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At Summer Game Fest, I got to play (and get schooled by) the man who turned Cloud, Sephiroth, Aerith, Terra, Yuna and others into Magic cards.

The next time you're talking about AI over dinner or drinks, know these terms to sound smart.

It's the fastest-selling console of all time, but how does Nintendo intend-o to keep fans engaged?

• LG launches 40-inch 5K2K monitor with Thunderbolt 5 connectivity
• Designed for finance and IT, it supports advanced multitasking features
• High refresh rate and color accuracy support complex visual workflows

LG Electronics is expanding its B2B display offerings with the launch of the UltraFine 40WT95UF, a new 40-inch curved business monitor targeting enterprise customers in finance, IT, and other data-focused sectors.

The monitor features a 5K2K resolution (5120x2160) with a 21:9 aspect ratio and is the first display of its kind to support Thunderbolt 5.

The screen uses an IPS Black panel with a 2000:1 contrast ratio, supports up to 450 nits brightness, and offers DisplayHDR 600 certification. It delivers 95.0% to 99.0% coverage of the DCI-P3 color gamut and a 5ms response time.

Two Thunderbolt 5 ports

A 120Hz refresh rate and AMD FreeSync Premium should help keep visual output smooth, making the monitor useful for both data analysis and visual content tasks.

The UltraFine 40WT95UF offers professionals an expanded digital workspace suited for working with large datasets or multiple applications. Picture-in-Picture and Picture-by-Picture functions allow multiple inputs to be viewed simultaneously, without the need for a second screen.

LG says financial analysts can view dashboards and charts together, while IT professionals can manage code, timelines, or development environments more easily.

Connectivity options include two Thunderbolt 5 ports, one DisplayPort, two HDMI ports, one USB-C upstream, four USB-C 3.2 downstream, two USB-A 3.2 downstream, an RJ45 port, and a headphone out.

Thunderbolt 5 supports up to 80Gbps data transfer and 96W power delivery. Support for daisy-chaining allows for simpler setups and fewer cables.

“LG is committed to developing advanced displays and integrated IT solutions that meet the evolving needs of enterprise customers,” said YS Lee, head of IT Business at the LG Media Entertainment Solution Company.

“We will continue to offer industry-leading monitors tailored to each sector’s unique requirements, as well as a diverse range of IT products designed to help boost productivity across industries.”

Via Videocardz

(Image credit: LG)You might also like

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• This Lenovo monitor has more ports than an Apple MacBook Pro laptop

From data centers to AI to satellites, the internet has a much bigger effect on our Earth than we might imagine.

Reporter Kevin Sack's new book is a history of Charleston's Emanuel AME Church, the oldest Black congregation in the South, where a white supremacist killed nine worshippers a decade ago.

(Image credit: Catie Dull)

I've been using this cellular home internet service for nearly three years. It's superior to my old DSL, but it's not perfect.

Earfun Wave Life: two-minute review

To misquote Futurama’s robotic delinquent Bender, you’re in for “Earfun on a bun” if you take the plunge on the Chinese brand’s latest budget cans. Assuming I still have a job to take this review any further [only just – Ed.], I’ve been taken aback by the quality of the Earfun Wave Life. Seeing as they only cost around $50 / £50, these over-ear headphones are far better than I was expecting.

The Earfun Wave Life pack in enough features and sufficiently robust audio performance to make them absolutely worth considering if you’re on the hunt for a new pair of cheap over-ear cans. Sturdily built, extremely easy on the ears thanks to their lush foam cups and sporting an app that’s both intuitive and comprehensive with its EQ options, there’s a lot to like about these competitively priced noise cancelling headphones.

It’s a pity the Wave Life’s ANC features don’t fully convince. For the price Earfun are selling them, I was never expecting these over-ears to rival the best noise-cancelling headphones out there. Still, when it comes to snuffing out distracting ambient noise, ANC performance with these cheap cans is almost aggressively average.

On the flipside, if you’re lucky enough not to have to endure regular noisy commutes, the Earfun Wave Life have more than enough plus points to make them worth recommending if you’re on a tight budget.

Bolstered by stellar software, a dedicated game mode and 40mm drivers that hand in convincingly deep bass levels, Earfun’s affordable headphones are thoroughly enjoyable. They might be cheap, but they certainly don’t feel it.

Not only are the Wave Life some of the most comfortable cheap cans I’ve ever worn, they’re also great for hands-free voice calls. During one of my least glamorous chats in recent memory – one that involved asking a plumber pal of mine about a broken toilet seat – I was reassured my voice was clear during the entire abode-centric chinwag despite me being in a different room than my phone during the call. Thank you very much, Bluetooth 5.4.

Will these cans' soundscape blow you away (even after you tweak frequency settings with Earfun’s fantastic EQ software)? Probably not. Yet for the price, these supremely comfortable headphones, which also boast staying power of up to 60 hours if you switch ANC off, deliver more than they disappoint even they may not quite make it into the best over-ear headphones available.

If you want a pair of budget over-ears that will be comfortable on your cranium while (mostly) delivering satisfying sounds, you could do a whole lot worse than the Earfun Wave Life.

(Image credit: Future / Dave Meikleham)Earfun Wave Life review: Price and release date

• Release date: February, 2025
• Price: $59.99 / £49.99 / AU$105 (approx.)

The Earfun Wave Life are priced super-aggressively at just $59.99 / £49.99 / AU$105 (approx.). They can often be found even cheaper than their official retail price courtesy of Amazon sales, too.

Though they’re obviously not as premium as the $79.99 / £79.99 / AU$167 (where sold) Earfun Wave Pro that impressed us big style early last year, they still deliver a satisfying sonic experience.

Sure, they’re not going to make audiophiles’ socks roll up and down. Yet considering their budget price point, I reckon most folks will be pleasantly surprised by these over-ear headphones’ pleasingly deep bass and relatively convincing trebles. The Earfun Wave Life are also far more comfy than I was expecting from such an affordable pair of cans.

In terms of alternative options, if you’re looking for some of the best cheap headphones for under $/£100, you’ll struggle to do better than the superb 1More Sonoflow Pro HQ51 (catchy moniker, right?). The Sony WH-CH520 are another great option if you’re in the market for a budget pair of noise-cancelling cans.

Earfun Wave Life review: Specs

Weight:

264g

Drivers:

40mm Composite

Battery life:

37 hours (ANC on); up to 60 hours (ANC off)

Control:

app; physical/touch; voice

Connectivity:

Bluetooth 5.4; USB-C

(Image credit: Future / Dave Meikleham)Earfun Wave Life review: Features

• Up to 60 hours' battery life
• Intuitive app improves sound quality
• Two devices can be paired simultaneously

Aside from their stellar battery life – more on which shortly – the Earfun Wave Life feature that impresses me most is their excellent software. The Earfun Audio app is available on both Android and iOS, and I’d consider it an essential download if you want to squeeze the best sound out of these cheap over-ear cans.

Easy to use, sporting an uncluttered design and with intuitive custom EQ calibration tools, the Earfun app can significantly improve the Wave Life’s already decent out-of-the-box audio.

I’m a big fan of the software’s custom equalizer that allows you to adjust the headphones’ soundscape across a variety of frequencies via a set of sliders. It’s a doddle to use, as you simply tweak each frequency until the app’s repeating ‘drip’ sound fades away.

After a couple of minutes of adjustments, I found the customized results to be significantly more satisfying than any of the 30 preset EQ profiles Earfun’s software offers. These span various musical genres, while various bass and treble boost presets are also provided.

The wide variety of profiles the firm serves up may be impressive, but I found the majority to be a little too quiet. And not to be overly nitpicking, but flicking between these presets on both my iPhone 14 Pro and iPad Pro (2024) is painfully sloooooow.

Earfun’s app also lets you switch between the Wave Life’s four ANC modes. First up, there’s ‘normal’, which somewhat confusingly turns noise cancelling off. There’s then ‘ambient sound’, ‘wind noise cancellation’ and ‘noise cancelling’; with the latter two options snuffing out sounds most effectively.

(Image credit: Future / Dave Meikleham)

Sadly, Earfun hasn’t really cracked the ANC code with its cheap cans and I could still easily make out passing traffic when going out for strolls. Next to my Apple AirPods Max, noise cancelling on the Wave Life isn’t up to scratch. That said, comparing $60 headphones to Crew Cupertino’s $500 over-ear cans is like pitting a Morris Minor against a Lamborghini Aventador in a drag race.

