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This is a very special edition of Stuff. Probably not

HOT STUFF

HOT FIVE #1

VITAL STATS AMAZON TURNS IT UP(WARDS)

£190 / amazon.co.uk

ICON TRANSPARENT SPEAKER

PARTS CAN BE SWAPPED OUT AS NEW WIRELESS AND AUDIO TECH IS LAUNCHED

Apps Including an app for making apps

This month’s mobile must-downloads

GAMES

Pioneering the open-world concept, Shenmue was at its

Stream

Scorsese, De Niro, Pacino and Pesci are coming to Netflix

Start menu

The latest startups, crowdfunded projects and plain crazy ideas

Wheels

£53,000 (est) / volvo.com

Always-on my mind

With a display that no longer needs waking up with a violent gesture, Apple’s latest Watch is turning the screw on its rivals. But is it worth upgrading from Series 4?

The legend of svelter

Nintendo’s slimmed-down Switch Lite promises all the fun of the full-size console – well, nearly all – in a miraculously pocketable package

Hush cuppies

Still not succumbed to the luxurious quietude of premium wireless over-ear headphones with active noise-cancellation? Here are two new options…

3 OF THE BEST Tablets

It’s bezels at dawn as Apple’s latest iPad duels with Samsung and Amazon slates built for different purposes and purses

Lovin’ this Hub

Google’s latest home assistant has a 10in screen, security-cam smarts and enough audio power to usher in a new era of singing digital butlers

Drive is home for Xmas

Sega’s long-awaited entry into the miniaturised retro console market has arrived in time to squeeze onto Santa’s sled

Pretty in sync

Don’t let the ‘Watch’ part fool you: while the GT 2 is a handsome wearable for fitness tracking, it’s not all that smart

Carry on amping

Sonos’s first portable speaker promises all of the brand’s signature audio quality on the go – so Simon Lucas keeps on moving for a fortnight of hobo-friendly hi-fi

The scoring twenties

Both sides have given it 110 per cent but at the end of the day there can only be one winner and luckily it’s gone in the back of the net and you have to say it’s no more than they deserve, Gary

The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening

Re-awakened for the Switch generation, one of our favourite Zelda titles plays it safe with a pretty straight remake of the Game Boy original – and that’s absolutely fine with us

Borderlands 3

As long as you have a high cringe threshold, the latest in the ever-tasteless open-world FPS series will keep you blasting away long into the night

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint

Here at Stuff, we love getting all excited about new videogames that are imaginatively conceived and thrillingly executed. This is not one of them…

The alternatives: Two subtle smartwatches

Do the latest offerings from Withings and Fitbit stand up to the Watch S5?

Call on me

Selecting the best phone to buy has suddenly got extra-tough, so we’ve weighed up the latest contenders and picked out the cream of the crop

Mini meme MOBILE FOOTBALL MANAGERS

Not even Christmas and your real-life team is already flirting with relegation? Think you could do better? Prove it with these tactical games…

UPVOTED MICE

Sick of cursing his cursor, Chris Rowlands picks the best desktop rodents to rekindle his love for the ol’ click and scroll (and no, nobody calls them ‘mouses’)

INSTANT UPGRADES DJI OSMO ACTION

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NEXT BIG THINGS

The future of gadgets is always a tough one to predict, so we asked someone else to do the hard work for us

BETA YOURSELF macOS CATALINA

It may be named after an island, but the new Apple OS makes the Mac less isolated than ever, linking up apps, services and devices – Craig Grannell delves into its best bits

Smartphones, tablets, mobile games

TIPS & TRICKS

Headphones, wearables

£219 / stuff.tv/SonyWFXM3

Laptops, wireless speakers

from £1099 / stuff.tv/MacBookAir13

TVs, soundbars, smart speakers

TIPS & TRICKS

Home cinema, consoles, games

from £20 + £22/month / stuff.tv/SkyQ

Tech toys, electric cars, VR

£150 / stuff.tv/LegoCreativeToolbox

Smart home, drones, action cams, compacts

TIPS & TRICKS

System cameras, budget buys

TIPS & TRICKS

HOW TO BUY A TV SOUNDBAR

Make movies sound absolutely monster… and bag yourself an extra multiroom speaker to boot