only for it to instantly pay off is fantastic every time.

The other modes on offer are a standard free-for-all and team deathmatch, and more exciting ‘Thief in the Night’ and ‘Headhunters’, which see you clamoring to collect valuable skull fragments or destroying evil totems, respectively.

You start off each game armed with a basic revolver that has unlimited ammunition in most modes, but vending machines littered around the map give you access to more powerful machine guns and deadly traps like falling chandeliers. Getting gear from vendors doesn't cost money, but rather produces a huge amount of light and noise - forcing you to weigh up whether the gear on offer is worth exposing your position.

Your flashlight presents much the same risk-versus-reward proposition. Levels are completely pitch black without it on, so it's necessary to navigate unless you want to spend most of your time running into walls. Beams of light make it easy to track your location, though, and if you blindly shoot where one is coming from, more often than not, you'll bag an easy elimination.

Dead silence

(Image credit: Sony)

Voice chat is a key part of Midnight Murder Club, and coordinating with your team is almost vital for success. It relies on a proximity chat system, where your DualSense Wireless Controller or PS5 headset is constantly broadcasting your voice to nearby players - whether friend or foe.

Turning off your flashlight and following the sound of other players’ voices for a sneak melee attack is a constant source of devilish satisfaction - particularly when you get to hear their panicked screams as you strike.

Although proximity chat can be a lot of fun, its inclusion does present some risks when you're playing with strangers. I was particularly impressed to see an ‘Auto Scramble’ feature that automatically distorts the voices of anyone who's not on your team.

You can still decipher general emotions, but individual words are impossible to make out - an innovative and practical addition that I'd love to see in other online games.

(Image credit: Sony)

Unfortunately, there are few opportunities to use this as the online matchmaking situation is dire. I’ve been trying to find matches every day for weeks, and it’s borderline impossible to find a full lobby.

To make matters worse, players frequently drop out of matches, and the peer-to-peer hosting means that massive lag spikes are common.

There are some single-player options here, like the ability to play Wildcards against bots or mow down computer-controlled enemies in the stages of the usually two-player Graveyard Shift mode, but they’re very limited, and you really need a large group of friends to make the most of it.

Although there is cross-platform support, players who try the game on PC will have to log in with a PlayStation account in addition to a Steam one. Given this is a PlayStation published game, this does make some sense, but it’s still incredibly annoying in a game that would otherwise be easy to pick up and play.

A few of the friends I had lined up to join me didn’t already have access to PlayStation accounts and weren't willing to fork their email addresses over to Sony for what might be a single night of gaming, so they ended up wanting to play something else. When finding matches is already so difficult, this seems a bit like the developers shooting themselves in the foot.

All of this leaves Midnight Murder Club difficult to wholeheartedly recommend. It can be a fantastic time, provided you’re able to find a full lobby - which is almost impossible if you’re not playing with friends. It’s only really worth picking up if you have a group of five buddies eager to squad up.

Should I play Midnight Murder Club?Play it if…

You want something to play with up to five friends
If you’re searching for a game to play with a group of up to five friends, then Midnight Murder Club is worth a look. It’s a lot of fun if you’re able to fill a room.

You’re after a new party game
Likewise, if you regularly play games with a group and want a nice change of pace from your usual favorites, the low asking price of Midnight Murder Club will be tempting.

You want to try every PlayStation exclusive
Midnight Murder Club is a PlayStation console exclusive, so it’s a must-have if you’re keen to try every unique experience that Sony’s system has to offer.

Don’t play it if…

Your friends won’t make a PlayStation account
The requirement for a PlayStation account on PC is frustrating, especially when your friends aren’t keen to make one.

You want to play solo
As a multiplayer focused game, Midnight Murder Club is of limited value if you intend to play alone.

Accessibility features

There are a few accessibility features in Midnight Murder Club.

You can customize the colors of in-game teams to make them easier to see and invert your camera controls. Most button inputs can also be tweaked on PS5, allowing you to rebind them as needed.

(Image credit: Sony)How I reviewed Midnight Murder Club

I played Midnight Murder Club for almost four hours on PS5 using the DualSense Wireless Controller and a pair of Final VR500 gaming earbuds.

In that time, I played a variety of matches online and explored all of its single-player modes. For communication, I relied on the microphone built into the controller.

First reviewed August 2025

Categories: Reviews

Dying Light: The Beast dials up the horror and keeps the parkouring, zombie-bashing action – and it's a blast

TechRadar Reviews - Thu, 09/18/2025 - 11:00

Alright, I'm just gonna get straight to the point: did you love the first two Dying Light games? You did? Okay, I'll save you some time - you're definitely going to enjoy Techland's latest instalment in its survival zombie game series, Dying Light: The Beast.

Review info

Platform reviewed: PC
Available on: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC
Release date: September 18, 2025

There's enough to set The Beast apart from its predecessors, even if it follows the same broad gameplay template and stars returning leading man Kyle Crane, protagonist of the original game and its expansion, The Following.

Things didn't go so great for Kyle the first time around; in the (now canon) ending of The Following, he ended up betrayed, infected, captured, and used as an unwilling test subject. The viral outbreak has gone worldwide, and 90% of the global population is dead or infected.

More than a full in-universe decade later, he breaks out of a mysterious laboratory, and we’re off to the races once again: time to bash some skulls with improvised melee weapons and parkour your way across the rooftops like a bloodlusted Sébastien Foucan. Dying Light: The Beast isn't overly concerned with being serious or grounded; we're here for a little bit of the ol’ ultraviolence, and boy, is it fun.

Worlds apart

The setting might be calmer, but the infected certainly aren't. (Image credit: Techland)

Considering that Dying Light: The Beast was purportedly originally planned as extra downloadable content (DLC) to Dying Light 2, it sure as hell has a good amount of content in it. Instead of the more urban settings of the first two games, The Beast takes place in the cozy woodland resort town of Castor Woods, nestled in a valley in an alpine landscape.

Well, I say ‘cozy’ - it's not exactly a pleasant place to be by the time Kyle breaks loose. Hordes of poor infected souls roam the cobbled streets and forest underbrush, deadly mutant variants stalk the night, and a rogue paramilitary group commanded by a villainous oligarch is attempting to seize control of the region. So far, so Dying Light.

Castor Woods is the perfect divergence from Harran and Villedor, the city settings of the first two games. (Image credit: Techland)

But the shift to a more rural setting proves to be exactly the injection of freshness this series needed. The map isn't particularly large, but it's big enough to make navigating on foot take a while, and the focus on urban verticality is lessened here. Yes, there are still pylons and watchtowers for Kyle to clamber up, but also more wide-open spaces, divided by trees and thick bushes that make ambushes a constant threat to the unwary explorer. The woodland environments are also beautiful, as is the primary settlement, the Old Town, crumbling in its majesty as nature begins to reclaim it.

Parkour is still alive and well in The Beast. The Old Town is a fantastically dense environment, full of telephone poles and open windows that form a perfect obstacle course when you're running for your life from an angry Volatile.

But even beyond the built-up areas, there are branches to swing on and rocky cliff faces to climb, and the grappling hook makes a welcome return too, helping you more rapidly circumnavigate your hostile surroundings. Sadly, the glider from Dying Light 2: Stay Human doesn't make an appearance, but that's understandable given the less vertical nature of this locale.

Night falls

Keep an eye on the time: once night falls, you'll need to be extra cautious or seek shelter. (Image credit: Techland)

There's another significant factor that differentiates The Beast’s setting from the first two games, though it doesn't become apparent until after sunset. In the first two games, you were never that far from a light source, be it a trashcan fire or the headlights of an abandoned vehicle (or simply bright moonlight). Here, when it gets dark, it gets dark.

When the sun goes down, getting around without using your trusty flashlight is night-impossible - though of course, using it runs the risk of attracting powerful, dangerous zombies called Volatiles, who retain their mechanics from the previous titles. Alerting one immediately triggers a chase, at which point your best option is to sprint full-pelt back to the protective UV lights of the nearest safehouse; Volatiles are fast, aggressive, and very hard to kill without some serious weapon upgrades.

Best Bit

(Image credit: Techland)

The first sunset you see is truly beautiful - but any series fan will already know the terrors that nightfall heralds.

This oppressive darkness, combined with the visceral gore and bleak yet beautiful Alpine ambience, makes The Beast feel a lot more horror-adjacent than previous entries into the series. It's a welcome shift in tone - not a full swerve into horror since Kyle remains an absolute murder machine, but definitely a darker vibe that I greatly enjoyed as a lifelong lover of the genre.

Narratively, it's fine. The story is a fairly by-the-numbers adventure, with no huge twists that weren't so obvious a blind man could see them a mile off. The characters are a rogue’s gallery of familiar tropes - the no-nonsense sheriff, the bespectacled physics geek, the sage old black dude, the cartoonishly evil Baron - and the dialogue is… well, the voice acting is decent, at least.

I don't mind the predictability of it all, though; the main plot has a schlocky, B-movie feel that is actually fairly endearing. The Beast isn't interested in telling a fantastically deep and thought-provoking tale; at the end of the day, every cutscene is just a vehicle to deliver Kyle and his huge biceps to the next group of infected or soldiers he has to brutalize.

Old dog, new tricks

Yes, that is an infected soldier bouncing off my front bumper in almost slapstick fashion. Running over zombies is fun! (Image credit: Techland)

Speaking of vehicles, you can drive cars in this one! The lack of vehicles in the second game always seemed odd to me, considering that the first game’s DLC, The Following (which also first explored the idea of a more rural setting), dipped its toe in those waters with the drivable buggy.

In The Beast, you can find abandoned forest ranger cars strewn across the wilderness, which serve as the most effective way to get from A to B outside the more densely-packed areas of Castor Woods. There's no fast travel here - and I'll be honest, the map is a little too large for this omission to go unnoticed. Although mowing down hordes of the infected never stops being fun, trekking back and forth from the major safehouses to turn in completed quests and sell off your accumulated loot quickly becomes a chore.