Another selling point of the Earfun Wave Life that thankfully proves more effective is their multi-phone connectivity that lets you pair two devices simultaneously. During my testing it proved largely reliable, with the headphones syncing to my tablet and smartphone with little hassle. The only slight hitch I’ve encountered is when I enter the app on my duo of Apple devices, which often requires me to unpair one gizmo before I can tweak software settings on the other.

The Earfun Wave Life are battery beasts. On a full charge, they’ll last for 60 hours, with that number dropping to a still-impressive 37 hours with ANC enabled. During my fortnight of testing these cans, I only had to charge them twice, which is super-commendable considering how kind these headphones are on your change purse.

However, there’s no getting around the fact the bundled-in USB-C charging cable is comically short. I’m talking Smurf short. Still, I’m not going to grumble too much when I can get the Wafe Life to 100% juice in less than 30 minutes on my GaN charger.

As mentioned in the two-minute review, the four-mic, AI-assisted algorithm also makes hands-free calling a breeze. With a 49ft range, you don’t have to worry about being cut off when wandering around your apartment/house, either.

• Features score: 4 / 5

(Image credit: Future / Dave Meikleham)Earfun Wave Life review: Design

• Incredibly comfy to wear
• Easy-to-reach on-cup controls
• Materials feel premium for budget cans

No-frills is the name of the ultra-plain game when it comes to the Earfun Wave Life. With an inoffensive yet entirely forgettable design, these cans won't keep you from hitting the hay and dreaming about how alluring they look.

Crucially, though, they don’t feel cheap. The quality of the plastics used in the construction of these over-ears feels far more premium than I’d expect from $60 headphones. I also appreciate the brushed metal that appears when you extend the Wave Life’s headband.

In terms of comfort, Earfun has absolutely nailed it with its latest budget cans. I wore them on a three-hour walk with my husky on an uncommonly warm Scottish afternoon recently and never once did they cause me any discomfort. That’s mainly due to their super-comfy foam cups which rotate 90 degrees, making them both easy to fold up and an absolute pleasure to wear.

The Earfun Wave Life weigh a relatively breezy 264g, which also means you don’t have to worry about neck strain or earache. Every time I put these cans on, it feels like giving my lobes a big fuzzy hug. I’ll take comfort over style all the livelong day.

The on-cup controls are also enjoyable to interact with. A soft plastic power button is wedged between equally squishy and easy-to-locate volume up/down controls, while I also had no problems switching between noise-cancelling controls thanks to the dedicated ANC button. My only slight beef? You have to hold down the power button a little too long for my liking.

There’s also a USB-C slot for both wired play and charging. As I stated previously, the cable that comes in the box is way too short, so you’d be better off investing in a longer third-party one if you want to go down the wired listening route.

As for colors, you’re limited to a single shade of black. If you like your headphones to be unfussy and not make you stand out on, say, a crowded train or bus, the Wave Life’s bog-standard noir won’t bother you. Personally, I like both white and colored cans, so I would have appreciated more than one hue.

• Design score: 4 / 5

(Image credit: Future / Dave Meikleham)Earfun Wave Life review: Sound quality

• A touch quiet without app tweaks
• Software EQ adjustments save the day
• Well-judged bass levels

Considering how affordable the Wave Life are, I don’t want to overly dunk on their sound shortcomings, and there are few glaring weaknesses with these cheap cans’ audio quality. There are, though, some that warrant mentioning.

My biggest bugbear is the default sound profile when you first unbox these over-ears. This is subjective, but the Wave Life were a tad too quiet when I first clamped them around my skull. Although initially underwhelmed by their audio, I calibrated a custom EQ via the Earfun Audio app to produce a listening experience that felt far more well-balanced and punchy.

Without software tweaks, vocals during my favorite tunes and dialogue on some of the best Netflix movies on my iPad felt muted and flat, so I definitely recommend downloading Earfun’s app. Considering the firm’s software is both robust yet never feels daunting to interact with, it would be uncharitable to slam the Wave Life’s default soundscape when it’s so simple and quick to make it appreciably better through minor app adjustments.

Within minutes of fiddling about with its frequency sliders, I landed on a custom profile that delivered a soundscape with decently weighty bass that dovetailed well with the treble levels I settled on. Yes, mids on the Wave Life get lost in the sonic shuffle somewhat, but overall, I’ve had far more enjoyable audio sessions with these cans than disappointing ones.

When testing headphones for the first time, I’ve got a small clutch of go-to bangers I always fire up. The almost hymn-like electronic stylings of Death in Vegas’ Girls sounds way more impactful than I was expecting from sub-$100 cans, while the pulsating trance beats of F*ck Buttons nine-minute The Lisbon Maru delivered all the bass my eardrums craved – thank you, Wave Life.

(Image credit: Future / Dave Meikleham)

I was less taken with my favorite live performance ever when listening to The Verve’s astonishing rendition of Sonnet from their spellbinding 1998 home concert from Wigan’s Haigh Hall, though. This classic Cool Britannia tune sounds amazing on my Sony Inzone H9 – surprising, considering it’s a gaming headset first and foremost. But on the Wave Life, Richard Ashcroft’s normally haunting vocals lack the audio oomph my Inzone cans drum up.

Speaking of which, Earfun’s budget over-ears come with a low-latency Game Mode that automatically kicks in if you fire up a title on either your Android or iOS device. Not that I actually noticed much difference when I disabled the feature when playing some of the best iPad games.

That’s not to say the Wave Life don’t do a more than passable job at being a decent gaming headset. Even though gamers aren’t Earfun’s target market, their latest over-ears' ability to pick out subtle sounds during gameplay is admirable. I was particularly impressed (and oh so flustered) by how effectively they conveyed the constant nearby Xenomorph screeches in the nerve-shredding Alien Isolation. The Resident Evil 4 remake’s undead-slaughtering gun battles also popped in an impactful way I wasn’t expecting from such cheap cans.

It’s best to go in with low expectations regarding the Wave Life’s noise cancelling, though. Even the most effective of its modes isn’t great at kiboshing ambient sounds, so if quality ANC is important to you, look elsewhere.

• Sound quality score: 3.5 / 5

(Image credit: Future / Dave Meikleham)Earfun Wave Life review: Value

• Great value for money, given the features
• Sound quality expectations met for the price
• No carry case

Considering the amount of features and general build quality, there’s zero doubt the Earfun Wave Life represent fantastic value for money.

Overall sound quality also surpasses the expectations I’d generally go in with when it comes to reviewing such a cheap set of headphones. Unless you’re a real elitist audiophile, you’ll be pretty smitten with what your $60 / £50 / AU$105 (approx.) outlay serves up sound-wise.

While a carry case would have been appreciated, that’s a bit too much to ask for such affordable cans. Earfun deserves a lot of credit for selling its Wave Life over-ears at such an attractive price point.

• Value score: 4.5 / 5

(Image credit: Future / Dave Meikleham)Should I buy the Earfun Wave Life?

Section

Notes

Score

Features

Bluetooth 5.4; excellent 60-hour battery life; simultaneous device pairing

4 / 5

Design

Incredibly comfy; easy-to-reach on-cup controls; another color would be nice

4 / 5

Sound quality

Optional app essential to overcome limited EQ presets; a touch quiet; ANC could be far better

3.5 / 5

Value

Fantastic value for money; sound quality to be expected at the price point

4.5 / 5

Buy them if…

You want strong sound on a budget
For $60 / £50 / AU$105 (approx.), you’re going to struggle to find a better all-round, feature-packed set of cans than the Earfun Wave Life. They’re awesome value for money.

You value comfort
Reasonably lightweight and with lovely foam earcups, these budget headphones are so comfortable, it’s often easy to forget you’re wearing them.

Don't buy them if…

You need strong ANC
The Wave Life’s noise-cancelling features are merely adequate at best. If you regularly deal with noisy environments, there are far better options out there.

You don’t want to tweak settings
Straight out of the box, these headphones’ audio performance underwhelms. To get the most out of them, tinkering with Earfun’s app settings is essential.

Earfun Wave Life review: Also consider

Earfun Wave Life

1More Sonoflow Pro HQ51

Sony WH-CH520

Drivers:

40mm composite

40mm dynamic

30mm

Active noise cancellation:

Yes

Yes

No

Battery life:

60 hours (37 hours ANC on)

100 hours (65 hours ANC on)

50 hours

Weight:

264g

246g

137g

Connectivity:

Bluetooth 5.4; USB-C

Bluetooth 5.2; 3.5mm

Bluetooth 5.2

Waterproofing:

N/A

N/A

N/A

1More Sonoflow Pro HQ51
The current king of cheap headphones offer granite-strong battery life, effective ANC and a super-sleek design.
See our full 1More Sonoflow Pro HQ51 review

Sony WH-CH520
If noise cancelling isn’t a deal-breaker for you, consider these well-balanced Sony cans that boast a great app.
See our full Sony WH-CH520 review

How I tested Earfun Wave Life

• Tested for nearly three weeks
• Tested at home, on long walks and in ride shares

I tested the Earfun Wave Pro in a variety of conditions spanning songs, streaming content and video games over roughly a three-week period. This gave me the chance to get to know how versatile these over-ears can be.

Most of my time with these budget headphones was spent listening to music and podcasts on my iPhone 14 Pro. Away from revisiting my favourite tunes, I also used the Earfun Wave Life for Netflix and Disney Plus streaming, plus playing several games on my iPad Pro.

While most of my background centres around covering the best TVs and almost 20 years writing about video games, I’ve owned an absurd amount of headphones and earbuds in my life – from $500 Apple Airpods Max to budget buds from brands you’ve probably never heard of.

Currently, I have more sets of cans in my apartment than I do meals in my fridge. I should perhaps adjust my priorities in life, but hey, what can I say? I really love the best headphones.

Read more about how we test

First reviewed: June 2025

Sage Barista Touch Impress with Cold Extraction: two-minute review

If you want to make sure you’re getting the best possible flavor from your coffee beans, the Sage Barista Touch Impress with Cold Extraction will help you achieve it with minimum fuss and zero mess. It guides you through the process of dialling in the grinder and preparing exactly the right amount, so that each shot of espresso is extracted in optimum time for a well-rounded flavor. It isn't the quickest way to make coffee (for that, look for a fully automatic espresso machine), but if you want to do justice to your beans, this is a great option.

The Impress Puck System is my favorite feature, letting you pull down a lever to tamp your freshly ground coffee without having to remove the portafilter handle from beneath the grinder. You never have to move a filter basket full of loose coffee and risk spilling it, and the tactile feeling of the lever is very satisfying.

The lever-operated tamping system is satisfying to use, and produces a neat, even bed of ground coffee (Image credit: Future)

Once you’ve got your basic espresso just right, you’ll unlock the whole menu of 14 hot and cold drinks. Some popular coffees are conspicuous by their absence (flat white and macchiato, for example) but everything in the list is easy to customize, so you can tweak a preset to create your own creation quite easily.

Cold brewing involves allowing the bed of ground coffee to infuse in cold water (a process known as blooming) before it’s extracted at high pressure. The result is a smooth-tasting drink that’s a good alternative to traditionally made cold brew, in a fraction of the time.

For me, the only real disappointment was the AutoMilq system, which struggled to create a smooth microfoam with dairy milk. The plant preset worked much better, particularly with oat milk, and using the steam wand manually was a piece of cake. The angle of the wand and shape of the pitcher make it easy to create a good whirlpool, and steam pressure remains consistent.

Sage Barista Touch Impress with Cold Extraction: price and availability

The Barista Touch Impress with Cold Extraction is available direct from Sage for £1,199.95 (about $1,600 / AU$2,500). That’s the same price as the original Barista Touch Impress, so you’re essentially getting the cold-brew option thrown in for free.

The Barista Touch Impress with Cold Extraction is currently only available in the UK. When it does launch internationally, it will be under the "Breville" brand rather than Sage.

If you’re looking for something more affordable, take a look at the Ninja Luxe Café. It's also a semi-automatic espresso machine, meaning it grinds beans directly into the portafilter basket, and guides you through the process of preparing different drinks. Like the Sage machine, the Ninja also has a cold-brew option for chilled drinks. The Ninja Luxe Café is available for $499.99 / £499 (about AU$750).

• Value score: 3.5/5

Sage Barista Touch Impress with Cold Extraction: specs

Name

Sage Barista Touch Impress with Cold Extraction

Type

Semi-automatic espresso machine

Dimensions (W x H x D)

14.2 x 13.4 x 16.3 inches / 36 x 34 x 41.5cm

Weight

24.18lbs / 10.97kg

Water reservoir capacity

2.1 quarts / 2 liters

Milk frother

Automatic and manual

Bars of pressure

9

User profiles

a

Sage Barista Touch Impress with Cold Extraction: design

The Sage Barista Touch Impress with Cold Extraction comes in four colors: stainless steel (shown here), black stainless steel, black truffle, and sea salt. When it comes to size, it’s one of the biggest home espresso machines I’ve tested to date, measuring 14.2 x 13.4 x 16.3 inches / 36 x 34 x 41.5cm. For comparison, the similarly specced Ninja Luxe Café is 12.99 x 13.39 x 14.57in / 330 x 340 x 370mm.

When you’re measure your work surface to see whether you have enough space, it’s also worth bearing in mind that the water tank slides onto the back of the machine, so you’ll need enough room to pull it away from the wall when it’s time for a refill. The tank is easy to remove thanks to a robust carry handle on the top, and has a hinged lid that snaps into place to keep the water clean.

The machine comes with a full set of cleaning products, plus a brush and needle tool for the steam wand (Image credit: Future)

The machine is supplied with a water filter to remove impurities, which can affect the taste of your coffee. The package also includes a water hardness testing strip, so you can configure it to suit your tap water. If your water is particularly hard, Sage recommends using pre-filtered water instead.

You’ll also need to make sure there’s sufficient space on the left-hand side of the machine to use the manual lever that compresses your freshly ground coffee. The grinder and tamper (together known as the Express Puck System) mean you’re never handling a portafilter handle full of loose coffee grounds, making the process of brewing espresso much less messy.

The Barista Touch Impress with Cold Extraction has a large power button on the front of the case, but everything else is operated via its bright touchscreen. This feels smooth and responsive – and, unlike the screens on some other coffee machines, it isn’t prone to fingerprints.

A handy drawer behind the drip tray offers a place to store accessories (Image credit: Future)

Something I particularly like about the Sage Barista Touch Impress is the number of accessories included in the box. You get a stainless steel milk pitcher with a fine spout that’s ideal for latte art; the usual set of single-wall and pressurized filter baskets; a cleaning pin tool for the steam wand; a barista towel; a water filter; and a full set of cleaning products. Open the Eco Starter Kit and you’ll find enough descaler, group head cleaner, grinder cleaner, and milk wand cleaner to keep you going for several months.

If you’re wondering where you’ll keep all that, don’t worry – pull out the machine’s drip tray and you’ll find a handy little accessory drawer. It’s a thoughtful touch.

The bean hopper is tinted plastic, helping keep light away from your beans while still allowing you to see how many are left (Image credit: Future)

The bean hopper is tinted, which reduces the amount of light reaching your beans (something that can cause the flavor to degrade) while also letting you see how many are left – a smart compromise. The hopper also has a good rubber seal to help keep unused beans fresh.

The grinder offers 30 settings, and can be adjusted using a dial on the left-hand side of the machine, near the tamping handle. The dial isn’t marked with numbers, but each time you switch between grind sizes you’ll hear a small beep, and the display will show the new setting. This is far easier than having to peer round the side of the coffee maker.

• Design score: 4.5/5

Sage Barista Touch Impress with Cold Extraction: performance

The Sage Barista Touch Impress with Cold Extraction guides you through the process of brewing a well-rounded espresso, handling the more complicated tasks for you to turn the usually tedious process of choosing the correct grind size into something fun.

The first time you use the machine, you’ll be guided through the process of configuring it for your particular coffee beans. This involves calibrating both the grind size and the dosage.

Usually this process (known as dialling in) involves brewing several shots of straight espresso, but the designers at Sage have acknowledged that people have different tastes, so you can pick from a short menu of different drinks right from the start: espresso, long black, latte, cappuccino, and flat white. You’ll unlock the more extensive menu of hot and cold beverages once the initial setup is complete.