The vehicles, along with the frequent climbing sections and heavier focus on gunfights with human enemies that began in Dying Light: Stay Human, give The Beast a distinct whiff of Far Cry. I'm not complaining, to be clear; I love that series, and the gunplay and stealth elements on offer here work reasonably well.

Every weapon has unique takedown animations, most of which are quite spectacularly gory. (Image credit: Techland)

Really, the combat as a whole is a definite highlight of The Beast: from crunchy melee combat with improvised weapons like hammers and fire axes, to tense stealthy takedowns with Kyle’s trusty bow and arrows, it all feels good. The gore is spectacular - bones crack, limbs are sliced off, heads fly from shoulders in showers of blood. Stunning a group of weak Biters with Kyle’s UV flashlight before unleashing a sweeping heavy attack with a two-handed axe that knocks them all to the ground at once feels great.

There's a wide range of melee weapons on offer, both craftable and lying around the environment, and while these weapons do degrade with use, they can be repaired multiple times before breaking and will generally last you a long time. Ranged weapons don't degrade, meaning that you only ever need one grenade launcher or sniper rifle; any extras can be broken down for parts.

The crafting system remains largely as it was in previous games; nothing overly complex, just gather parts and break down unneeded gear, then put it together to make something great at killing stuff. Weapons must be crafted at workbenches in safe zones, but consumables and other single-use gear (like gas grenades or incendiary arrows) can be crafted from the inventory screen or quick-select menu at any time. I was particularly fond of the explosive throwing knives, which stick into enemies before turning them into a fine red mist a few seconds later.

Feeling beastly

Unleashing the beast turns Kyle into a savage zombie-killing monster, but characters hint that there may be some... side effects. (Image credit: Techland)

Another new addition is right there in the title: Kyle’s years of being an unethical bioscience guinea pig have unlocked his weird virus powers, letting him tap into ‘Beast Mode’ (yes, it's really called that) for a short time after dealing or taking enough damage.

In Beast Mode, you regenerate health constantly, take reduced damage, and forsake your usual arsenal for some meaty infected fists that absolutely demolish all but the strongest foes in seconds. It's fun, and the game usually auto-spawns a handful of fast-moving zombies whenever you activate it, amping up the intensity of any fight where you decide to use it. Progressing the narrative and defeating certain infected boss enemies grants skill points, which can be spent to gain extra abilities in Beast Mode, like jumping further or barrelling through enemies while sprinting. There's also a regular skill tree that accumulates points as you level up, which lets you unlock stuff like new parkour-related attacks and weapon crafting blueprints.

Taking down particularly beefy 'Chimeras' will earn you points to upgrade your Beast Mode powers. (Image credit: Techland)

The enemies you face in The Beast are a mostly familiar selection for anyone who has played a game with zombies in it before. You’ve got your garden variety Biters, which are slow and weak but dangerous in large numbers, then the faster but more fragile Virals, the armored zombies, zombies who jump, zombies who spit acid for ranged attacks, bloated zombies who explode - you know, typical zombie shooter fare.

There are glimpses of more inspired designs here and there (I really like the returning ‘Goon’ enemy type, a hulking brute with a chunk of concrete and rebar gruesomely fused to its arm), but for the most part, the enemy design is fairly run-of-the-mill.

If I have one significant criticism of the enemies, it’s that they’re a bit too eager with the grapple mechanic. Let an infected get too close, and they’ll grab you, dealing a bit of damage and prompting a quick-time event to shove them away.

Now, this should be relatively easy to avoid, but the devs seem to love hiding Biters behind doorframes and corners to ambush and damage you immediately with no chance of avoiding it. Even sometimes in direct combat, I encountered infected who could seemingly slip past a melee attack mid-swing to interrupt it with the grapple QTE, or grapple me immediately as soon as I escaped from a different enemy grapple. I think there’s a reasonable argument that it’s supposed to be punishing - it can be a death sentence if you’re reckless and allow yourself to be surrounded by a swarm of enemies - but more often than not, it just felt like an annoying roadblock to the otherwise enjoyable melee combat.

Guns out

I quickly became very fond of setting enemies on fire, with arrows, flamethrowers, and Molotov cocktails. (Image credit: Techland)

Thankfully, the overall gameplay challenge feels good outside of my grapple-related woes. I switched between all three different difficulty levels during my playthrough, and found that the highest difficulty provided a stiff challenge perfect for the most masochistic player, while the lowest had me feeling almost immediately overpowered. I played most of the game on medium difficulty, where death was never too far away, but I died more times to misjudged parkour jumps than enemy attacks.

Much like the previous Dying Light games, melee is consistently reliable, while ranged weapons are something of a mixed bag. Early guns are completely feeble against infected enemies, who can shrug off multiple pistol or SMG headshots, and the bow is similarly underpowered until you unlock a skill that lets you deal bonus damage on well-timed shots. But later on, you get access to more powerful weapons like the grenade launcher and the crossbow, which can trivialise many encounters - assuming you can keep them stocked with ammo, which is scarce.

There's a modest selection of wearable items to track down, with a transmog system so you can always keep Kyle looking his best. (Image credit: Techland)

Although the game doesn’t make you fight human enemies too often, small squads of mercenaries and bandits can be found lurking around Castor Woods, and there are several large-scale gunfights that take place over the course of the main campaign.

These dips into conventional cover-shooter gameplay certainly feel a bit less engaging than facing savage zombie hordes, but thankfully they don’t outstay their welcome - the infected might eat bullets like nobody’s business, but a single headshot is enough to take down most human opponents, so most fights are over quickly provided you have the ammo to spare (which you usually will, because the game is quite generous with placing supplies before large scripted battles).

Squishing bugs

The Beast isn't quite the prettiest game I've ever played, but it's up there - sometimes I simply had to stop and admire the scenery. (Image credit: Techland)

Playing through the main campaign (with a bit of time spent exploring and completing side-quests) took me just shy of 22 hours, but this was by no means an exhaustive playthrough: I could easily sink another 20 hours into The Beast to complete everything.

There’s a good amount of safehouses to unlock and secrets to uncover, and while the list of sidequests is perhaps a little sparse, they’re more fleshed out than simple fetch quests - you’ll be hunting a particularly dangerous infected in the woods, or clearing out a series of power substations across the map to help a band of survivors.

In terms of performance on PC, I was able to get a good framerate at 1440p Medium settings with my RTX 5070 desktop, and 1080p Low on an RTX 4060 gaming laptop. DLSS resolution upscaling is helpful at higher resolutions, but I found that Nvidia’s frame-generation was rather wonky, creating too much blur in busy scenes to make the improved framerate worth it.

The roof is fully intact, and yet it appears this safehouse has sprung a magical leak. (Image credit: Techland)

There’s also a small amount of visual and physics jank here, which I remember being present in the other Dying Light games; think loot items occasionally falling through the floor or Kyle’s hand distorting weirdly while trying to climb the side of a building. At one point, I found it raining inside one half of an abandoned diner (pictured above). It’s nothing game-breaking and rarely actually intrusive, but I do hope that some early patches help remedy these issues, because otherwise the game runs fine for the most part.

It did occur to me about halfway through my playthrough that The Beast might be coasting on players' foreknowledge from the previous games - I personally didn't have any issues with un- or under-explained mechanics, but I would note that a completely fresh player might struggle a bit to understand certain elements of the game, since the tutorials here are pretty bare-bones and have a tendency to either over- or under-explain specific gameplay elements.

Overall, I had a blast with Dying Light: The Beast. It’s not reinventing the wheel: Techland has a solid formula that mixes traditional open-world action sandbox elements with a solid parkour-based movement system and high enemy density, so it’s understandable that The Beast wouldn’t be too much of a deviation from the norm. Still, the new setting is a breath of fresh air, and it still feels fantastic to dropkick a zombie off a roof.

The dynamic weather is surprisingly a highlight of the setting, with heavy rain and wind adding excellently to the immersion. (Image credit: Techland)Should you play Dying Light: the Beast?Play it if...

You love melee combat
Slicing, dicing, punching, and crunching - Dying Light has always had ultra-violent and ultra-satisfying melee gameplay, and The Beast is no exception.

You like open-world exploration
No Ubisoft towers to vomit icons over your map here, no fast travel, just you and the open greenlands of Castor Woods. There are plenty of unmarked secrets for completionists to uncover, too.

You’re a fan of the series
It might sound obvious, but if you enjoyed the previous games, you're bound to have a good time with this one. What are you waiting for - go unleash the beast!

Don't play it if...

You want in-depth roleplaying
Although there's a fairly robust crafting system here, you can largely ignore all the various tiny '+3% to melee damage at night' stat boosts from buildcrafting and still get the full experience. Baldur's Gate, this ain't.

You’re afraid of the dark
The Beast leans a little further into horror than its predecessors, which is great for the game's overall atmosphere - but it also makes nightfall even more terrifying than before.

Accessibility

On the topic of accessibility, we've got the usual suite of options I've come to expect in any major game: motion sickness reduction, directional audio indicators, and colorblind presets are all present and accounted for, and the subtitles can be customized as well.

How I reviewed Dying Light: The Beast

I spent a while tinkering with the various gameplay, graphical, and accessibility settings in order to get a complete feel for the game, as well as playing through the main campaign at a reasonably fast pace. Of course, I also spent some time checking out the side-quests and just exploring the world, while also being sure to use every new piece of gear I encountered (in case any of them were extremely under- or over-powered - the grenade launcher definitely falls into the latter category).

I played the majority of the game on my gaming PC, with an AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D and Nvidia RTX 5070, using an Asus ROG Strix Scope RX II keyboard and Logitech G502 Lightspeed mouse or a Hyperx Clutch controller. Audio was a combination of the HyperX Cloud Flight S headset and the SteelSeries Arena 9 speakers.

To see how the game would perform on different hardware, I also loaded it up on my RTX 4060 gaming laptop to test out performance on a lower-spec system.

First reviewed September 2025

Categories: Reviews

Rippling IT IAM solution review

TechRadar Reviews - Thu, 09/18/2025 - 09:13

You probably know Rippling for its workforce, human resource management, and payroll functions. Rippling is your single source of truth when it comes to backend employee management.