You don't need to remove the portafilter handle from beneath the grinder for tamping, so there's no risk of spilling loose coffee (Image credit: Future)

Pick a grind size by turning the large dial on the left-hand side of the machine (near the lever), then follow the onscreen instructions to grind the beans into the filter basket. You’ll then be instructed to pull down the tamping lever to create a nicely formed puck. This is the most pleasing part of the process, and the machine recommends doing it twice for the best results. It doesn’t take much pressure, but you get some satisfying resistance with the right dosage.

If you don’t have enough ground coffee in the basket, the machine will offer to grind a little more, then let you try tamping again. If there’s too much coffee, you can use the trimming tool provided in the box to remove a little without creating cracks in the puck.

The tamping lever is extremely satisfying to use (Image credit: Future)

Once the machine has worked out the optimum amount of coffee, it will save it for future use. Don’t worry if you want to use different beans later on, or your coffee’s properties have changed as the beans age – the Barista Touch Impress will check each time you make a drink and make adjustments on the fly.

Once your coffee is nicely tamped, it’s time to insert the handle into the brewing group and start making your first coffee. The Barista Touch Impress will time how long it takes for your shot of coffee to pour, and warn you if it’s taking a long time (and is likely to be over-extracted and sour) or has poured too quickly (making it watery). I like the fact that the machine won’t insist that you discard over- or under-extracted shots, recognizing that some coffee-drinkers have different preferences.

After a little experimentation, you'll be able to brew consistently well-balanced shots of espresso to enjoy alone, or as part of a longer drink (Image credit: Future)

Once the machine is dialled in, you’ll have access to the full menu of 14 hot and cold presets. It’s a pretty impressive list, but some (such as hot chocolate, shakerato, and espresso martini) are recipes rather than drinks you can prepare using the machine alone. It’s also worth noting that unlike the Jura J10 and the De’Longhi Primadonna Aromatic, there’s no way to foam cold milk.

The options are:

• Flat white
• Latte
• Cappuccino
• Espresso
• Long black
• Babyccino
• Café crema
• Hot chocolate
• Tea (ie. hot water)
• Cold brew
• Cold espresso
• Espresso shakerato
• Latte shakerato
• Espresso martini

I was a little surprised that Sage chose to forego some popular coffee drinks (such as caffe latte, flat white and macchiato) while including so many esoteric options such as shakeratos; but all drinks are editable, so you can easily create your favorites by tweaking the presets. The original Barista Touch Impress offered just eight options.

There are recipes for some uncommon drinks in the menu, but a few classics such as the trusty flat white are absent (Image credit: Future)

When you select a cold brew drink, the machine will pulse cold water over the bed of freshly ground coffee in the filter basket and wait a moment to let it bloom before passing cold water through at high pressure.

The result isn’t quite as full-bodied as that from the Jura J10, but it's still noticeably sweeter and smoother than coffee brewed hot, and a very good alternative to traditionally made cold brew when you don’t have hours to spend steeping grounds in the fridge.

The only feature I found lacking was the Sage Barista Touch Impress’s AutoMilq system, which is designed to heat and froth dairy and plant-based milk automatically.

During tests, AutoMilq seemed to struggle, in particular with full-fat dairy milk. This is surprising, because this is usually the top choice for creating a silky microfoam. Rather than creating a fine foam with the texture of emulsion paint when preparing a latte, the steam wand pumped in too much air, creating a lot of large bubbles, which were unstable and burst as it switched to heating the milk. The result was nicely heated milk, but barely any foam.

Image 1 of 3

The AutoMilq system created a lot of large bubbles in dairy milk, and the foam was unstable (Image credit: Future)Image 2 of 3

Even foam created using the thickest setting turned out thin (Image credit: Future)Image 3 of 3

Oat milk produced much better results, with thick and creamy foam (Image credit: Future)

I had more success with oat milk, with the machine creating smooth and pourable microfoam for lattes, or thicker and "dryer" foam for cappuccinos. You can choose between milk texture options when making your drink, and the machine will incorporate different amounts of air to suit.

I had no problem using the machine to steam milk manually, though, and the angle of the raised wand made it easy to position the jug correctly to get a good whirlpool going.

If you want to steam dairy milk, use the wand manually (Image credit: Future)

Cleaning the machine after use proved straightforward. The machine rinses its brew head when powered on, the steam wand purges automatically after each use, and tapping the "settings" button at the top-right of the screen will let you access step-by-step instructions for descaling, using the blank disc and cleaner to refresh the brewing group, and cleaning the milk wand.

However, it won’t explain how to use the grinder cleaner, and the manual only explains how to dismantle the grinder and use the brush to remove debris. There's no explanation about how to use the sachet of milk wand cleaner, either.

• Performance score: 4/5

Should you buy the Sage Barista Touch Impress with Cold Extraction?Sage Barista Touch Impress with Cold Extraction score card

Attribute

Notes

Score

Value

Well made and feature packed, but over twice the price of the Ninja Luxe Café, and closer to the price of machines that can also foam cold milk.

3.5/5

Design

Easy to use, with clear instructions on displayed on the bright touchscreen. Lever-operating tamping system is satisfying to use. Large footprint won't fit some kitchens.

4.5/5

Performance

Excellent hot and cold coffee brewing and smart guidance for dialling in grinder, but AutoMilq system seems to struggle with whole dairy milk. Plant milk foams better and wand works fine manually.

4/5

Buy it if

You want optimum flavor from your beans

This machine guides you through the process of dosing coffee and choosing the ideal grind size for a perfectly extracted shot. It might take a while to get it just right, but it’s worth the time, and there’s zero mess involved.

You want tasty cold brew without the wait

The latest version of the Barista Touch Impress does a good job replicating the smooth taste of traditionally made cold brew by allowing the coffee grounds to bloom before pulling a shot.

Don't buy it if

You don’t want to steam dairy milk manually

Sage’s AutoMilq system struggled to create a good texture with fresh whole dairy milk, although it worked much better with oat milk. Raising the wand and using it manually yielded good results.

You just want coffee as fast as possible

The Barista Touch Impress is all about perfecting your espresso, and getting the optimum extraction for the best flavor. If you don’t have time to spend making multiple shots and configuring the grinder, a fully automatic espresso machine might be a better option for you.

Sage Barista Touch Impress with Cold Extraction: also consider

Ninja Luxe Café

Like the sound of the Barista Touch Impress, but don’t have the space? The Ninja Luxe Café is a more compact alternative, and it can make filter coffee as well. You don’t get the tidy tamping system, though.

Read our full Ninja Luxe Café review

De’Longhi Primadonna Aromatic

If you like cold brew but want more variety, this superb espresso machine not only creates great-tasting coffee, it can also foam cold plant and dairy milk for iced lattes. It works brilliantly; the iced latte macchiato was my personal favorite during testing.

Read our full De'Longhi Primadonna Aromatic review

KitchenAid KF8

If you want a well-extracted coffee but don’t have the time to spend configuring a grinder, this is easily one of the best fully automatic espresso machines I’ve tested. This version has a preset for plant milk, but if you only drink dairy then you can save a little cash by opting for the KF6 instead.

Read our full KitchenAid KF8 review

How I tested the Sage Barista Touch Impress with Cold Extraction

I used the Sage Barista Touch Impress with Cold Extraction for two weeks in place of my usual coffee machine, and brewed coffee using a blend of freshly roasted Brazilian and Colombian arabica beans. I spent time dialling in the grinder for the beans to begin with, and followed the directions to tweak the grind size each time I made a new drink.

I went through the whole drinks menu, and tested the steam wand using full-fat dairy and oat milk. I used the AutoMilq system, and steamed milk manually.

Once I’d finished testing, I ran through all of the machine’s cleaning and maintenance programs.

First tested June 2025

The coalition of organizations behind the protests say the parade is being fueled by Trump's ego. The parade, which is not formally linked to Trump, will mark the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army.

(Image credit: Jacquelyn Martin)

The official focus of the parade is the commemoration of the U.S. Army's 250th anniversary. But critics say the president is using the military show of force to push a political agenda and celebrate his birthday, which happens to fall on the same date.

(Image credit: Stephanie Scarbrough)

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. apparently embraces the outdated "miasma theory" of disease instead of the widely accept "germ theory" of disease, which may help explain some of the actions he's been taking.