From onboarding, remuneration, and off-boarding to day-to-day management like time and attendance, scheduling, and benefits management – there’s a lot you can do with Rippling.

However, it also has a very robust IT security suite, offering features like identity and access management and comprehensive device management.

This review will focus on Rippling’s identity and access management solution, which offers features like Single Sign On (SSO), Multi Factor Authentication (MFA), password management, and role-based user provisioning and access controls.

Rippling IT IAM: Pricing

Rippling is a unified solution for your entire workforce's needs, including various suites such as global payroll, time and attendance, benefits management, scheduling, recruiting, and so on. Each of their featured suites has a different pricing model, for which you will be required to contact their support team.

We did a bit of digging and found that their identity and access management solution, which offers features like SSO, MFA, role-based access policy, and automated provisioning and deprovisioning, starts at $8/user/month. That’s it – there are no different pricing tiers. You get everything for your identity access management needs in a single plan.

Besides this, if you also want to include device management and inventory management, it will cost you an extra $8/user/month for each of these features.

Although the pricing isn’t displayed on the website directly, I still found the structure to be pretty simple and straightforward. You don’t have to juggle between various pricing tiers or add specific features one by one as you require; in a-la-carte pricing followed by other providers, such as Okta and JumpCloud.

Rippling IT IAM: Features

Rippling makes it very easy to create and manage user groups based on predefined attributes such as job title, department, location, and so on, known as Supergroups.

Instead of having to manually add or remove employees from these groups, Rippling does it automatically based on these attributes. Whenever an attribute is updated, the group is also updated without any manual intervention.

Rippling focuses a lot on role-based permissions, which automate a large chunk of the approval hierarchy, ensuring that admins can focus on more critical tasks. For example, you can set which employee gets admin access based on their attributes, such as department, team, membership, location, and so on.

You can also define the type of data they access and the subset of the organisation these permissions will apply to. Whenever a permission profile is updated, all matching users' access is adjusted automatically in real time.

Rippling also acts as a comprehensive outbound SSO provider. This means that you can log into Rippling using your Single Sign On (SSO) password and simply click on the app you want to log on the dashboard. There is no need to add additional passwords for individual apps when you use Rippling as an identity provider.

(Image credit: Rippling)

Rippling integrates with 600+ apps for all your SSO needs. Plus, if you do not find an app in the library, you can set up a custom integration with apps that support SAML for SSO and SCIM for user provisioning.

RPass is Rippling’s native, built-in password manager that suggests and remembers strong passwords across your organisation.

What I like the most is that it goes beyond the capabilities of a traditional password manager by integrating behavioural monitoring. For example, if the manager finds a suspicious login from an unknown geographic location, it will block the login attempt, even if the password is correct.

RPass can also be used to share passwords to SuperGroups instead of individual employee-based credentials.

Rippling IT IAM: Interface and in-use

Rippling has done a good job when it comes to interface and in-use experience – the dashboard is quite modern with a minimal design and easy-to-navigate modules. The widgets are fully customizable, and you’ll find various shortcuts that help you launch common tasks quickly.

(Image credit: Rippling)

Onboarding and offboarding can be fully automated, thanks to Supergroups. The Rippling support team will also help you with a quick and smooth initial deployment and implementation. The mobile interface is also pretty slick, allowing admins to manage day-to-day operations on the go.

That said, there is a bit of a learning curve involved with the platform, especially if you’re using multiple modules apart from the IAM suite.

Rippling IT IAM: Support

Just like pricing, there is no upfront clarity on the level of support you can expect with Rippling. However, as per my discussions with the sales team, the platform offers 24/7 customer support through two channels.

Firstly, you can either raise a support ticket on your Rippling dashboard. Alternatively, you can also get support via phone call. I was pretty impressed by the response time, which is actually less than a minute.

Rippling is also one of the few providers that openly advertise their Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT), which sits at around 92%.

Plus, more than 45% of the cases are resolved by the first response itself, requiring no further clarifications. And, only 21.34% of the live chat requests are asked to convert into a call, which means that around 78% of the queries are solved on the chat itself without any additional support.

Besides this, there are a lot of online resources such as blogs, webinars, and troubleshooting guides. That’s also a dedicated Help Centre where you can find answers to commonly asked questions.

Overall, I found support to be very comprehensive, with quick response times and high query resolution accuracy.

Rippling IT IAM: Security

Rippling is very conservative when it comes to security and data protection, with various certificates such as SOC1 Type 1, SOC2 Type 2, and SOC3. The certification ensures adherence to the basic trust principles of confidentiality, security, and availability.

Besides this, Rippling is also ISO 27001 and ISO 27018 certified. It is also one of the few providers that holds the ISO 42001 certification.

While the first two certifications ensure that Rippling follows adequate practices to protect private and sensitive data from unauthorized access, the 42001 certification ensures that the platform has an active and robust management system in place to ensure that its AI systems are ethical and safe without any risk of bias or misuse.

Rippling also conducts regular internal and external penetration testing and has an active bug bounty program to find any security vulnerabilities in its infrastructure. Active threat monitoring includes the use of tools such as Web App Firewall (WAF) and Runtime App Self Protection (RASP) to quickly locate and eliminate any threats.

WAF monitors and filters all incoming traffic to protect the platform from threats such as SQL injection, DDoS attacks, and malicious HTTP requests.

On the other hand, RASP is built into the application itself and monitors its behaviour to protect against zero-day vulnerabilities, insider misuse, and malicious API behaviours.

Overall, I found Rippling’s security infrastructure to be pretty robust, and they have gone the extra mile to incorporate additional measures beyond what is required by law.

Rippling IT IAM: Competition

Rippling is a robust identity access solution. However, not everyone’s needs are the same. If it doesn’t align with what you’re looking for, here are a couple of options you can look at.

Okta is one of the best identity tools when it comes to setting up automatic workflows. It features 90+ templates and 140+ pre-configured triggers that lets you design workflows as per your needs. Plus, the platform integrates with 7,000+ apps for all your MFA and SSO needs. Okta also features FastPass, which facilitates password-less biometric-based authentication.

Plus, its Identity Threat Protection features continuously monitor all your live sessions and immediately flag any suspicious behaviours. It is also a bit less expensive than Rippling, with starter plans priced at $6/user/month.

If you only have limited needs and do not need the full suite of identity access management solutions, you can go with OneLogin, which features an affordable à la carte pricing model. Features like MFA, SSO, and Active Directory start at just $2/user/month each. It also has more than 6000+ third-party applications.

OneLogin employs Vigilance AI, its proprietary threat detection engine, to assign a risk score to each login attempt and decide whether additional authentication is required or not.

Rippling IT IAM: Final verdict

Rippling's IT identity access management solution offers essential features such as multi-factor authentication and single sign-on on along with comprehensive password management and access controls.

Admin can form Supergroups based on predefined attributes, such as employee location, department, and job title. Application access and security controls can then be aligned with these groups without having to individually assign them.

What I like the most is that Rippling integrates with more than 600+ third-party apps so that you can provision your SSO needs across multiple applications. And for those that you do not find on the integration list, you can set up a custom Integration with the help of SAML and SCIM.

Rippling’s support is one of the best I have seen across the industry, with a response time of less than one minute and a customer satisfaction score of 92%.

Although the pricing is not fully transparent, you can expect the plans to start from $8/user/month, which is more expensive than the likes of Okta and JumpCloud. Even at this higher price point, you do not get as many features as Okta.

That said, Rippling is just not an IAM solution but offers a wide range of services such as payroll, recruitment, and comprehensive human resource management.

So if you already use Rippling for those purposes, it makes sense to go with the IAM solution too, since it syncs seamlessly with existing HR profiles.

Categories: Reviews

Don't sleep on Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree; it's an inventive and lively roguelite worth trying

TechRadar Reviews - Thu, 09/18/2025 - 09:00

On the surface, Bandai Namco’s roguelite game Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree may look like a mystical take on the classic roguelite formula emerging in the wake of Hades’ huge success. And, with Hades 2’s arrival looming, Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree could easily go unnoticed, but it absolutely shouldn’t; there’s a lot to like in this dual-character adventure.

Review info

Platform reviewed: Nintendo Switch
Available on: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, PC
Release date: September 19, 2025

You play as Towa, the child of a god and the eternal guardian of Shinju village in a far-off mystical land. The forces of evil Magatsu are on the rise, and thus eight allies from Towa’s village and beyond joined forces to help her defeat the evil and purify the land.

From its lucious, sprawling levels to its dynamic characters and enemies, it ticks a lot of boxes at first glance, but what stands out among an increasingly crowded genre is its teamfighting mechanic. Two guardians from your party at a time will take on the roles of Tsuguri, the main damage dealer, and Kagura, the spell caster, with a great variety of combinations and playstyles to tinker with.

Just as enjoyable as playing these combinations is learning about the relationships between those characters, and seeing how they progress during short rests along the way. Throughout the game, tender moments and the passage of time tinge the vibrant world with an air of wistfulness; it’s very welcome, though there are often moments of extensive dialogue that can interrupt the pace of grinding through runs.

It’s awkward in places, yes, and sometimes the control system for the Kagura feels like an afterthought, but I’ve found it hard to put down – and a welcome excuse to play on my Nintendo Switch 2 in handheld mode.

Stark beginnings

(Image credit: Bandai Namco)

Your journey begins with a short tutorial level, in which you play with Rekka as Tsuguri with Towa as Kaguri to learn the ropes. You primarily control the Tsuguri, switching between two swords with different movesets as their durability decreases and amping up the combinations by dashing, slashing, and landing Fatal Blows when your mana maxes out.

The Kagura trails behind and can trigger two spells to support your main damage dealer. Each character has two elemental attributes (water, fire, fighting, earth, lightning), and you can unlock different spells ranging from AoE to automatic projectiles. You can also control this character, but with a console controller that involves using the right trigger along with the left while also trying to land hits, so it’s only really something you’ll want to do in a pinch or for specific combos.

Worth noting is that there is an optional co-op mode where a second player can control the Kagura; however, the tether still applies, and it’s really quite a limited play experience. It would have been cool if they could have somehow transferred the weapon switching ability or Fatal Blow to the Kagura, so there’s a bit more to do.

With the tutorial out of the way, you learn that Towa’s godly gifts allow her to mess with the flow of time to revive companions, but at a terrible cost. When Magatsu pushes back against Towa, her allies are whisked off into some sort of purgatory where they must endlessly fight against Magatsu’s forces. Meanwhile, Shinju village continues to evolve and grow, and Towa, severed from her companions, must instruct their movements from across dimensions while continuing to protect the townsfolk.

(Image credit: Future)

Certainly, in the early levels, there’s a learning curve to lugging around your Kagura and learning which guardians pair best with each other’s movesets. For example, I quickly learned that some guardians like Koro and Akazu didn’t really gel with me as Tsuguris, but both made excellent Kaguras to my favorite frontliners like Nishiki, the buff koi man, and Bampuku, the giant furball puppy.

Once you’ve started to get the hang of the controls, it’s great fun, although it took me a while to get past the annoyance of the tethered Kagura constantly taking huge hits from powerful enemies. Weapon switching on top of all of the other attacks in the game is perhaps one thing too many for my brain to handle when I’m not totally locked in, and I often found myself letting my weapons durability drain completely and just button-mashing through weaker enemies – however it feels great when you make the effort and execute a killer combo.

That’s only the start of the fun; there’s a lot of configurability and some really fun pairups, and as the game progresses these only amplify in ridiculousness, landing combos in the hundreds as you mash through waves of enemies. You can switch out your weapons, customize buffs, increase skill stats and choose different spells for each of your eight guardians, but the game keeps this relatively high level of customization balanced by sharing unlocked content across all characters.

Those who we protect

(Image credit: Future)

While most of the action in the early game takes place with the banished guardians in another dimension, the village serves as the main hub between runs. As Towa, you use this area to level up your party and loadout, but also to check in with the townspeople and keep their spirits high.

There are various shopfronts and tradespeople around the village; you can exchange ores and resources from your travels at the emporium with the grumpy stooge Kafuu, or head to the Eureka Tower to purchase and equip inscriptions for the Kagura staff to boost your champion’s base stats. At the Dojo, you unlock skill points to tweak each champion’s abilities, while the shrine offers boons that effect the odds and effects during each run. As the game progresses, the village grows with more tradespeople, and you can upgrade buildings for more perks

There’s even a fun blacksmithing minigame, in which you select a sword design, build materials and buffs and can bolster these further by scoring highly in each stage of smithing. It’s very Cooking Mama-esque, but instead the feedback comes from a burly blacksmith who barks encouragement at you.

Best bit

(Image credit: Bandai Namco)

Relatively early in the game, you encounter one of my favorite minibosses: a giant octopus with whopping great big tentacles that’ll slam on you as you dash around the deck. Oh, and there are live explosives, for some reason, and the octopus head will gnash down onto you if you’re too slow. Beautiful chaos, wonderfully rendered.

This, and a slightly rootless fishing game that earns you points redeemable with the bird-like Kei shopkeeper, are the main interactive features that give the hub an almost cozy game-esque softness, but it’s the cast of lively NPCs and shopkeepers who breathe life and love into the village.

Through their loving (and sometimes love-hate) relationships with Towa, the guardian that has protected them for generations, you gain a sense of the stakes for the main characters; there’s a lot to lose and a lot to protect in their hometown, and they’ll go to any and all ends to do it.

Any and all ends, in this case, might just involve self-sacrifice, as the guardians learn that each time they defeat a powerful Magatsu-hi, the bosses at the end of each run, the Kagura in that pair must sacrifice themselves to restore Towa’s mana and protect the village. None of them know what that might mean, or whether they will escape purgatory through their sacrifice, but each commits to the cause.

Each time a Towa absorbs the mana generated back in the village following a successful run, time moves forward, and the village can develop once more. New faces appear, and familiar friends fade; the passage of time is treated with an air of melancholy that undercuts the otherwise vivacious aesthetics of the game, and it makes for an excellent hook.

The rocky road to Magatsu

(Image credit: Bandai Namco)

Practically speaking, the party sacrifice mechanic has a big impact; once their mana is absorbed, the Kagura won’t appear in camp, so you have to think long and hard about which pairings you want to save and which are good enough to run with but not too good to lose. Later in the game, this is further augmented; the fun is in adapting to this yourself, so look elsewhere if you want spoilers.

The core mechanics of each run are pretty similar to the likes of Hades: fight a room full of enemies, grab your reward, and then choose between different gates that hint at the next room’s rewards. Each run is split into different terrains with their unique enemies, traps, and layouts, and generally, each terrain will contain seven rooms, including mini-boss fights to offer a little more challenge along the way.

The waves of enemies are great fun throughout the game, with some inventive designs and a lot of variety across the board. I particularly liked the flamethrowing giant eyeballs and the kamikaze snails; there’s plenty here to keep you on your toes. Combat is rewarding and varied enough, and though farming can be somewhat of a slog, the scaling is decent, and there’s always a good amount to do.

Image 1 of 3

(Image credit: Future)Image 2 of 3

(Image credit: Future)Image 3 of 3

(Image credit: Bandai Namco)

Most often, you’ll be choosing between Graces as your reward for a battle well fought - collecting and upgrading these will boost stats and unlock abilities for the course of the run. These are cards from different elemental decks offering different effects that can make or break your matchup, so learning how to optimize these helps blast through the baddies.

Otherwise, some gates at the end of levels lead on to resources, or else timed battles and other challenging mini-bosses with decent payouts. However, you’ll also encounter friendly faces of the shopkeeper and food stall, too, where you can spend the in-level magamutsu currency for ores and Graces or to receive buffs for the next few levels. Hot springs can also be found along the way for health regeneration, and there are usually two campsites along the way where your heroes can take a slightly longer rest.

In these quiet moments, each pairing has different conversations and relationships that unfold over a series of short rests. Tender moments of openness, the resurfacing of long-buried hatchets, and even philosophical debate weave a wonderful picture of the main cast, and I found myself becoming attached to each party member through listening to their interactions – even those I initially couldn’t relate to, like the impetuous Shigin and carefree Origami.

Plus, the more you play a pairing, the further you’ll see their conversations develop. I particularly enjoyed the brother-sister duo of Bampuku and Mutsumi, whose misunderstanding of each other’s love language causes some unrest that gradually eases through conversations over the campfire, but even more obscure pairings like the Academic Akazu and devout Nishiki bear unexpectedly heartwarming fruit.

A home worth fighting for

(Image credit: Future)

These moments of reflection, however, do feel at odds with the game, and that’s a running thread throughout my whole experience with Towa. Roguelite as a genre doesn’t just imply fast pace; it demands it, and I don’t always want my focus to be pulled out of high-octane combat to listen to idle chitchat.

You’re rewarded for listening, not just with resources, but with depth and worldbuilding, much the same as the progressive interactions that crop up in the village as your journey continues. Of course, you can choose to avoid these or just fast-track through the dialogue, but I find it hard to skip through because it’s so charming – and that’s not a problem I often have with games! It’s obvious a lot of care went into the richness of the narrative, so I find myself at an impasse when it comes to maintaining the energy to play sometimes.

The game does compensate for this with progressive feature unlocks and twists, but ultimately, I did find myself needing to break from the game a little more than usual because I kept losing my flow. However, I couldn’t put it down for long.

Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree envelops you in its rich world, abloom with color and light as well as the gorgeous OST from Hitoshi Sakimoto of FFXII and Final Fantasy Tactics fame, and its grip is as strong as the poisonous tendrils of Magutsu’s miasma. You have to work around its quirks and give it a little room to breathe, but patience is rewarded for those who play with their heart.

Should I play Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree?Play it if…

You want to try something that breaks the mold

With its unique dual-character matchups, Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree is an inventive take on the genre that makes for a challenging but fun balancing act.

You enjoy story-led roguelites

The narrative takes precedence in a way that might be slightly jarring to those who like the fast-paced action of rogue games, but it's delightful if you do enjoy a good story.

Don’t play it if…

You struggle with button blindness

There are a lot of mechanics to consider and a lot of different controls, and that's not for everyone. I found independently controlling the Kagura challenging, personally, and weapon switching often slipped my mind.

Accessibility

Within the settings, you can change the difficulty to story-led mode, which weakens the enemies and allows you to focus more on the storyline. All dialogue has voiceovers with lively acting as well as subtitles, and there are nine supported languages - English, Japanese, French, Italian, German, Spanish (Spain), Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, and Korean.

How I reviewed Towa and the Guardians of the Scared Tree

I played Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree for 30+ hours, making my way through most of the main storyline. I tried both story-led and regular difficulty levels to measure accessibility for players at different skill levels, and played in both handheld and docked modes on my Nintendo Switch 2.

I love roguelikes and roguelites, so I compared my experience to popular titles like Hades, The Binding of Isaac, and Dead Cells. I considered factors like the art direction, pacing, and complexity within the pairings.

First reviewed September 2025

Categories: Reviews

Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is one of the best racing games in years

TechRadar Reviews - Thu, 09/18/2025 - 08:00

Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is a racing game that has finally given Nintendo’s Mario Kart franchise a run for its money. While I certainly enjoyed Mario Kart World on Nintendo Switch 2, the rather empty open world and questionable approach to track design left me wanting more.

Review information

Platform reviewed: PS5
Available on: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X and Series S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch, PC
Release date: September 25, 2025 (Early Access on September 22)

Sonic Team’s Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds feels like a direct shot across the bow, squarely aimed at the good ship Nintendo. Full cross-platform play is supported, and a dizzying amount of modes and content at launch have kept me busy long after clearing every Grand Prix event.