(Image credit: Kevin Dietsch)

President Trump's approach to deportations is giving Democrats a unifying message in opposition to him. But the Democratic Party still lacks a common vision for what it would do differently.

(Image credit: Jacek Boczarski)

The retail giant offers two digital payment options that don't require bringing a credit card to the store.

Real Madrid, PSG, Man City, River Plate and Inter Miami are among the teams battling for a world title -- and a share of a $1 billion prize pool -- in this revamped cup tournament.

It's been a massive week for tech news, with Apple's WWDC taking place and a raft of big announcements in the gaming world.

Missed it all? Never fear – because you can catch up on it by scrolling down for our handy recaps of the week's seven biggest tech news stories.

And once you're all up to speed with that, be sure to also check out our picks for the 7 new movies and TV shows to watch this weekend.

7. Xreal told us more about Project Aura

(Image credit: Xreal)

We already knew Xreal’s Project Aura glasses would bring Android XR features to Xreal’s lineup, but we didn’t know too much about the hardware itself. Now we do.

For a start, the device will apparently boast a 70-degree field of view – which is much larger than the FOV found on the 57-degree Xreal One Pro and which will give the Project Aura glasses a massive virtual screen.

It’ll also be tethered to a compute puck which will run Android XR using a Snapdragon chip from Qualcomm, though the glasses themselves will still have a “modified” X1 processor.

The glasses won't land until sometime in 2026, but when they do this pair of Android XR specs could be something special.

• Read more: Xreal just teased its Android XR specs

6. Garmin found its Apple Watch Ultra 2 rival

(Image credit: Garmin)

Surprise! Garmin has revealed the Garmin Venu X1, an "ultrathin" smartwatch with a massive 2-inch AMOLED display and up to eight days of battery life.

The new model packs 32GB of internal memory, presumably for on-watch music, plus Garmin's updated Elevate v5 heart-rate sensor, most recently used on the Garmin Forerunner 570 and 970.

Unfortunately the Garmin Venu X1 doesn't come cheap, costing $799.99 / £679.99 / AU$1,499. We'll be testing it as soon as possible to see if it justifies that price tag.

• Read more: Meet the surprise new Apple Watch Ultra 2 rival

5. New Bose earbuds were cleared for launch

(Image credit: Bose)

The best noise-cancelling earbuds you can buy right now are made by Bose (which makes sense – the company created the first ever active noise cancelling headphones), and right now we’d suggest not buying them. Why? Because there's a newer version incoming, and Bose says they’ll be even better.

The Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds 2nd Gen will launch later this summer with a price tag of $299 – which is around £220 or AU$460, although these are guesses since pricing and availability for these regions has yet to be officially announced.

What can we expect? AI algorithms for better filtering of sudden noise spikes via Bose’s ActiveSense system, plus improved voice pickup and call quality, The latter is particularly good news, because that was a weak spot compared to rival earbuds from Technics and Bowers & Wilkins.

Also, the new case will be able to charge wirelessly – the first-gen Ultra Earbuds needed a sleeve to pull off this feat, but it'll be here by default now.

• Read more: Bose unveils next-gen QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds

4. Summer Game Fest 2025 wrapped up

(Image credit: SUMMER GAME FEST)

Summer Game Fest 2025 has been and gone, and between PlayStation, Xbox and the event’s own showcase, there was plenty to be excited about.

Some of the most thrilling game announcements came in the form of world premieres such as Resident Evil Requiem, Marvel Tōkon Fighting Souls, Scott Pilgrim EX, and Street Fighter 6’s Year 3 Character Pass.

We also got new looks at anticipated upcoming games like Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, Clockwork Revolution and The Outer Worlds 2.

There’s loads to look forward to, then, and that’s all before we’ve even had a chance to see what Nintendo is cooking up with a new Direct showcase that will likely happen soon.

• Read more: Everything else announced at Summer Game Fest 2025

3. Xbox announced a handheld

(Image credit: Microsoft)

Finally, after years of rumors, Microsoft has announced an Xbox handheld: the ROG Xbox Ally. In fact it gave us two.

Unlike Asus' current ROG Ally and ROG Ally X, the Xbox version has a tweaked design with contoured grips that echo the shape of the current Xbox Wireless Controller. And as one would expect, both Xbox Allys sport the Xbox 'ABXY' button layout and a dedicated Xbox home button.

We don’t yet know when it will launch, nor how much it’ll cost, but we expect it’ll be about as pricey as the existing Ally.

• Read more: Microsoft has revealed the ROG Xbox Ally

2. Apple told us what went wrong with Apple Intelligence

Months after Apple admitted publicly that the Apple Intelligence-infused Siri was harder to deliver than they thought, the tech giant reiterated the statement during its WWDC 2025 keynote, adding almost cryptically that it’ll arrive “in the coming months”.

Most of us still had lots of questions. Fortunately, Apple's Senior Vice President of Software Engineering Craig Federighi and Apple Global VP of Marketing Greg Joswiak sat down with us (and Tom’s Guide) for a wide-ranging and revealing podcast that finally explains what happened with Siri development, why the smarter version was delayed, and what happens next.

There’s a lot to learn about over-promising and under-delivering and how to avoid similar mistakes, and the full podcast ranges far beyond to cover Liquid Glass, and that surprising iPadOS 26 reveal. Speaking of which…

• Read more: What really happened with Siri and Apple Intelligence, according to Apple

1. WWDC 2025 unleashed Liquid Glass

Apple’s software event clued us into what’s in store for the next generation of software from the tech giant and a big change is that every OS will now be version 26 – with Apple explaining that this will simplicity and clarity to its somewhat confusing software lineup.

For iOS 26, and every Apple OS, the major update is Liquid Glass, a new foundational design philosophy inspired by visionOS – which is itself getting a slew of enhancements, such as mixed-reality widgets.

However, the real star of the show for many was iPadOS 26, which finally brings some of the Mac’s best features to the tablet – and it nearly made one of our writers cry with joy (that may be an exaggeration).

There was plenty more to dig into from Apple's big event, so for the full details check out our guide to the 15 biggest stories from WWDC 2025.

• Read more: WWDC 2025 as it happened

Eufy E15 robot lawn mower: two-minute review

To date I've tested quite a few wire-free, autonomous lawn mowers, but of all of them, the Eufy E15 is the easiest to set up and use. Much of that is down to the robot's AI algorithm-rich software, its superb dual camera system and the simplicity and excellent navigability of the Eufy app.

This admittedly odd-looking lawnbot uses Full Self Driving (FSD) technology, which means there's no need to lay a perimeter wire or install an RTK GPS antennae. In fact, setup took all of about 15 minutes – it can automatically map a lawn up to 800 square metres by cleverly distinguishing the textural differences between grass and planted borders. It then goes out and cuts the lawn in pristine parallel stripes before finishing off with an edge cut along the borders.

Like many robot mowers, the E15 is equipped with a small 20cm cutting deck comprising three razor-like blades attached to a spinning disk. These blades are so sharp that they snip grass with the cleanliness of a pair of scissors, leaving the tips of the nitrogen-rich cuttings to fall back to earth, which in turn fertilise the lawn.

There are a few minor niggles – the navigation system means it can't mow at night, and it can't handle gradients over 18-degrees – but overall, this is an extremely impressive lawnbot and a very strong recommendation for technophobes in particular. Aside from an easily-fixed map-making mistake, and one expected issue regarding small obstacle avoidance, the E15 hasn't put a foot wrong during several weeks of testing. It just works out of the box. That's the short version; read on for my full Eufy E15 review.

(Image credit: Future)Eufy E15 review: price & availability

• List price: $1,799.99 / £1,499
• Available: US / UK
• Launched: June 2025

Eufy's first robot mower is available in two variants – the E15 I'm reviewing here, and the E18, which is only available in the US. Both machines are the same size and spec but the E18 has a larger capacity battery which allows it to cut lawns up to 1,200m² / 0.3 acre – that's 400m² more than the E15.

If you live in the UK, you can purchase the E15 direct from Eufy UK for £1,499. Granted, it's an awful lot of money but that's the price one pays for new tech that saves a ton of time and effort. I personally think it's very competitively priced, especially given the fact it comes with a roofed garage to protect it from the elements. It's also exceedingly well built, using highly-quality materials with expert fit and finish.