What impresses me the most about CrossWorlds is that it isn’t content to simply be a great kart racer; it innovates, too. The titular CrossWorlds mechanic is brilliant, lending unpredictability to every race by transporting players to a completely different track for the second lap. Meanwhile, the superb gadget system offers countless ways to tweak how your vehicle behaves.

In today’s day and age, the game offers an incredible day one package stuffed to the gills with things to do; not to mention a boatload of items to unlock from vehicle parts and music tracks to higher speed classes and even the odd alternate character skin. CrossWorlds does, of course, have a comprehensive downloadable content (DLC) roadmap, but what’s here from the get-go is already very impressive.

Speed of sound

(Image credit: Sega / Bandai Namco)

There’s no dedicated story mode in Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, which is probably for the best given the interminably dull one that was featured in 2019’s Team Sonic Racing. Instead, developer Sonic Team has focused its efforts on more worthwhile aspects. The game boasts 24 race courses and a further 15 accessible via Travel Rings, for a grand total of 39 tracks.

It also has an impressively large character roster that has most of what you’d probably want from a kart racer. The usual suspects are all here, but I’m also happy to see less-represented characters like Blaze, Silver, Jet, Wave, and Storm all make the cut, too. Some deeper cuts would’ve been nice to see, like those from the beloved IDW Comics series, but what’s at launch in terms of roster is incredibly solid.

Grand Prix is your main single-player mode, featuring eight cups (with even more to come via future DLC) of four races each. The final race here is a bit of a cop-out, simply being a lap of each of the cup’s main three courses. But track variety remains impressive. You’ll find plenty of circuits inspired by beloved Sonic locales - such as Sonic Adventure 2’s Metal Harbor and Radical Highway, Sonic Unleashed’s Apotos, and Sonic Frontiers’ Kronos Island.

Courses unique to Travel Rings also impress, and these are a bit more gimmick-focused. Magma Planet is largely flight-based, having you gliding through perilous sections filled with giant lava worms. Holoska is an icy world where your vehicle will transform into a boat to speed through waterlogged caves. Meanwhile, Steampunk City offers plenty of routes through its winding industrial highrises.

Oh yes, I should also mention that Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed‘s signature gameplay mechanic returns here. Tracks in CrossWorlds are cleverly designed around land, water, and air travel. Most tracks will also change up significantly on the final lap, opening up new routes for your transforming vehicle to take advantage of, while also sprinkling in new hazards and a few extra boost pads for good measure.

Grab those golden rings, those things’ll make your engine sing

(Image credit: Sega)

Track design - not to mention the amount on offer - is a big win in Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds. But that’d all fall apart if the racing itself wasn’t any good.

Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds has some of the most fun, polished, and fast-feeling racing I’ve ever played in a racer of its kind. Drifting is especially fantastic and has a bit of a Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled feel to it, in that max-level drifts give you significantly more speed. And snaking - the act of chaining together smaller drifts in a straight line for consistently high speed - is absolutely something you can do here. So you can be sure there’ll be a pretty lofty skill ceiling when you hop online.

Vehicles are governed by five stats: speed, acceleration, handling, power, and boost. Your choice of character has an effect on overall stats, while also having a primary specialty in one of those five categories.

I’ve found that pretty much any approach is viable here; having an acceleration-based character like Tails on a boost-focused Extreme Gear board can help you stay swift and recover quickly when hit by items. Meanwhile, a heavy like Zavok or Eggman brings power to throw their weight around and hit hard with items, but slotting them in a handling-oriented machine can offset some of their unwieldiness.

Best bit

(Image credit: Sega)

Finding a singular best part of Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is a challenge, because the overall package feels so complete. But of course, the meat of the game is its racing, which is impressively fast. Drifting is exceptionally satisfying, and the gadget system provides tons of ways to tweak your playstyle - from giving you stat boosts and items at race start, to fundamentally changing how your vehicle behaves.

During races and time trials, collecting rings scattered around the course will increase your top speed, but you’ll lose some if you collide with walls, other racers, and stage hazards, or when you get hit by items.

Speaking of, items are another area where CrossWorlds has vastly improved over other Sonic Racing titles. There’s a good amount of them, too, from boxing gloves that home in on racers ahead of you, all the way to the hilarious monster truck. Others include defensive items like a tornado that breaks incoming projectiles, sawblades that temporarily cut an opponent’s car in half, and a large magnet that latches onto vehicles, influencing their direction of travel.

To put it simply, races in CrossWorlds can be hilariously chaotic. But very rarely were there instances where I lost a race because of these items. Items are balanced so that catching up to the pack is a breeze. And sure, there’s occasionally an element of Mario Kart-esque luck involved, the odd spot of final stretch shenanigans, but there’s nothing as outwardly powerful as the race-ruining Blue Shell here.

Under the hood

(Image credit: Sega)

Another element that really brings races alive in Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is the gadget system, perhaps the game’s biggest innovation. Gadgets offer you a way to tweak your playstyle beyond your vehicle’s stats, and there’s a metric ton of them. You start with a gadget plate with a single slot, but you’ll get a total of six slots unlocked gradually by completing race events.

Gadgets offer a wide range of stat boosts and modifiers during gameplay. There are simple ones, like giving you marginal stat increases, allowing you to carry more rings, or letting you start a race with a specific item.

However, many more interesting gadgets are available. One speeds up the time it takes to perform an air trick, for example, letting you chain more together for a bigger speed boost upon landing. Another causes your car to spin whilst drifting for a more aggressive playstyle, while another still adds a fourth level to your drift gauge.

You can have multiple gadget loadouts, but you’re only able to equip one per race. Furthermore, certain gadgets can’t be used during time trial events, such as one where you start with a boost item.

It’s a rich, deep gameplay system that offers tons in the way of player expression. As well as online, AI opponents appear to also have their own gadget loadouts during races, making things that much more unpredictable during single-player content.

A mountain of unlocks

(Image credit: Sega)

Something that I found extremely impressive with Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is just the sheer number of things to unlock. Not only that, but unlockables are spread throughout the various modes of the game, giving you great incentive to check everything out.

In Grand Prix, you can unlock higher speed classes and even a mirror track mode, as well as additional gadgets. Over in Race Park (a collection of race modes and custom race options for single and multiplayer), you can race against special teams and unlock their vehicles upon beating them three times.

In Time Trial, getting an ‘A’ rank on three different tracks (including Travel Ring CrossWorld tracks) unlocks a selection of music from throughout the Sonic series. Expect to unlock songs from Sonic Frontiers, Sonic Mania, Sonic Unleashed, Sonic Colors, Sonic Lost World, and more here, for use in the game’s Jukebox mode (more on that soon, actually).

Ancillary unlockables include alternate skins for certain characters, decals for use in machine customization, and titles for your online profile by clearing specific challenges. There really is a dizzying amount of things to unlock that should keep players coming back for hours on end.

Once you’ve got some decals and machine parts under your belt, then you’ll probably want to try your hand at making your very own custom vehicle. And the options available here are certainly plentiful.

Making your own vehicle or Extreme Gear board is a moreish endeavor. You can mix and match the front and rear appearance of the vehicle, apply color schemes, and decals for a more personalized touch. Vehicle paint also comes in a variety of types, including metallic, pearlescent, and candy variants.

A few rough patches

(Image credit: Sega)

I really don’t have much to complain about with the overall package here. The game’s price point is on the steeper side for those used to Sonic games often coming in at less than full retail price. And that’s a bit of a downer, and may make the game a bit of a hard sell in and of itself. You certainly get what you pay for here with a mountain of content, but waiting for a sale isn’t a bad idea, either.

Otherwise, a couple of side modes are pretty underwhelming. You’ll eventually unlock a ‘friendship’ system that lets you spend tokens earned from races on character-specific titles and decals. But there’s no unique dialogue here, and it just feels like a last-minute addition to dump tokens into things to get some fairly inconsequential unlocks.

However, the Jukebox mode is the biggest letdown for me. I do love having loads of Sonic music to unlock and listen to, and these tracks can be assigned to races, which is nice. Unfortunately, you’re unable to set music on a per-track basis. Instead, you’ll assign a playlist to the three laps you’ll race on.

On top of that, the selection is entirely random. So you’ll more often than not end up with something unfitting like Infinite’s theme from Sonic Forces playing over a relatively innocent track like Colorful Mall or Chao Park.

I sincerely hope Sonic Team patches in a way to choose songs for individual courses in the future. CrossWorlds’ own soundtrack is really good, though some songs can be a little overbearing with harsh synths and obnoxious final lap chanting spoiling things a bit. So having a way to swap out songs on a per-track basis would be extremely welcome.

Should I play Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds?Play it if...

You’ve had your fill of Mario Kart World
If you’ve grown tired of Mario Kart World’s weary open world, Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is a stunningly fast alternative with plenty of modes, unlockables, and cross-platform online play.

You want a racing game that'll last you a long time
Post-launch content seems plentiful, but there’s already so much to do at launch that it might make your head spin. Loads of Grand Prix, time trials, and custom Race Park events offer hours upon hours of things to do without even needing to jump online with others.

You like deep customization
Machine customization and gadgets are both incredibly deep and allow you to show off your personality and play style in-game. The simple act of jumping into customization to spin up a whole new ride is extremely enjoyable.View Deal

Don't play it if...

You’re wary of the price tag
Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is a relatively expensive title for the wider Sonic series, being at full price for the base game and even more for its deluxe edition. I think it’s definitely worth the plunge, but I wouldn’t blame folks for wanting to wait a bit longer for a sale.

Accessibility

There aren’t a ton of accessibility options in Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, but what’s here is welcome. The main gameplay options come in the form of a steering assist that prevents you from veering off-course, as well as an auto-accelerate setting and trick assist for if you don’t want to be flicking the stick constantly in midair. An ‘original’ camera setting also exists that reduces the motion offered by the ‘dynamic’ camera mode.

How I reviewed Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds

I played Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds for around 15 hours for this review. I played the game on PlayStation 5 with a DualSense Wireless Controller, on an LG CX OLED TV.

I completed every Grand Prix cup on Sonic Speed, and some on the higher Super Sonic Speed class, as well as the unlockable mirror mode that inverts circuits. I also spent plenty of time customizing vehicles, unlocking stuff like car parts, music, and decals, too.

First reviewed September 2025

Categories: Reviews

I tested a top Nintendo Switch 2 screen protector – now my console feels bulletproof

TechRadar Reviews - Thu, 09/18/2025 - 05:00

DBrand Prism 2.0 for Nintendo Switch 2: review

Picture this. You’re going ham on your foes in Donkey Kong Bananza, smashing your way through every last one of them until BAM – oh no… you’ve dropped your precious Nintendo Switch 2. Now, this could be a huge problem for your console’s display – that is, unless you’ve got a trusty screen protector like the DBrand Prism 2.0 for Nintendo Switch 2.

Yep, this hardy screen protector is sure to keep your Switch 2 safe, thanks to its tempered glass construction, scratchproof surface, and precise fit.

I batch tested this model alongside a range of competitors, and it was one of the best performers, without a doubt. You fit the screen protector using a well-sized, fully recyclable drop-in-place frame that’s easy to use and comes with simple, yet detailed instructions. Just place the frame on, pull the release tab, press down on the protector, and you’re good to go.

(Image credit: Future)

Of course, there were quite a few air bubbles after application, but a squeegee was included in the box to banish every last one of them to the shadow realm.

After a bit of squeegeeing action, the final look of the screen protector was excellent from all angles. When playing Mario Kart World, there was no sign of distorting, warping, blurring, dust… You name it.

(Image credit: Future)

I even tried covering the screen with fingerprints, and was delighted to see that the Prism 2.0 barely picked them up. They were slightly visible in bright light, but nowhere near as prominent as they appeared on the Genki Aegis Shield, for instance.

Image 1 of 2

How fingerprints appear on the Prism 2.0... (Image credit: Future)Image 2 of 2

(Image credit: Future)

On top of that, this is a highly durable model. I tried using keys to scrape the surface, and it didn’t matter if I pressed pretty hard – there wasn’t even a spec of damage to be seen. DBrand itself has used a sharp knife against the protector, and claims that it ranks at 7 on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness.

Image 1 of 2

Before... (Image credit: Future)Image 2 of 2

...and after (Image credit: Future)

But that’s not all. In addition to all of this, you get a second screen protector, screen wipes, and a microfiber cloth (to clean your screen before applying the Prism 2.0). That’s a pretty comprehensive package, right?

Having said that, this model does come at quite a cost. Via DBrand’s website, you can purchase it for $34.95 (about £26 / AU$53). That’s a fair bit more than rivals we tested, like the $19.99 / £17 / AU$35 Genki Aegis Shield and Belkin’s even cheaper TemperedGlass Screen Protector for Nintendo Switch 2.

Still, if you want the easiest application, phenomenal durability, and a discreet in-use appearance, the DBrand Prism 2.0 is a fantastic option. Yes, it’s a touch pricey, but I found it more seamless to fit than some rivals, and the finished result looked great. With that in mind, it’s very easy to recommend.

DBrand Prism 2.0 for Nintendo Switch 2: price & specs

Price

$34.95 (about £26 / AU$53)

Number of screen protectors

Material

Tempered glass

Application type

Drop-in-place frame

Additional items

Microfiber cloth, screen wipes, squeegee

(Image credit: Future)Should I buy the DBrand Prism 2.0 for Nintendo Switch 2?

Attributes

Notes

Rating

Ease of application

The application frame is very easy to use, well-sized, and comes with clear instructions.

5/5

Design

Frame isn’t overly large, the protector resistant to fingerprints and cleaning tools work very well.

4.5/5

Toughness

Dealt with key scratching without a hitch, rated 7 on Mohs scale.

5/5

Value

Quite expensive compared to rivals, but plenty of quality on display.

4/5

Buy it if...

You want something that’s super easy to apply
This screen protector was the easiest to apply out of all the models I batch tested. The application frame isn’t oversized or complex to use, air bubbles were super easy to remove, and the edges looked clean, too.

You want top-tier protection and display quality
During durability testing, the DBrand Prism 2.0 performed very well, with not a shred of damage to be seen. On top of that, the screen protector doesn’t taint the Switch 2’s display whatsoever. I didn’t notice any distortion, blurring, or rainbow effects when playing Mario Kart World.

Don't buy it if...

You’re on a budget
At $34.95 (about £26 / AU$53), the DBrand Prism 2.0 for Nintendo Switch 2 is hardly the cheapest model out there. The aforementioned Genki Aegis Shield, for example, costs $19.99 / £17 / AU$35, and you still get two protectors, cleaning tools, and an application frame. Yes, I found DBrand’s alternative to be higher quality overall, but if you’re on a budget, the Aegis Shield should definitely suffice.

You want to protect your Joy-Con 2 controllers
If you want protection for your Switch 2 console as well as your Joy-Con 2 controllers, DBrand has a different proposition that might suit you a little better. Yes, the Killswitch case will keep your console and Joy-Cons protected, and you can even get it with two screen protectors if you’d prefer.

DBrand Prism 2.0 for Nintendo Switch 2: also consider

Belkin TemperedGlass Screen Protector for Nintendo Switch 2
When we batch tested a range of models, we were particularly impressed with the Belkin TemperedGlass screen protector. It doesn’t have a fancy drop-in place contraption – just a basic frame. But with easy-to-follow instructions and a seamless application process, the end result looks great regardless. It's cheaper than this DBrand model, so it's an easy recommendation for those on a budget. Read our full Belkin TemperedGlass Screen Protector for Nintendo Switch 2.

How I tested the DBrand Prism 2.0 for Nintendo Switch 2

(Image credit: Future)

Applied the screen protector using the written instructions
Tested its effect on display, fingerprint resistance, and how easy it is to damage
Tested by a lifelong gamer

I followed our standardized process for testing Nintendo Switch 2 screen protectors here at TechRadar. Firstly, we apply the screen protector using the included instructions, then we test impact on the console's display by assessing aspects like brightness and viewing angles.

After this, we test how the surface copes against fingerprints, before scratching the model with a set of keys and attempting to peel at the edges. All of this helps us to judge ease of application, durability, and general build quality.

When it comes to experience, I've tested more than a hundred products at TechRadar, including everything from flagship headphones, like the Sony WH-1000XM6, through to gaming accessories, such as the Hori Piranha Plant Camera for Nintendo Switch 2. In addition, I'm a lifelong gamer, with a massive love for Nintendo. I own a Switch 2 personally, and have reviewed games for the platform, such as Drag x Drive and Raidou Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army.

First reviewed: September 2025
Read more about how we test

Categories: Reviews

One handy feature means these AKG headphones just became my go-to for gaming and movies, not just music

TechRadar Reviews - Wed, 09/17/2025 - 15:30

AKG N9: Two minute review

As someone who tests headphones for an income, I've got a roster of "X headphones" for specific tasks. I've got my best headphones for music, my running headphones, a gaming headset, a pair of the best earbuds when it's too hot for headphones, and a set-up for movies and TV shows too.

The new AKG N9 from Samsung's sub-brand's sub-brand, AKG, didn't slot into this line-up as much as they replaced half of them, and it's largely down to one handy feature which we also saw in their contemporary earbuds equivalent, the AKG N5.

I'm not going to do that clickbait headline thing of alluding to a feature and then dancing around the topic, only specifying it 20 paragraphs in: this feature is a dongle which comes build into the AKG N9, and if you plug it into any USB-C slot, it overrides that device's audio output into the N9.

Borrowing a partner's laptop for a quick video call? Dongle it. Don't want to play games out loud for fear of annoying a flatmate? Dongle it. Really can't be bothered to set up Bluetooth on every device you own? Dongle it. That's not to mention that this dongle has a higher quality connection than Bluetooth, affording higher-quality music and entertainment.

Within days of me realising the potential of this dongle, I'd begun using the N9 for a range of tasks that I usually afford to bespoke speakers or headphones; I was watching movies from my iPad, playing video games on my PC and taking calls on my girlfriend's tablet. And now you can take a break from reading the word 'dongle' for a bit.

A handy way to instantly and temporarily connect to any device is a killer feature, but it's not the only one the AKG N9 offer. The AKG Headphones app is full of extras like dynamic EQ, spatial audio, L-R panning and a hearing test to create you a bespoke audio profile.

There's also a battery life that stretches up to a staggering 100 hours if you listen on Bluetooth with noise cancellation off, but lasts for over a day even if you turn on all its power-hungry features.

Of course, I wouldn't be commending headphones like these if they sounded bad; they don't, with AKG's staple neutral audio mix delivering detailed music and an expansive sound stage.

I'm not used to writing so many positives in an introduction, so it feels weird to keep going, but one more thing: the AKG N9 are some of the best-designed headphones I've ever tested. Not only do they look premium but lots of the features are smartly incorporated into the design, with the dongle nestled in a little nook in one cup and volume being controlled by easily twisting one side of the cans. AKG clearly treats design as an important part of the headphone-making process, instead of an afterthought to hold a few drivers and buttons together, and it's appreciated.

Unless you're Sir Mix-a-Lot, you probably don't like big "but..."s, and unfortunately the AKG N9 have a major one: the price. There's no two ways about it: these are premium headphones and many buyers' budgets won't come close to reaching them. That said, they're expensive, but they're not four-figure-cost expensive like many of the true best headphones are, so perhaps sales will bring them within reach if you're interested.

Since I have to list three 'cons': I also feel like the Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) could have been a little bit more robust, as it doesn't compare with top dogs on the market right now. Plus, you can't fold up the headphones for increased portability, which made transporting them in my bag a risky proposition.AK

AKG N9 review: Specifications

Component

Value

Water resistant

Battery life (quoted)

100 hours (ANC off) 55 hours (ANC on)

Bluetooth type

Bluetooth 5.3

Weight

281g

Driver

40mm

AKG N9 review: Price and availability

(Image credit: Future)

Announced in October 2024
Priced at $399 / £299 / AU$499
Expensive... but competitive to rivals

After making their debut in October 2024, the AKG N9 went on sale that same month. They’ve been on sale for roughly a year, by the time of this review.