Stateside dwellers, meanwhile, have a choice of either the E15 or E18. The US Eufy site lists the E15 at $1,799.99 but if you have a lawn larger than 800 square metres (0.2 acre), I would suggest the E18. Eufy sells this model for $1,999.99.

• Value for money score: 4 out of 5

Eufy E15 specs

Max lawn size:

0.2 acres / 800m²

Navigation:

Dual V-FSD cameras

Cutting deck width:

8in / 20.3cm

Cutting height adjustment:

1-3in / 2.5-7.5cm, motorized

Drivetrain:

Rear wheel drive

Maximum zones:

More than two

Maximum climbing ability:

40% / 18 degrees

Obstacle avoidance

3D Perception camera system

Connectivity:

Wi-fi, Bluetooth & 4G (sim optional)

Noise:

56dB

Waterproof:

IPX6

Rain sensor:

Yes

Mow time per charge:

About 100 minutes

Lawnbot size:

23.7 x 15.5 x 12.5 in / 60.3 × 39.4 × 31.8cm

Garage size (L x W x H):

28.6 x 18.9 x 17.8 in / 72.7 x 48 x 45.2cm

Lawnbot weight:

39.7 lbs / 11kg

Eufy E15 robot lawn mower review: design

• Full self driving lawnbot, uses cameras to navigate
• Comes with a charge dock but requires no boundary wires or RTK receiver
• Otherwise relatively standard lawnbot design, with 20cm cutting deck

Eufy (a subsidiary of Chinese electronics manufacturer Anker) has approached the development of its first robot mower with the same set of design principals it has applied to its burgeoning range of excellent robot vacuum cleaners. Hence, the E15 is probably the most robot vacuum-like lawnbot on the market right now. And that's a very good thing for anyone who already owns a robot vacuum cleaner and is familiar with the way it is set up and used from day to day.

Although it's not the prettiest looker on the lawn (at least when compared to the F1-inspired Mammotion LUBA Mini), the E15 feels very high quality. It is also the only robot mower I know of to come with a roof for its charging dock as standard – that can be considered a major benefit because, while the E15 is IPX6 rated for waterproofness (IPX6 means ingress protection against powerful water jets), it's direct summer sunshine rather than rain that could have the biggest affect on batteries and electronics.

Incidentally, like all modern robot mowers, this model is fitted with a rain sensor so if it starts raining while it's out cutting, it will return to base and wait a predetermined number of hours before it heads out again.

(Image credit: Future)

Although size and weight is pretty inconsequential given that, once in situ, the E15 pretty much stays on the lawn until the end of the cutting season around late autumn, for the record the E15 measures 23.7 x 15.5 x 12.5 in / 60.3 × 39.4 × 31.8cm, weighs 39.7 lbs / 11kg and comes with an integral handle on the front so it's easy enough to lift if necessary.

Like all robot lawn mowers, the Eufy E15 is equipped with a cluster of manual control buttons on the top of its outer casing, including a large red Stop button for any unlikely emergencies. These buttons are handy for quickly pausing or cancelling a task, commanding the robot to return to its dock and turning it on and off without the need for the accompanying app. There is also a master on/off switch on the base of the cutting deck, which is only used when putting the robot into storage or transporting it in the car.

(Image credit: Future)

Before we tackle the E15's clever navigation system, let's head below and take a closer look at the business end. This model is good for lawns up to 800m² (0.2 acres) and has an 8in / 20.3cm cutting width – that's the norm for a robot of this size, but still way short of the Mammotion LUBA 2 which has a generous 15.7in / 40cm deck.

Like almost all current robot mowers, the E15 uses an array of small razor-like blades for the cutting process. Put simply, a silent motor spins a circular disc with, in this case, three double-sided 1.5-inch razor blades attached to the disk's outer edge.

Since the blades are attached loosely and are able to spin 360 degrees, the disk's centrifugal force causes the blades to whip round at immense speed so the grass is cut to a much finer degree than any large-bladed rotary mower. Likewise, if they hit something hard like a stone, the easily replaced blades are less likely to be damaged. (Here's more on how robot lawn mowers work, if you're interested.)

(Image credit: Future)

Aside from the whisper-quiet sound the cutting system makes (and believe me this thing is near-silent in operation), the main bonus of a system like this is that the fine nitrogen-rich cuttings the robot leaves in its wake are fed back into the lawn as future fertiliser. This 'mulching' method of grass maintenance is not only good for your lawn, but it also means you don't need to figure out what to do with all the cuttings.

The Eufy E15 is rear-wheel drive and those wheels are an ample 7.9 in / 20cm in diameter, with deep treaded paddles that provide excellent traction without causing any grass damage. The front end is fitted with a robust castor wheel that allows the robot to turn on a sixpence. Eufy states a maximum gradient of 40% (18 degrees) which is a few degrees steeper than much of the competition but still nowhere near the Everest-scaling, all-wheel-drive Mammotion LUBA 2 and LUBA Mini's 80% (38.6 degrees) ability.

Robot mower navigation tech has come on in leaps and bounds since the first models were introduced way back in the mid '90s. These early models required a boundary wire around the perimeter of the lawn and many robot mowers like this are still available to purchase today. However, recent advances in RTK GPS, LiDAR and camera-based navigation technologies are quickly making these types of wired robot mowers obsolete.

Take this model, for instance. The Eufy E15 is equipped with a FSD (Full Self Driving) camera tech that works in a similar way to many autonomous cars. The system itself is comprised of two side-by side cameras that produce a stereoscopic image with some depth to it, rather like a pair of human eyes. This, along with a smorgasbord of AI algorithms and heaven knows what else it has hidden beneath the bonnet, ensures that the robot can not only find its way around a lawn but also differentiate between grass and border plants.

(Image credit: Future)

Like a human, it can spot the textural and height differences between grass and plants and map the lawn accordingly. And for those who love driving RC cars, you can easily do that with this mower, too, and even view a high-definition livestream of what the camera sees.

The downside to a camera-based system like this is that the E15 cannot mow beyond sunset because it won't be able to see where it's going. Eufy might elect to fit a bright headlamp on the next incarnation but for now, your best bet for night mowing is either the Mammotion LUBA 2 or its new smaller sibling, the LUBA Mini.

The upshot of this robot mower's superb navigation system is that it gives it the amazing ability to cut a lawn in a series of perfectly straight parallel stripes that never fail to impress. Granted, they're not bona fide stripes like a cricket ground, but they're the next best thing. I guarantee you'll be blown away by how smart your lawn looks after just one cut.

Finally, a shout out to the E15's security measures. Firstly, it's bonded to the user's account and Wi-Fi system making it useless to any light-fingered thieves. But as an extra precaution it also features GPS tracking over optional 4G while the unit itself will sound an alarm, enter a locked state and send a notification to the user if it's ever taken beyond its working boundary.

• Design score: 4.5 out of 5

Eufy E15 robot lawn mower review: setup

• Charge dock requires power source and good Wi-Fi signal
• - Mapping is fully automated – and no-go zones can be added in-app if required
• - Extremely fast and east to set up

No question, the Eufy E15 is one of the easiest robot mowers I've ever set up; there is no RTK GPS antennae to install and not a perimeter wire in sight. All you need is an electricity source within the eight metres of cable provided and a decent WiFi signal to the robot so you can initiate its setup procedure, update the firmware when required and program weekly schedules and other parameters in the Eufy app.

Once you've created a Eufy account in the app and mounted the charging dock using the provided ground screws, it's simply a case of firing it up and selecting the auto map function. I'd say the whole process took me about 15 minutes and most of the time was spent screwing in the dock's ground screws using the provided Allen key (a cordless driver with an Allen key bit speeds this process up considerably). The E15's excellent mapping ability is fully automatic – the bot can tell the difference between grass and plants, and uses this information to map the lawn.

Click to enlarge (Image credit: Eufy )

However, there may be instances when it treats a scrubby patch on the edge of the lawn as grass and map that too – as was the case in my testing. With some robot mowers you need to physically steer the robot like an RC car to the area in question and modify it by driving the bot on a different trajectory and then saving the map. With this model you simply add a no-go zone or a virtual boundary by drawing a square or line on the app's map. A big high-five to the designers for bringing this robot vac-style editing approach to the table.