The AKG N9 don’t come cheap. They’ll set you back $399 / £299 / AU$499, which firmly cements them as premium cans that you need to consider carefully before you buy.

They cost more than some of our favorite rivals including the iconic Sony WH-1000XM4 and Cambridge Audio Melomania P100, but then again, they undercut (to a decent extent) the B&W Px8, Dali IO-8, the Sony WH-1000XM6 and Bose QuietComfort Ultra.

I should point out that a year on shelves seemingly hasn’t affected the headphones’ usual price (outside of sales)... except in Australia, where they were easy to find for as little as AU$309 which is an absolute steal.

AKG N9 review: Design

(Image credit: Future)

Premium-looking sleek cans
Features incorporated into design
Doesn't fold down and no IP rating

On the surface, the AKG N9 might look like any old pair of headphones, but there are a few refinements and polishes that go a long way in making these look both premium and feel ultra-functional.

I’m talking about the soft fabric of the headband (either leather or a close imitator), the comfortable earpads, the sparkling sheen of the speaker covers, svelte fashion of the headband connectors. It all comes together to make it obvious to onlookers just how much you paid for these cans. They come in either white or black.

The headphones weigh 281g so despite some option extras that we’ll get to, they’re on the lighter side of things, and I found them comfortable to wear for long music bouts and entire movies. There’s no IP rating, as far as I can tell, but they felt sturdy enough that I wasn’t worried wearing them out and about.

I also had no qualms in wearing them for long periods of time, as they're comfortable and lightweight.

Evidence of how easily-bendable the hook is. (Image credit: Future)

The headband connectors are extendable by about two inches each, letting you change your headphones’ size. One thing to note is that the headband can’t be folded, so you can’t reduce the size of the N9 to fit in a bag. Instead they can be transported in a rather large carry case that comes included in the price.

As with all the best headphones, each cup provides some useful controls. On the right side we’ve got a slider which lets you turn on the headphones as well as put them into Bluetooth pairing mode, as well as a pause/play button and USB-C charging port – and, in one of my favorite implementations of a volume rocker, the entire headphone cover can be rotated clockwise or anticlockwise to change the volume. This was incredibly easy to use, to save me fiddling with small buttons on the headphone.

The left cup has a 3.5mm headphone jack and a toggle for Ambient Aware noise cancellation, and I thought that was it at the beginning of my testing… until I realized that you can partially slide the headphone cover off to reveal a USB-C dongle underneath. Some may be annoyed that they’re carrying the extra weight of this dongle on the head but it’s only a few grams, and these are still nice and lightweight headphones.

Design score: 4.5/5

AKG N9 review: Features

(Image credit: Future)

Hugely long battery life
App brings loads of features
Useful dongle connector

The dongle is one of my favorite features of the AKG N9; you can plug it into any device with a USB-C port to instantly (and, vitally, temporarily) connect to said device without having to go through the laborious pairing method.

I used this to connect to my iPad, my laptop and my PC at various times in order to quickly watch a video, take a call or do some work, and it’s incredibly convenient – in fact, for a while during testing the N9 became my go-to gaming headset. One thing to note is that once during testing the connected device still played music out of its speakers instead of using the N9, and I never really worked out why – like the N5, it worked 90% of the time, but there were a few teething problems.

Another thing I absolutely love is the battery life of the AKG N9, which if you play your cards right lasts for an entire 100 hours. ‘Playing your cards right’ involves listening via Bluetooth with ANC turned off and if you want ANC on, that figure drops by 45 hours; likewise using the dongle cuts about 15% of your listening time over Bluetooth.

(Image credit: Future)

However AKG’s lowest battery expectation, specifically talk time over the dongle, is still 30 hours, which beats quite a few competitors. So the battery life is great whatever you do, and it’s fantastic that people who need a lot of listening time on one charge have the option of dialling down the features to get that fantastic figure.

Let’s touch on that active noise cancellation, which so dramatically affects the battery life. AKG has given the N9 a range of ANC modes: Ambient Aware which cuts out ambient background sound but allows in important nearby ones, TalkThru which does the same but just for voices, and a standard ANC mode which has extra modes for Adaptive ANC which changes the noise cancellation strength depending on your surroundings and Auto Compensation which does the same based on how you’re wearing the N9.

It’s a pretty overwhelming array of options for non-audiophiles but it does let you get into the nitty-gritty of what you can and can’t hear. However even at its strongest tier the ANC is only good, never great, and quite a few rivals are better for removing background sound.

Those aren’t the only overwhelming options in the feature set, because the AKG Headphones App has an absolutely huge roster of perks, including the ability to balance your sound to the left or right, change how voices sound on calls and play with a 10-band equalizer.

As in the AKG N5, the app lets you choose between listening to high-res audio, or enabling a few other features including spatial audio, dynamic EQ for low volumes and Personi-Fi. This latter is a hearing test that provides you with a custom audio mix.

Features score: 5/5

AKG N9 review: Sound performance

(Image credit: Future)

40mm drivers
Balanced sound profile
Textured audio in high-res mode

The AKG N9 pack 40mm dynamic drivers with what the company calls “liquid crystal polymer diaphragms” which are designed to improve the detail and clarity across the board.

It works because the N9 have a beautifully balanced sound profile, which doesn’t dominate your mix with too much treble or overblown bass (though it also gives you a nice springboard to use the equalizer to change this if you like a wonky sound mix).

Instead you’re getting a detailed glimpse across the bow of an entire orchestra or band, full of texture and detail. You can hear the scoop of a bass guitar string, the strike of fingers on piano keys – I almost felt like I could tell which guitar strings were being strummed during chords.

There’s an audible sound spread too, and I noticed mids in several songs holding a distinct space that many rival cans lose. It’s an effect that makes these just as great for movies and gaming as for music, and I went so far as to use these headphones instead of my gaming headset during the testing period.

At times I did feel like songs lacked a an extra ounce of energy, with the bass in particular missing a touch of momentum, but these aren’t huge issues – I’m only nit-picking here to justify the score below not being a full 5 out of 5.

Sound performance score: 4/5

AKG N9: Value

(Image credit: Future)

If you’ve read the price section already, you’ll know that the AKG N9 have an uphill battle in proving themselves in the value department (and if you didn’t read that section, they cost $399 / £299 / AU$499).

Basically no headphones costing that much present a real value proposition, not when you can get great alternatives for a third of the price, but for what it’s worth the AKG N9s come closer than most.

The inclusion of the dongle, the useful cup controls, the range of features and high-quality audio all come together to make it clear that AKG is giving you some value for money… just not as much as if you’d paid a lot less money.

I will say, though, that these are primed for deals in Black Friday and Amazon Prime Days. So if you don't think you can afford them, it could be waiting to see how low the price goes.

Value score: 4/5

AKG N9 review: scorecard

Read more about how we test

First reviewed: September 2025

Categories: Reviews

Oxylabs Review: Pros & Cons, Features, Ratings, Pricing and more

TechRadar Reviews - Wed, 09/17/2025 - 14:17

In 2015, the proxy software market growth was in full swing, so Oxylabs came into being to answer the need for IPs in different locations. It was born in Lithuania and has developed to have more than 175 million IPs in 195 countries (that’s practically the whole world), with the US, the UK, and Germany becoming home to its largest networks.

Through Oxylabs, users can gain access to residential, mobile, datacenter (regular and dedicated), and ISP proxies, as well as a web scraping API and comprehensive datasets (all scraped ethically from publicly available sources) required for various businesses.

On top of that, it supports the SOCKS5 protocol, making its proxies ideal for threat intelligence and cybersecurity, as well as the web unblocker for real-estate scraping and travel fare aggregation.

With this in mind, Oxylabs has a separate tier that targets businesses that need proxy services for their operations. Say you want to scrape data from e-commerce sites - you can do this with the provider’s proxy servers and a price comparison app.

Thanks to its cooperation with renowned data centers and the cyber insurance service, if you suffer damage due to a lapse in the proxy network, clients can feel safe and well taken care of by a capable proxy service platform.

Oxylabs: Plans and Pricing

Oxylabs’ pricing structure depends on the type and bandwidth of IPs on offer.

Residential has two plans: Regular and Enterprise.

The Regular option comes in the pay-as-you-go, no-commitment variant that starts at $4/GB and offers up to 50GB of traffic per month, as well as Micro at $3.87/GB for 13GB of traffic, Starter at $3.75/GB for 40GB of traffic, and Advanced at $3.49/GB for 86GB of traffic.

As for the Enterprise option, it includes Premium ($3.01/GB for 133 GB of traffic), Venture ($2.75/GB for 318 GB of traffic, plus a dedicated account manager to boot), Corporate ($2/GB for 1TB of traffic), and Custom + (starting at $2,500/month for over 2 TB of traffic) tiers.

ISP proxies start at $16 monthly for 10 IPs (i.e. $1.60 per IP). The higher the number of chosen IPs, the lower their unit cost. For example, 100 IPs cost $130/month ($1.30 per IP), 1,000 will set you back by $1,150/month (that’s $1.15 per IP), and if you need more than 1,000 IPs, you can contact Oxylabs’ sales team for a tailored quote.

Mobile proxies (4G, 5G, or LTE rotating IPs) have a similar price structure as their residential counterparts.

Hence, there are two tiers - Regular and Enterprise. The former charges $5.4/GB under the pay-as-you-go variant (1GB of traffic and up to 50GB available top-ups), $4.92/GB for the Micro option (12GB + up to 12GB top-ups), $4.74/GB for Starter (38 GB + 38 GB top-ups), and $4.5/GB for Advanced (80GB + up to 80 GB top-ups).

Enterprise pricing for mobile proxies ranges from $3.9/GB under the Premium pack (123GB + up to 123 GB available top-ups) to $3.6/GB under Venture (292 GB + up to 292 GB top-ups) to $3/GB for Corporate (600 GB + up to 600 GB top-ups). Need more? You can get it starting at $3,000/month for over 1TB of traffic, custom top-up options, and a dedicated account manager - an option also available with Venture and Corporate.