While this whole process was very simple, I still hope Eufy will include a manual mapping option in a future update for those who want full hands-on control. Manual mapping – where you drive the robot around the perimeters of a lawn like an RC car – allows the user to fine-tune the map right from the off, with no need to add no-go zones or virtual boundaries.

(Image credit: Future)

Once the mapping has finished, it's time for the robot's first mow. But before you do this, make sure your grass isn't too long or the cuttings it creates could litter the lawn. Instead either opt for the highest cutting height first (these range from 25mm to 75mm in 5mm increments and are set using the app).

Alternatively, use your standard mower with grass catcher to cut the lawn to about 40mm (position 4) and set the robot off on its first cut a day later – I find that 35mm is a perfect height for UK rye grass. Once the grass is ready for the robot, chances are you may never need to use your standard mower again, though you will still need your line trimmer to tidy up some edges every now and then.

If you have a few different lawns separated by pathways and boundaries, that's not a problem. The Eufy E15 can be programmed to cut all of them in succession, even when they're many meters apart. Simply map the lawns individually and set a virtual passageway between them by steering the robot from one lawn to the next. The robot will then follow this set path from lawn A to lawn B and so on and so forth every time it's on a cutting session. Just make sure that there are no gates or stairs in the way and that the passage the robot takes is free of clutter and wide enough for the robot to navigate.

• Setup score: 5 out of 5

Eufy E15 robot lawn mower review: performance

• Neat, methodical cutting performance
• Motorized cutting heights
• Expert navigation and very good obstacle avoidance

In terms of cutting performance, I've been exceedingly impressed by how well this robot mower has navigated and cut my lawn, and in such methodical fashion too. It's a joy to watch the E15 as it trundles up and down the lawn in perfect parallel lines, and I love the pseudo stripes the wheels leave in their wake.

The fact you can easily adjust cutting parameters in the app – cutting height (from 25mm to 75mm), edge spacing (how close it cuts to the edge), path spacing (the amount of overlap between each pass), and travel and blade speed (slow, standard and fast) – is the icing on the cake. And if you're looking for the cherry on top of that, it'll be the Path Direction (cutting angle) setting, which is as simple as placing two fingers on the map of your lawn and swiveling the two arrows to the angle of cut you want, whether it's perfectly vertical, horizontal or any angle in between.

Despite this model only having three cutting blades against the Mammotion LUBA Mini's six, I haven't been able to detect any noticeable differences in cut quality. Yes, I prefer the wider tract of the big 40cm Mammotion LUBA 2 – the width of a small push mower – but I'm nitpicking here.

(Image credit: Future)

Obstacle avoidance on indoor robot vacuum cleaners is essentially for the convenience of not having to untangle a loose sock from under the robot, but a robot mower with fast spinning razor blades is an altogether different kettle of danger. Just as well that all autonomous robots and most wired models have various levels of obstacle avoidance built into their navigation systems.

The Eufy E15's obstacle avoidance is excellent for anything larger than about the size of a tennis ball. I tested it on a number of occasions using some dog toys. Amazingly, the E15 avoided every item including – surprisingly – a small whale-shaped toy with a slim tail. In fact I was especially impressed by how well it managed this last feat because the whale was off-centre to the robot, and yet its camera caught the obstacle in its periphery.

(Image credit: Future)

However, as expected, the E15 didn't spot a table tennis ball on two occasions and rode over it, almost slicing it in half. As a result, I wouldn't trust this model to avoid pet mess unless, perhaps, you have a Great Dane, or a horse. (This has been the case with every robot mower I've tested, and for that matter every robot vac, too.)

I'm pleased to report that everything has run smoothly with this model, from its initial auto mapping to its weekly routine of keeping the lawn looking spick and span. It has never got lost or failed to find its charging base, and it's always remained within the confines of its boundary. And that's not a bad accolade for any manufacturer hitting the market with a first-time product. Well done Eufy.

• Performance score: 5 out of 5

Eufy E15 robot lawn mower review: app

• Easy to navigate
• Excellent interface
• Could do with a couple of extra features

While I'm a huge fan of the Mammotion range of robot mowers, its accompanying app is quite technical and, in some areas, difficult to get a handle on. By contrast, the Eufy app (which also covers Eufy's security cameras) is mostly a joy to use, and mercifully free of any technical jargon. It's as simple as simple can be, but there is room for improvement.

Click to enlarge (Image credit: Eufy)

What I'd like to see is an option to manually map a lawn and an option to mow in a chessboard pattern (i.e. cut vertically and horizontally) in one go. But I'm pretty certain we'll see something like this in a future update. It is, after all, early days for this newcomer.

• App score: 4 out of 5

Should you buy the Eufy E15 robot lawn mower?

Attribute

Notes

Rating

Value

The Eufy E15 isn't cheap but it's in the same ballpark as other similarly-styled models on the market.

4.5/5

Design

Odd looks aside, the E15 is robust and extremely well equipped to deal with most lawn layouts, bar those with steep slopes.

4.5/5

Setup

Setup is also extremely fast and straightforward, thanks to accurate automatic mapping.

5/5

Performance

The E15 is a sterling operator that cuts grass brilliantly well while avoiding almost all obstacles in the process.

5/5

App

There is no simpler mowbot app on the market, though a few tweaks wouldn't go amiss.

4/5

Buy it if...

You're a technophobe

I haven't come across an easier model to set up and operate.

You want lawn stripes

The E15 is a deft lawnsmith that cuts in ruler-straight stripes.

You need simple reliability

This model has proved to be very reliable with great obstacle avoidance.

Don't buy it if...

Your lawn is very large

This lawnbot's smaller battery and cutting tract mean it's not well-suited to extra large lawns.

You want night mowing

Because it relies on cameras to navigate, the Eufy E15 can't mow in the dark. If that's a priority, consider the Mammotion LUBA Mini.

Your lawn has steep gradients

This bot will struggle on steep slopes – it's good up to 18 degrees.

How I tested the Eufy E15 robot lawn mower

I've been using this lawnbot for the past few weeks, and I've been working it hard during that time. It has been out on regularly scheduled mowing tasks, and I've also put it through a range of tests – including assessing its obstacle avoidance using dog toys. I also assessed the ease of setup, how user-friendly the app is, and how the cutting performance compared to other lawnbots I've reviewed.

Read more about how we test

• First reviewed June 2025

The Apple Watch’s fitness features have been getting consistently more impressive in recent years, between new running metrics, the recent addition of Training Load, and integrations with third-party apps such as TrainingPeaks. And yet, despite these advanced tools at my fingertips and as someone who tests the best Apple Watches as part of my job, I’m still lacking in the running department.

After a long day of work, as a man in his mid-thirties with a very active six-year-old, the last thing I feel I want to do is get my shorts and underlayer on and head out the door, and that’s even with some lovely running routes nearby.

Tracking my workouts is great, but how can I outsource my motivation to my Apple Watch? As it happens, Apple's new AI Workout Buddy might be the answer.

Workout Buddy could became my favorite new watchOS feature in years

(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)

I should stress that I have no such issues getting to the gym, . My hesitance to run (which takes a lot less work and time than lifting weights) feels very much like a problem of my own making, so it’s gratifying that Apple may have a solution for me and could make me feel less like I’m the only “reluctant runner” out there.

As revealed at WWDC 25 this week, watchOS 26 will offer Workout Buddy, a “first-of-its-kind fitness experience with Apple Intelligence that incorporates a user’s workout data and their fitness history to generate personalized, motivational insights during their session, based on data like heart rate, pace, distance, Activity rings, personal fitness milestones, and more.”

It’s that word “motivational” that piqued my interest, and while I’m wary of the use of AI (especially as a journalist who makes his living using words) a helpful few words of encouragement in my ear when I’m pushing myself out the door for a 5K could make all the difference.

I recently completed my first 10k running event following some heart health issues in recent years, and having an AI assistant tap into my heart rate data and advise me how much further I could push myself every now and again could have stopped the fearful questions I was asking myself, such as “am I going too fast?” or “am I pushing too hard?”

Matching my style of running

When I do get out for a run, I try to avoid looking at my Apple Watch Ultra. I often don’t want to know what my pace is like, because I try to be more intentional with exercise. Namely, keeping my mind on the whole ‘moving my legs’ part of the workout rather than keeping an eye on my pace.