For datacenter IPs, you can choose regular or dedicated proxies.

If you want regular datacenter IPs, the choice of payment is yours - pay per IP or GB. The IP-based pricing (with unlimited bandwidth) ranges from the free tier for 5 IPs (no credit card required) through $12 per month for 10 IPs to $750 monthly for 1,000 IPs. On the other hand, bandwidth pricing starts at $50 per month for 77GB and ends at $2,200 for 5TB (no extra IP cost). If your needs surpass these packages, you can arrange for a custom deal.

Should you require IPs from a dedicated proxy server instead of a shared one, Oxylabs offers plans ranging from $6.75 per month for 3 IPs to $3,600 monthly for 3,000 IPs (unlimited bandwidth, with fair usage, which is up to 100 concurrent sessions and a a monthly data threshold of 100 GB per IP), with custom options available if your needs exceed 3,000 IPs.

The platform also has web scraping APIs on offer - regular and enterprise options - the former offering a non-committal free trial for up to 2,000 results, and paid options ranging from $49/month for up to 98,000 results to $249/month for up to 622,500 results. The latter starts at $499/month for up to 1.35 million results and ends at $2,000/month for up to 8 million results, with custom options starting at $10,000/month.

Finally, the web unblocker feature, an AI-powered proxy solution for block-free web scraping at scale, also offers regular and enterprise pricing alongside a 7-day trial. The regular pricing starts at $75/month for 8 GB of traffic and ends at $660/month for 88 GB of traffic. Enterprise options start at $900/month for 128 GB of traffic and a dedicated account manager, ending at $3,500 for 700 GB of traffic and a higher rate limit, with custom options available starting at $5,000/month.

All the packages (Regular and Enterprise) have a 10% discount if you sign up for the yearly subscription. Oxylabs accepts payment cards, wire transfers (both in US dollars and euros), AliPay, and PayPal.

Oxylabs: Features

A user’s journey with Oxylabs begins with registration. You can sign up with your email address or an existing Google account. After signing up, you’ll be redirected to a dashboard where you can access all features. Whether residential proxies, mobile proxies, a web unblocker, or a scraping API, this intuitive dashboard makes it easy to find what you want.

(Image credit: Oxylabs)

Let’s dive deeper into the features Oxylabs offers:

Residential proxies

Residential proxies are real IP addresses offered by Internet Service Providers (ISPs). They’re tied to real devices in physical locations, allowing you to bypass geo-restrictions for different purposes.

For example, price comparison sites need to scrape localized data from different websites to offer good deals to users. However, retailers are often against price scraping and use geo-restrictions to prevent their sites from being scraped.

A residential proxy lets price comparison sites bypass these geo-restrictions and harvest the required data. Because the residential proxy is tied to a legitimate device, the price comparison site operator can visit a website like any normal user.

Retailers also often have different prices for different locations. Residential proxies let price comparison providers visit localized versions of a retail website. Oxylabs provides access to over 175 million residential IPs across 195 countries, including over 10 million in the US, more than 5 million in China, 3.5 million+ in Germany, and roughly the same amount in the UK.

You can precisely target IPs by country, city, state, ZIP code, and even geographical coordinates, making it easy to get localized data. Oxylabs' developer-friendly documentation and integrations make integrating these IPs into your app as smooth as possible.

Oxylabs’ IPs are legitimately sourced, which is important in a proxy sector that constantly grapples with illegitimately acquired IP addresses that expose customers to risks. It gets its residential IPs from consenting device owners who agree to join the network in exchange for a benefit, e.g., a VPN service.

ISP Proxies

Residential proxies are reliable for many use cases, but they have limitations regarding large-scale data scraping. Usage restrictions, such as bandwidth limits and available time per day, make them unsuitable for scraping massive amounts of data.

Oxylabs mitigates this situation by providing proxies leased directly from ISPs like British Telecom, Comcast, Lumen, Orange, and Frontier. You can request a shared ISP proxy (shared by up to 3 users) or a dedicated proxy, which is more expensive.

Oxylabs provides ISP proxies for enterprises with unlimited duration sessions or dynamic IP rotation. These ISP proxies are well-suited for heavy traffic loads, such as mass data scraping, app testing, and ad verification. The tradeoff is their high cost, starting at $1.60 monthly per shared IP.

Mobile proxies

Oxylabs provides access to a massive mobile proxy pool with 20 million+ addresses in 140 or so countries. You can filter these IPs by country, state, city, and coordinates to find precisely what you want. Its largest proxy pools are available in the US, Germany, France, Canada, the UK, and Mexico.

Mobile proxy servers act like mobile devices, enabling users to bypass geo-restrictions and general website blocks. For example, many websites use CAPTCHA to prevent web scraping bots from accessing their data. But with Oxylabs, you can use real mobile IP addresses to bypass CAPTCHA and scrape the needed data.

A mobile proxy is also an excellent tool for ad verification. Companies use them to monitor whether their ads are displayed to real traffic rather than bots. Likewise, businesses can combine Oxylabs’ mobile proxy service and scraping API to gather and respond to real-time reviews.

Data center proxies

Oxylabs offers datacenter proxies that aren't sourced from ISPs. Instead, they come from secondary cloud service providers, offering anonymity and private IP authentication.

(Image credit: Oxylabs)

Datacenter proxies are high-speed and perform well, making them a great option for massive data scraping. You can buy them in bulk for a cost-effective sum, starting at $1.20 monthly per IP (a pack of 10 IPs), compared to $4/GB for Oxylabs’ residential proxies and $5.4/GB for mobile proxies.

Oxylabs provides shared and dedicated datacenter IPs, the latter of which is more expensive. Shared IPs have unlimited bandwidth, while the bandwidth for dedicated IPs varies by your chosen plan. For both types, you can connect to your proxy servers via the HTTP, HTTPS, and SOCKS5 protocols.

Web Unblocker

Oxylabs offers a Web Unblocker that specializes in bypassing anti-bot systems. Many websites use sophisticated systems to prevent scraper bots, but Oxylabs enables you to bypass these systems and scrape the data you require.

It uses dynamic fingerprinting to simulate human-like browsing, with the same headers, cookies, and JavaScript rendering of a web browser. You’ll use a proxy, but the websites think it’s a legitimate user, and it serves the required content without hassles.

The Web Unblocker also uses machine learning techniques to select and rotate proxies, deciding what works best on a specific site. If your scraping request fails, the Web Unblocker automatically rotates proxies to send another request. This process occurs until the request is finally fulfilled.

Scraping APIs

Data scraping is a common use case of residential, ISP, mobile, and datacenter proxies. Companies use them to scrape data manually, a process that gets cumbersome when dealing with massive amounts of data. But Oxylabs solves this problem by offering APIs to automate data scraping.

You’ll select the type of data you want to scrape (text, images, prices, ads, social media likes, etc.) and choose your target website. Then, the API goes to work, scraping the data while you focus on other tasks. You’ll be alerted once your data scraping task is complete. Oxylabs offers distinct APIs for scraping search engines, e-commerce, or other public websites.

(Image credit: Oxylabs)

Other scraping solutions currently offered by Oxylabs include its unblocking browser, which is a ‘maintenance-free and anti-bot-ready headless browser,’ OxyCopilot, an AI-powered assistant for generating web scraping and parsing requests, video data API, and an AI studio with a smart crawler, scraper, browser agent mimicking human behavior when navigating, web search interpreter, and a website mapping tool.

Oxylabs: Ease of Use

Oxylabs offers an intuitive interface that’s easy to navigate. All features are neatly arranged on the dashboard, with the menu on the left and the viewing pane beside it. The interface sports a white background, purple and black text, and contrasting colours that look visually appealing.

This platform put considerable effort into its proxy integrations, making them easy to understand and deploy. If user friendliness were the only criterion for this review, Oxylabs would get a perfect score.

Oxylabs: Customer Support

Oxylabs provides 24/7 support for customers. You can start a live chat with a support agent or send an email and expect a response within 24 hours. Oxylabs’ support team was active and highly willing to solve inquiries during our test.

Customers can also access complementary support resources, primarily extensive documentation for its features. On Oxylabs’ website, you can find detailed guides and user manuals for all types of proxies, making them easier to configure.

There’s a ‘Scraping Experts’ section on Oxylabs featuring web scraping video tutorials. This section provides valuable knowledge from the Beginner to Advanced levels, teaching the ins and outs of website scraping with Oxylabs’ proxies. It is continuously updated with new videos and includes on-demand Q&A sessions to learn directly from scraping experts.

However, we noticed a drawback. There is no telephone support for customers, which is an inconvenience when paying for an expensive tool.

Oxylabs: The Competition

The proxy software industry is very competitive, with no shortage of rivals to Oxylabs. The main competitors we’d like to highlight are Bright Data, Decodo (formerly Smartproxy), and SOAX.

Bright Data is excellent for residential, mobile, and datacenter proxies. It also offers web scraping APIs like Oxylabs. The difference is that Bright Data offers more customizability and is a costlier solution.

Decodo is another reliable proxy server provider, with its datacenter proxies supporting the SOCKS5 protocol just like Oxylabs. However, Oxylabs has a larger IP pool of 175 million+ proxy addresses.

SOAX provides a massive proxy IP pool as well, and it has web scraping APIs and a Web Unblocker like Oxylabs. However, it outshines Oxylabs in terms of user-friendliness and customizability.

Oxylabs: Final verdict

All things considered, Oxylabs’ reputation as one of the best proxy providers in the industry is well deserved. Not only does it offer a 175 million-strong pool of proxy IP addresses for data scraping and other business tasks, but it also throws in a bunch of useful tools for good measure. This includes a sophisticated web scraping API, unblocking capabilities, an AI assistant, a video data API, and an AI studio.

As such, it’s not just great for individual users with demanding proxy requirements, but also for any business looking for a proxy provider that can serve its needs at scale. That said, it might be a bit expensive, especially if you’re a high-level user. Still, all the advanced features listed above certainly justify the price mark.

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