Looking at my pace and seeing it slower than anticipated is a bit of a morale-buster, while checking the distance run and seeing I’m less than halfway around my circuit has a tendency to have a negative impact on my pace, as if I’m willing it to be over.

If I can tweak what the AI offers as encouragement, then I feel I’ll be having my proverbial cake and eating it, pushing me further without laying on too thick how far I’ve fallen since my prime a decade ago. Think less “here are your splits”, and more “keep going, you’re doing great!”.

I’ve tried AI coaching apps like Zing in the past, and as promising as they are, they can often feel overly complex when you just want to track some exercises or your step count. Having something like Workout Buddy running natively on my devices that I can call upon when I need it, and minimise when I don’t, really does feel like the best of both worlds. Roll on September!

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Mattel is partnering with OpenAI to build AI‑powered toys, which might lead to some amazing fun, but also sounds like the premise for a million stories of things going wrong.

To be clear, I don't think AI is going to end the world. I've used ChatGPT in a million ways, including as an aide for activities as a parent. AI has helped me brainstorm bedtime stories and design coloring books, among other things. But that's me using it, not opening it up to direct interaction with children.

The official announcement is very optimistic, of course. Mattel says it’s bringing the “magic of AI” to playtime, promising age‑appropriate, safe, and creative experiences for kids. OpenAI says it’s thrilled to help power these toys with ChatGPT, and both companies seem intent on positioning this as a step forward for playtime and childhood development.

But I can’t help thinking of how ChatGPT conversations can spiral into bizarre conspiracy theories, except suddenly it's a Barbie doll talking to an eight-year-old. Or a GI Joe veering from positive messages about "knowing is half the battle," to pitching cryptocurrency mining because some six‑year‑old heard the word “blockchain” somewhere and thought it sounded like a cool weapon for the toy.

As you might have noted from the top image, the first thought I had was about the film Small Soldiers. The 1998 corny classic about an executive at a toy company deciding to save money by installing military-grade AI chips into action figures, leading to the toys staging guerrilla warfare in the suburbs? It was a satire, and not a bad one at that. But, as over-the-top as that outcome might be, it's hard not to see the glimmer of chaotic potential in installing generative AI in the toys children may spend a lot of time with.

I do get the appeal of AI in a toy, I do. Barbie could be more than just a doll you dress up, she could be a curious, clever conversationalist who can explain space missions or play pretend in a dozen different roles. Or you could have a Hot Wheels car commenting on the track you built for it. I can even picture AI in Uno as a deckpad that actually teaches younger kids strategy and sportsmanship.

But I think generative AI models like ChatGPT shouldn't be used by kids. They may be pared down for safety's sake, but at a certain point, that stops being AI and just becomes a fairly robust set of pre-planned responses without the flexibility of AI. That means avoiding the weirdness, hallucinations, and moments of unintended inappropriateness from AI that adults can brush off but kids might absorb.

Toying with AI

Mattel has been at this a long time and knows what it is doing, in general, with its products. It's certainly not to their advantage to have their toys go even slightly haywire. The company said it will build safety and privacy into every AI interaction. They promise to focus on appropriate experiences. But “appropriate” is a very slippery word in AI, especially when it comes to language models trained on the internet.

ChatGPT isn’t a closed-loop system that was built for toys, though. It wasn’t designed specifically for young kids. And even when you train it with guidelines, filters, and special voice modules, it’s still built on a model that learns and imitates. There’s also the deeper question: what kind of relationship do we want kids to have with these toys?

There’s a big difference between playing with a doll and imagining conversations with it, and forming a bond with a toy that independently responds. I don’t expect a doll to go the full Chucky or M3gan, but when we blur the line between playmate and program, the outcomes can get hard to predict.

I use ChatGPT with my son in the same way I use scissors or glue – a tool for his entertainment that I control. I’m the gatekeeper, and AI built into a toy is hard to monitor that way. The doll talks. The car replies. The toy engages, and kids may not notice anything amiss because they don't have the experience.

If Barbie’s AI has a glitch, if GI Joe suddenly slips into dark military metaphors, if a Hot Wheels car randomly says something bizarre, a parent might not even know until it’s been said and absorbed. If we’re not comfortable letting these toys run unsupervised, they’re not ready.

It’s not about banning AI from childhood. It’s about knowing the difference between what’s helpful and what’s too risky. I want AI in the toy world to be very narrowly constrained, like how a TV show aimed at toddlers is carefully designed to be appropriate. Those shows won't (hardly ever) go off script, but AI's power is in writing its own script.

I might sound too harsh about this, and goodness knows there have been other tech toy scares. Furbies were creepy. Talking Elmo had glitches. Talking Barbies once had sexist lines about math being hard. All issues that could be resolved, except maybe the Furbies. I do think AI in toys has potential, but I'll be skeptical until I see how well Mattel and OpenAI navigate that narrow path between not really using AI and giving the AI too much freedom to be a bad virtual friend to give your child.

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• OpenAI has upgraded ChatGPT's Projects feature to remember past chats, tone preferences, and files
• Projects now offers deep research, voice mode, mobile file uploads, and more
• OpenAI wants Projects to function more like smart workspaces than one-off chats

ChatGPT's Projects feature has been a useful way to organize conversations with the AI chatbot since it debuted, but it has had its limitations. A major set of upgrades released by OpenAI this week has transformed Projects from a simple file folder into a highly focused version of ChatGPT as a whole.

The Projects feature debuted as a way to organize related chats and files into one digital shoebox. But now, that organization means ChatGPT will remember that those chats and files are related. So, if you start a chat within a Project, the AI will remember things from other chats in that project, referencing your past messages within the same workspace.

If you start a new Project, you can upload your notes, chat about the topic with ChatGPT, ask for online comparisons, and then come back three days later to continue the conversation without rehashing everything or having the AI cite unrelated discussions. ChatGPT won’t just remember the topics either. It will remember your formatting preferences, as well as your tone of voice.

And those can be a lot more complex conversations now that Projects includes the Deep Research tool, which lets you run multi-step tasks in ChatGPT, blending your files and instructions with live information from the web.

You can also now use ChatGPT's voice mode in Projects. Tap the microphone inside any project and start talking about the files within or anything else, and you'll see it appear. And if you're using the mobile app, you can now upload files directly and switch between GPT-4o or other models on the fly.

Other upgrades are more minor but still significant. For instance, if you have a Project that you don't want to share in its entirety, but it includes a particular ChatGPT conversation you wish to send to someone, you can do that now. And if a discussion with ChatGPT suddenly inspires you to start a Project, you can now drag it directly into a project folder or convert it instantly from the sidebar.

Not everyone can use the upgraded Projects features as of yet. You have to be a ChatGPT Plus or Pro subscriber for now. However, based on many other ChatGPT features that were once exclusive to subscribers, I wouldn't be surprised if these become accessible to free users at some point in the future.

AI project power

As impressive as ChatGPT Projects could be now, I wouldn't expect to see offices throwing out their Notion or Trello programs anytime soon. They still lack some of the common elements of those tools, like calendars. But, for personal or just smaller efforts, it's a nice enhancement of the AI assistant, one that might at least help OpenAI compete with the AI infusions Google has been adding to its ecosystem.

OpenAI has been clear that they don't just want to be a chatbot provider. They want to be your go-to for life and work. These upgrades feel like the early sketches of something more ambitious. OpenAI might someday pitch ChatGPT as an alternative to toggling between ten apps. Instead, you might one day just open ChatGPT and say, “Let’s pick up where we left off on the next work presentation.”

A little experimentation on my part found the upgraded Projects seemed more efficient almost immediately, but not without some hiccups. One large collection of conversations I've organized for testing other features was a little too eager to dredge up the initial interactions rather than pull from more recent discussions about ChatGPT's capabilities. And while Projects can now reference past chats, the actual search and navigation between those chats still isn’t perfect. There's no Boolean logic to use to isolate certain phrases yet, so you might have to do some scrolling to find what you're looking for.

Still, even with the inevitable friction, I can see the value of making Projects more of a self-organizing AI data source, rather than simply a file folder for documents, as it has been. Whether compiling research, analyzing data, or plotting the perfect party, it could make using ChatGPT a lot less chaotic.

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